- What I love about NC State
is really the vibrant community.
The faculty and staff really are intentional
about ensuring that our students are successful.
DASA is special because it's one of the very few
divisions in the country, and really the first
that brought together academic affairs,
student affairs, and university college
so that we could better align all of our resources
to support our students,
that you can, you know, fully support our students
in new and better ways because of it.
We really think about and internalize the services
and programs that we use,
and that we have to address students' needs.
And we create these tight-knit communities
within this larger complex of the university.
So if students really, you know,
it can have a smaller feel for a larger institution.
Our division is primarily funded by student fees.
And so we really remain committed to affordability.
Private support has really helped us expand
our 50 plus departments and programs
to fully support our students
and ensure that they have the resources
that they need to be successful.
It really makes it possible for us to meet the needs
of each and every NC State student.
A most recent example is through the COVID-19 pandemic,
in the response to that, donors have really stepped up
to support our students, generously.
They have helped us with student food
and housing insecurity, financial insecurity
through our Pack Essential initiative.
Since March of 2020, donor support has provided
2,600 emergency fund grants,
and 21 meal scholarships as well.
It's really important because if nothing else,
the last year has shown that we have students
that really need support for some of our basic needs.
The pandemic has really laid bare
that our students struggle.
The opportunity for us to be able to help students
is of utmost importance.
And so our donors have really been instrumental
in ensuring that we could meet their needs.
What's also important is that sometimes
it's just the one-time funding that helps students
actually be able to be retained and to progress,
that's been really helpful as well.
You know, donors have invested in our wellness offerings,
especially our counseling center.
There are nearly 40,000 appointments
to over 6,000 students annually.
And we're finding that students are actually
arriving at campus already in need of these services.
So the services have grown significantly over the years,
and donor support is able to help us
address this critical need.
We've also made significant strides
in supporting our military and veteran community on campus.
And thanks to a generous donor support,
our military and veteran services
can serve nearly 2000 military affiliated students,
which is quite important.
And then, you know, we talk about the arts,
the arts continue to flourish on campus,
thanks to private support.
We have had more than 300 donations,
large and small, made for the new
Gregg Museum of Arts and Design possible.
Donor support can help students in multiple different ways.
A student's car may break down,
and they're not able to actually get on campus
to go to class.
Even the $500 for that can help a student remain enrolled.
Maybe a student needs to pay this last month's rent.
And there are some students that are near graduation.
Maybe they just need a grant for the semester
for tuition or other services
to ensure that they actually graduate.
Also, there are situations where maybe a student
just needs to be able to purchase a book for a course.
And so sometimes these,
the just the one-time help is all of us,
all we need for a student to be retained,
to be successful, and to graduate.
We still have time to do really extraordinary work.
I am looking forward to connecting with alum,
connecting with donors, connecting with parents,
and community members to continue to build on
the support and services that we have for our students.
You know, nearly every alum has interacted
with our division in some way, even if they didn't know it.
So I really am looking forward to
increasing the services that we are able to provide
so that students can be successful.
(happy music)