Two long-term philanthropic leaders for NC State have continued their outstanding support of the University by endowing the engineering dean’s chair. The gift recognizes the leadership of the College’s current dean and will help ensure continued success of deans who follow in his footsteps.
The Louis Martin-Vega Dean’s Chair Endowment at the College of Engineering was created through a gift from the Goodnight Educational Foundation under the direction of Dr. Jim and Mrs. Ann Goodnight.
NC State’s College of Veterinary Medicine has also recently announced the Randall B. Terry, Jr. College of Veterinary Medicine Dean’s Chair Endowment, established with a gift from the R.B. Terry Charitable Foundation. The deanship gifts helped put an exclamation point on the end of the University’s Think and Do the Extraordinary Campaign.
“We are so grateful for all that the Goodnight Educational Foundation, the Goodnights and the R.B. Terry Foundation have done at NC State,” Chancellor Randy Woodson said. “Their incredible generosity is a reflection of the truly extraordinary work happening at the College of Engineering and the College of Veterinary Medicine — and throughout our University.”
The Goodnights are NC State alumni and served as co-chairs of the recently concluded Think and Do the Extraordinary Campaign. Jim Goodnight — the founder and CEO of SAS — earned his B.S. in applied mathematics in 1965, and his M.S. and doctorate in statistics in 1968 and 1972, respectively, and the University conferred an honorary degree to him in 2002. Ann Goodnight earned her B.A. in political science in 1968, works as the senior director of community relations at SAS and serves on the NC State Board of Trustees.
The Goodnights’ commitment to faculty excellence has included increased support for faculty funds and the creation of 28 endowed positions, including the dean’s chair.
The Louis Martin-Vega Dean’s Chair Endowment is named in honor of the College of Engineering’s current dean, who has served in the role since 2006. Under Martin-Vega’s leadership, the College has seen a significant rise in enrollment, research expenditures and infrastructure, diversity among both students and faculty members, and national reputation.
“I am deeply humbled and honored to have my name associated with this position and grateful for the Goodnights’ continued generous philanthropy and leadership in support of NC State,“ Martin-Vega said. “This endowed position will afford future deans a vital tool for pursuing their priorities related to research, teaching and programmatic needs that may not be covered through other revenue sources.“
The gift comes on the heels of the announcement of a new state legislative initiative, Engineering North Carolina’s Future, which will provide NC State with $20 million over the next two years to catalyze the hiring of additional faculty and staff and $30 million for facility upgrades, with the aim of supporting the growing student body and the University as a whole. The initiative is tied to plans to expand student enrollment in the College of Engineering from around 10,000 to 14,000 over the next few years.
“Under Dean Martin-Vega’s leadership, the College of Engineering has continued an incredible upward trajectory,” Woodson said. “The demand for an engineering degree from NC State has never been higher, and this deanship, in conjunction with the Engineering North Carolina’s Future project, puts us in the position to meet that demand and fuel our state’s technology economy.”
Martin-Vega came to NC State in 2006 after spending five years as dean of engineering at the University of South Florida. He has also held several prestigious positions at the National Science Foundation (NSF), including acting head of its Engineering Directorate and director of NSF’s Division of Design, Manufacture and Industrial Innovation. Additionally, he has served as chairman of the Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering at Lehigh University and Lockheed Professor in the College of Engineering at Florida Institute of Technology. He has also held tenured faculty positions at the University of Florida and the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez.
I am deeply humbled and honored to have my name associated with this position and grateful for the Goodnights’ continued generous philanthropy and leadership in support of NC State.”
Louis Martin-Vega
He was elected as a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 2021. In 2011, he was inducted into the Hispanic Engineering National Achievement Hall of Fame for his commitment to college education and the promotion of diversity. Martin-Vega is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Institute for Industrial and Systems Engineers and the Society of Manufacturing Engineers. He served as president of the American Society for Engineering Education from 2016-17.
Naming the dean’s position has been a priority for the College’s leadership for several years. Several of NC State’s peer institutions in engineering education have been able to endow their dean’s positions and are reaping numerous benefits.
The extraordinary, done
The deanship gifts bring the total endowed deanships at NC State to three, the first being the Stephen P. Zelnak, Jr. Dean’s Chair in the Poole College of Management.
Resources from endowed deanships will enhance teaching, learning and research across each college by providing the flexibility to direct support where it is most needed.
The five-year, comprehensive Think and Do the Extraordinary Campaign, which ended Dec. 31, 2021, raised more than $2.1 billion. In addition to increasing scholarships, enhancing programs and funding building renovations and new construction, donor support from the Campaign more than doubled the number of NC State faculty members holding endowed positions.
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