2023-2024 Wilson College of Textiles Annual Report

Executive Summary

The 2023-2024 academic year was an extraordinarily proud one for all in the Wilson College community, with multiple record achievements. The year 2024, in particular, is a special milestone. It is the 125th anniversary of textiles education, research and service at NC State University, an achievement of dedication unique to NC State.

This past academic year, the Wilson College advanced toward our vision of a compassionate world in which textiles enhance sustainability and quality of life for all, while also preparing to celebrate the 125 year legacy of our past. Our college’s transformational impact on an industry that is critical to North Carolina and our nation’s homeland security, and which provides more than 500,000 American jobs, is one that establishes a unique value proposition for NC State. We exist to enable people from all walks of life to transform their own lives and, in turn, transform our society through service leadership. With the support of NC State’s most engaged alumni, industry partners, record-setting grants, remarkable philanthropic support and our diverse, growing student body, the Wilson College is the only college in the Americas catalyzing the transformation of the U.S. textiles industry and its partners in Central America through innovative life-long learning, creative entrepreneurship, and cutting-edge research and innovation. 

Selected noteworthy achievements for the Wilson College include:

• Continued exceptional career outcomes with > 94% success rates within six months of graduation.
• The highest incoming first-year enrollment since 2010 (30% higher in fall 2024 vs. three-year average).
• Highest-ever undergraduate student retention rate (>96%).
• 74% of students with internship experiences with 45% leading directly to full-time employment offers.
• Very high staff and faculty retention (98% compared to university average of 93%).
• Approximately $10 million in new philanthropic support to enable extraordinary high impact experiences.
• Celebrating 25 years of the Centennial Scholarship Program, one of the highest profile college scholarships in the UNC System with over 200 Centennial Scholar alumni leading impactful lives.
• A record in extramural research funding: almost $12 million (up 10% from the previous record last year).
• Celebrating 30 years of the iconic Textile Protection and Comfort Center that has generated more than $75 million in research and technical service awards and scores of successful graduate students.
• Graduating the first cohort of Textile Pioneer Scholars, Wilson College’s newest scholarship program that focuses on students from rural North Carolina with financial need.
• Winning a National Science Foundation Engines grant with up to $160 million in funding over ten years to establish the North Carolina Textile Innovation and Sustainability Engine, with lead non-profit partner, The Industrial Commons and community college partners, Gaston College, Catawba Valley Community College and Western Piedmont Community College. 
• Winning one of NC State’s largest grants from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to transform thousands of lives in Central America by developing and delivering unique training to support investments by American companies in a U.S.-Central American co-production textile supply chain.
• Securing private-public funding of approximately $7 million to establish the W. Duke Kimbrell Flex Factory – an unprecedented state-of-the-art entrepreneurship hub that will augment NC State’s entrepreneurship ecosystem with unprecedented capabilities of textile product prototyping and new sustainable business development that includes mentoring and small-run production capacity.

With a record annual budget of over $30 million, 52% of which is made up of non-state revenues, the Wilson College is poised for an impactful future, while honoring the creative and passionate staff and faculty, service leaders, donors, alumni and partners that have built its foundation since 1899.

Our primary goals for the coming academic year include:

• Celebrate and record our 125 years of textile education and innovation at NC State.
• Continue to strengthen our close-knit college culture and well-being by intentionally living our Culture Charter and core values of compassion, equity, collaboration, sustainability and innovation.
• Continue the trajectory of our private-public business model by increasing non-state revenues via research and innovation grants, philanthropic support, professional education and other services.
• Augment our unique value proposition with the highest return on investment of any college, by intentionally reducing student debt while equitably expanding student access to our portfolio of high impact experiences, including study abroad, entrepreneurship, undergraduate research and Wilson for Life programming.
• Continue to increase student enrollment and maintain retention to meet the demand for our graduates.
• Grow doctoral student stipends to recruit the highest quality students. 
• Continue to attract and retain impactful and collaborative staff and faculty. 
• Continue our record of leading in innovation by translating our research to commercial success and transforming the U.S. textiles industry into a resilient, competitive, advanced manufacturing supply chain that is critical to our nation’s homeland security.

In 2023-2024, we continued implementing our revised Wilson College Strategic Plan to realize our vision of a compassionate world in which textiles enhance sustainability and quality of life for all. The upcoming fall celebration of our 125th anniversary has provided an exciting focal point for our community to unite around our Culture Charter and celebrate our outsized impact locally and globally. Below is a summary of our key achievements, challenges and goals for the coming year.

University Goal 1: Empower students for a lifetime of success and impact

Student success has always been our highest priority along with the safety and well-being of all community members. By many measures, the Wilson College has established perhaps its strongest academic professional support program yet as we celebrate 25 years of the Centennial Scholarship program with more than 200 Centennial alumni. This is in addition to our first graduating class of Textile Pioneers after fully endowing 11 scholarships to support our strategy to provide access to high potential rural North Carolinians with financial need. 

With higher education facing uncertainty in demand throughout much of the world, the Wilson College offers a unique value proposition of lifelong learning and support, via our Wilson for Life program. We prioritize access for students from all walks of life to our many high impact experiences at low or no cost, and work to reduce the debt burden for all students. 

Perhaps the most important metric for any university is the demand for its graduates. When compared to national averages compiled by NACE, Wilson College graduates consistently outperform other majors/degree programs when it comes to post-graduation career outcomes. On average, 94% of our bachelor’s graduates are employed in their fields of study or go on to pursue an advanced degree within 6 months of graduating. The May 2023 master’s and Ph.D. graduates also had exceptional career outcomes, with an 89% success rate within 6 months of graduating. Our current graduate students are receiving the highest average stipends in our history. We are committed to raising stipends to be highly competitive. 

In partnership with the Provost’s Office and University Communications, our communications and marketing strategy is paying off with our highest incoming class of first-year students since Chancellor Woodson joined NC State in 2010. This is perhaps unsurprising given the record retention rates (96%) and that 74% of our undergraduates experience impactful internships, with 45% of those leading to permanent offers. Other notable student success achievements, include:

• Continuing the implementation of the Wilson for Life program. Established in 2022, this new program expands on support for all students and all approximately 11,000 alumni to provide a lifetime of support, initially with four key pillars:
  • Lifetime careers services support.
  • Discounted lifetime continuing education, via our Zeis Textiles Extension department.
  • Mentoring via our Blend Mentorship Program (with >60 students and 60 alumni mentors).
  • Professional networking support among our global network of 11,000 alumni.
• Impactful scholarships: Wilson College has the highest average scholarship per student receiving a scholarship of any other college at NC State (Wilson College average: ~$5K) and has the highest number of scholarships per student, along with CALS (over 16%). 
• While not yet formally opened, the Wilson College Flex Factory will be named the W. Duke Kimbrell Flex Factory following a generous donation from the Kimbrell Foundation. One facet of the Flex Factory has already opened its doors to vibrant engagement from students across NC State: the Prototype Laboratory. We are excited to catalyze and serve entrepreneurs and industry (with free or low-cost availability for all university students as well as staff, faculty, alumni and key external partners).

Key Goals for FY25:

• Continue progress in establishing a living wage stipend for doctoral graduate students.
• Continue to implement an updated recruitment strategy that communicates our unique value.
• Continue progress to fully endow our Centennial Scholarship Program. 
• Open the Flex Factory and host our inaugural Wilson College Pitch Day for student entrepreneurs.

University Goal 2: Ensure preeminence in research scholarship, innovation and collaboration

Fiscal year 2024 was an unprecedented year for our college’s research and innovation strategy, one that is aligned fully with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, with significant increases in expenditures, proposal applications and research awards. Our impact is led by our world-class research staff and faculty who also lead and our world renowned centers and institutes: Zeis Textiles Extension, the Textile Protection and Comfort Center and the Nonwovens Institute. This is even more impressive considering FY23 was itself the best year in the college’s history. Key outcomes for the Wilson College in academic year 2023-2024 include:

• A remarkable record in knowledge transfer from our world-renowned faculty and staff, many in co-authorship with our students, with 156 peer-reviewed publications, 247 conference, symposia and juried exhibit presentations, 11 edited books and book chapters, and 3 patents issued with 2 additional patent applications 
• Record awards and research expenditures in every major area:
  • Research awards: >$11.9 million (10.50% increase).
  • Contracts and grants expenditures: >$6.3 million  (>11 % increase over FY23) enabling the funding of 75 Ph.D. students, an increase of 44%.
• The percent proposals awarded increased by 9.5%:
  • 48 awards were funded from 75 proposal applications: 30 federal awards: >$8.8 million (an increase of 148%); 11 industry awards: $870K and seven other awards: $866K.
  • Wilson College received nine interdisciplinary awards with other colleges in FY24 with a combined total of these awards of $4.71 million.
• Wilson College funded two interdisciplinary Research Opportunity Seed Fund (ROSF) projects which require collaboration across two or more colleges. Seven faculty won awards.
• Wilson College funded two interdisciplinary Strategic Collaborative Research and Innovation Fund (SCRIF) Projects involving collaboration across two colleges and nine faculty.
• The college Research Office organized 14 faculty research mentoring, education or collaboration events and facilitated interdisciplinary faculty research development activities with CALS, Design, COE, COS, PCOM and the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences.

Key Goals for FY25:

In FY23, the Wilson College set a target of $1 million annual growth in research awards for five years. We have far surpassed this target in both FY23 and FY24. In FY25, the Research Office will continue to prioritize supporting assistant and associate professors’ success in winning grants while helping researchers leading our largest grant winners succeed in securing next-stage funding to grow our research and innovation impact even further. A key goal in continuing to raise extramural research funds is to recruit and support all Ph.D. students with highly competitive stipends and a unique graduate education environment that is supportive, challenging and impactful.

University Goal 3: Expand and advance our engagement with and service to North Carolina and beyond, defining the standard for a 21st-century land-grant university

Wilson College is embracing a new model for a 21st-century land-grant university, one that establishes an interdependency between units within the college and across NC State, as well as with multiple industry, academic, government and non-profit partners. This collaborative interdependency is enabling us to maximize our positive impact on the citizens of North Carolina and the nation. Our centers and institutes are producing commercialized innovations that filter the air we breath and water we drink, protect our firefighters like never before, advance our understanding and mitigation of vexing challenges like “forever” chemicals called PFAS, and prepare for a circular economy through fully recyclable fibers. 

Wilson College is forging new partnerships and building new programs to advance the textile industry and drive new economic growth in North Carolina and beyond. The programs listed below, as well as elsewhere in this report, are powering change in the textile industry toward a more competitive, sustainable and equitable model and working to support the needs of our armed services, first responders, the healthcare industry and all citizens.

Our Zeis Textiles Extension (ZTE) is a unique unit that serves all of our students, our faculty in their research endeavors, and hundreds of small and large industry partners, including entrepreneurs. Major accomplishments for ZTE include:

• Continuing their successful business model, with record revenues of >$5.4 million (an increase of 63% from FY23 and 163% from the three-year average) in research and innovation grants, economic and workforce development with community college partners, the College of Engineering’s IES and other units across NC State. 
• Won a National Science Foundation Engines grant ($15 million for two years and up to $160 million over ten years) with non-profit partner, The Industrial Commons, and community college partners. One of NC State’s largest ever grants, NCTISE will be a member-based ecosystem that will catalyze our nation’s capacity for translation of innovations in textiles. It will establish U.S. textiles as a sustainable advanced manufacturing sector preparing for a future circular economy while growing resilience in our U.S. supply chain to meet the critical homeland security needs of the United States.
• Began a $2 million USAID grant project, Hilando Oportunidades, to create an educational ecosystem to enable the success of textile investments in Honduras (and eventually the entire Northern Triangle) leading to economic opportunity and stability in a notoriously volatile and poor region and supporting domestic textile production under the yarn forward rule of origin. This effort is in collaboration with our community college partners, the U.S. State Department and many U.S. textile industry leaders.
• Continued the design and implementation of the W. Duke Kimbrell Flex Factory, with the Prototype Lab already a hive of activity with entrepreneurs.
• Continued leadership in collaboration with CALS for the NC Hemp Consortium, made up of agriculture, textile manufacturing companies, retailers and brands focused on expanding hemp use.
• Offered customized textile classes through our extension office for companies like Meta and Apple.

Key Goals for FY25:

Ensure all major grants are successful and lead to next-phase grant funding, including phase 2 funding for the NSF Engine and expanded funding for the USAID-funded Hildando Oportunidades project to Guatemala and El Salvador.

University Goal 4: Champion a culture of equity, diversity, inclusion, belonging and well-being in all we do

Wilson College is committed to breaking down existing barriers and creating an open-minded atmosphere that will increase intercultural, interracial and interdisciplinary awareness of each student, staff and faculty member through the education of different values, beliefs and experiences. While we are renowned for our family-centered, welcoming atmosphere, we must continue to strengthen our culture of equity, belonging and inclusivity. It is a responsibility of all colleagues to work together and live by our Culture Charter. Our embedded counselor program and our online coaching program in partnership with TaskHuman continue to provide strong support network for our community; our new employee collaboration space is encouraging great connection among colleagues; the new Latinos Unidos Textile Student Club, founded by ZTE has more than 30 student members continues to engage our Latino community; and the college Culture and Well-being Committee continually develops pop-up activities with high engagement and positive response. These activities, in addition to many others discussed in previous reports, are helping to strengthen our culture of equity and belonging. We are also proud to expand our recognition of demonstrated excellence by our staff, faculty and students. 

Key Goals for FY25:

Expand equitable access to our high impact experiences for all in our community and augment college-wide professional development that more strongly supports living by our Culture Charter.

Special Honors and Awards that Enhance our Culture and Elevate our Brand

• Januka Budhathoki-Uprety received the NC State Outstanding Teacher Award, University.
• Ericka Ford was awarded the Chancellor’s University Faculty Scholar.
• Kam King received a CASE Best of District III Award for the college’s end-of-campaign impact report.
• Bryan Ormond was awarded the 2024 Alumni Association Distinguished Undergraduate Professor Award.
• Behnam Pourdeyhimi was awarded the Outstanding Research Award and was admitted to the Research Leadership Academy.
• Abdel-Fattah Seyam was awarded the inaugural Wilson Values Award for sustained commitment to Wilson College and its values.
• Melissa Sharp, Associate Director of ZTE, earned the inaugural Wilson for Life award for meritorious service.

University Goal 5: Improve university effectiveness through transformative technologies, cutting-edge processes and actionable data

Wilson College is focusing more than ever on data-driven decision-making. Some key initiatives include: 

• Established flexible work guidelines for all employees with the goal of maintaining our vibrant on-campus community, empowering colleagues to maximize their impact while maintaining a healthy life-work balance and maximizing retention (see our exceptional retention data above: 98%).
• Invested in partnerships with the non-profit organization EAB and Tidal Equality to hone our strategy. 
• Established a college-level Laboratory Safety Officer and reorganized our structure to enhance our Pack Readiness functioning.
• Establishing ideal budgets for all units that will enable establishing an ideal college budget by spring 2025.
• Renovating collaborative spaces, including the Shuttle Inn, in partnership with University Dining.

University Goal 6: Lead in developing innovative partnerships, entrepreneurial thinking and applied problem-solving

Partnerships, problem solving and entrepreneurship have been part of Wilson College’s DNA for decades and are evident throughout this report. Our vibrant entrepreneurship culture even spans incoming first-year undergraduate students. The already high activity in our W. Duke Kimbrell Flex Factory is testament to the need to enable creativity and new business development outside formal academic structure. 

The UN Sustainable Development Goals include goal 17, which focuses on multilevel partnerships to achieve the other 16 goals. Wilson College is a leader in bringing together partners to address the most challenging problems facing our state, the textiles industry and society. With hundreds of industry partners, intentionally highly diverse government funding agencies from NIH, NSF, DOD to the Department of Homeland Security, close partnerships with the Department of Commerce and the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina, as well as our passionately engaged alumni and more than 1,200 donors, the Wilson College is a catalyst for positive change with a focus on collaboration, sustainability and quality of life for all. Two examples of impact not covered elsewhere in this report include:

• The relatively new partnership model, called the Fashion and Textile Business Excellence Cooperative, has a growing number of partners and establishing connections with stakeholders by hosting events, including the upcoming conference the 2024 AI in Textiles and Fashion Industries.  
• ZTE remodeled the online Textile Connect database for accurate sourcing and textile employment data.

University Goal 7: Elevate the national and global reputation and visibility of NC State

Our communications and marketing team creates content that promotes stakeholder engagement and broad awareness of the wide range of life-long learning, research and scholarship, service and donor and alumni engagement while elevating the Wilson College and NC State brand as a whole. This past academic year, the team published 126 news articles and our students, staff and faculty were featured 99 times in external media. In addition, PBS NOVA visited the college to film a segment on the lifesaving research conducted by the Textile Protection and Comfort Center with anticipated airing in the 2024-2025 academic year. Other notable external media mentions include New York Times Wirecutter, Garden & Gun Magazine, the Southern Living Magazine website and multiple local media outlets across North Carolina. 

The college’s team is also expanding the reach and elevating the awareness of NC State through its social media and YouTube presence. Specific pride points include a 19% increase in engagement and a 19% increase in profile reach on Instagram, as well as a 166% increase in engagement rate and a 19% increase in follower count on LinkedIn. Alumni and donors received newsletters with an average open rate far higher than the industry average.

Philanthropy and Alumni Engagement

Chancellor Woodson often states that it’s not about the money we raise, it’s about the impact that the money has on the success of our students and community. We could not agree more. Thanks to the dedication of our North Carolina Textile Foundation, the Dean’s Young Alumni Leadership Council and our thousands of alumni and donors, the Wilson College benefits from the highest alumni engagement scores at NC State. This translates into myriad benefits to our students, staff and faculty and enables Wilson College to have an extraordinary impact beyond what many would expect from a college of its size. We not only continue to set monetary records, we increase alumni presence and mentorship in the day-to-day lives of our students. Selected achievements of our NC Textile Foundation team include:

• Greater than 1,200 donors (>10% of alumni).
• 17 events with >860 attendees (an 18% increase from the three-year average).
• $9.7 million raised with a record $3.7 million on Day of Giving, which included 163 first-time Day of Giving donors and 79 first-time donors to NC State and full funding for the Flex Factory, with $3.95 million in total support to more than match committed state funds.
• Because of the work of the Dean’s Young Alumni Leadership Council, the college has a mentorship program with 64 mentees (52 undergraduates and 12 graduate students) and 61 mentors.

Key Goals for FY25:

Growing the NCTF endowment beyond $100 million, fully endowing the Centennial Scholarship Program and at least four more Textile Pioneer Scholarships, increasing the donor pool beyond 1,400 donors and expanding the team to successfully achieve future campaign goals.

Summary

As we celebrate our impactful story this year, we hope it fills our students, alumni, donors and all stakeholders with great pride and inspires even greater engagement to support our college’s and university’s vision and mission. We recognize that our remarkable accomplishments this past academic year are due in large part to all those who have supported and shaped our journey over the last 125 years. We hope you are inspired to continue to work together in strengthening the impact of our college and supporting Wilson for Life.