Dean Martin-Vega works to educate voters about the Connect NC Bond

NC State’s College of Engineering Dean Louis A. Martin-Vega recently traveled the state to educate alumni and friends about the Connect NC bond referendum that appears on the March 15 primary election ballots in North Carolina. Dean Martin-Vega spoke in Raleigh, Charlotte, Wilmington and Greensboro to spread the word about the bond and it’s impact on the College.

Without raising any taxes, the $2 billion Connect NC bond will fund critically important projects across the state of North Carolina, including investments in clean water and sewer, public safety and the National Guard, community colleges, agriculture and state parks and the zoo. The bond directly impacts the College of Engineering, providing half the funding for the much needed Engineering Oval building.*

The Engineering Oval building is critical to the future of the College of Engineering at NC State. It will house the Edward P. Fitts Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering and the Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering as well as the dean’s administrative offices. The building will provide more than 100 classrooms and laboratories to support research and education centered around key areas of economic importance such as biomanufacturing, rapid prototyping, advanced manufacturing, health systems, construction management, transportation systems and other fields.

The state of North Carolina last passed a bond in support of higher education in 2000. That $3 billion bond made significant impact on the quality of higher education across the state and particularly at NC State where it facilitated the move of two-thirds of the College of Engineering to new facilities on Centennial Campus.

“The 2000 bond sent a message across the country that North Carolina was a leader in higher education,” said Martin-Vega. “Since that bond, the College of Engineering has grown in enrollment but also in research activities. The facilities made possible by that 2000 bond helped the move from receiving most of its funding from the state to now generating significantly more of its funding from externally supported programs and research.”

The Connect NC bond was put on the ballot by the NC Legislature last fall where it received strong bipartisan support. Early voting for the primary and bond started on March 3. The last day to vote is March 15.

*[Editor’s Note:  The Engineering Building Oval (EB Oval) was renamed Fitts-Woolard Hall on April 20, 2018, at the groundbreaking ceremony.]