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NC State University Endows First College Chair

Steve Zelnak
NC State

NC State University now has endowed its first chair for a dean, and it’s in the College of Management.  Chancellor Randy Woodson made the $4 million announcement Tuesday.

“This is the first endowed chair for a Dean at N.C. State, and the first college that was endowed and we couldn’t be more pleased," said Woodson.

The Poole College of Management is relatively new.  It was established in 1992 and officially named in 2010.

Steve and Judy Zelnak are impressed.  Steve Zelnak, the former President and CEO of Martin Marietta Materials, and his wife, endowed the new Zelnak Dean’s Chair for $4 million.  Zelnak says it gives the college more resources to work with.

“It could be helping bring in a high caliber faculty member, it could be bringing in a couple of students who are very high caliber," said Zelnak.

Poole’s current dean, Ira Weiss, is the first recipient of the endowed chair.  Weiss says private support is what spurs innovation and better investments in people. 

The Zelnak’s have also funded a professorship in the Poole College of Management.

Leoneda Inge is the co-host of WUNC's "Due South." Leoneda has been a radio journalist for more than 30 years, spending most of her career at WUNC as the Race and Southern Culture reporter. Leoneda’s work includes stories of race, slavery, memory and monuments. She has won "Gracie" awards, an Alfred I. duPont Award and several awards from the Radio, Television, Digital News Association (RTDNA). In 2017, Leoneda was named "Journalist of Distinction" by the National Association of Black Journalists.
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