I am pleased to announce that the College of Textiles and the North Carolina Textile Foundation had a very successful year in development in spite of the significant downturn in our economy, highlighted by the recent decline of the stock market and much of our traditional textile support. The North Carolina Textile Foundation received $916,506 last year in cash and deferred gifts and the entire College of Textiles was pleased to report a final total of $5,635,323 in total gifts that came into the College. This allows the College to surpass its $5,000,000 annual goal by $635,000 or 112%. Eleven new Centennial Scholarships were also supported bringing the total to 19 annually supported students at $244,750. This amount was a 93% increase over the previous year. In addition, the College is also pleased to report gifts in kind for our new Nonwovens Lab totaling $5,489,275.

Our goal for the 2002-2003 academic year is to raise $7,750,000 for the College of Textiles while securing support for an additional 10 new Centennial Scholars. It is our alumni, friends, and industry partners that have allowed us to have such a positive report when other colleges at the University had a difficult time meeting their goals. I look forward to continuing to work with all of you in the future.

Dr. Lennie Barton, Executive Director of the NC Textile Foundation presents Dr. Behnam Pourdeyhimi, Director of the Nonwovens Cooperative Research Center, an award for being a member of the Lifetime Giving Society.