2025 Connecting in NC Tour Sparks Community Engagement in Western NC

Early one Wednesday morning this June, about 30 new faculty and staff stood in a large circle in front of the Hunt Library to introduce themselves to each other. They (and some seasoned guides) were about to have an intensive professional development and bonding experience…on a bus. The 2025 Connecting in North Carolina Tour was moments from hitting the road for the 19th time in 30 years.

NC State is a research-extensive land-grant university, as we know from our mission statement. But what does that really mean? It can be difficult to understand how NC State plays that role for our fellow North Carolinians. The CINC Tour (pronounced ‘sync’) is where the rubber hits the road, to meet the people throughout the state who personify the land-grand mission and make it real.

Each stop on a two- or three-day route features site visits, tours, presentations and authentic conversations with partners, colleagues and citizens from outside Wake County. We meet with leaders in local and regional government and industry, founders and workers in nonprofits, small business owners, cooperative extension agents and many others. Every stop has a connection to the Wolfpack.

The CINC Tour is guided by a Task Force of Engagement Operations Council members. When it met last October to decide on a geographic area to visit in 2025, the conversation quickly turned to Western North Carolina. Of course, everyone was concerned about our extended Wolfpack family after the trauma of Hurricane Helene. But the team also recognized the significance of a trip west at this moment. This CINC Tour could help spark critical collaborations at a moment when our neighbors need our resources most.

This year’s cohort traveled to sites in Burke, Buncombe, Henderson and Madison counties over three days and two nights. These stops are described briefly below.

Textile Innovation Engine in North Carolina
The Industrial Commons
Morganton, NC

The Industrial Commons (TIC) is a nonprofit focused on launching and nurturing community-owned, for-profit businesses. The TIC leads the NSF Textile Innovation Engine in North Carolina, which aims to renew America’s textile industry with quality jobs and global technological innovation. The partnership with the Wilson College of Textiles focuses on building a circular economy for the textile industry where waste is transformed into raw material input. The group toured the operations of one such business, Material Return, who works with brands like Smartwool and local manufacturers to take post-production and post-consumer textile waste, regenerate it, and remake it into fibers and yarns.

North Carolina Institute for Climate Studies
Asheville Museum of Science
Asheville, NC

CINC Tour particpants began their Thursday morning with a brief walk from the hotel to the Asheville Museum of Science, where we were introduced to the work of the North Carolina Institute for Climate Studies (NCICS) and the USGS Southeast Climate Adaptation Science Center. NCICS is an an inter-institutional research institute of the University of North Carolina system. They partner with industry, non-profits, federal agencies and community groups like the Museum, where they consulted on the recently opened Our Changing World permanent exhibit to tell data-driven stories about climate and community resilience. The exhibit is just one way NCICS provides access to data and information to to help UNC system partner organizations understand the trends and impacts of climate variability at different scales.

NC Cooperative Extension
Madison County Center
Marshall, NC

Later Thursday afternoon, the tour group visited the NC Cooperative Extension Madison County Center, which was an epicenter of relief activity after Hurricane Helene. The Center and nearby Fairgrounds were transformed into a supply distribution center where residents could drive through a vast field and take needed supplies from different stations. At the time of the visit, the interior of the Center was still being used as a makeshift court since flooding had damaged the actual courthouse. The meeting with Extension staff included an overview of how the Madison, Buncombe and Yancey county centers pivoted to address different needs in the aftermath of the storm.

Economic and Workforce Development Panel
Montford Rooftop Bar at DoubleTree
Asheville, NC

Distinguished guests representing a variety of development partnerships joined the CINC Tour faculty and staff for a dinner symposium sponsored co-sponsored with NC State’s Economic Development Partnership. The objectives of the evening were to explore the collaborations between various Western NC government, industry, development and higher education organizations, understand how regionally-focused partnerships support their communities after Helene, and what long-term collaborations with NC State might look like in the future.

Before dinner, Ben Teague, Vice President of Strategic Development at Biltmore Farms moderated a panel that included Clark Duncan, Executive Director and Senior Vice President, Economic Development Coalition for Asheville-Buncombe County and Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce, David Francis, Haywood County Community & Economic Development Director, and Emily Martin, Director of Business Development, Henderson County Partnership for Economic Development. This informal discussion fostered authentic relationship building, knowledge sharing, and ideation to lay the foundation for future projects to address shared regional economic, community, and workforce development goals. The takeaway message to Raleigh? Western North Carolina is open for business!

NC State Education Partnerships in Western NC Post-Helene
Mountain Horticultural Crops Research & Extension Center
Mills River, NC

The last stop on the tour Friday before heading back to Raleigh was the Mountain Horticultural Crops Research & Extension Center (MHCREC) in Mills River. This was an ambitious tour stop. It featured both an overview and tour of the MHCREC as well as a presentation and discussion program focused on teachers and schools in WNC. This program was anchored by MHCREC resident The Science House Mountain Satellite Office (MSO). The MSO provides STEM education through teacher and student programs like workshops, curriculum development and equipment loans. NC State’s Kenan Fellows Program explained the power of their alumni network in the aftermath of Helene, which enabled intelligence gathering to connect groups to meet immediate needs as well as plan to meet future challenges. NC State’s College of Education rounded out the program by explaining the ways the College prepares future teachers to be advocates and change agents in North Carolina by providing their own road trips and providing service learning experiences for Education undergraduates.

The 2025 CINC Tour included the following participants:

• Alicia Shelton, Outreach & Engagement
• Ana Christina Gonzalez de Alba, Zeis Textiles Extension, Wilson College of Textiles
• Andrea Sherrill, Agricultural and Human Sciences, NC State Extension
• Andrés Téllez, Media Arts, Design, and Technology, College of Design
• Brianna Forbes, Performing Arts & Technology, University College
• Bryan Clift, Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management, College of Natural Resources
• Catherine Hartman, Educational Leadership, Policy and Human Development, College of Education
• Celen Pasalar, Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning, College of Design
• Claudia Smith, Educational Leadership, Policy, and Human Development, College of Education
• David Monks, Outreach & Engagement
• Isaiah Cochran, Business Systems, Facilities Division
• Jacqueline Gibson, Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering, College of Engineering
• Jory Weintraub, Office of University Interdisciplinary Programs
• Kalene Thomas, Industrial and Systems Engineering, College of Engineering
• Karen Ciccone, Libraries
• Kendall Boone, Research Office, Wilson College of Textiles
• Lorraine Taylor, Center for Family & Community Engagement, College of Humanities & Social Sciences
• Madeline Kujabi, Institute for Emerging Issues
• Matt Simpson, Office of Research and Innovation
• Mike Nutt, Outreach & Engagement
• Missy Makanui, Management, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship, Poole College of Management
• Pieter Verhallen, Business Management, Poole College of Management
• Ritwick Ghosh, Forestry and Environmental Resources, College of Natural Resources
• Susan Jakes, Extension Agriculture & Natural Resources and Community & Rural Development
• Tarik Woods, Institute for Emerging Issues
• Tim Peeler, University Communications and Marketing
• Tom White, Economic Development Partnership
• Valeria Lopez Torres, Graphic and Industrial Design, College of Design
• Vanessa Greenlee, Human Resources, Facilities Division
• Yingchen He, Psychology, College of Humanities & Social Sciences

The following people hosted, toured or presented to this CINC Tour cohort:

• Bailey Smith, Zeis Textiles Extension Coordinator
• Benjamin “Ben” Teague, Biltmore Farms
• Bolek Strzelecki, Material Return
• Catherine Armstrong, The Textile Engine
• Clark S. Duncan, Economic Development Coalition for Asheville-Buncombe County and Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce
• County Extension Director and Commercial Horticulture Agent
• Dale B. Carroll, Sanford Holshouser
• David Francis, Haywood Chamber of Commerce
• Douglas Rao, North Carolina Institute for Climate Studies
• Elizabeth Ayers, Madison County Extension Center
• Emily Martin, Henderson County Partnership for Economic Development
• Holly Jordan, Buncombe County Extension Center
• Jennifer Runkle, North Carolina Institute for Climate Studies
• Jenny Dissen, North Carolina Institute for Climate Studies
• Jessica Edney, Mountain Horticultural Crops Research and Extension Center
• Katherine Smith, USGS Southeast Climate Adaptation Science Center
• Kathryn Stevenson, Parks, Recreation & Tourism Management
• Lindsey Hubbard, College of Education
• Lisa Calloway, The Mountain Science House
• Lizzie Warfield, Textile Innovation Engine
• Marty Anderson, Material Return
• Michelle Taylor, The Science House Mountain Satellite Office
• Otis Brown, North Carolina Institute for Climate Studies
• Rachel Raineri, Project Manager, Wilson College of Textiles
• Steve Duckett, NC State Extension
• Thea Yang, The Industrial Commons
• Tom Kon, Horticultural Science
• Tom Maycock, North Carolina Institute for Climate Studies
• Vance Kite, Kenan Fellows Program for Teacher Leadership

For more photos of the 2025 CINC Tour, please see this photo album.

The CINC Tour is one of NC State’s most powerful traditions. If you are interested in the tour and have been hired in the last seven years, connect with your dean or department head about attending the Connecting in North Carolina Tour in June 2026! Each college/unit may send up to 2 representatives. The Office of Outreach and Engagement will notify Deans and other unit heads in fall 2025 about registration details for the next CINC Tour.

This post was originally published in Outreach & Engagement.