North Carolina State University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

North Carolina State University's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) is the fourth largest college in the university[1] and one of the largest colleges of its kind in the nation, with nearly 3,400 students pursuing associate, bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees and 1,300 on-campus and 700 off-campus faculty and staff members.[2]

With headquarters in Raleigh, North Carolina, the college includes 16 academic departments, the North Carolina Agricultural Research Service and the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service. The college dean is Dr. Richard Linton.[3]

The research service is the state's principal agency of agricultural and life sciences research, with close to 600 projects related to more than 70 agricultural commodities, related agribusinesses and life science industries. Scientists work not only on the college campus in Raleigh but also at 18 agricultural research stations and 10 field laboratories across the state.[2]

The extension service is the largest outreach effort at North Carolina State University, with local centers serving all 100 of North Carolina's counties as well as the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians. Cooperative Extension's educational programs, carried out by state specialists and county agents, focus on agriculture, food and 4-H youth development. About 43,000 volunteers and advisory leaders also contribute to Extension's efforts.[2]

The college staffs the Plants for Human Health Institute at the N.C. Research Campus in Kannapolis with faculty from the departments of horticultural science; food, bioprocessing and nutrition sciences; plant biology; genetics; and agricultural and resource economics.

The college's Department of Plant Pathology helps sponsor the Bailey Memorial Tour each year. This tour is offered to prospective agriculture students and gives them a broad based taste of the work of agricultural pathology, and is named after Dr. Jack Bailey, late pioneering Professor of Plant Pathology.