North Carolina State University
EN-14: Participation in Public Policy

Together with other universities and the University of North Carolina System, the NC State Office of External Affairs and the Office of Federal Research Affairs, advocate for public policy that supports sustainability.

The North Carolina State University Office of External Affairs is the voice of campus communications with State and local government officials and serves as liaison with all State, City, and County governmental agencies. The goals of the External Affairs Office include increasing the visibility of NC State and effectively sharing campus concerns and priorities with members of the North Carolina General Assembly and local governments throughout North Carolina, specifically Raleigh and Wake County. Working to educate elected and appointed governmental officials about NC State’s contributions as a premier university focused in the areas of teaching, research, and extension is the primary mission of this office.

The Assistant to the Chancellor for External Affairs serves as the University’s primary liaison with state and local elected and appointed officials. This individual serves as one of 10 Executive Officers who address and provide advice on major developing issues on and off campus, including key operational issues and issues of policy, regulations, programs, and institutional structure.

The Office of Federal Research Affairs has three missions: to increase understanding and support for NC State’s federal agenda, primarily focusing on NC State’s federal research initiatives; to communicate to NC State stakeholders the federal policy changes that are contemplated; and to affect change on those policies when they would adversely affect the operations of NC State. Over the past year, the Office of Federal Research Affairs has increased the visibility of NC State to members of Congress, personal congressional staff, agency officials, congressional committee staff, and other universities and university associations through participation in association events, briefings in DC, one-on-one meetings with members and congressional staff, and social and professional visits to NC State’s campus for tours of facilities, athletic events, and other gatherings of importance.

A state-level example is NC State gaining support for self-performance energy saving contract methods. Only NC State and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte have been provided this authority. A self-performance energy savings contract enables the university to implement energy conservation measures using the institution’s existing debt service to issue government bonds, without traditional energy savings performance guarantee contract methods. This enables the university implement energy conservation measures in a more cost effective manner when compared to a high-margin traditional energy service company (ESCO).