Goodnight, Hooks and Stallings Honored with 2024 Watauga Medals

Three longtime volunteers and donors joined the ranks of NC State’s Watauga Medalists earlier this month.

Ann Goodnight, Jake Hooks and Charlie Stallings received Watauga Medals on Sept. 5 at a dinner and ceremony hosted by the university’s Board of Trustees in the ballroom at Talley Student Union.

Since 1975, the Board of Trustees has bestowed the medals as the university’s highest nonacademic honor on individuals who have made significant contributions to the advancement of NC State.

“Our Watauga Medalists help us achieve our university’s mission of creating economic, societal and intellectual prosperity for the people of North Carolina and beyond,” said Ed Weisiger Jr., chair of the Trustees, who served as official host for the evening. “Medalists play different, important roles in our Pack. Their contributions can include volunteer service, behind-the-scenes advocacy, philanthropy and so much more.

“They lead and they inspire.”

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Prior to this year, 132 people including alumni, staff members and friends of NC State had received Watauga Medals. Annually, medalists return to the ceremony as guests, and this year, three previous winners — Gayle Lanier, Suzanne Gordon and Chuck Flink — introduced the newest honorees.

The ceremony included brief remarks by Chancellor Randy Woodson, who is retiring at the end of the academic year. Weisiger briefly recognized the leadership of Woodson and his wife, Susan, with the crowd quickly responding by giving the Woodsons a standing ovation.

“He and Susan have led an incredible transformation of our academics, faculty, research, arts, athletics, campus, reputation and more,” Weisiger said. “They have set up the Wolfpack for even more incredible things to come.”

Meg Day, assistant professor of English, recited original poetry. Day, past winner of an Amy Lowell Poetry Traveling Scholarship and a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship, is the 2024 poet-in-residence at the Solomon Guggenheim Museum.  

Learn more about the 2024 Watauga Medalists and their commitment to NC State:

Ann Goodnight

Ann Baggett Goodnight grew up in Lillington and Fayetteville, attending Meredith College after high school graduation.

Instead of eventually transferring to UNC-Chapel Hill, her original plan, she transferred to NC State and finished her degree in political science in 1968. Two years earlier, she had married Dr. Jim Goodnight, then an assistant professor and, later, the founder and CEO of SAS Institute.

Ann’s deep commitment to NC State has included 16 years of service on the Board of Trustees (1999-2007 and 2015-2023), with terms as the board’s vice chair and secretary/treasurer.

Other leadership roles include service on the Achieve! Campaign Steering Committee, the College of Humanities and Social Sciences Dean’s Advisory Board, the William and Ida Friday Institute for Educational Innovation’s National Advisory Board, Coalition 2000 and the Institute for Emerging Issues Gallery Advisory Committee. Along with Jim, she served as a co-chair of the Think and Do the Extraordinary Campaign.

She also was an eight-year member of the UNC Board of Governors.

Goodnight is passionate about improving public education at every level, for students and for educators, as an advocate, volunteer and donor. She often makes connections between people to help address issues and meet needs, and former Gov. Jim Hunt once publicly called her “North Carolina’s number-one citizen and leader for education for all time.”

At NC State, through their financial generosity, the Goodnights have impacted the lives of more than 1,000 students (from 90 of the state’s 100 counties) majoring in STEM and STEM education fields by endowing the Goodnight Scholarships, launched in 2008 to benefit students from middle- and low-income North Carolina families.

Beginning in 2017, Transfer Scholars from the state’s community colleges were added to the program.

In addition to full scholarships, these students benefit from an array of programming, enrichment, travel and service opportunities, with a mantra of “pay it forward.”

Currently, there are nearly 350 Goodnight Scholars on campus, and that number is poised to grow significantly in the years ahead. More than 40% of current Scholars are the first in their families to attend college, nearly half hail from the state’s most underserved communities and nearly half are students of color.

Goodnight has been a constant at Goodnight Scholars events, engaging in thoughtful conversations with students and learning more about their achievements and plans. She demonstrates commitment to them in ways large and small.

More recently, the Goodnight Doctoral Fellowship was established to provide support for over 140 talented graduate students.

The Goodnights have impacted teaching and discovery at NC State by establishing 28 named, endowed faculty positions along with the College of Engineering’s deanship. Through the Goodnight Early Career Innovators Award program, they support 75 promising faculty.

Their philanthropy has made a difference for the Student Emergency Fund, the Libraries, Arts NC State, the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation, and colleges and programs across campus.

Along with Susan Woodson, Goodnight co-founded Wolfpack Women in Philanthropy (WWIP), an initiative helping more women connect with one another and discover their passions at NC State. She served as the group’s first committee chair for Leadership and Advocacy, which, among other goals, has worked to build a stronger pipeline of women leaders for volunteer boards across campus.   

WWIP discussions often touch on how everyone can make a positive impact through their time, talent, treasure, ties and testimony, Lanier said. “We could have no greater role model in that than Ann Goodnight.”

Goodnight’s professional résumé includes senior director of community relations for SAS Institute and director of the Goodnight Educational Foundation, as well as founder of the Umstead Hotel and Spa and of Cary Academy.

A lifetime member of the NC State Alumni Association and the Friends of the Libraries, she has previously been honored with the CHASS Alumna of the Year, the Darrell and Carolyn Menscer Cup, the DesignLife Award, the Park Scholars’ William C. Friday Award and the Dare and Do Women’s Honors.

Jake Hooks

Jacob T. “Jake” Hooks Jr. — who earned his bachelor’s degree from NC State in materials science and engineering (MSE) in 1978 — previously served eight years on the NC State Engineering Foundation Board and is back on the board for a third term. He also is a member of the NC State University Foundation Board.

On the Engineering Foundation Board, particularly during his time as that group’s development chair, he was a strong advocate for fundraising for Fitts-Woolard Hall, among other priorities. Hooks led critical conversations around supporting that facility. He also set an example with a naming gift for the dean’s suite in Fitts-Woolard Hall and a naming gift for the third-floor atrium in Engineering Building I, becoming a member of the Fitts-Woolard Hall Cornerstone Society.

Hooks established a scholarship in his home department in honor of his father, Jacob T. Hooks Sr., who earned his NC State degree in agriculture in 1927. Along with his wife, Jennifer, he also named a distinguished faculty position in MSE, which was awarded for the first time two years ago to Veronica Augustyn. Most recently, the Hookses made a 2024 Day of Giving gift that will help establish a new Advanced Battery Materials Center.

Members of NC State’s R.S. Pullen Society and residents of Wilmington, North Carolina, the couple believes deeply in higher education and strongly supports Jennifer’s alma mater, UNC-Greensboro.

Jake himself is a lifelong learner, having completed the executive program at the University of Michigan and the global leadership program at Dartmouth College’s Amos Tuck School of Business in recent years. At NC State, he said, he learned problem-solving and engineering skills that opened doors to a successful future.

After graduation, Hooks started work as a product engineer for Aeroquip, which was acquired by Eaton Corporation in 1999. Eaton is a power management company that provides energy-efficient solutions to manage electrical, hydraulic and mechanical power more efficiently and sustainably.

Hooks held many leadership roles over a 35-year career and retired as president of Eaton’s Automotive North America business in 2013.

Growing up in the Wayne County town of Fremont, he never really wondered where he’d attend college. His father, who had captained NC State’s freshman men’s basketball team in 1924, passed on his love for the institution.

“Jake, simply put, is a State man,” Gordon said.

He has inspired NC State students through serving as a guest speaker at events like the College of Engineering’s freshman welcome. A 2015 inductee to the MSE Hall of Fame, he received the College of Engineering’s 2019 Distinguished Alumnus Award and is a lifetime member of the NC State Alumni Association.

Hooks also has financially supported the Wolfpack Club, the Engineering Leadership Fund, the MSE department and the Women and Minority Engineering Programs.

Although deeply immersed in engineering, he has been involved in other areas, too, such as serving on the Park Scholars Selection Committee.

Charlie Stallings

Charles E. “Charlie” Stallings has been volunteering for the Wolfpack as an alumnus for more than four decades, starting in the 1980s with his role as a founding member of the NC State University Investment Board of Directors.

He worked with the Alumni Association to establish the NC State Club of Richmond and, as president of that club, championed an effort to have NC State-branded license plates issued within Virginia.

Stallings, who grew up in Raleigh, graduated from NC State in 1977 with a degree in business management. The university, he said, set him on the path for a successful, award-winning career in finance and accounting.

That career included licensure in several professional areas and important roles at Connecticut Mutual Insurance (now Mass Mutual), Bank of Virginia/Signet Bank and BB&T. Since retiring in 2019 as senior vice president for the institutional fixed income group at BB&T, Stallings has found a new career as a steady volunteer at his alma mater.

As a student, he got his first taste of fundraising by leading a successful dance marathon to benefit people with muscular dystrophy. His community service experiences with Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity laid the groundwork for Stallings to chair a long list of fundraising events for a wide range of nonprofits and to serve on a variety of community boards.

He brought that experience and a passion for strategic giving to NC State — sharing best practices, fundraising and marketing ideas to volunteer roles that have included serving on the Think and Do the Extraordinary Campaign Cabinet and chairing the NC State University Foundation Board. Stallings has been an enthusiastic part of Day of Giving, encouraging many others to give and get involved.

“You do not want to get between Charlie and a Day of Giving Challenge!” Flink said.

Stallings’ wife, Jeanne, has gotten involved, too, with efforts like Wolfpack Women in Philanthropy and support for the arts on campus.

Charlie has volunteered as a judge for student showcase events at Poole College of Management. He was an early leader in the Wolfpack’s efforts to navigate and leverage the NCAA’s Name Image Likeness ruling with our student-athletes, helping with structure and with connecting athletes to the community.

The Stallingses have been generous supporters of the Charles E. Stallings Family Scholarship Endowment in Poole College of Management as well as the Stallings Family Extraordinary Opportunity Scholarship, with a preference for a student involved in an NC State arts program or affiliated department.

Members of the R.S. Pullen Society, in addition to consistent support for Poole College of Management, they have invested in areas like the College of Education, the University’s Greatest Needs Fund and the Wolfpack Club.

Stallings was recognized as Poole College of Management’s 2014 Distinguished Alumnus of the Year.