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New University Controller Lori Johnson: balancing NC State’s budget
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PAGE 3 • THURSDAY, MARCH 21, 2019
New University Controller Lori Johnson: balancing NC State’s budget
Sofia Gonzalez Bartello
Correspondent
Lori Johnson was named university controller in late February, after almost 20 years of experience working with NC State finances. The previous university controller was David Price, who retired last spring.
The university controller is responsible for things such as budgeting, tax compliance and financial statements. They also oversee areas such as accounting, cash services and various financial operations.
“The university controller position is basically the steward over all the financial data in the system,” Johnson said. “It’s an important clearing-house in making sure that all the revenues and expenses are correctly reported and disseminated into the financial report.”
According to the university controller’s website, the controller’s office aims to uphold the integrity of the Financial Accounting and Reporting System. They ensure that financial records are correct and available to a number groups such as the Board of Governors and the NC State Board of Trustees, while abiding by all laws and regulations.
“One of the duties of the controller’s office is to help the wheels get down the road smoothly, so what the controller’s office does and what this position does is enable the train to move down the tracks and to stay on the tracks,” Johnson said.
Johnson said her position is an important part of stewardship shown to the citizens of the state and to the students who attend or support the university.
She said her experience at the university gave her more expertise in how to effectively carry out her position.
“I have been at NC State for nineteen years,” Johnson said. “I originally started in the controller’s office as the financial manager and learned a lot about the financial system. Being there really gave me a chance to work with a number of departments and colleges to understand how things work and allow me to see the big picture of things.”
Johnson’s job also includes communicating with a variety of different departments to ensure all regulations are followed by the school.
“NC State is a wonderful institution,” Johnson said. “I love working here because of all the brilliant things that are being done by all the students and faculty. What I want the controller’s office to do is to enable that work to continue as smoothly as we can while we keep everyone compliant with all of the rules and regulations that we have to comply with, both at the state level and the federal level.”
Johnson said she has great hopes and expectations for the future of NC State and plans to continue helping NC State run as well as possible.
“The future of NC State is bright,” Johnson said. “We are going places that I don’t think were even thought of a couple of decades ago, and so I really feel we are in the midst of a partnership of the controller’s office with the different colleges at NC State, and that will help the institution get as far as it can go.”
EMMA SHEPPARD/TECHNICIAN Lori Johnson, who has been with NC State for almost 20 years, was recently named the new university controller. Johnson previously served as the director of strategic debt and financial management in the finance division of the Office of Finance and Administration.
NC State and NCDOT launch research to combat bridge deterioration
Amber Detwiler
Staff Writer
In August 2017, two NC State graduate students and a professor in the Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering (CCEE) partnered with the North Carolina Department of Transportation to improve bridge durability and lifespan. With one year of the project remaining, the team shared what their research means for the department, NC State and North Carolina as a whole.
The team contributing to this research includes Zakariya Bourara, a graduate student in civil engineering; Brad McCoy, a Ph.D. candidate in civil engineering; and Rudi Seracino, a professor of structural engineering and associate head for undergraduate programs in the CCEE department.
“What we are trying to do is address limitations on existing bridges in North Carolina due to deterioration over time,” Seracino said. “Because of environmental conditions, the performance in terms of the strength or serviceability of bridges deteriorates over time, and they can reach a point where the deterioration is at a level where you need to restrict the traffic on the bridge.”
Seracino said that traffic is restricted by reducing the allowable weight of a truck that can cross the bridge, reducing the speed limit or even reducing the number of lanes. “Basically we design this experimental program, see where to evaluate the research gap in terms of what materials we’re going to be using, address those gaps, design our retrofit, conduct this experimental program and then deliver guidance on our findings to the DOT,” Bourara said.
Seracino said that this partnership is possible thanks an NCDOT-funded research program in which universities can submit proposals to address various research questions that they have.
“They are funding the project, which allows it to happen and lets graduate students do the work on the projects as part of their research theses,” Seracino said. “They provided us with the beams that we’re testing. All the beams we are testing came from existing bridges that were in service in North Carolina.”
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PAGE 4 • THURSDAY, MARCH 21, 2019
NC State awaits controversial Title IX changes after DOE receives public input
Jean Brannum
Correspondent
NC State is at a standstill with the proposal for changes to Title IX since the public comment period ended, and it is now waiting for the U.S. Department of Education to release a final proposal.
Last November, the department released a rewrite of the Title IX law, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in federally funded schools. Some proposed changes include redefined criteria for sexual harassment and the standard of evidence.
The American public had a period to comment publicly on the changes from Nov. 29 to Jan. 28 and again for 24 hours on Feb. 15.
Janine Kossen, associate director of the Women’s Center said there have been no changes implemented yet.
“Title IX is a statutory law, and what the administration is doing is proposing changes to that,” Kossen said. “These changes have not gone into effect yet. What they did was they issued a notice of proposed making and then gave a 60day comment period for any stakeholder’s interest to comment on that.”
The Department of Education is reviewing the over 105,000 comments on the changes, according to Kossen.
David Elrod from the Office of Institutional Equity and Diversity said that it is hard to make decisions about the university response when the department issues the final proposal, and that it could be another year before the changes go into effect.
“They are currently just proposed,” Elrod said. “They’re not in the final stages yet, and so until we know what those actually look like, the university cannot make concrete decisions.”
The proposed changes would also allow universities to cross-examine accusers of sexual assault, use informal resolutionpeople to come forward and seek support, and so the more hurdles you put in their paths, the less likely it is that people are going to come forward and seek support,” Kossen said.
One part of the proposal said the instance of sexual assault must greatly affect a student’s education in order to file a lawsuit under Title IX. Kossen gave her
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such as mediation to resolve cases, and change the jurisdiction.
Kossen commented on the proposed changes, saying that if any of the proposed changes become law, she believes it will be harder for survivors to come forward to speak out about their experiences.
“The barriers are often really high for interpretation and opinion on the change. “I think this speaks a little bit to the oncampus versus off-campus debate nationally,” Kossen said. “Essentially, regardless of where an incident occurs, it’s more than likely to affect someone’s educational status … I think the concern from national orgs is that the way the language is being interpreted is that it has to have such a substantial impact that essentially it will be too late, and students will have already dropped out. So instead of addressing the problem upstream, you’re waiting until you’re all the way downstream.”
Elrod claimed that NC State will continue to support survivors of sexual assault and strongly encouraged people to comment on the changes.
“We try to stress that individual comments, as opposed to form comments or form letter type of comments, were going to be seen with a bit more higher regard, and that the Department of Education is going to have to address, in some manner, the comments that have substantial matter,” Elrod said.
Kossen also said the Title IX office, which includes the Women’s Center, supports academic accommodations for victims of sexual assault both on- and off -campus.
According to Kossen, the department must respond to each unique public comment. Elrod and Kossen also mentioned that once changes are announced, the university response will be a collaborative effort between university departments, the General Council and the UNC System.
Elrod said that anyone who comes into the Office of Instiutional Equity and Diversity will be treated equally in sexual assault cases and will continue to gather information from an objective point of view.
Kossen said that she believes overall, NC State, overall, has a good system for supporting survivors.
NC DOT
continued from page 3
In addition to both funding the research and providing the beams, Seracino said that the NCDOT also has an advisory team of engineers which provides direction and guidance throughout the project. McCoy said that the NCDOT is providing a total of $300,000 to this project.
“One was a coastal bridge, where deterioration could be because of the saltwater that corrodes the steel reinforcement internally,” Seracino said. “The other bridge is in a rural area, and deterioration is due to runoff from agriculture trucks and fertilizer, which also damages the concrete and can cause corrosion of steel. The bottom line is that the types of bridges that are affected are across the state. It’s not restricted to a specific nation or a specific environmental condition.”
Since the project started, Seracino said, two NC State undergraduate students have contributed to this research, although the findings will benefit all students in the CCEE department.
“The reality is that the work we’ve been doing applies to bridge systems across the U.S. and worldwide,” Seracino said. “It is producing fundamental research that’s allowing us to train graduate students in innovative research, which results in publications, which is an important aspect of what we do as a research-intensive university. At the same time, the project has very practical applications and has an immediate impact of improving structures in society.”
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PAGE 5 • THURSDAY, MARCH 21, 2019
Carol Folt selected as new University of Southern California president
NC State Investment Fund holds over $43 million in fossil fuels
Staff Report
Just two months after resigning as UNCChapel Hill’s Chancellor, Carol Folt was announced as the next president of the University of Southern California, becoming the first female president in USC’s history. According to the Los Angeles Times, the USC board members selected Folt unanimously after interviewing more than 100 candidates. Over several months, candidates with backgrounds in business, academics and non-profits were considered. “Dr. Folt stood out from the very beginning as a courageous and compassionate person who always places the well-being of students, faculty, staff and patients at the heart of all she does,” Board Chairman Rick Caruso said, according to the Los Angeles Times.
According to The News & Observer, Folt heads to the university amidst multiple scandals at USC. These include multiple sexual assault charges against a gynecologist on campus and the recent college admissions scandal, which involved charges against several USC coaches and an athletics administrator last week.
“I am aware that our community is deeply troubled by a number of immediate challenges,” Folt said in an interview with the LA Times. “I assure you that we will meet these challenges together, directly, decisively and with honesty and candor.”
Folt will assume her new position on July 1, 2019.
COURTESY OF SDEUTERMAN/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
Boz Kaloyanov
Assistant News Editor
NC State has come under strict scrutiny from students over the past few months for investing a significant portion of its endowment money into the fossil fuel industry.
According to data provided by the university, the investment totals to around roughly 4 percent.
The university has approximately $1 billion invested into what is known as the NC State Investment Fund. This money is invested in a variety of fields, including one titled “Energy & Natural Resources.” According to a document posted on NC State’s website, approximately seven percent of the fund is allocated for this category as of Dec. 31, 2018.
Libby P. George, director of investments at Foundations Accounting & Investments, provided a graphic via email that specifically outlined the approximately 4.3 percent that is actually invested in “Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels” as of Sept. 30, 2018. This equates to just over $43 million.
George confirmed via email that consumable fuels referred to nonrenewable sources of energy, and renewable sources of energy represented a total of $13.2 million as of June 30, 2018. However, those funds were located throughout the portfolio rather than just the energy section.
Mary Peloquin-Dodd, interim vice chancellor for finance and administration, spoke about the Investment Fund’s breakdown.
“Our portfolio for the NC State Investment Fund is about one billion dollars, and is divided it up between different managers,” Peloquin-Dodd said. “UNC Management Company is our largest manager and at roughly 87 percent of our portfolio. Our portfolio in total is a highly diversified portfolio, with potentially thousands of different companies and holdings. We tend to look at it in terms of how we discuss our performance really more based on asset classes rather than individual managers.”
In regards to specifics of the portfolio beyond asset classes, Peloquin-Dodd declined to share that information.
“That isn’t necessarily something we would share with any individual, and it’s not something I can necessarily get my hands on anytime soon,” Peloquin-Dodd said.
More information on the NC State Investment Fund can be found online.
