Alumni Stories

A Family Breakfast, and the Journeys That Brought Us Here

It is 8:40 on a Saturday morning, and the Coastal Ballroom in Talley Student Union is already full of motion. Nametags and magnets wait at the welcome table; a photo… 

Say Yes, And: A Caldwell Fellows Journey Through Chicago

This year’s Dinner Seminar theme is Journey, an invitation to see leadership development as a long road of self-discovery, with The Odyssey as our companion text. So it felt fitting… 

2026 Caldwell Fellows Alumni & Selection Weekend Recap

Rooted in Leadership: A Recap of the 2026 Caldwell Fellows Alumni Weekend There is something that happens when we gather. Something difficult to name but impossible to miss. It moves… 

Rooted in Leadership: Reflections from the 2026 Caldwell Fellows Alumni Conference

What happens when generations of leaders gather to explore the values that ground them? At this year’s Caldwell Fellows Alumni Conference, we found out, and the conversations that unfolded reminded… 

Leaders and Stewards: Seth Ellington on Paying it Forward

The Caldwell Fellows Program is made possible by the generous support of donors. All of the deeply immersive, high-impact programming we provide — our monthly dinner seminars, Urban Adventures trips,… 

“Giving for the Future”: Susan Brooks

For this post, we invited an alumna and donor to the Caldwell Fellows Program, Susan Brooks, to share why she cares enough about the program to have pledged a planned… 

“Why We Give”: Tori & Kerr Collins

For this post, we invited an alumna of and donor to the Caldwell Fellows Program to share a little bit about what inspires her to give her time, talent, testimony,… 

From Tailgate Trash to Transformative Leadership: Paul Mobley’s “Chuck It” Legacy

When Paul Mobley applied to the Caldwell Fellows program as a student at NC State, he never imagined that his stipend proposal would become a campus-wide sustainability initiative—let alone a defining… 

Threading Stories: A Caldwell Fellows Journey Through New York City

These words, spoken by one of our students to Dr. Brewer after Saturday evening’s Broadway performance, perfectly capture what made our recent New York City trip so powerful. Over three… 

Medwick Byrd: The Power of Education

Medwick Byrd’s commitment to supporting NC State and the College of Natural Resources stems from his belief in the power of education to transform lives. That was, after all, his… 

Navigating Leadership Pitfalls: Insights from the Caldwell Conversations Conference

The medical profession often faces the temptation to cut time short on patients with mental health concerns due to low reimbursement metrics. Balancing this reality with authentic servant leadership was… 

2025 Alumni & Selection Weekend Details

February 14 – 16, 2025 As always, we look forward to the Alumni & Selection weekend as a time to reconnect, swap stories, and make new memories as welcome a…