NCSU Libraries Focus Online

Volume 22 number 1 - Fall 2001

By June Brotherton, Administration and Advancement

How does someone end up with a lifelong career in teaching at NC State? By complaining about the bad instruction he received as an undergraduate. That is how Charles D. Livengood became one of the College of Textiles's most-beloved and honored professors.

Livengood's roots run deep in the red clay soils of Piedmont mill towns. A Lexington-area native, he could not afford to come to NC State as an undergraduate. However, his father worked in the finishing division of Erlanger Mills, and the company offered college scholarships to children of its workers. Livengood, who worked with his father in dyeing and finishing during summer vacations, applied for and won a scholarship to study textile chemistry at NC State, entering as a member of the Class of 1958.

"Although I had worked in dyeing and finishing, nothing prepared me for freshman chemistry," Livengood stated. "Chemistry was a shock, and the returning Korean vets were finishing a four-year degree in three and one-half years. They set the pace, and the pressure was on to take heavier loads, do well, and graduate early."

After he graduated, Livengood worked as a research chemist in the College of Textiles and "backed into" graduate school, completing his master's degree in 1967 while working full-time. In 1966 Livengood took the step that placed him on his permanent career path as a teaching faculty member. That year a veteran textiles professor who taught several core undergraduate textiles courses accepted a Fulbright scholarship to Spain. Livengood and another graduate student complained to Henry A. Rutherford, head of the Department of Textiles Chemistry, about the quality of the replacement instructor's teaching. Rutherford nicely turned the tables on them by assigning the professor's classes to them to teach. Knowing he needed a doctorate to teach at the university level and with no doctorate offered in textiles at NC State at that time, Liven-good started an Ed.D. program in industrial vocational education in 1967, again while working full-time.

In 1972 Livengood received his doctorate and became an assistant professor. Research and teaching provided parallel career tracks for him over the next thirty years. He moved quickly from assistant to associate professor, then to professor and assistant department head in textile chemistry in 1982. In 1985 he became head of the Department of Textile Chemistry, then head of the Department of Textile Engineering, Chemistry, and Science in 1988. He capped his career in 1994 by being named associate dean for academic programs in the College of Textiles, a position he held until his retirement this year.

Looking back at his career, what does Livengood see as his greatest accomplishment? "I saw a lot of myself in the students who came through the doors of the College of Textiles. My greatest accomplishment was the contribution I made to the education of these young men and women, who went on to become successful in the textile industry and active as civic and community leaders. I also looked out for the 'mill-hill' kids from Davidson County. I'd tell my sister in Lexington about their progress or lack thereof, and parents would call her to check on their sons or daughters."

It was a natural thing when Livengood retired in 2001 that he and wife Mary would decide to set up an endowment at the NCSU Libraries to honor teaching and learning, called the Charles D. and Mary B. Livengood Teaching and Learning Endowment. "To me, the Libraries always stood for the center of learning, a repository. It was a place where I could go when I needed information, and they either had it or could get it. Lots of the young people coming into the textiles college had a hard time adjusting and needed help, and the Libraries was a way to get friendly and accessible help. Professors helped to the extent they could, but some students didn't know how to study, didn't know how to ask questions, and didn't know how to get organized. The library helped those students be successful."

Mary Livengood also had a commitment to the textiles industry. Before her retirement, she worked for twenty-seven years as controller of the Fibers Division of Guilford Mills in Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina.

Livengood considered establishing an endowment at the Libraries for several reasons. "When students and faculty needed help, the Textiles Library was always there," he said. "I also saw a lot of new teaching faculty who were enthusiastic, but who needed help in preparing to teach. This endowment will help ensure that the critical materials will be there that young, in-service instructors or struggling students need, or that the more experienced faculty can point them to in order to help them solve their own problems."

He hopes that the 6,000 to 8,000 students who came through the College of Textiles while he was there will help to support this endowment--not because of him, but because they want to help other students, many from rural counties, who are following in their footsteps.

"I just hope I have helped a bunch of students a little over a long period of time," Livengood said. "I’ve had a great career, but the best reward I've had from working at State was when the students chose me twice for the Alumni Distinguished Professor Award in the '80s. It doesn't get much better than that."