Founded in 1887, North Carolina State University started as a land grant institution rooted in agriculture and engineering under the name of North Carolina College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts. Today the NC State University is known for being a preeminent research institute leading in the fields of textiles, business, agriculture, education and natural resources management. The university enrolls 34000 students every year and has a faculty of 8000. The university believes in imparting practical knowledge to their students rather than following the traditional theoretical pattern that relies heavily on bookish knowledge. This public research institute is situated in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States which is at the heart of the urban hotspot for tech professionals and job seekers with companies like IBM, Cisco Systems, SAS Institute, Biogen Idec and GlaxoSmithKline being among the top companies situated in the area and being the largest job provides to NC State graduates. The campus is approximately spread across 1334 acres of land, the main campus shares its boundaries with Centennial Parkway and Avent Ferry Road and to the east of Research Triangle Park and Raleigh Durham International Airport. The University offers diverse programs and courses across disciplines and also offers lab and office space for NPO'S, corporate and governmental institutions. They are approximately 75 research centers and the university also consists of others institutions and laboratories. The current alumni network has a total of 156, 297 alumni with majority of them residing in and around Carolina, the university also boasts of having a renowned staff and faculty. Some of the notable alumni include- former White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, Jeff Williams the Chief Operating Officer in Apple Inc, Olympic gold medalist swimmer Cullen Jones and many more.