SAS Hosts NC State University Chancellor James L. Oblinger; Event Marks New Era in NC State-SAS Partnership

Business Wire, June 28, 2005

CARY, N.C. -- SAS, the leader in business intelligence, hosted an event to honor newly installed North Carolina State University Chancellor James L. Oblinger. The reception marked another milestone in the ongoing relationship between SAS and the university.

SAS founder and CEO Dr. Jim Goodnight introduced Chancellor Oblinger, who talked about the continued commitment of both NC State and SAS to pursue educational excellence.

"NC State and SAS share a commitment to achievement and scholarship that exemplifies 'Innovation in Action,'" said Chancellor Oblinger. "Together, we will continue to reach new heights for our campus, our state and our world."

Dr. Mark Milliron, vice president of the SAS Education Practice, announced a new initiative, the SAS Mentors Program, which SAS will launch initially at NC State. The program provides an innovative way for SAS employees around the world to help students develop the skills and knowledge they need to become tomorrow's leaders. The program will also focus on supporting international students involved in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

"The success of this partnership over the past 30 years is readily apparent," said Milliron. "All of us are excited that today represents a continued commitment to this special relationship, as well as new opportunities for collaboration and innovation."

Through the new SAS Mentors Program, the company hopes to strengthen and expand participation in the NC State Alumni Club at SAS. Dr. Lennie Barton, associate vice chancellor and executive director of the NC State Alumni Association, also provided SAS NC State alumni guests an exciting look at the Dorothy and Roy Park Alumni Center, currently under construction on Centennial Campus.

Growing out of work done at NC State, SAS was founded in 1976 and continues to look to the university as a source of research, innovation and highly skilled technical graduates. Jim and Ann Goodnight have led the company's ongoing focus on education and partnership efforts with the university community. More than 350 SAS employees have degrees from NC State. The company and the Goodnights have endowed professorships in the College of Engineering, the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, and the College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences. NC State received a five-year, $1 million Campus Innovation Grant from SAS in 2000.

About SAS

SAS is the market leader in providing a new generation of business intelligence software and services that create true enterprise intelligence. SAS solutions are used at more than 40,000 sites - including 96 of the top 100 companies on the FORTUNE Global 500(R) - to develop more profitable relationships with customers and suppliers; to enable better, more accurate and informed decisions; and to drive organizations forward. SAS is the only vendor that completely integrates leading data warehousing, analytics and traditional BI applications to create intelligence from massive amounts of data. For nearly three decades, SAS has been giving customers around the world The Power to Know(R).

For additional information about the SAS-NC State partnership, please visit: http://www.sas.com/success/ncsu.html .

SAS and all other SAS Institute Inc. product or service names are registered trademarks or trademarks of SAS Institute Inc. in the USA and other countries. (R) indicates USA registration. Other brand and product names are trademarks of their respective companies. Copyright (C) 2001 SAS Institute Inc. Cary, NC, USA. All rights reserved.