by Institute for Emerging Issues — January 8, 2021 .
RALEIGH – 35 years ago, our state and our country were facing tough challenges. The AIDS epidemic was still spreading, two years after a promised vaccine. The Cold War was still hot; the US was watching other countries surge ahead in innovation. The explosion of the space shuttle Challenger was shaking our confidence in technology; domestic and international terrorists were shaking our sense of safety; the Iran-Contra affair was shaking our faith in national government.
Into that environment, former NC Governor Jim Hunt and then-NC State Chancellor called people from across the state for a heart-to-heart summit of sorts, the first “Emerging Issues Forum.”