N.C. A&T’s Laboratory Animal Science students will have new opportunities for internships and experiential learning at UNC-Chapel Hill under a new agreement between the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences and UNC’s Division of Comparative Medicine and Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine.

According to the agreement, at least one student from the Department of Animal Sciences will be eligible to apply for a summer internship on the Chapel Hill campus, learning various aspects of UNC’s laboratory animal science division. To apply, students must be enrolled in one of N.C. A&T’s animal science degree programs and have a minimum 2.5 GPA. The application will be ready in early January.

“This is the culmination of a long-term dream to create a partnership between N.C. A&T and UNC-Chapel Hill,” said Craig Fletcher, Ph.D., DVM, a laboratory animal science major from N.C. A&T’s Class of 1995. Fletcher is associate vice chancellor for research, vice chair and professor in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine in the School of Medicine, and the director of the Division of Comparative Medicine at UNC Chapel Hill. He also is UNC’s university veterinarian and a member of the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences Advisory Board.

“The purpose of this program is to create opportunity. One of our drives at UNC is to build a community together, and it’s important to have our community reflect the people of the state,” said Fletcher, who has taught laboratory animal science classes in the college as visiting faculty. “Biomedical sciences and laboratory animal medicine are a large part of UNC’s research work force and are areas that need to diversify.”

Through the program, selected students can receive professional development, preparation for the certification exam for lab animal science professionals, and other opportunities.

“It is very fitting that N.C. A&T, the largest HBCU in the nation and one of the top contributors to work force diversity in the state, partners with UNC-Chapel Hill, our flagship university, to better serve the people of the state,” said Dean Mohamed Ahmedna. “This partnership is designed for the students, and it will bring the opportunities offered to the next level.”

N.C. A&T has one of the few laboratory animal science programs in the nation and the only one in North Carolina. The program is one of the most successful in the university, graduating many veterinary students, biomedical professionals and lab animal technicians.

“I am grateful for the hard work that went into creating this program,” said Penny Gordon-Larsen, Ph.D., interim vice chancellor of research at UNC. “This will be mutually beneficial, with you sharing your student talent and UNC sharing its resources and opportunities. This program is known to be amazing, and we will benefit from the incredible, strong training that you have here.”

Two students who interned at UNC last summer, Jhordyn Ellison and Sydney Roberts, said their hands-on experiences helped them figure out their career paths.

“I felt as though A&T gave me the skills I needed to be successful, and then, UNC gave me the opportunity to practice those skills and learn others,” said Ellison, a senior lab animal science and animal science double major.

For Roberts, a double animal science and lab animal science major, the experience was clarifying.

“Being there helped me define what I really wanted to do,” Roberts said. “Now I think I might want to go into research. It was definitely helpful and I’d recommend it for everyone.”