N.C. A&T officials and employees, including members of the Board of Trustees and the CAES Advisory Board, gathered on April 26 to sign the pinnacle structural steel beam of the college's Urban and Community Food Complex, currently under construction next to the University Farm Pavilion.

Called a Topping-Out Ceremony, this common tradition involves placing the final beam at the highest point of the structure. Monteith Construction workers transported and fitted the beam into its space in the $12 million, nearly 15,000-square-foot building. According to CAES Interim Dean Shirley Hymon-Parker, the complex is intended to serve as a small-business incubator, part research and engagement facility, including a sensory lab for conducting consumer research, a post-harvest physiology lab for examining harvested products, a food processing lab, a commercial kitchen, and a food safety lab.

“In this building, food entrepreneurs will be able to research and test their business ideas with assistance from the college faculty and Cooperative Extension specialists,” she said.