SunTrust Bank creates CAES scholarship
The CAES has been awarded a $120,000 scholarship from SunTrust Bank and John Boyd, president of the National Black Farmers Association. A&T is one of six HBCUs chosen to receive this award in a competitive process established by SunTrust.
The SunTrust Bank and John Boyd Scholarship will be awarded to four incoming freshmen who plan to major in agribusiness or another major related to the agriculture industry. Each student will receive an award of $25,000, to be distributed over four years. The college’s scholarship committee will determine which students will receive the award, based on the bank’s criteria.
The scholarship also makes another $20,000 available to the college for services to support those students, including IT support, tutoring and other academic resources, or other costs related to their progress toward graduation.
For information on how to make a gift to the college, contact Justin Lewter, director of development, at 336-285-3055 or jmlewter1@ncat.edu.
Child Development Laboratory receives five-star rating
The Child Development Laboratory at N.C. A&T has maintained its five-star rating, the highest rating available to early childhood educational facilities in North Carolina. The North Carolina Division of Child Development and Early Education manages the rating system and bases ratings on teacher education, program standards and quality.
Administered by the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences in the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, the CDL has maintained a compliance history of 100% for the past 18 months. It also scored a 6.33 out of 7 on the Early Childhood Environmental Rating Scale, upon which the average score in the state is 5.
The CDL is staffed with experienced teachers educated in the fields of child development and early childhood education and focuses on the physical, cognitive, social, emotional and creative development of the child. It serves children from age 2½ to 5 years old, providing an enriching environment for young children and their families.
A teaching, research and service laboratory for students in the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences who major in child development and family studies, the CDL is also available for use by students from other majors across the campus who have an interest in child development, child behavior, special education, human performance and leisure studies, speech pathology, social work, psychology, and other areas involving children and families.
Small Farms Week messages, resources available online
Face-to-face events may have been canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but Cooperative Extension at N.C. A&T is still sharing messages from dignitaries and educational resources on the Small Farms Week 2020 webpage.
Several of the individuals who were scheduled to speak have provided written messages for the small farmers of North Carolina. They express sincere appreciation for the vital contributions small farmers make to the state’s economy and well-being.
“I thank you for all that you do to feed and support our local communities, our nation and the world,” Chancellor Harold L. Martin Sr. wrote. “Working together, I am confident we can build a future for small farmers in our state that is both inspiring and sustainable.”
In addition to the educational resources on the Small Farms Week 2020 page, there is timely information on Extension’s COVID-19 resource page, covering youth and family, small-scale farms and gardens, nutrition and wellness, and household finance topics.
Three CAES members graduate from national leadership program
CAES LEAD21 participants are joined on the right by Brian Kowalkowski, LEAD21 Board Chair, from the College of Menominee Nation, and on the left by Mike O’Neill, LEAD21 Program Chair, from the University of Connecticut. In the center, left to right, are Carinthia Cherry, Sanjun Gu and Omon Isikhuemhen.
Two Extension specialists and a faculty member from the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences have graduated from the national leadership program LEAD21.
Nutrition specialist Carinthia Cherry, Ph.D. and horticulture specialist Sanjun Gu, Ph.D., both from Cooperative Extension, were joined by Omon Isikhuemhen, Ph.D., of the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Design in representing the CAES in this year’s class.
The program is designed to develop leaders within land-grant institutions, and among their strategic partners, who link research, academics and Extension effectively in their current position or will do so in future roles an ever-changing environment. The program’s goals are to build the group’s leadership skills and knowledge, develop a group of peer leaders who can collaborate and utilize diverse perspectives; and develop and implement an individual leadership development process.
“This leadership training made me aware who I really am and taught me how to form and manage a productive team,” said Gu. “It taught me that issues we experience every day are usually universal; the difference is how you deal with them and turn them toward the positive. It was an unforgettable experience.”
Participants in the class, drawn from across the nation, met regularly as a group throughout the year, working together virtually and in person.
The graduation was held in February in Washington, D.C.
