Seventy new freshmen and transfer students planning to pursue degrees in food and agriculture have received partial scholarships for the 2021-22 academic year, thanks to a grant from USDA’s National Institute for Food and Agriculture.
The $2,000 partial scholarships come from the second installment of the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences’s share of USDA NIFA’s $19 million 1890 land-grant scholarship awards program, which started last year. The program made awards to the 19 1890 land-grant institutions, including N.C. A&T, for the purpose of providing scholarships for undergraduate students interested in food and agriculture.
The 70 new and transfer students join the program’s first cohort of 23 CAES 1890s Agricultural Scholars, who will continue their funding. These students received full tuition, books and software, room and board for up to four years while pursuing careers in the agricultural sciences.
This first cohort of students has intended majors ranging from landscape architecture and food science to agricultural education and biological engineering. Eighteen of the students are from North Carolina; five more students are from states across the Southeast region.
“This scholarship provides access and opportunity to underrepresented students who otherwise would not have the financial means to achieve their dreams and goals,” said Antoine Alston, associate dean for academics.
The first year of the scholarship program not only provided students with a full academic funds for four years, but it helps students to thrive once they’re on campus by pairing them with a faculty mentor and giving them professional development opportunities in the food, agricultural and natural resource disciplines, Alston said.
“As we move forward, we will give a combination of new and transfer student scholarships, in conjunction with partial awards for continuing students, each year,” Alston said.
NIFA director Carrie Castille, Ph.D. said that this effort will build the food and agricultural systems work force of the future.
“As we work to increase the talent pipeline for the next generation of agricultural work force leaders and scientists, we need the brightest minds from across all areas and cultures in our society to be represented,” Castille said. “NIFA’s 1890 Scholarships Program helps us move closer to that goal by providing scholarships to support recruitment, engagement, retention, mentoring, and training of undergraduate students at the HBCUs that are partners in the U.S. Land-grant University System.”
