CAES Names Minor New Animal Sciences Department Chair

Radiah Corn Minor, Ph.D., has been named chair of the Department of Animal Sciences in the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences.

As chair, Minor will take the lead of the college’s largest department, with nine full-time faculty and more than 420 students. The department offers three undergraduate bachelor of science degrees, one master’s degree in Agricultural and Environmental Systems and a Ph.D. in Sustainable Animal Production and Health.

“I look forward to working with the university to move our facilities and research forward,” she said.

Minor has been a researcher and professor in the animal sciences department since 2008. In addition to being an instructor, she coordinates the department’s graduate and undergraduate programs, including the Master’s Degree in Agriculture and Environmental Systems, the Ph.D. in Agriculture and Environmental Science and the undergraduate Bachelor of Science in Animal Science.

During that time, she has instructed two graduate and five undergraduate courses; advised more than 30 undergraduate students each year; supervised laboratory research involving in vivo/in vitro experiments; mentored two high school, five undergraduate and seven graduate research projects; served on nine thesis and one dissertation committees; served as principal or co-principal investigator for five funded grants totaling $1.31 million; and authored or co-authored six journal articles.

Minor was the 2018 UNC Board of Govenors’ Excellence in Teaching Award recipient, and the Outstanding CAES Teaching Award recipient for 2018.

Radiah Minor, Ph.D.

An immunologist, Minor’s research interests include the study of the medicinal plant moringa oleifera’s effects on milk production; COVID-19’s possible effects on food animals; and how dietary supplements influence the immune response in mammals. She will maintain her lab as chair.

Minor earned her Bachelor of Science in Biology from Florida A&M University and her Ph.D. from Meharry Medical College, concentrating on biomedical sciences and immunology. She served as a postdoctoral fellow at the National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences, Duke University Medical Center, Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Meharry Medical College.

She is a member of the American Association of Immunologists; Association for Women in Science; American Association of Veterinary Immunologists; American Society of Microbiologists; Gamma Sigma Delta Honor Society; and the North Carolina Association for Biomedical Research, among other professional organizations. In 2019, she was accepted into the UNC BRIDGES Academic Leadership Program for Women.