Dear CAES Family,

Fall is a beautiful time of year to be on the N.C. A&T campus and at the University Farm, and we hope that you will visit us soon. It’s a time of excitement and change. It’s energizing to witness a fall harvest, celebrate the return of the CAES Alumni Homecoming Cookout and welcome N.C. Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler to campus to take students behind the scenes at the State Fair.

It’s also exciting to work with faculty, staff and students as we develop plans to build on our record of success while seeking out ways to grow. As a college of agriculture, we know that growth and change are constants, and we’re ready to accept new challenges in service to our alumni, partners, faculty and students.

Among the ways we’re growing this year:

• Our cows will be milked by a robot. The nation’s first robotic milker at an HBCU dairy is being installed at the University Farm. In a few weeks, we’ll be training students and using this to improve our partners’ lives.
• Farmers of color can get in the game. Thanks to the new Agribusiness Innovation Center we’re building with USDA, Innovative agribusiness practices will be more reachable for many.
• We’re cooling down the temperature. Did you know that good growth starts with good soil? Two of our professors will study ways that soil helps keep excess carbon out of the atmosphere.
• Our students are having breakfast at Tiffany’s. A New York fashion industry leader has renewed its relationship with our fashion merchandising and design program and treated our students to NYC.
• We’re honoring a leader. Landscape architecture students are designing and building a memorial to education pioneer Charlotte Hawkins Brown.

We are thankful for each of these, and many other, growth opportunities, and we are thankful for you. Partners like you make such a difference for our college. We need you more than ever as we begin an exciting new growth cycle. Please consider a gift today to help us continue our journey.

In Aggie Pride, 

Dean Mohamed Ahmedna