Radiah Minor, Ph.D.
Immunologist Radiah Corn Minor, Ph.D., has been named interim dean of the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences (CAES) at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, effective July 1.
Minor takes over the leadership of the nation’s largest HBCU college of agriculture and one of two land-grant Cooperative Extension programs in the state. The college is also one of the university’s most research-intensive, with a $45 million extramural research portfolio.
“Dr. Minor brings an extraordinary blend of academic excellence, visionary leadership, and deep commitment to student success,” said Catherine Edmonds, Ed.D., interim provost and executive vice chancellor of academic affairs. “Her transformative work as department chair has already elevated the college’s impact, and I am thrilled to see her bring the same energy and innovation as interim dean.”
Since 2022, Minor has served as chair of the Department of Animal Sciences. During her tenure, the faculty received $8.8 million in grant funding and established more than 37 cross-disciplinary collaborations.
To better align the department’s academic programs with evolving workforce demands, Minor led a comprehensive redesign of the undergraduate Animal Science curriculum. The updated programs now include courses that provide business, finance, computer science, and AI literacy content, alongside newly launched online offerings.
Minor has been a researcher and professor in the animal sciences department since 2008. During that time, she has instructed four graduate and five undergraduate level courses; been an advisor to more than 50 undergraduate students each year; and served as principal or co-principal investigator for 19 funded grants totaling $6 million. Minor’s research interests focus on the use of medicinal plants that promote positive immune responses and support the overall health of mammals.
She is also the 2018 UNC Board of Governors’ Excellence in Teaching Award winner; the recipient of the 2018 Outstanding College Teaching Award in the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences; and in 2019, she received honorary mention as the university’s Undergraduate Research Advisor of the Year.
“In this role, I will champion collegiality, cross-unit collaboration, student and faculty success,” she said. “Together, the CAES will continue to demonstrate excellence in academics, research, and Cooperative Extension.”
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; Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources and Related Sciences; Gamma Sigma Delta Honor Society; and Society of Leukocyte Biology; among other professional organizations. In 2019, she was a participant of the UNC BRIDGES Academic Leadership Program for Women and in 2021 she participated in LEAD-21, a national leadership program for the Land-grant System.
