Wal-Mart grant to help connect students, agriculture jobs

North Carolina A&T’s College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences will lead a project to develop innovative models for non-degree pathways that can help more people learn skills that will lead to employment in food, agriculture and related fields.

The 1890 Center of Excellence for Student Success and Workforce Development (SSWD) will use a $595,000 grant from Walmart and the 1890 Universities Foundation to coordinate the new Faculty EXCEL Fellowship program.

This program will support faculty members at A&T and other historically Black land-grant universities with fellowships during the project. This team of researchers will evaluate non-traditional short-term credentialing programs that could become new employment pathways for underrepresented students and workers to careers in food, agriculture, natural resources and human sciences.

“We’re hoping to grow the workforce,” SSWD center co-director Misty Blue-Terry, Ph.D., said. “We know there are so many jobs that go unfilled, especially in agriculture. In this new economy, there are a large number of adults who need to reskill to support their families. We’re hoping these credentialing programs will put new tools in their tool belts.”

Blue-Terry said the COVID-19 pandemic widened existing skills gaps. Agriculture and related industries will have nearly 60,000 annual job openings through 2025, according to Purdue University and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. U.S. colleges and universities produce only enough graduates with food and agriculture-related degrees each year to fill only about 60% of these positions.

The Faculty EXCEL Fellowship program will examine promising approaches to and best practices of non-degree credentials — certificates, apprenticeships, licensure, industry-recognized certifications and other high-value credentials — to determine effective ways to prepare people quickly for available jobs in agriculture and related fields. Non-degree credential programs that lead straight to employment often can be completed in less time and for less money than traditional college degrees.

“Long-term, we’d like to use this model as a way to build capacity among 1890s universities and improve the marketability of 1890s graduates and people in 1890s communities,” said Antonio McLaren, Ed.D., vice president for innovation and program implementation at the 1890 Universities Foundation. “At the end of the day, we want a tangible program that can be replicated across the 1890s system.”

McLaren called the college a “natural fit” for this grant-funded project. The college is home to SSWD, which was established in 2021 with USDA funding to improve the recruitment, retention and graduation of underrepresented students in the food, agriculture, natural resources and human sciences. Eight historically Black land-grant institutions are members of the SSWD consortium.

“This grant is a recognition that the faculty and staff of the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences have the research and content-area expertise to lead and support this project,” CAES Dean Mohamed S. Ahmedna, Ph.D., said. “It speaks to how well our work is regarded.”

The 1890 Universities Foundation, a nonprofit based in Washington, D.C., supports the academic, education and outreach missions of and facilitates collaboration among the nation’s 19 land-grant universities established in 1890. In early October, the foundation received a grant from Walmart to form and support the Faculty EXCEL Fellowship program.