theYARD

N.C.A&T presents upcoming plans for the next ten years

Jamille Whitlow, Managing Editor

October 19, 2021

Courtesy of Kendall Ivy

The Chancellor’s forum explained A&T Preeminence 2023, campus expansion and how various departments will better serve the student population.

Chancellor Harold L. Martin Sr. made opening remarks and explained the forum’s itinerary and introduced the first speaker, Student Government Association (SGA) president, Verdant Julius.

Julius talked about SGA’s involvement in Aggie advocacy, on-campus and off-campus. To name a few events, he listed Monday’s for Marcus, homecoming school-based events and the extra mental health day that was added to student’s fall break.

For upcoming projects, SGA is working with campus dining and parking services. For campus dining, a survey is being created to hear feedback from students about dining hours availability and access to food on-campus. With parking services, SGA is working on an app to help students find parking.

“ We are working on an app to help students identify parking, so you do not have to come to campus trying to find a spot, the app can help identify vacant spots,” Julius said.

The People’s administration is planning something to show support for the students at Howard University protesting at the Blackburn University Center.

Following SGA updates, were COVID-19 testing and Vaccine updates by Dr.Melody Pierce, Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs and Dr. Padonda Webb, Executive Director of the Student Health Center.

The following updates were announced by Dr. Webb and Dr.Pierce about campus Covid-19 testing and vaccinations. All updates can be found on N.C. A&T’s COVID-19 dashboard.

Overall positivity rate is 1.2 percent
Currently, for the month of Oct., 24 students and 6 employees are positive out of 2,977 tests that were administered
Employees vaccination rate is 73 percent and on-campus students is about 71 percent vaccinated
For commuter students, vaccination rate is about 31 percent

For more information about COVID-19 testing and vaccination, contact the Alumni Event Center, Student Health Center or Dr. Padonda Webb.

Beryl McEwen, Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs talked about academic advising and highly encouraged students to meet their advisors virtually. For Spring 2022, advising began on Oct. 13 and registration began on Nov. 1. For Fall 2022, advising begins on Mar. 14 and registration begins on Apr. 4, 2022.

As students have questioned about N.C. A&T’s funding, Robbery Pompey, Vice Chancellor of Business and Finance, went over the school’s funding allocation.

“We have invested over $21 million in favor of students in the fall semester, and we expect to do the same in the spring 2022 and provide summer school support for the summer of 2022, summer of 2023 and in fall of 2023,” Pompey said.

Lastly, Andrew Perkins, Associate Vice Chancellor of Facilities talked about upcoming building projects.

The Harold L. Martin, Sr., Engineering Research and Innovation Complex will open in February 2022
The War Memorial Stadium renovation will start in January/February of next year and will be a home for the Aggie Baseball team. The project will take two and a half years to complete
The Global Village Complex will provide academic support, indoor and outdoor activities such as a full-size soccer field, outdoor lounges, recreational sports, racquetball, team sports, dancing, yoga, bowling and boxing. This will be implemented during Phase 1, of N.C. A&T’s Master Plan, 2021-2027.

Students can look forward to Paavo’s pizza opening on Oct. 25. All information related to campus dining can be found on their Instagram and Twitter.