Also this month:

* NC A&T Cooperative Extension to Honor Small-Scale Agriculture

* Hard Work and Faith Drive Past Small Farmer of the Year

* NC A&T to Host Women in Agriculture Symposium

* Simple Safety on a Shoestring Budget

* El Niño May Mean Profits to North Carolina Growers  

Other News Links:

Press Release Archive  

Cooperative Extension Press Releases 

Agricultural Research Press Releases 

General Links:

NC A&T School of Agriculture 

Agricultural Communications 

Mitch Arnold, news editor 

The banquet will be held at the Greensboro Hilton, and begin with a reception at 6:30 p.m. A dinner will follow at 7:00. Dr. Alma Hobbs, Deputy Administrator of Families, 4-H and Nutrition, CSREES/USDA, will serve as the keynote speaker.

At the banquet, the School of Agriculture will induct R.E. Jones and Dr. McKinley Mayes into its Hall of Fame.

Robert Earl Jones, a former Cooperative Extension director at NC A&T State University, passed away in 1991. Jones was a key leader in unifying Extension efforts at NC A&T and North Carolina State University during the 1960s, and was the first African American to be inducted into North Carolina's Agricultural Hall of Fame.

After graduating from the NC A&T in 1932, Jones briefly taught science in the Washington County school system, before becoming an extension agent in Craven County. By 1936, Jones had ascended to the position of state 4-H specialist, a position he held until 1941, when he entered Cornell University. At Cornell, he earned a master's degree in rural sociology and educational psychology.

In 1943, Jones returned to North Carolina and assumed administrative responsibility for agricultural extension among the black people of the state. His record in this post as state agent was so impressive that in 1965, when the Extension Service took steps to eliminate racial distinctions in its programs, he was appointed assistant director of the North Carolina Agricultural Extension Service. During this time, the Extension Service at NC A&T grew to one of the largest 1890 programs in the nation.

An award in Jones' honor is presented annually by the North Carolina A&T State University Cooperative Extension Program to an Extension professional who has a distinguished career in work with families and individuals with limited financial resources.

Dr. McKinley Mayes, an alumnus of NC A&T with a B.S. in Agricultural Education (1953) and an M.S. in Agricultural Education (1956), is now the Director of the Office of 1890 University Programs for the CSREES, and has been part of this branch of USDA since 1976.

Mayes came to USDA from Southern University in Louisiana, where he was associate dean and research coordinator of the College of Agriculture.

Mayes played an important role in getting permanent legislation for the funding of agricultural research at the historically black land-grant colleges and universities. He helped guide legislation through Congress for funding to upgrade agricultural and food science facilities at 1890 institutions. This legislation resulted in more than $180 million in appropriations for these institutions to develop research and extension facilities.

A native of Oxford, NC, in 1995 Mayes received the North Carolina A&T State University Distinguished Service Award. It was also in 1995 that Mayes was among the honorees in an exhibit paying tribute to "African Americans in Agriculture" at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. The exhibit drew more than 100,000 visitors while highlighting the accomplishments of the 1890 land-grant institutions and key leaders who made these accomplishments possible.

The Hall of Fame Banquet is open to the public. The cost is $30 per person, with a portion of that amount directed toward the B.C. Webb Scholarship Endowment Fund. Sponsorship of tables for family and friends is also available.

For more information or to register for the banquet, please contact Dr. Richard Robbins, NC A&T School of Agriculture, (336) 334-7979.