2020 State Budgetary and Legislative Priorities 

 

Operating Investments

  1. Protect and increase doctoral research funding: $7.5 million

The North Carolina General Assembly awarded North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University $2.5 Million recurring dollars for its transition to doctoral research university status in the 2017-19 Budget. This funding is critical to North Carolina A&T mission of focusing on STEM undergraduate and graduate education and research. The university seeks additional recurring funding for investments in faculty, student support and infrastructure.

  1. Cheatham-White Scholarship Increase: 50 Scholarships

The first Cheatham-White Scholars were welcomed at N.C. A&T in the fall 2018 semester. This new merit scholarship program, exclusive to N.C. A&T and North Carolina Central University, provides an outstanding educational experience for students who are exceptional scholars, as well as versatile and well-rounded individuals. N.C. A&T awarded the scholarship to 20 of its most academically talented, incoming freshmen. The scholars average in the top 15 percent of their graduating high school classes and boasted an average GPA of 4.51, SAT score of 1,364 and ACT score of 30.

Fifteen scholars hail from North Carolina with the remaining five from Florida, Maryland, Michigan, South Carolina and Texas. The second class of Cheatham-White Scholars has 25 academically talented freshmen who boasted an average cumulative GPA of 4.34, a score of 1,384 on the SAT and an ACT score of 30. On average, these scholars rank in the top 10-12 percent of their graduating high school classes. Nineteen of the scholars hail from North Carolina, with the remaining six from Georgia, Kansas, Maryland, Tennessee and Virginia. A total of sixty-four scholars will be supported by the Cheatham-White Scholarship by fall 2020.

  1. State funding to match and exceed federal funding for College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences research and Extension programs: $5 million

As one of the state’s two land-grant institutions, N.C. A&T seeks continued investment in agriculture and extension services to ensure support for research that will produce measurable, high-impact outcomes for our local and state economies.

  1. Support for Centers of Excellence:
  • Cybersecurity

The Center of Excellence in Cybersecurity is an inclusive community of stakeholders distinguished by interdisciplinary and innovative approaches that translate knowledge into solutions for cybersecurity challenges.

Thrust Areas:

Data Visualization— we will investigate how machine learning can improve data visualization as well as how it can improve the security of large amounts of visualization data.
Biometrics—we will continue research in biometrics and expand by applying machine learning techniques.
Big Data Analytics—we will derive new statistical and predictive model by applying the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning to historical data.
Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning—based on the idea that systems can learn from data, we will identify patterns and make decisions with minimal human intervention and investigate various techniques aimed at protecting large data sets.
Public Policy—we will utilize expertise from social, political, economic, business and criminal justice disciplines to address the loss of intellectual property through cyber espionage, the cost of not reporting cyber intrusion, civil liberties concerns when government authorities conduct surveillance of data networks, and the invasion of privacy.
  • Advanced Manufacturing
The vision of the Center of Excellence in Advanced Manufacturing is to assure US competitiveness by establishing state-of-the-art advanced manufacturing capabilities in the southeastern US. The center will be accessible to an expanding user community across commercial and the academic institutions. The goal of the center is to provide a “one-stop-shop” approach for design, development, prototype manufacturing and testing and characterization using innovative and cost-effective manufacturing technologies. The specific goals of the center are:
Goal 1— Develop new manufacturing technologies: with emphasis on smart and digital manufacturing, discovery and development of high-performance lightweight materials using innovative processing, testing, characterization and modeling of future high performance materials.
Goal 2— Educate, train, and connect the manufacturing workforce
  • Entrepreneurship and Innovation
The Center of Excellence in Entrepreneurship and Innovation is the university’s hub for entrepreneurship and innovation. The center takes ideas from the lab to the market and from the market to the lab and will position the University as a leader and a destination for entrepreneurship and innovation.
The vision of the Center of Excellence in Entrepreneurship and Innovation is to be an impact-focused preeminent center that empowers campus and community entrepreneurs and innovators to bring enterprising solutions to the global marketplace.
  • Agriculture

Partially funded in new USDA Farm Bill: •$10 million a year to support three (3) new HBCU Centers of Excellence to address agricultural workforce development, nutrition and food security, economic development and emerging technologies. The location will be determined by a competitive grant process through the USDA.

5. Support for Center for Outreach in Alzheimer's, Aging, and Community Health (COAACH)

The mission of COAACH is to improve the health and well-being of communities by providing education, community empowerment and evidence-based research so that individuals, particularly the most vulnerable, can live life with quality, dignity, and independence.

Faculty and Staff Recruitment and Retention Fund

We encourage the General Assembly to create legislation that allows for the creation of efficient and effective human resource policies and practices to attract and retain top faculty and staff, including granting authority to establish performance incentives, recruitment and retention compensation policies for SHRA employees and expansion of an EHRA exemption for financial and IT positions to keep pace with competitive employment markets.

Capital Investments

7. New Life/Health Sciences Building: $100 million

N.C. A&T seeks funding to build a new Life/Health Sciences Building to accommodate continued growth in our College of Health and Human Sciences (CHHS). CHHS capitalizes on the synergistic relationships between the departments of human performance and leisure studies, psychology, sociology and social work, and nursing. The new Life/Health Sciences building will develop advanced academic health science programming, enhance the production of healthcare practitioners as well as faculty research and scholastic activity.

8. STEM Buildings Repair and Renovate: 40 million

N.C. A&T is requesting an additional 40 million dollars for repairs and renovations for STEM buildings that will allow us to enhance our recruitment, retention, education and services for students in STEM fields. As the demand for STEM professionals continues to grow, we need to improve our facilities and services to meet the needs of the global workforce.

North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University is the No. 1 producer of African American engineers at the undergraduate level; the No. 2 producer of African American engineers at the master’s level; and the No. 4 producer of African American engineers at the doctoral level.

9. Renovate Carver Hall: $18.5 million

N.C. A&T seeks funding to renovate Carver Hall to accommodate continued growth in our College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences. As the university strives to become a doctoral institution with “highest research activity,” it is imperative that faculty be supported in generating the research proposals and research funding to help A&T evolve to that level of impact. That includes a research environment appropriate to the requirements of that level of scientific inquiry.

10. Land Acquisition: $5 million

N.C. A&T continues to see tremendous growth in enrollment. For the third consecutive year, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University has enrolled its largest student body in university history. On the strength of an entering class of 2,201 first-year students, North Carolina A&T’s student body has expanded to 12,556. The entering class has an average high school GPA of 3.61, average SAT score of 1040 and ACT score of 20.

N.C. A&T has added nearly 20 percent more students over the past six years. Last year, we surpassed our previous one-year record for undergraduate applicants of 19,000 to nearly 25,000 – and this year, we are already slightly ahead of last year’s pace. We are taking aggressive steps to redefine what a 21st century can be, not only expanding our own horizons and relentlessly executing our strategic plan, but seeking to serve as an example for other institutions. That means we are staying true to our HBCU legacy while also growing our identity as a land grant, as a research university and as a nationally recognized leader in STEM education.
With those increased numbers of students, N.C. A&T seeks funding for land acquisition that will expand our campus and help us keep up with the demands of a growing enrollment.