Project Kitty Hawk to Power Seven A&T Degree Programs

EAST GREENSBORO, N.C. (Aug. 12, 2025) – North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, the nation’s largest historically Black college or university, has formalized a new partnership with Project Kitty Hawk to power at least seven degree programs designed for adult learners.

Project Kitty Hawk is a nonprofit affiliate of the University of North Carolina System that helps North Carolina’s public universities develop and launch online degree programs specifically designed for adults past traditional college age. The degree programs powered by Project Kitty Hawk, called “Flight Path” programs, focus on in-demand fields for adult learners.

“Partnering with Project Kitty Hawk aligns with our deep commitment to expanding access to high-quality education, this time specifically reaching North Carolina’s adult learners,” said Catherine Edmonds, Ed.D., provost and executive vice chancellor for Academic Affairs. “By leveraging this collaboration, we are not only enhancing our capacity to deliver workforce-relevant programs but also continuing to grow in transformative ways that meet the evolving needs of our students and communities.”

Project Kitty Hawk will help A&T launch two Flight Path programs in January 2026: B.S. in criminal justice and B.A. in liberal studies. Come fall, they will launch the human resources management concentration of the university’s highly-ranked MBA program, as well as another program to be named.

Over the following 18 months, Project Kitty Hawk and A&T expect to launch four additional programs. They anticipate adding a projected 4,000 A&T students through Flight Path programs over the next five years.

Chancellor James R. Martin II and Project Kitty Hawk President and CEO Andrew Kelly, Ph.D., signed a memorandum of understanding during a ceremony Tuesday morning at the A&T Farm Pavilion.

“We’re excited to extend N.C. A&T’s reach to adult learners through online degree programs that feature the same academic excellence and rigor that define the university’s brand,” said Kelly.

This makes the fourth such partnership between Project Kitty Hawk and a UNC System university, joining Appalachian State University, East Carolina University and North Carolina Central University. Project Kitty Hawk also works with Fayetteville State University, UNC Greensboro and UNC-Chapel Hill. To date, 15 Flight Path programs are active.

Deanna Satterwhite, a 32-year-old A&T distance learning student, called Project Kitty Hawk’s mission to empower two million North Carolinians to reach their educational goals by 2030 “a lifeline.”

In 2018, just two weeks before Satterwhite’s first day at A&T, she learned she had kidney failure and began dialysis. Four years later, she received a life-saving kidney transplant. During that same period, she lost sight in her left eye as the result of a car accident.

“The idea of sitting in a classroom every day while managing treatments, appointments, and recovery was overwhelming. But then online learning changed everything,” said Satterwhite, who is working toward a B.A. in liberal studies with a concentration in economics. “Online education didn’t just offer flexibility – it offered dignity. It reminded me that I was still capable. That my goals were still valid. And that even on the hardest days, I could still move forward.”

More than 1,700 students have been served by a Flight Path program since the first program launched in Fall 2023. New student enrollment across Project Kitty Hawk’s program portfolio grew fivefold from 2023-24 to 2024-25, and programs boast an overall persistence rate of 88 percent. The academic programs have generated $10 million in additional tuition revenue for university partners.