Prepared for Purpose: A&T Celebrates Fall 2025 Graduates

EAST GREENSBORO, N.C. (Dec. 13, 2025) – Resilient in the face of challenge. Bold in the pursuit of innovation. Steadfast in a commitment to make the world better for all.

These are the characteristics of the approximately 1,200 students – including nearly 300 graduate students – who just became fall 2025 North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University graduates, said Chancellor James R. Martin II.

N.C. A&T celebrated its newest alumni with a graduate ceremony Friday, Dec. 12, and baccalaureate ceremony Saturday, Dec. 13, both in First Horizon Coliseum at the Greensboro Complex.

As part of the ceremonies, A&T awarded three degrees posthumously: a B.S. in criminal justice from the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (CAHSS) to Vantazia M. Campbell; a Ph.D. in industrial and systems engineering from the College of Engineering to Yoo-Sang Chang; and B.S. in biology from the College of Science and Technology to Ceyani Danae Pratt.

“Today you join a proud and powerful community: the Aggie family of alumni in North Carolina, across the country, around the world,” said Martin. “Our community is built on determination, shared purpose and manifested by almost 75,000 living alumni who, like you, understand that in exchange for their hard work, North Carolina A&T would give them knowledge and tools for achievement, for meaning and impact in life.”

No matter their next steps, Martin tasked graduates with standing tall and leading with integrity, just as those who went before them have.

“To be an Aggie is to be part of a living legacy – one of courage, one of innovation, one of excellence and one of service,” he said. “For generations, Aggies have broken barriers, challenged expectations, and we’ve shaped the world with intellect and with our strong sense of purpose. And you, all of you, now join that proud tradition.”

“Today marks not just a step in your journey, it’s a celebration of your hard work, your determination and the unwavering spirit of Aggie excellence,” said A&T Board of Trustees Chair Gina Loften ’90 in her remarks to the graduates. “You didn’t meet expectations. You shattered them.”

“Today you are graduating with a sense of accomplishment, and nothing can or will stop you because no one can stop what Aggies like you can do,” Graduate Student Association President Laurence Price-Webb said.

Senior Class President A. Jerrod Mason echoed those sentiments, saying his classmates are “defined by strength, ambition and heart. Today, each graduate leaves fully equipped with knowledge, resilience and a story worth telling.

“Class of 2025, embrace the uncertainty, chase opportunity, rise stronger and never forget the Aggie village that got you here today.”

A&T Can ‘Take You Beyond Your Wildest Dreams’

Grammy Award-winning and Tony Award-nominated Broadway performer NaTasha Yvette Williams ’92, served as Saturday’s keynote speaker. In 2021, she received the Alumni Achievement Award from CAHSS in recognition of her outstanding accomplishments, emphasizing her significant contributions to both the arts and her alma mater.

“I stand before you today to tell you that whatever discipline you have chosen, know that it is enough because you were trained here. It is enough to take you beyond your wildest dreams, so keep dreaming,” she said.

Williams earned her BFA from A&T and MFA from Michigan State University. In addition to her many professional accolades, she is a founding member of Black Theater United, an advocacy organization dedicated to supporting and uplifting Black artists. A mentor and educator, she is producing her first feature film, Beyond the Diamond, and creating Good Moments, Good Forever, a video series celebrating the people, places and experiences that inspire lasting impact.

Although Williams has built a career that spans Broadway, television, film and international stages, she knows that being known is not the same as being impactful. “Today, I’m less concerned with fame and more concerned with purpose,” she said. “I’m fixed on purpose because purpose lasts.”

A&T’s core values – responsibility, learning, excellence, inclusiveness and integrity – are the pathway to finding purpose, Williams said.

“Your choices matter, your words matter, your energy matters,” she said. “Keep your mind open. Continue to be teachable, especially when you fail.

“Do the work. … Excellence doesn’t mean perfection, it is honoring the giants whose shoulders you stand on.”

Graduates need to know their degrees will not shield them from the realities of life, Williams said, but they also need know they can and must persevere.

“Life will still life. But when it does, I need you to remember who you are, and whose you are,” she said. “You are the product of this great institution and this institution is great because of you.”

Not Just An Education, A Transformation

Uduak Ndoh ‘99, vice chancellor for Information Technology, Health Sciences and deputy chief information officer at the University of Pittsburgh, was the keynote speaker for the graduate student ceremony. He reminded graduates that as they work toward their next achievements, impact begins long before the moment.

“The public moment only reveals what private preparation has already secured,” he said. “And when you prepare with intention, the moment always finds you ready.”

A recognized leader in academic medicine IT, Ndoh received his B.S. in chemical engineering from A&T and his MBA from Wake Forest University’s Babcock School of Business. He said his time at A&T was essential to his preparation.

“A&T didn’t just educate me, it transformed me. It disrupted the limits I had placed on myself. It expanded my imagination of what was possible for me, for my family and for my career,” he said. “A&T developed in me a way of thinking, solving problems and working under pressure that translated far beyond any one major. So that when opportunity showed up, I was ready.”

Ndoh previously served as chief information officer and associate dean for Information Technology at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine and held leadership roles at Duke University’s Clinical Research Institute. At Pitt, he directs large-scale IT strategy and operations supporting education, research and clinical missions in a $3 billion enterprise.

His leadership has advanced artificial intelligence strategy, strengthened clinical trial infrastructure, consolidated distributed IT services, and established the Health Sciences and Sports Analytics Cloud Innovation Center in partnership with AWS.

“(A&T) taught me that when people are given access, opportunity and support, they can build futures that stretch beyond circumstance, and that truth has stayed with me from here in Greensboro to every organization, every boardroom, every official table that I sit at today,” he said. “Graduates, you belong in every room your purpose takes you into. And when you walk into those rooms, walk with your head held high. Walk with humility, yes, but also walk with boldness. Because confidence is not about pretending to be something you’re not, it’s about fully embracing who you really are.”

“Aggies just don’t meet the moment, they shape the moment.”