Source: NC A&T COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE AND ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES, 11/8/21


The newest scholarship offered by College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences honors an N.C. A&T graduate who has worked with farms and farmers for more than half a century.

The Charles Whitaker Sr. Endowed Scholarship will support CAES students with demonstrated financial need and a GPA of 3.0 or better. The first scholarship could be awarded as soon as next fall.

The scholarship was a birthday surprise from the family of Charles Whitaker Sr., who turned 78 on Oct. 27. Whitaker said seeing his name on an A&T scholarship means a lot to him.

“It signals to me that somebody has seen my desire to help our young people and get them interested in pursuing an education in a field that’s going to be the most important field in the world,” Whitaker said. With climate change, increasing pollution and shrinking water tables worldwide, he added, “there will be more demands on agriculture in the years ahead than we’ve ever known.”

The scholarship is named for Whitaker, a Garner native who earned his bachelor’s degree in agricultural technology from A&T in 1968. Starting with a summer college internship, Whitaker worked for 38 years with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. His first permanent post was as a soil conservationist in Kentucky before returning to North Carolina and climbing up through the USDA ranks.

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