Source: NC A&T COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE AND ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE, 5/24/22


Representatives from universities in the 1890s system gathered both in person and virtually at the University Farm Pavilion for the system’s first MEA Center Symposium, held this month to discuss “A Vision for the Future of Higher Education in Agriculture.”

The 1890 Center for Student Success and Workforce Development, also known as the 1890s Center of Excellence to Motivate and Educate for Achievement (MEA Center,) is a collaboration of all colleges and universities in the 1890s land grant system. Led by representatives from eight 1890s institutions, including N.C. A&T’s College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, the center’s mission is to improve student success and work force development among young people from underrepresented minority groups as they pursue studies in the food, agriculture, natural resources and human (FANH) sciences and the broader STEM fields.

Faculty, staff and students from many of the consortium’s 19 universities came to N.C. A&T’s University Farm Pavilion for two days of workshops, campus tours and breakout sessions on topics such as why mentoring matters, employability skills and leveraging emerging technologies. The group also had the opportunity to learn from each other, discussing what’s working at their respective institutions.

“This is our chance to put to put the collective knowledge of our institutions together,” Dean Mohamed Ahmedna told attendees in opening the symposium. “We need to capitalize on what we know individually to help each other.”

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