For N.C. A&T University Chancellor Harold Martin, graduating successful students into the workforce — particularly the local workforce — is personal.
On Wednesday, Martin addressed media members on the first day of classes to discuss the conclusion of a record-setting capital campaign, growing enrollment, new degree programs and mutually beneficial corporate partnerships.
“It’s a personal issue for me first and foremost,” Martin said of his work in leading the university. “I grew up here in the Piedmont Triad. I graduated from the public schools in Forsyth County and I also recognize what higher education has done for my life. I'm also intimately aware of the changing workforce needs and demand for this community, a changing economy that has grown rapidly from tobacco and textiles and furniture.”
Educating that workforce requires funding or programs. On Tuesday, NC A&T reported it recently completed a historic fiscal year in private giving with an unprecedented $93.8 million in individual, corporate and foundation gifts, an amount believed to be the most raised by a public HBCU in a single year.
It also shatters the school’s previous fundraising record of $18.1 million in fiscal year 2020. The total raise of $181.4 million eclipses the school’s eight-year goal of $100 million by the end of 2020.
The university launched the quiet phase of its campaign in 2012, publicly announcing a goal of $85 million in 2018. Reaching that mark in 2019, it extended the goal to $100 million by Dec. 31, 2020. The total is more than any public HBCU has generated in a capital campaign, according to the school.
Although a $45 million gift from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott is included in the most recent fiscal year total, the remaining $48.8 million came from a wide range of other sources, including alumni and corporate donors.
The surge in fundraising grew A&T’s endowment to $157.5 million, up $83.7 million from the prior year. As recently as 2012, the university’s endowment was $28 million. The university now has total invested assets of $178 million. The earnings the university generates on endowments support academic programming, student scholarships and financial aid, faculty salaries and more.
The school is also the beneficiary of multiple gifts from corporate donors such as 3M, Corning Inc. and Walmart.
“Those corporations who are remaining in North Carolina, expanding in North Carolina and locating to North Carolina are looking for a competitive, diverse technical workforce,” Martin said, noting A&T's heavy focus on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Math) education. "A high percentage of the new jobs coming to North Carolina ... are technically STEM related. And we are a critical resource for those organizations."
“We've had relationships with many of them in the past. We are expanding those relationships as they seek to expand their demands for a larger workforce.”
Other highlights of the new academic year include:
• The launch of two new degree programs — a Ph.D. in agriculture and environmental science and a master's in health psychology — as well as the start of seven new certificate programs in a range of academic areas.
• Formal openings for new facilities including the Harold L. Martin Sr. Engineering Research and Innovation Complex and the Farm Pavilion at N.C. A&T’s nearly 500-acre university farm.
• Anticipated final enrollment in excess of 13,000. NC A&T’s strategic plan calls for a headcount of 14,000 by 2023. Enrollment in 2020-21 was 12,753.
The university is also focused on growing its economic impact, particularly in the Piedmont Triad region. N.C. A&T reports a $1.5 billion annual economic footprint, most of it focused in the Piedmont as it seeks to continue to partner with area businesses, development organizations and national high-tech companies to boost the area’s economy, particularly in East Greensboro.
“The incredible generosity of our supporters has created a new financial reality at N.C. A&T that holds great immediate and long-term potential for our university,” Martin said. “Just as we have successfully stepped up to compete academically and as a research university over the past 12 years, we are now moving into a level of competitiveness in generating private support that has not been witnessed among HBCU campuses.”
