On April 14, 1933, the Alpha Nu Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Incorporated was established at the Agricultural and Technical College of North Carolina. It was the 36th chapter, and the first of four chapters established that year by the growing brotherhood. The charter members of the Alpha Nu Chapter were Vincent A. Burgess, William W. Capeheart, James E. Charlton, Curl C. Grifin, Robert L. Harbison, Luther A. Kaiser, H. B. Short, and John T. Speller.  The chapter’s first advisor was Dr. Wadaran L. Kennedy, (W. L. Kennedy Drive on the A&T Campus), a longtime professor of agriculture and the first African American to earn a Ph.D. in dairy husbandry.…

Willie A. Deese ‘77, a champion for North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University and a retired pharmaceutical executive, received the Distinguished Citizenship Award from the North Carolina Chamber on March 22. The award was presented to Deese at the 81st Annual Meeting in Raleigh, N.C. that convened business leaders across the state. Deese is a highly successful senior executive with an extensive background as a member of a global Fortune 200 company leadership. He has actively interacted with corporate boards as a functional senior leader at Merck and GSK and is currently serving as a director on four domestic and international company boards − with extensive audit, governance, and…

Gwendolyn Highsmith-Quick, Ph.D., CPA ‘76 – affectionately known as “HQ” – is currently an associate professor in the Department of Accounting and Finance at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University since 1986. She will retire from Aggieland on June 30, 2023, with 38 years of service. Highsmith-Quick, a native of Wallace, North Carolina, the oldest of five children and a first-generation college student, initially had her heart set on attending the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. That plan changed when N.C. A&T’s then-President Lewis C. Dowdy sent her a letter congratulating her for having a high SAT score and offering her a presidential scholarship with a full…

Growing up in Green Level, North Carolina, Etta Gravely, Ph.D., ‘68 was determined to go to college as a first-generation student when she attended Howard University, in Washington, D.C. for undergraduate. However, she could never imagine the impact she would make as a chemistry professor for 50 years at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. In 1956, Gravely met her husband, Clinton Gravely, at Howard University. After they graduated in 1960, the couple relocated to Greensboro, North Carolina, where he became an architectural firm owner, to start a life together. “Once my husband and I settled back in Greensboro, I found it hard to get a job as a…

When Lt. Henry Ell Frye graduated from the Agricultural and Technical College of North Carolina in May 1953, and he went into military service, he was far from done with Aggieland or the city of Greensboro. Through civil service, his law practice, teaching, fundraising and volunteering, Justice Frye has given continuously to this community for over 70 years.  In a 1955 edition of the old “Alumni Newsletter,” which predates the “A&T Today”, Lt. Frye was listed as one of the youngest alumni donors for the university. He would eventually serve on the executive committee and as parliamentarian for the North Carolina A&T State University Alumni Association, Inc. In 1972, due…

The African American community has a strong tradition of giving its time, talent, and treasure to others. Historically, these gifts have gone to churches, a donor’s alma mater, and civic organizations such as the Urban League and NAACP. According to the 2016 U.S. Trust Study of High Net-Worth Philanthropy, African American households give 25% more of their discretionary income to charitable organizations and causes than their white counterparts. Despite this culture of giving, when I first mention planned giving to many individuals, they initially balk at the idea due to a belief that it is only for extremely wealthy donors. However, a planned gift can simply be any major gift made…

Very few alumni in the history of North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University represent Aggie excellence as highly as Chief Justice Henry E. Frye ‘53. The son of farmers from Ellerbe, North Carolina, emerged from four years of study at the Negro Agricultural and Technical College of North Carolina to become the first of many historic accomplishments. Frye was the first African American to complete the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill three-year law program in 1959, the first Black assistant district attorney in the United States in 1963, the first African American in North Carolina’s House of Representatives in the 20th Century in 1968, and our state’s…

For four years, senior leadership of North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, the Office of Alumni Relations and alumni chapters have organized the February One Reading project to encourage children across the United States to learn about the history of the A&T Four. The book, “Sit-In: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down” by Andrea Davis Pinkney has been read to nearly 1,000 children through this project (in-person and virtually). Chancellor Harold L. Martin and Provost Tonya Smith-Jackson, Ph.D. at the Aggie Academy The N.C. A&T Office of Alumni Relations staff at the Child Development Lab on campus. Atlanta Alumni Chapter Columbia, S.C. Alumni Chapter Gate City Alumni…

Life is about evolution and when it comes to the story of Jodie Brim ‘06, her life and career have evolved to the next level of entrepreneurial success. She is the owner and visionary of Jodie Brim Creative, a full-service, brand photography, and videography company in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. For five years, Brim worked for Strayer University in multiple locations in Atlanta, Chicago, Knoxville, Tennessee, and Greensboro, North Carolina. She excelled in her career in top-level roles that covered admissions, recruitment, establishing new campuses, and training established locations. In 2012, she married her husband, Chris Brim, and the couple relocated to Winston-Salem, North Carolina. “My husband had been an entrepreneur…

On Feb. 1, 1960, the day four brave North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University freshmen sat at Greensboro’s segregated whites-only Woolworth’s lunch counter and challenged segregation, remains our most famous date since March 9, 1891. For decades, the outstanding legacy of the Greensboro sit-ins has been honored by the North Carolina A&T community with a commemorative breakfast. After decades of celebrations, you may wonder how the custom of the breakfast began. In the history books, the commemoration wasn’t always a breakfast and it was not always hosted on the Aggieland campus. David Richmond, Ezell Blair (Jibreel Khazan), Joseph McNeil and Franklin McCain received many honors soon after the sit-in…