N.C. A&T Recognizes 11 Distinguished Alumni during Fall Convocation

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North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University celebrated its annual Fall Convocation program Thursday, Oct. 28. During the program, Chancellor Harold L. Martin Sr. provided the state of the university and welcomed alumni to the “Greatest Homecoming on Earth” celebration.

Roderick M. “Rod” McLean ’92, served as the keynote speaker. He is vice president and general manager of the Air Mobility and Maritime Missions (AMMM) Line of Business (LOB) at Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. in Marietta, Georgia. He is also the site general manager of the 5,000-employee Marietta facility.

McLean graduated from North Carolina A&T with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering. He holds a master’s degree in engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology and an MBA from the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business. He serves on A&T’s Engineering Advisory Board and the Metro Atlanta Chamber Board of Directors. 

McLean’s speech during convocation focused on the popular musical, “Hamilton,” encouraging students to take their shot at success. In his speech, he highlighted key qualities employers look for in employees: confidence, being courageous, and committed. 

While the university commemorated the 95th edition of the Greatest Homecoming on Earth, it also honored and recognized 11 alumni for their outstanding work and accomplishments on behalf of their respective colleges and service to the alumni community.  

McLean was also an award recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award for the College of Engineering. 

The following received Distinguished Alumni Achievement Awards:

College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences 

Kelvin M. Edwards ’89, ’93 is superintendent of Greensville County Public Schools in Emporia, Virginia. Prior to this position, Edwards was assistant superintendent of human resources and auxiliary services for Northampton County Public Schools in North Carolina and deputy superintendent for Franklin City Public Schools in Virginia. He has more than 28 years of experience in public education.  

Edwards earned his Doctor of Educational Leadership and Educational Specialist degrees from Cambridge College, advanced licensure from North Carolina State University and Cambridge College, and Master of Science in agricultural education and Bachelor of Science in agricultural technology (animal science) from A&T.  

A passionate educator, Edwards firmly believes “education is the great equalizer” — as stated by Horace Mann — and greatness is the rightful destiny for all students, regardless of their ZIP code. He is a Northampton County commissioner and a member of the American Association of School Administrators, Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development, NAACP, College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences Alumni Society (N.C. A&T) and Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Inc. 

College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences

Natasha Yvette Williams ’92 is an American actress, singer and entertainer. Since she began singing at age 3 in the tiny tot choir at her church, Williams has performed from the subway to Broadway. Williams has performed with the Indianapolis Symphony, Naples Philharmonic and Baltimore Symphony orchestras. Her current recording project is “How Deep is the Ocean,” a collection of standards, and she has released a Gospel project, “Songs That Carry Me Through … Some Old, Some New.” The first winner of the Kraft Foods New Voice of Gospel contest, Williams has Broadway credits that include “A Night with Janis Joplin” (as Aretha Franklin), the Gershwins’ “Porgy and Bess” (Mariah), “The Color Purple” (Sofia) and Stephen Flaherty’s “Dessa Rose” at Lincoln Center. Her credits also include West End, national tours, regional appearances and performances with the New York Philharmonic. She is starring in the Broadway premiere of Douglas Lyons’ new family comedy, “Chicken and Biscuits.” Williams holds a BFA from A&T and an MFA in acting from Michigan State University. 

Willie A. Deese College of Business and Economics 

Diane Frost Hill, MBA ’77 has more than 40 years of experience with the IBM Corp. in various roles. She is an IBM event manager focusing on cybersecurity, cloud computing and artificial intelligence. Her career has been in marketing, sales, consulting services, strategic outsourcing, education and training. She works with high-level executives across the globe.  

Hill has received numerous sales, marketing and achievement awards, as well as an IBM Presidential Volunteer Service Award. She has also participated in the IBM Corporate Service Corps in Pretoria, South Africa. Hill holds a B.S. in accounting from A&T and an MBA from the University of Wisconsin. In the Charlotte, North Carolina, community, Hill serves on several nonprofit boards (including Girl Scouts of the Hornet’s Nest Council) and is an active member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc.  

In service to her alma mater, Hill is a member of the Queen City Alumni Chapter Executive Board, co-chairs the Fundraising Committee, is an ambassador for LOAT (Ladies of A&T) and is an inaugural member of the Advisory Council on Alumni Relations.  

College of Education 

Linda Richardson Wilson, Ph.D. ’75, ’84, ’18 is the director of community and business partnerships for Guilford County Schools. Wilson has degrees in nursing (B.S.), guidance and counseling (M.S.) and leadership studies (Ph.D.) from A&T. She used her education and experience to improve the health of the community in the clinical and educational areas.  

Wilson served as executive director of student health services at her alma mater for 29 years. She was the first full-time director of health services and transformed the health care of students from infirmary to wellness. The Franklin County, North Carolina, native transferred values she learned on her family’s farm — hard work and dedication — to serving others. She is president of the Piedmont Health Services and Sickle Cell Agency Board of Directors; scholarship chairwoman, North Carolina Legislative Black Caucus; executive committee member, Greensboro NAACP; member, American Heart Association Board of Directors, N.C. A&T College of Education Advisory Board, Gate City Alumni Chapter and Danville (Virginia) Chapter of The Links Inc.; and past director, South Atlantic Region of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. She is also a member of Mount Zion Baptist Church and serves on the Deacon Board and Leadership Academy Team. She is the mother of two adult daughters and seven grandchildren. 

John R. and Kathy R. Hairston College of Health and Human Services 

Cleopatra Howard Caldwell, Ph.D. ’73 is professor and chairwoman of the Department of Health Behavior and Health Education and director of the Center for Research on Ethnicity, Culture and Health at the School of Public Health, University of Michigan. Caldwell is also a faculty associate with the Program for Research on Black Americans at the Institute for Social Research and an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Michigan. As a social psychologist with expertise in psychosocial and environmental factors influencing the health and well-being of Black populations, Caldwell’s research includes intervention and basic research involving survey research techniques with adults, adolescents and families. She also has expertise in conducting community-based participatory research (CBPR), developing academic-community partnerships to design and evaluate health interventions for Black youth and their family.  

Caldwell has published in several areas including the influence of social relationships and social identities on the health and well-being of Black adolescents, the role of paternal support, racial discrimination, and racial identity attitudes as risk or protective factors for adolescent risky behaviors and fatherhood as a context for understanding men’s health. She has extensive experience conducting research to understand health risk behaviors and mental health of ethnically diverse adolescents, including African American and Caribbean Black youth. 

College of Science and Technology 

Lynnae C. Quick, Ph.D. ’05 is a research scientist in planetary studies at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Her scientific work focuses on geophysical processes writ large, reaching from the inner solar system, through the asteroid belt, to ocean worlds, and into the exoplanetary realm.  

Quick has made significant contributions to the study of cryovolcanism as a process on dwarf planet Ceres. She has revisited modeling the formation of lava domes on planet Venus and of cryolava domes on Jupiter’s moon Europa, and has repeatedly provided new insights into detection requirements for geyser-like plumes and their associated eruption products on Jupiter’s moon Europa.  

In addition to her scientific pursuits, Quick is engaged in the broader research community through her proactive leadership in space missions. This includes her work as a co-investigator on NASA missions, as a steering committee member for NASA’s Outer Planets Assessment Group, a member of the Planetary Science Decadal Survey 2023-2032 panel on ocean worlds and dwarf planets, and as co-chair of the Earth and Planetary Systems Sciences section of the National Society of Black Physicists (NSBP). She has mentored and taught early career planetary scientists and is leading the dragonfly Mission’s Student and Early Career Investigator Program.  

Asteroid 37349 was named Lynnaequick in her honor, and the American Astronomical Society, Division for Planetary Sciences, awarded her the 2021 Harold C. Urey Prize for outstanding achievement in planetary science by an early career scientist. 

Quick graduated summa cum laude from A&T with a B.S. in physics. She earned an M.S. in physics, with a concentration in astrophysics, from The Catholic University of America, earned an M.A. and a Ph.D. in earth and planetary science from Johns Hopkins University, and was a NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. Before joining NASA, Quick was a staff scientist in the Smithsonian institution’s Center for Earth and Planetary Studies, making her the Center’s first African American staff scientist. She is the fifth African American woman to obtain a Ph.D. in planetary science.  

Joint of School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering 

Rama Krishina Sharma, Ph.D. ’17 is a Six Sigma Green Belt certified semiconductor industry professional with 10 years of experience in semiconductor research and development, manufacturing, nanomaterial fabrication, process improvement and product management.  

Since joining Applied Materials — the leader in materials engineering solutions used to produce virtually every new chip and advanced display in the world — in 2018, Sharma has worked as a process engineer, senior process engineer and, most recently, technical program manager. In this role, Sharma is leading technical and process quality issues related to FEOL (front end of the line) plasma etch in semiconductor fabrication from the earliest stages of new product introduction, ramp up and throughout product lifecycle, as well as leading a team of process and hardware engineers.  

Sharma holds Bachelor of Technology (BTech) and Master of Technology (MTech) degrees in material science and nanotechnology from the University of Rajasthan, Doctor of Philosophy in nanoengineering from A&T (Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering) and is pursuing an MBA at the University of California, Irvine’s Paul Merage School of Business. 

Velma R. Speight Young Alumna Award 

Patrice Withers-Stephens ’05 has nearly two decades of experience in corporate social responsibility, philanthropy, community relations, communications and public relations. She has worked in mid-management for Fortune 500 companies such as Verizon, Bank of America, Capital One and JCPenney, while overseeing budgets of up to $6 million. She is a vice president at First United Bank where she is responsible for community engagement. Withers-Stephens has been featured in Voyage Dallas magazine, has moderated panel discussions with the Dallas Wings and American Airlines in support of HBCUs, and has been recognized by the University of Texas at Arlington (Mavericks’ Community Shining Star Award) and various state and national organizations for leadership and service. She is the inaugural president of Omega Alpha Omega Chapter (Frisco, Texas) of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc., president of the Dallas-Fort Worth A&T Alumni Chapter and holds memberships in Collin County NAACP, Higher Heights for America and Dallas Women Leadership. The summa cum laude graduate of A&T has a B.S. in journalism and mass communication, public relations concentration, and an M.A. in professional development from Amberton University.  

Julia S. Brooks Achievement Award 

Angela R. Butler-Rice, Md. ’93 has always known she had a love for science, business and making a difference in her community. It first came together and made sense in chemistry class where she could actually see that mixing two compounds together made something completely different. She pursued a B.S. in chemical engineering at A&T where her soul awakened to research, technology, academic prowess and Black excellence, and where medical research spoke to her — until the cat-sized rats got loose in the research lab. She immediately knew a career change was in order and turned her focus to working with people.  

Butler-Rice completed her application to Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM) the same day. She received her Doctor of Medicine from MSM in 1998 and completed her Pediatric Residency at Emory School of Medicine in 2001. Since then, Butler-Rice has worked in many rural communities as repayment for her National Public Health Service Scholarship and started three grassroots pediatric practices in North Carolina and Georgia. She holds professional memberships in leading medical associations and has received numerous awards and honors. In 2012, she started her own bilingual (English/Spanish) practice in Tucker, Georgia, and bought her office building and land in Decatur, Georgia, in 2018.  

Howard C. Barnhill Distinguished Service Award 

Ulysses J. Cozart Jr. ’77 is a retired businessman with more than 40 years of experience in the automotive industry; franchise, small business and technology development; and financial and property management.  

In addition, Cozart has dedicated more than 30 years of his life to being a leader in his communities and to A&T. Cozart’s passion for giving back stems from his roots of growing up in Greensboro, North Carolina. He participated in Boy Scouts of America and was active in youth sports. While attending A&T, Cozart was president and vice president of the Business Administration Club, pledged Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc., and was recruited to join the Cooperative Education Program.  

Cozart graduated from A&T with a B.S. in business administration before embarking on a 40-year professional career in nine locations across the United States. He spent 17 years in the automotive industry before transferring his skillset to work with the Small Business Technology Development Center, a national entrepreneurial counseling organization affiliated with the Small Business Administration. Along the way, he obtained an M.S. in higher education from Kaplan University. The last few years, he has managed a consulting business that includes business development, financial services and property management. He has mentored male youth and he has served A&T’s Alumni Association Inc. as a board member, regional director and chapter president. He also has served as a member of the University’s Board of Visitors, and he is a member of the Advisory Council for Alumni Relations, Aggie Athletic Foundation and the Gate City Alumni Chapter.  

This year, Cozart received the 2021 Whitney M. Young Jr. Service Award from Boys Scout of America’s old North State Council. The award recognizes outstanding service by an adult or an organization that has demonstrated and implemented programs benefitting youth from rural or low-income urban backgrounds.