UNCF Commends HBCU Presidential Visit

President Biden visiting North Carolina A&T today; UNCF encourages passage of IGNITE legislation by Congress

Today, President Joseph R. Biden visits North Carolina Agricultural and Mechanical State University (NC A&T) in Greensboro, N.C., a historically Black college and university (HBCU), to tour the new Harold L. Martin, Sr. Engineering Research and Innovation Complex.  The president will meet faculty and students who are studying robotics and cybersecurity.

“President Biden is leading by example,” said UNCF President and CEO Dr. Michael L. Lomax. “He has dispatched members of his cabinet to visit HBCUs to learn about the innovative strategies employed on our campuses to advance the most unique student mix in all of higher education. Even with a higher percentage of students receiving Pell Grants, NC A&T still earns patents, educates its students well, and is a great example of how American Rescue Plan and bipartisan infrastructure funds can be used if they make their way to our campuses.”

“While we appreciate the president for visiting NC A&T, his visit highlights the need for grant based, debt free construction on HBCUs—namely the congressional passage of the HBCUs IGNITE Excellence Act,” said Lodriguez V. Murray, UNCF senior vice president for public policy and government affairs. “With a minimum annual economic impact of about $500 million, employing over 4,300 individuals, and a single graduating class earning $5.1 billion over their lifetime, NC A&T is just one example of why HBCUs are so ripe for and deserving of investment. Although the Martin building just opened two months ago, most buildings on HBCU campuses are decades old. There simply is no reason for the House Education and Senate HELP Committees not to markup IGNITE this month.”

NC A&T is the largest HBCU in the country, the largest producer of African American undergraduates with engineering majors, largest producer of African Americans with master’s in mathematics, statistics and engineering. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Michael Regan and two of the president’s recent appointees to his Board of Advisors on HBCUs all call NC A&T their alma mater. The institution is in Greensboro, home of UNCF-member institution Bennett College.

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About UNCF

UNCF (United Negro College Fund) is the nation’s largest and most effective minority education organization. To serve youth, the community and the nation, UNCF supports students’ education and development through scholarships and other programs, supports and strengthens its 37 member colleges and universities, and advocates for the importance of minority education and college readiness. UNCF institutions and other historically Black colleges and universities are highly effective, awarding nearly 20% of African American baccalaureate degrees. UNCF administers more than 400 programs, including scholarship, internship and fellowship, mentoring, summer enrichment, and curriculum and faculty development programs. Today, UNCF supports more than 60,000 students at over 1,100 colleges and universities across the country. Its logo features the UNCF torch of leadership in education and its widely recognized trademark, ‟A mind is a terrible thing to waste.”^® Learn more at UNCF.org or for continuous updates and news, follow UNCF on Twitter at @UNCF.