CAES students celebrate graduate degrees

December 18, 2023

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CAES

A smiling graduate in a cap and gown waves, while another attendee prepares behind her.

Tamirrah Cox smiles as she is awarded her master’s degree in agricultural education. She has already started a video series, “Ag with Mrs. Cox,” and self-published several books for children on the subject.

Thirty students in the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences left the Steven Tanger Center with master’s degrees during Friday’s N.C. A&T graduate school commencement.

One of those students, Tamirrah Cox, is already a children’s book author and developer of an educational video series, “Ag with Mrs. Cox.” Now, she has a master’s degree in agricultural education to back it all up.

“I made the decision to further my education because of a dream that I believe will happen one day, and that’s my dream to become the agriculture version of Mrs. Frizzle,” said Cox, who earned her bachelor's degree in 2022.

“The coursework has been challenging and at the same time rewarding, because my professors, Drs. Paula Faulkner, Chastity English and Antoine Alston, encouraged me to keep going,” said Cox, a mother of three. “I'm telling you – going to college while raising babies is not for the weak.”

After graduation, Cox plans to find land to farm and eventually develop an agricultural summer camp for youth.

In the opening remarks of Friday’s ceremony, Chancellor Harold L. Martin Sr., Ph.D., called the commencement “yet another milestone” in the graduates’ lives and academic achievements.

“After securing your undergraduate degrees, each of you made the conscious decision to dive deeper and further explore your chosen field of study,” said the chancellor. “It is your effort in research and advanced academic achievements and engagements that continues to bolster our claim to be one of the nation’s leaders in higher education.”

Friday’s keynote speaker was Woodrow Winchester III, Ph.D., the executive director of The University of Texas at Austin Texas Engineering Executive Education and a 2005 doctoral graduate of N.C. A&T. In his speech, Winchester referenced designer and educator Bruce Mau’s 2020 book Mau: MC24 to encourage the graduating class to “rise above the noise” in making choices and self-reflection.

“My road to this podium today, as a proud triple alum of North Carolina A&T State University, is a true case study to ‘rise above the noise,’” said Winchester, who went on the doctoral path thanks to his academic advisor and department chair. “Obtaining a Ph.D. was truly not the plan… It was these professors’ words and actions that helped me cut through the noise and helped me embrace my purpose.”

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