Welcome to the North Carolina A&T State University BISNET Web page. It is a privilege to provide you with information on the activities of the Rural Community Business Development Partnership (RCBDP) project. The project is funded by the United States Department of Agriculture/Rural Business-Cooperative Service (RBS) to improve the quality of life in rural North Carolina by financing community facilities and businesses, providing technical assistance, and creating effective strategies for rural development. Under an existing cooperative agreement between A&T and RBS, the RCBDP project is aiding in diffusing useful and practical information on rural development.

North Carolina A&T State University and RBS have identified the need of low-income, under-represented groups in traditionally agricultural and other natural resource dependent communities to receive special assistance in business diversification if economic development efforts in such rural communities are to be successful. These groups need hands-on technical assistance in organizing and operating effective business organizations. They also need help in identifying and obtaining federal and state financial assistance that may be available to businesses, including loan and grant programs of RBS.

As a provider of RBS educational efforts to these low-income, under represented communities, North Carolina A&T State University has a mutual interest with RBS in coordinating programs to stimulate the establishment of small businesses and to assist those communities in diversifying to non-resource based businesses.

A unique comprehensive University, A&T offers bachelors, master's and Ph.D. degrees, with 81 undergraduate majors, 42 master's degree programs, and Ph.D. degrees in mechanical and electrical engineering. The academic programs are offered through schools of Agriculture, Business and Economics, Education, Nursing, Technology, Graduate School, and Colleges of Engineering and Arts and Sciences. A&T's ultra-modern facilities include a $16 million state-of-the-art library, a newly installed $2 million computer center as part of a new $9.5 million Interdisciplinary Research Center, and well-equipped computer teaching and research laboratories. An International Trade Center, which houses the RCBDP project, has recently been funded by the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service, Farm Services, and RBS, and has been approved by the University of North Carolina General Administration for planning and establishment. A new $8 million School of Technology facility, will also be completed by the Spring of 1998.

A&T is proud of its 33,000 alumni of record, who occupy leadership positions across the world. Among A&T's well-known alumni are the late astronaut, Dr. Ronald McNair; Rev. Jesse Jackson, U.S. presidential candidate; Congressman Edolphus Towns of New York; retired Major General Charles D. Bussey; Brigadier General Clark Adams-Ender, the first female to command Fort Belvoir, Virginia; North Carolina Associate Supreme Court Justice Henry E. Frye; business owner, Ralph K. Shelton of Southeast Fuels; business owner, Dr. Joe Dudley of Dudley Products, Inc.; Attorney Joseph Williams; Greensboro Police Chief Sylvester Daughtry; Greensboro Fire Chief Ray K. Flowers; District Court Judge Lawrence McSwain; Superior Court Judge Steven Allen; and Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr.

Strengths of the University begin with the enrollment of an outstanding student body, carefully selected from more than 7,000 applicants annually. Once on campus, the nearly 8,000 students are taught and mentored by a world-class faculty, the majority of whom have earned doctoral or other terminal degrees from some of the nation's best graduate and professional schools.

The University has propelled itself to the forefront in the area of research and development programs, ranking 3rd in the state in the production of sponsored research. It generates contacts with major international companies, foundations and federal agencies to secure funding to enhance academic programs and to provide student scholarship.

A&T is the place to BE!