Hairston College to Host Inaugural Health and Human Sciences Week

EAST GREENSBORO, N.C. (April 1, 2024) – North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University’s John R. and Kathy R. Hairston College of Health and Human Sciences will host its inaugural Health and Human Sciences Week from Monday, April 1, through Saturday, April 6.

The week will feature events highlighting the contributions of the health and human sciences disciplines at N.C. A&T in strategic workforce development, research and community engagement.

It will kick off Monday with a professional development series comprised of workshops for students and facilitated by speakers from various partner organizations in the Student Center Room 385, 1403 John W. Mitchell Drive.

An opening reception will be at 4 p.m. in the lobby and Room 101 of the Academic Classroom Building. Cheryl Woods Giscombe, Ph.D., RN, interim senior associate dean in the Office of Academic Affairs and LeVine Family Distinguished Term Professor of Quality of Life, Health Promotion and Wellness at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Nursing, will be the keynote speaker.

Tuesday will focus on engaging with local students in kindergarten through high school to inspire careers in the health sciences. Hairston College faculty and students will visit two schools, including Aggie Academy.

Representatives from graduate programs aligned with Hairston College degrees will visit A&T on Wednesday to share information and answer questions from students at Corbett Sports Center. A research showcase will follow from 4 to 6 p.m. in the Dudley Building multipurpose room. Melicia Whitt Glover, Ph.D., Council on Black Health executive director and Gramercy Research Group president and CEO will be the keynote speaker.

Thursday, the Center of Excellence for Integrative Health Disparities and Equity Research (CIHDER) will host its annual Health Disparities & Equity Research Symposium, with the theme “Building Healthy Communities: Engagement and Empowerment,” from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Alumni-Foundation Event Center, 200 N. Benbow Road.

A&T alumna and former faculty member Schenita Randolph, Ph.D., associate professor at Duke School of Nursing and founding director and principal investigator of the Addressing Health Disparities through Equity, Engagement, Advocacy, and Trust (HEEAT) lab, will be the keynote speaker and present “Health Equity Reimagined: Creating Equity, Engagement, Advocacy and Trust in the Black Community.”

Registration for the symposium is required, as space is limited. Register online at https://ncat.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_eDu8VDZrQe3oNqm.

After the symposium, CIHDER will have its official launch from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Alumni-Foundation Event Center, where the campus community can meet members of its leadership team, advisory board members and community stakeholders.

Friday will have a special populations focus, with a Black Men’s Health Forum from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Student Center Room 342.

The week will conclude with a day of community service by Hairston College student organizations Saturday:

• The School of Nursing will hold a diaper drive for Gate City Dream to support Alamance County’s Latinx community.
• The Communication Sciences and Disorders Department will collaborate with Guilford County Schools to host an information session advocating for autism acceptance at K-12 public schools.
• The research club in the Department of Psychology will engage in community gardening at Peaceful Seeds Farm.
• Members of Psi Chi, the International Honor Society in Psychology, are collecting toiletries for unhoused women and children that will be delivered to the YWCA and clean up their newly adopted park, Steelman Park.
• The Department of Kinesiology’s Pulse 72 club will collect items for the Aggie Source Food Pantry.
• Department of Social Work and Sociology students will conduct a needs assessment to support East Greensboro NOW.
• The Health Services Management students club will lead an A&T campus clean-up from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Students will meet at the Deese Clock Tower at 11 a.m. and split into groups to work on targeted areas, including the South Residence Halls, Student Center and quad, Pride and Suites. Students from all A&T programs are encouraged to participate. Gloves and trash bags will be provided.

Campus community donations toward each effort will be accepted at respective departments: New Science Building Room 306A (psychology), Corbett Sports Center Room 215 (kinesiology), and Noble Hall Room 116 (nursing). To arrange donation pickups, contact Samantha O’Connor at 336-285-4207 or ssmoconnor@ncat.edu.