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TSU alum named CARET Minority-Serving Institutions Liaison for all 1890 institutions
By JOAN KITE
TSU alum James G. Brown Jr., who served since 2017 as the TSU delegate to the Council of Research, Extension, and Teaching (CARET) for the Association of Public & Land-Grant Universities (APLU), has been appointed as the Minority-Serving Institutions Liaison to represent all 19 of the U.S. 1890 institutions for CARET.
Much of his vital contributions will include carrying the crucial message to federal and state government leaders about the economic needs of the 19 historically black universities in the United States that were established under the Second Morrill Act of 1890.
“It is overwhelming, and I humbly accept the challenge. TSU College of Agriculture Dean (Chandra) Reddy said I could walk on water.” Brown said. “I believe that it is a large responsibility with an important task. I am now on the Executive Committee of CARET, and I will be giving reports at the national level on the ongoing issues at the 1890 land-grant institutions. Before it was just TSU. Now, it is all the 1890s.”
Brown brings to his new position 36 years of experience working as a district soil conservationist with the United States Department of Agriculture Soil Conservation Service, Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). He graduated from TSU’s College of Agriculture in 1975 with a Bachelor of Science degree majoring in Agriculture Economics.
“Adequate and timely congressional support for the nation’s agricultural research and outreach is of utmost importance for the United States to lead and feed the burgeoning world population. The nation’s 1890 land-grant institutions play a vital role in not only solving the grand challenges facing the agricultural sector but also in training its future leaders,” said Dr. Chandra Reddy, dean of the College of Agriculture. “I am glad Mr. Brown has been selected to represent all 19 of the 1890 universities for CARET and the APLU. I am confident he will represent well the 1890 community in this Council. As chairman of the 1890 Association of Research Directors, I certainly need capable individuals like Mr. Brown to articulate our needs with the Congress.”
Brown is clearly a “people person.” He retired from the NCRS in 2009, but Brown is far from resting on any laurels. He currently pastors at Parker’s Chapel Missionary Baptist Church in Portland, Tennessee, and is the Second Vice Moderator of the East Fork District Association of Missionary Baptist Churches.
He has been involved in organizations such as Leadership Middle Tennessee, Leadership Robertson County, Tennessee, the Mid-Cumberland Human Resource Agency Board of Directors, the King David Masonic Lodge #187 P.H.E., and I Care of Robertson County, Inc. of Robertson County, Tennessee. Brown has also served as a board member on the Robertson County YMCA board member and for the United Way, both of which he has served as past chairperson. He serves on the Board of Directors for the Robertson County Community Foundation, the Robertson County Joint Economic and Community Development Board, and the Robertson County Scholarship Foundation.
He currently serves as the Grand Jury Foreman for Robertson County, where he is the first black Grand Jury Foreman of Robertson County, Tennessee. He has served in that role monthly for more than 15 years.
Not only will he carry the message about the crucial work of 1890 institutions in agriculture to national and state legislators, but he also reaches out to farmers in the fields, business enterprises, and other organizations.
Brown, who is married to his wife Jurine, has two children, and three grandchildren. The couple lives in Springfield, Tennessee. When he is not busy fulfilling civic responsibilities, he can be found mentoring elementary and middle school children while helping young black men find employment in Middle Tennessee.
The Peach Truck partners with TSU College of Agriculture to develop first-ever internship program
Nashville— Feb. 15, 2021 — Tennessee State University’s College of Agriculture is partnering with Nashville-based business The Peach Truck to offer student summer internships in jobs that could lead to full-time employment.
The internships are two types. The first internship offers 20-hours-a-week work based in Nashville at the start-ups home office on Trinity Lane or The Peach Truck’s stands and booths throughout the city. The other is a two-month on The Peach Truck tour, a road trip where students will help deliver peaches to customers in the Southeast, Northeast, and Midwest, said Jessica Rose, who co-owns The Peach Truck with her husband Stephen. The tour will take place during June and July.
Tennessee State University is the first and currently the only university The Peach Truck with whom The Peach Truck has partnered.
“We heard so many good things about TSU’s College of Agriculture, so I reached out to the Dean,” Jessica Rose said. Dr. De’Etra Young, interim associate dean of Academics and Land-grant Programs, is working with Jessica Rose to establish the internship program.
“I am excited to have our students connect with local food businesses,” said Dr. Chandra Reddy, dean of the College of Agriculture. “These opportunities help our students not only to earn some money, but also gain valuable experiences in understanding the local food market and business opportunities in American metropolis.”
The Peach Truck is famous for delivering fresh Georgia peaches to its customer within a three-day window, which is the life span of fresh peach. Now, business is booming, and the start-up needs help. They are seeking to expand to 40 or 50 employees for positions in marketing, operations, and management.
The company started in 2012 with peach farms in Georgia (Nashville will always get Georgia peaches from the family farm) but, are now expanding to South Carolina farms because of the three-day delivery window.
“We are the link between the farms and the customer,” Jessica Rose said.
The pay is excellent, Jessica Rose said.
“I would have loved to have worked for us when I was in college,” she said.
For more information about the internship program, Dr. De’Etra Young at (615) 963-5123 or dyoung23@tnstate.edu.
Five students selected to participate in AFA Leaders Conferences
Five TSU College of Ag students have been selected to participate in Agriculture Future of America leadership institutes this year.
Jourdon Huntley, Cierra Woods, and Kalie Ellis, who is an AFA Ambassador, will participate in the AFA Animal Institute.
Anarra Williams and Naomi Ogunmakin will participate in the AFA Food Institute.
Congratulations to all of them!
SunTrust now Truist fund agriculture education for four TSU students
By Joan Kite
Four Tennessee State University (TSU) freshmen intent on pursuing careers in agribusiness or food and agriculture science have been named SunTrust now Truist John W. Boyd Scholars. They will have the opportunity for scholarships through their next four years at TSU’s College of Agriculture. John W. Boyd, an attorney, was selected as the scholarship’s namesake. He was one of the first African Americans to serve in the Tennessee General Assembly.
The TSU students selected for the scholarships are: Janai Bryant of Nashville, Tennessee; Ashlynn Freeman of Kansas City, Kansas; Aisha Williams of Tuskeegee, Alabama and Jon Wakefield of Bartlett, Tennessee.
Pictured below is SunTrust now Truist scholar Ashlynn Freeman.
“We are so thankful to SunTrust now Truist for their investment in our agribusiness students through this amazing scholarship opportunity,” said Dr. Chandra Reddy, dean of the College of Agriculture. “This not only helps graduate outstanding minority students in agriculture, but also helps connect them to the banking sector which plays a vital role in farm financing, agricultural commodities trading, and food-related supply chain businesses. TSU Ag has outstanding agribusiness faculty and will graduate students that will serve the needs of the food and agricultural industries worldwide.”
The College’s Agribusiness faculty reviewed the applications and selected the four students. Dr. De’Etra Young, who is the interim associate dean of Academics & Land-grant Programs, helped the young freshmen connect to the mid-COVID-19 university environment, which has been calm compared to other “hotspot” college towns.
Pictured below is Suntrust now Truist Scholar Jenai Bryant.
“We are excited about this opportunity to recruit and provide funding for outstanding young people to study agribusiness through our partnership with SunTrust now Truist. The SunTrust now Truist John W. Boyd Scholarship will provide access and opportunity to four incredible scholars,” said Dr. Young. “Through this scholarship, experiential learning, and professional development opportunities, the College of Agriculture is committed to addressing the need to produce the next generation of professionals to lead global food enterprise.”
Freeman, 18, describes her eventual arrival to TSU as a serendipitous journey.
Pictured below is proud Mother Lennora Pierrott and Suntrust now Truist Scholar Aisha Williams.
“Agriculture was not discussed in my city,” Freeman said. “Where I was introduced to agriculture in high school was at ag discovery camp at the University of Arkansas. After that, we went to this place called Heifer Ranch, where we were placed in simulation homes that would be the environments in different countries. I got placed in the slums with poisonous animals. I had to scavenge for food. I will forever appreciate the experience.”
Today, she recognizes that she knows many who live in urban food deserts.
“What I want to do as an agribusiness major is to create healthy grocery stores in existing food deserts,” Freeman said. “I also want to be involved in some type of politics to create reform in agriculture.
For more information about scholarships, internships, and other financial opportunities, contact Dr. De’Etra Young at (615) 963-5123 or email dyoung23@tnstate.edu.
TSU, UT partner to pave a path to vet school
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (August 17, 2020) — College of Agriculture freshmen will now have a unique opportunity to pursue their path to become a veterinarian with the help of TSU and the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine (UT-CVM), two institutions that have signed a written agreement to ensure TSU students can achieve that goal
The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) identifies qualifying TSU freshman and immediately sets them on an academic trajectory preparing those students to successfully meet the requirements for admission into schools or colleges of veterinary medicine.
“I’m very excited about it,” said Dr. Mike Jones, director of Students Services, Diversity, and Recruitment at UT-CVM. Veterinary Medicine is considered one of the least diverse of all health care professions. “We want to serve the needs of the underserved.”
Students will be notified in September if they are accepted into TSU’s and UT-CVM Pre-Veterinary Emphasis (PVE) Scholars Program. The students will be assigned mentors — one each from TSU and UT-CVM. The mentors will work together to advise each student, monitor their progress, ensure ongoing commitment, and support other training opportunities such as summer jobs or internships.
“The MOU between TSU’s College of Agriculture and UT’s College of Veterinary Medicine provides a pathway for students majoring in Animal Science at TSU to get into the veterinary school at UT. We are very pleased with this new arrangement between the schools,” said Dr. Chandra Reddy, dean of TSU’s College of Agriculture. Reddy was instrumental in finalizing the agreement. “It will help increase minorities in the veterinary profession and help us prepare our students appropriately for veterinary college. Health care for pets is a huge demand in society today. Many of our students are interested in the veterinary profession and we welcome this opportunity to prepare and place students in this competitive and demanding field.”
The agreement between the universities began in 2016 when Dr. Jones, a UT-CVM professor of Avian and Zoological Medicine, came to TSU to speak to agriculture students in the student organization Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources and Related Sciences (MANRRS). Dr. James P. Thompson, the dean of UT-CVM, sent Dr. Jones with the mission to form an agreement with TSU to recruit its students into UT’s vet college.
There, Dr. Jones met Dr. De’Etra Young, the MANRRS advisor who works closely with TSU’s top students. For the next four years, Dr. Jones and Dr. Young worked on the MOU, which was signed in June of 2020.
“We are excited to enter this new partnership with UT-CVM,” said Dr. Young, who is now interim associate dean of Academics and Land-grant Programs at the College. “We are increasing our efforts to provide experiential learning and hands-on experiences to prepare our students for graduate studies or the workforce. This new arrangement will assist us in preparing our students appropriately for veterinary school.”
Assistant Professor Dr. Carollyn Boykins-Winrow teaches animal science classes at TSU and she said she will be serving as a mentor to the students selected for the program.
“It’s a wonderful opportunity for the students,” Dr. Boykins-Winrow said. “The students will know what to expect from UT and UT will know the preparation the student went through to get there.”
Settling into her dorm room on TSU’s campus is aspiring veterinarian Angelique Hamilton. She knows very little about the new program, but she knows she wants in. And when Hamilton wants something, she tends to get it.
In middle school, her grades weren’t so great, she said. So, she buckled down and graduated this year as valedictorian from Trezevant High School in Memphis.
“I hate it when I get a B,” Hamilton said. “I will go to the teacher and ask if there is anything I can do to bring my grade up.”
Pursuing her dreams comes at a price. Hamilton said she has had to leave behind her dog of 10 years — a Chihuahua-mix named Echo. Dogs are not allowed in the dorms. But Hamilton brings to campus a determination and can-do spirit necessary for TSU’s and UT-CVM Veterinary Professional Enhancement Program.
For more information about the program, contact Dr. Young at (615) 963-5123 or email dyoung23@tnstate.edu.
College of Agriculture offers new Master's Program in Environmental Science
By JOAN KITE
The College of Agriculture at Tennessee State University (TSU) is now accepting students into its newly approved Master of Environmental Science program beginning this Fall semester.
“Environmental Science is a much-needed graduate program for Tennesseans and others to train specialists to address the ever-increasing environmental concerns in modern life! As we all know, a healthy environment leads to healthy people and animals,” said Dr. Chandra Reddy, dean of the College of Agriculture. “This Environmental Science program, recently approved by the Tennessee Higher Education Commission (THEC), is unique in Tennessee. We apply environmental principles to the agroforestry industrial complex which makes up about 12 percent of the state's economy and 10.3 percent of the workforce.”
Graduate students can pursue a concentration in Plant Sciences, Natural Resources, or Geospatial Information Sciences, said Dr. Samuel Nahashon, the chair of TSU’s Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Department. This is the only degree program in Tennessee with these specializations and currently, TSU faculty are researching bioenergy, forestry, geospatial sciences, climate change, wildlife biology, soil chemistry, plant sciences, natural resources, and environmental remediation.
“We now have an opportunity to train graduate students in these particular areas, which are really in high demand in the state, especially in forestry and natural resources,” Dr. Nahashon said. Also, the College of Agriculture is graced with exceptional faculty extremely knowledgeable in these areas.
“TSU Ag has 24 exceptionally talented faculty teaching and this degree program is offered both with a thesis and non-thesis option,” Dr. Reddy said. “We also will support 20 graduate research assistantships to qualified students pursuing this program. We have students waiting to get into the program and we are excited to start it this Fall.”
Within Tennessee, employment for environmental scientists is expected to increase by 14.5 percent between 2016 to 2026, based on statistics kept by the United States Department of Labor.
For those interested in applying to the M.S. program in Environmental Science, contact Graduate Coordinator Dr. Bharat Pokharel at (615) 963-6054 or bpokhare@tnstate.edu.
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