Tech Giant Google Makes $5-Million Gift to N.C. A&T

EAST GREENSBORO, N.C. (June 17, 2021) – North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University announced today it has received a $5-million grant from Google designed to help expand pathways and opportunities for increased diverse representation in the STEM industry.

The one-time, unrestricted grant will provide North Carolina A&T with financial support for scholarships, career readiness preparation, entrepreneurship mentoring, technological infrastructure and curriculum innovations. The nation’s largest historically black university, A&T is one of 10 HBCUs to receive a grant of $5 million from the tech industry giant.

“I’m delighted to provide our HBCU partners with a $50-million unrestricted grant. These institutions are actively shaping the next generation of Black leaders and are helping build a more diverse workforce across all industries,” said Melonie Parker, chief diversity officer at Google. “This investment further solidifies our commitment to providing access and opportunities for underrepresented groups in tech.”

“Google plays a significant, if not singular, role in the lives of people and organizations around the world, and we are delighted to see the company growing its involvement with North Carolina A&T,” said Chancellor Harold L. Martin Sr. of A&T, the leading STEM university among all HBCUs. “Through dialogue with CEO Sundar Pichai and other senior Google leaders, we have been pleased by the opportunity to deepen the company’s knowledge over the past year about the many opportunities that HBCUs offer Google and our country.

“The investments that Google is announcing today underscore their belief in our institutions. Along with my colleagues at North Carolina A&T, I look forward to building further on our rich and productive partnership. We are deeply grateful for Google’s generosity.”

This investment builds on Google’s Pathways to Tech initiative, which was announced earlier this year and is designed to build equity for HBCU computing education, help job seekers find tech roles, and ensure that Black employees have growth opportunities and feel included at work.

It is also the latest example of collaboration between A&T and Google. The university has hosted multiple Google in Residence managers in recent years – senior executives from the company who are shared with colleges to serve as visiting faculty members and mentors. Three faculty members from A&T’s Department of Computer Science have also spent summers at Google as faculty in residence.

A&T sent its first participant last year to the Google Tech Exchange program, which brings college juniors to the company headquarters in Mountain View, Calif., for a semester of coursework and mentoring.

That student was one of 27 A&T undergraduates who have done internships at Google over the past five years. Google has hired 24 A&T graduates over the same period from bachelor’s, master’s and Ph.D. programs. Google is an highly active participant in A&T Career Service programming, including information sessions, mock interviews and employment recruiting. 

Prior to today’s gift, Google has also made multiple other programmatic investments in A&T through the College of Engineering and its computer science department.

By investing in A&T, Google supports the university that graduates more Black engineers than any campus in America, as well as the most Black math and statistics graduates at the master’s level. A&T has been on a consistent growth trend for the past eight years, with an overall enrollment of 12,753 in the 2020-21 school year, and is projected to grow further this fall.