A&T Honors 12 Distinguished Alumni at Fall Convocation

EAST GREENSBORO, N.C. (Oct. 17, 2024) – North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University celebrated its annual Fall Convocation program Thursday, Oct. 17, honoring 12 distinguished alumni.

Chancellor James R. Martin II welcomed alumni to the 98^th Edition of the Greatest Homecoming on Earth celebration before Patrena Benton Elliott ’01, ’08 delivered the keynote address.

Elliott last year became the sixth president of Halifax Community College in Weldon, North Carolina, the first woman to lead the institution. She came to Halifax Community College from Robeson Community College in Lumberton, North Carolina, where she served as vice president and chief academic and student affairs officer. Over her career, she has held numerous senior leadership roles, established academic programs ranging from certificate to graduate level, raised millions of dollars in institutional funding, mentored countless students, and presented extensively nationwide.

A transformational leader, Elliott has guided Halifax to a significant funding increase, completing an institutional rebranding initiative, establishing a campus police department, and initiating numerous renovation and capital outlay projects.

Elliott earned an M.S. in adult education in 2001 and a Ph.D. in leadership studies in 2008 from North Carolina A&T. She also holds a B.A. in communication studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. A lifelong learner, she holds higher education and leadership certificates from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education, Leadership Raleigh, Hampton University, and the University of North Carolina System.

Elliott’s remarks focused on the transformational impact of her Aggie experience, emphasizing that though her mother had little formal learning herself, she was a fierce advocate for higher education and encouraged her daughter to follow her dreams.

“There is something undeniably special about Aggies because they are rooted in resilience and committed to excellence with a profound sense of community,” she said. “Never allow your circumstance to define your destiny because education is the passport to success. A&T creates a culture where curiosity thrives, where conventional thinking is challenged, where excellence emerges from a commitment to continuous improvement, and achievement is the culmination of your body of work."

Elliott was one of 12 alumni honored at Fall Convocation for their outstanding work and accomplishments on behalf of their respective colleges and for service to the alumni community. She received the Distinguished Alumni Award for the College of Education.

The other distinguished Alumni Achievement Award recipients and the colleges from which they earned their degrees are:

College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences

Jackie Ross ’03, ’05 is secretary of the Agricultural Statistics Board and head of the Data Dissemination Office in the Statistics Division at the National Agricultural Statistics Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Fredericksburg, Virgnia. She previously served as chief of the Business Services branch in the Strategic Planning and Business Services Division.

Ross completed the Mission Support Leadership Program in Acquisitions and the Executive Potential Program during which she worked with the Forest Service as the senior advisor to the director of Audit and Assurance. She is also a project manager and holds a Level II certification as a contracting officer representative.

Ross earned her B.S. in agricultural economics in 2003 and an M.S. in agricultural and applied economics with a concentration in rural sociology and development in 2005. Originally from Tarboro, North Carolina, she lives with her husband and two daughters in Fredericksburg. She is active in her community, the Strong Tower Church and Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc.

College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences

A native of Washington, D.C., Andrea Leonard ’07 is a distinguished educator and business leader with a passion for college preparatory counseling. She is director of College Success and Alumni Persistence at Don Bosco Cristo Rey High School and Corporate Work Study Program in Takoma Park, Maryland. She established the College Success and Alumni Persistence Center, introducing programs such as Summer Scholars and SAT Prep. She was recognized for her efforts on Washington, D.C.'s NBC 4 and received the Phenomenal Woman of Leadership and Service award from Life Enhancement Services of Washington, D.C.

In 2019, Leonard founded Scholarship Hero (formerly Education Prep PLUS), offering personalized college admissions and scholarship counseling to families throughout the D.C.-Maryland-Virginia area. Scholarship Hero has helped nearly 100 families secure millions in grants and scholarships and supported students in gaining admission to prestigious institutions. The company has also raised funds and launched initiatives such as the "GHOE Leap Year Scholarship” for HBCU students. 

Leonard earned a B.A. in technical writing from A&T in 2007 and an M.Ed. in human development and quantitative analysis from the University of Maryland in 2015.

John R. and Kathy R. Hairston College of Health and Human Sciences

David L. Dean ’13 is a pediatric speech-language pathologist and the CEO and owner of the private practice Key Communication Speech & Language Services, Inc. in Ontario, California.  

Dean’s clinical experience includes treating patients with language delays/disorders, voice and fluency disorders, articulation disorders, autism and intellectual disabilities including Down syndrome and related conditions. He has been recognized by the American Speech Language and Hearing Association on several occasions.

A native of Charleston, South Carolina, Dean began his career serving the pre-k to 5th-grade populations.

Dean received his undergraduate degree in speech-language pathology & audiology from A&T in 2013 and his master’s degree in speech-language pathology and audiology from South Carolina State University in 2016. 

Willie A. Deese College of Business and Economics

Tiffany Eubanks-Saunders ’93 is managing director and private bank head of Diverse Segments at Bank of America (BOFA) Corp. She is responsible for leading strategies that cultivate business development with traditionally underserved client segments such as women, people of color and the LGBTQ+ community.

Before joining the Private Bank, she served as Bank of America’s Supplier Diversity and Development Executive, responsible for achieving Bank of America’s corporate commitment to spending $10 billion with diverse-owned businesses. She helped BOFA become the first financial services institution inducted to the Billion Dollar Roundtable for Supplier Diversity in 2014.

Eubanks-Saunders serves on several professional and civic organizations, including the Executive Advisory Council for the Deese College, the Executive Leadership Council, the Boys and Girls Clubs of America Trustee Board and the National Minority Supplier Development Council Global Committee. Among other honors, she has been recognized as a Top Woman in Business by the Charlotte (North Carolina) Business Journal. In 2019, Oprah Winfrey honored her with the prestigious UNCF Maya Angelou “Women Who Lead” award.

A Charlotte native and A&T legacy, Eubanks-Saunders earned her bachelor’s degree in economics with honors from A&T in 1993.

College of Engineering

Raheem Beyah ’98 is dean of the College of Engineering and Southern Company Chair at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. He is chief academic officer of the country’s largest engineering college, overseeing the college's eight schools while also guiding more than 500 faculty members and more than 18,500 students.

Beyah leads the Communications Assurance and Performance Group. He has published 185 refereed technical publications, secured more than $32 million in funding as PI or Co-PI and holds four utility patents. He is co-founder and board chair of Fortiphyd Logic Inc., an industrial cybersecurity company.

Beyah's work has been featured by major media outlets, including NPR, Forbes, WIRED Magazine, USA Today, The Hill, Network World, Security Week, and Dark Reading. He is co-founder and a steering committee member of the Academic and Research Leadership Network.

Beyah previously held several leadership roles at Georgia Tech, including as School of Electrical and Computer Engineering's associate chair for strategic initiatives and innovation, interim Steve W. Chaddick ECE school chair, and vice president for interdisciplinary research.

Beyah received the National Science Foundation CAREER award in 2009 and was selected for the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency Computer Science Study Panel in 2010. He is a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Society for Engineering Education, a lifetime member of the National Society of Black Engineers, a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, and an Association for Computing Machinery distinguished scientist.

A native Atlantan, Beyah is a graduate of the Atlanta Public Schools system. As a graduate of both Leadership Atlanta and Leadership Georgia, he remains active in the community at state and local levels. 

Beyah earned a B.S. in electrical engineering from A&T in 1998. He received master’s and Ph.D. degrees in electrical and computer engineering from Georgia Tech in 1999 and 2003, respectively.

College of Science and Technology

Bryant Moore ’75 is director of New Ventures and Partnerships for Innovate Carolina at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

He joined UNC-Chapel Hill in 2015 as director of Strategic Partnerships in their Office of Technology Commercialization. Before UNC-Chapel Hill, he had more than 30 years of successful leadership and management roles in the medical device industry. His background includes experience in clinical diagnostics, endoscopy and sports medicine, cardiology, and ophthalmology medtech segments.

Moore’s last industry role was global head of refractive research and development for Abbott Medical Optics, a division of Abbott Laboratories. Prior to Abbott, he held several key leadership roles at Medtronic and was worldwide vice president of research and development and management board member for Smith and Nephew Endoscopy. 

Moore began his career as a scientist at DuPont and served as a member of the board of directors of Natus Medical (NASDAQ: NTUS), which was acquired by the Archimed Group.

Moore earned a B.S. in chemistry from A&T and a Ph.D. in biochemistry from UNC-CH. He is a member of the College of Science and Technology Advisory Board.

The Honors College

Endya L. Frye ’10, M.D., is a pediatrician at Greensboro Pediatricians in her hometown of Greensboro, North Carolina.

Frye serves on two boards of directors: as medical director of the Pettiford Foundation and as Racial and Social Justice co-chair of the Shirley T. Frye YWCA of Greensboro. She is committed to student success and mentors A&T pre-medical students with Greensboro Medical Society Mentoring Females into Medicine.

For the past few years, Frye has continued her love of teaching as an adjunct professor at the UNC School of Medicine MED-EXCEL Program. She is a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the North Carolina Pediatric Society, the National Medical Association and the Greensboro Medical Society.  

Frye earned her B.S. in biology with honors in 2010 from A&T, her M.D. from the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University and completed her pediatric residency at the University of North Carolina Hospitals.

Frye enjoys spending time with family and friends, traveling and building her plant collection.

The Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering

Manish Sharma ’18 is a process engineer at Intel Corp. in Hillsboro, Oregon. He leverages the knowledge and skills acquired in the semiconductor/material science field to contribute to various technology development projects, particularly in thin film technology. He played a substantial role in advancing sub-nanometer thin film resistor (TFR) technology at one of Intel's critical technology nodes which has been instrumental in enhancing chip performance and functionality.

Sharma also led the re-engineering of the TFR film to address stability issues including coordinating engineers from across multiple modules to ensure film compatibility with the overall process and devise strategies to control and optimize film properties.

Sharma's exceptional contributions to technology development have earned him multiple departmental and area-level awards at Intel.

Sharma earned his Ph.D. in nanoengineering in 2018 from A&T where he received the Outstanding Dissertation Award from the A&T Graduate College and The Council of Historically Black Graduate Schools. He also received an M.S. in solid state materials in 2013 from the Indian Institute of Technology in New Delhi and a B.S. in physics in 2008 from Panjab University in Chandigarh.

Howard C. Barnhill Distinguished Service Award

Born and raised on a farm in Semora, North Carolina, Shana Dixon ’91 is a centennial graduate of A&T’s Willie A. Deese College of Business and Economics. 

Dixon has served the federal government for more than 33 years in various capacities with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. She has served on major federal task forces including the White House Security Review and the Department of Homeland Security’s Vaccinate Our Workforce. She was recognized for her efforts with a Special Performance Award and a Meritorious Medal.

Dixon is passionate about her alma mater. She has served in numerous leadership capacities across A&T alumni chapters since 2004. As president of the New York City Alumni chapter, she led two successful fundraisers which resurrected scholarship awards for the chapter. She co- founded and remains an active leader for A&T’s Northern Virginia Alumni Chapter where she serves as recording secretary. Her efforts have strengthened its operations, recruitment, membership, and visibility in the community.

As a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc., Dixon has served as scholarship committee chair and co-chair and led youth leadership initiatives to develop such skills in both high school and middle school students through experiential learning. In honor of her mother, she established the Jean Rose Developers Endowment at A&T. 

Julia S. Brooks Achievement Award

Bonita Casterlow Mittman ’02, ’04 holds a B.S. in transportation and logistics and an M.S. in management, supply change management from the Deese College. Serving as Health Care System executive director of Information Technology for UNC Health, Mittman is an experienced, results-driven executive with decades of experience in program and project management, information technology, real estate property management and consulting. 

Mittman has worked in both Fortune 500 and small business organizations in several leadership positions including global management responsibility for Diversity Construction Management at-risk projects, business development management with emphasis on creating new and continuing existing client and end user relationships, and in information technology program and project management roles focusing on application integration, implementation, and customer support.

Mittman is also a champion of higher education, and has worked diligently to provide and promote internships, mentorship and scholarship opportunities for minorities across corporate and community settings.

A member of the Durham (North Carolina) Aggie Alumni organization, Mittman has served on numerous boards and committees to raise and distribute student scholarship funds, strengthen the Aggie Athletic Association Foundation, mentor school of business students and serve her Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. chapter as vice president, co-chair of membership services and co-chair of the physical and mental health committee.

A self-proclaimed born-and-bred Aggie, Mittman and her husband, fellow Aggie Benjamin Mittman Jr. '01, are proud to continue their Aggie legacy through their son, Benjamin "Tre" Mittman III, Class of 2028 and a student-athlete on the Aggie football team. Their youngest, Bryson Mittman, is an Aggie-in-training. 

Dr. Velma Speight Young alumna Award

Waynette Kimball ’08, ’10, a native of Halifax County and Raleigh, North Carolina, resident, earned her bachelor’s degree in agricultural economics and master’s in agricultural education from A&T’s College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences. She is an administrative specialist for the USDA’s Farm Service Agency North Carolina Office.

As a liaison to all 100 North Carolina counties, Kimball manages budgeting, training and development, purchasing and procurement, contract requisitions and real property.

A dedicated A&T alumna and ambassador, Kimball is equally passionate about all things agriculture. She has served on several advisory committees, spear-headed recruitment initiatives, chaired numerous events and actively served the Halifax Northampton and Durham chapters of NCA&TSU alumni association. She is a founding member of the Roanoke Valley HBCU Collaborative Association and the Brown Kimball Education Foundation, which helps students pursue their academic aspirations.

In 2023, Kimball was appointed to the Advisory Council for the Office of Alumni Relations, connecting young alumni with their predecessors to further build community and foster partnerships. 

Kimball has also been recognized for her service and leadership as a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., and continues to give of her time, talent and treasure for that venerable organization as well.

Kimball and her brother, Wayne Kimball '11, are proud legacies of their mother Georgette Kimball '77. Together, they represent the best of A&T.