North Carolina A&T State University faculty, staff, students, alumni and friends will celebrate the institution’s 122nd year of existence at its Founders’ Day Convocation on Thursday, March 21, at 10 a.m. in the Richard B. Harrison Auditorium.

Faculty members are required to participate in the convocation and should come dressed in academic regalia. The lineup will begin at 9:30 a.m., the processional will begin at 9:45 a.m.

At the convocation, the university will recognize alumni from the schools and colleges with an Alumni Achievement Award, which is given to alumni who have made significant contributions to the growth and development of the university.

The keynote speaker for the event will be retired U.S. Congressman Edolphus Towns Jr. A native of Chadbourn, N.C., Towns earned a bachelor’s degree from N.C. A&T in 1956. He received his master’s degree from Adelphi University.

Towns, a democrat from New York, served in the United States House of Representative from 1983 to 2013. He was chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee from 2009 to 2011. During his 30 years in Congress, he represented districts based in Brooklyn: first New York’s 11th congressional district, 1983–1993, and then the 10th district, 1993–2013.

He worked as an administrator at Beth Israel Medical Center, a professor at New York’s Medgar Evers College and Fordham University and a public school teacher. He is a veteran of the United States Army and an ordained Baptist minister.

Towns served on the Energy and Commerce Committee and was a member of the Congressional Black Caucus. He co-sponsored and enacted several pieces of federal legislation including the Student Right To Know Act, which mandated the reporting of the rate of graduation, among student athletes, creating the Telecommunications Development Fund, which provides capital for minority business initiatives and the development of a federal program for poison and control centers. He is the recipient of the 2012 Chair’s Leadership Award (formerly the Presidential Award).

Towns is married to the former Gwendolyn Forbes. They have two children, Darryl and Deidra.

The School of Technology will present its first Technology Week, March 18–22, under the theme, The Emergence of Technology and Innovation.

Over 1,200 undergraduate, graduate, high school and community college students, along with the university community and corporate partners, are anticipated to participate during this week.

“Technology and innovation continues to evolve as it relates to graduates being ready for the 21st century workforce,” said Dr. Sherry F. Abernathy, assistant dean of student success for the School of Technology. “President Obama has launched a campaign called “Educate to Innovate,” in an effort to work with young people to improve their performance in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math). Likewise, the School of Technology advocates preparing innovators for the future.”

The purpose of Technology Week is to educate, inform and display the field of technology and its place as a career choice.

“We bring together School of Technology students, faculty, staff and high school and community college students, as well as corporate partners to share the story of ‘Why Technology?’ Not only is technology one of the fields that is in a job growth pattern, but it meets the strategic direction of the country in increasing jobs in STEM,” said Abernathy.

The fourth annual Extreme IT Day will take place during the week on Wednesday, March 20. Extreme IT Day introduces high school and college students to enterprise computing technologies, including the mainframe and cloud. Students will participate in various hands-on exercises and challenges to give a glimpse of what goes on in the computing world of mainframe and cloud applications. Corporate participants include: IBM, Red Hat, BB&T, Clear Blade, IT-ology, Consortium for Enterprise Systems Management and others. The Marshmallow Challenge will be conducted from 10:15 a.m. until 11 a.m.

On Monday and Tuesday, the seven undergraduate technology programs will be showcased, and on Thursday a historical view of technology and the School of Technology will occur.

Events are open to all March 18, 19 and 21.

For additional information about the School of Technology, call 336-334-7359 or visit the website.

Joseph Bathanti, an award-winning poet, professor and advocate for literacy, will visit North Carolina A&T State University for workshops and a reading on Wednesday, April 3.

His schedule will include meetings with faculty and students, a writing program for N.C. A&T students interested in poetry and spoken word, and a reading at 7 p.m., followed by light refreshments and a book signing. The reading, which is open to the public, will be in the auditorium of the Academic Classroom Building, room 101.

Bathanti was named North Carolina’s Poet Laureate in 2012 by then-Gov. Bev Perdue, who noted his “robust commitment to social causes.” He first came to North Carolina to work in the VISTA program and has taught writing workshops in prisons for 35 years.

North Carolina’s seventh poet laureate, Bathanti is a professor of creative writing at Appalachian State University, where he is also director of writing in the field and writer-in-residence in the university's Watauga Global Community.

He is the author of several books of poetry, including “This Metal” (St. Andrews College Press, 1996 and Press 53, 2012); two novels, “Coventry” (Novello Festival Press, 2006) and “East Liberty” (Banks Channel Books, 2001); along with a book of short stories, “The High Heart” (Eastern Washington University Press, 2007).

Bathanti’s special visit during National Poetry Month is sponsored by A&T’s Honors Program, Department of English and Creative Writing, Center for Academic Success and F.D. Bluford Library.