Catherine Edmonds Named Director of Forever Learning Initiative at N.C. A&T

EAST GREENSBORO, N.C. (May 12, 2026) - North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University has named a proven educational leader to direct its expanding emphasis on lifelong learning known as the Forever Learning Initiative: Catherine Edmonds '92, Ed.D., whose tenure as interim provost during the 2025-26 academic year recently concluded.

North Carolina A&T Chancellor James R. Martin II envisions a university that engages North Carolinians over their entire lifetimes, cognizant that an increasingly high-tech society will create ongoing education needs for everyone. Forever Learning is intended to be A&T's umbrella organization for coordinating and providing those opportunities outside the college degree programs that comprise the university's main thrust.

Forever Learning launched during the 2025-26 school year with professional development coursework in artificial intelligence, financial literacy and physical wellness offered through IBM SkillsBuild. Edmonds is tasked with further development of the initiative, including programming that targets families of A&T students, alumni and more.

"We want to dispel the idea of higher education as an event only relevant to 18- to 23-year-olds and develop the notion of learning as a lifestyle appropriate for any age," said Martin. "Dr. Edmonds brings the vision, experience and strategic leadership necessary to build an ecosystem that connects education and learners in meaningful and lasting ways."

Distinguished Educational Career

Edmonds' educational career includes service as superintendent of Bertie County and Elizabeth City Pasquotank schools and tenure as deputy superintendent of the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction.

At the state level, she worked with the Birth-to-Third Grade Council to strengthen early learning and long-term student success. She also served by gubernatorial appointment on the N.C. State Board of Community Colleges, providing governance and strategic oversight for a 58-college system.

Edmonds is also developer of the First Generation Professionals framework, an emerging model that extends the concept of student success beyond graduation to long-term career progression and economic mobility for those who are the first members of their families to go to college.

Expanding Access to Lifelong Learning

She launched the Forever Learning Initiative while serving as A&T's chief academic officer. Under her leadership, the initiative is set to extend LinkedIn Learning coursework to A&T students' family members free of charge, giving them access to on-demand career development education. She will advance Forever Learning to expand access, deepen partnerships and strengthen A&T's role as a leader in lifelong-learning.

"Through Forever Learning, we are creating pathways that allow individuals to return, reskill, upskill and remain connected to A&T as their careers and aspirations evolve," said Edmonds. "It's about reimagining the relevance of the university to the lives of non-degree seeking students."

Edmonds begins work in the role immediately.