Shirley Hymon-Parker

Professor Emerita Shirley Hymon-Parker is interim dean of the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences at N.C. A&T, managing the college's $45.8 million research portfolio, four departments and more than 1,100 students. She previously served as the college's associate dean for research from 2018 -2022. Her research activities include issues surrounding childhood obesity; the value of undergraduate research; and rural entrepreneurship. She has served as chair of the Experiment Station Committee on Organization and Policy for American Public and Land-grant Universities and the 1890 Association of Research Directors; served as director at large of the American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences; and been a member of the Policy Board of Directors of the Board on Agriculture Assembly. She earned a bachelor’s degree in home economics from North Carolina Central University; a master’s degree in apparel design from Cornell University; and a doctoral certificate in gerontology, as well as her doctorate in education policy, planning and administration, from the University of Maryland - College Park.