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Just ahead of the 2025 Fall semester, North Carolina A&T State University leaders have announced a new academic partnership to provide an additional pathway to education for adult learners.
Project Kitty Hawk is a nonprofit affiliate of the University of North Carolina System that helps North Carolina’s public universities develop and launch online degree programs specifically designed for adults. The degree programs powered by Project Kitty Hawk, called “Flight Path” programs, focus on in-demand fields for adult learners.
Chancellor James R. Martin II and Project Kitty Hawk President and CEO Andrew Kelly, Ph.D., formally signed a memorandum of understanding on July 12 at the A&T Farm Pavilion.
“We’re excited to extend N.C. A&T’s reach to adult learners through online degree programs that feature the same academic excellence and rigor that define the university’s brand,” said Kelly.
A&T is the latest university to partner with Project Kitty Hawk, joining Appalachian State University, East Carolina University and North Carolina Central University, in making higher education more accessible. Project Kitty Hawk also works with Fayetteville State University, UNC Greensboro and UNC-Chapel Hill. To date, 15 Flight Path programs are active.
More than 1,700 students have been served by a Flight Path program since the first program launched in Fall 2023. The academic programs boast an overall persistence rate of 88 percent and have generated $10 million in additional tuition revenue for university partners.
Project Kitty Hawk will help A&T launch seven degree programs designed for adult learners, starting with three Flight Path programs in January 2026: B.S. in criminal justice, B.A. in liberal studies, and two concentrations of the university’s highly ranked MBA program (general management and supply chain management). Over the following 18 months, Project Kitty Hawk and A&T expect to launch four additional programs. They anticipate adding a projected 4,000 A&T students through Flight Path programs over the next five years.
One key feature of Flight Path is multiple enrollment periods throughout the year, allowing students to start when ready rather than waiting for traditional semesters.
“You don’t have to wait to enroll in August or January. When you contact A&T, you’ll be set up with a student success coach,” Kelly explained. “This program is taking all the rigor and excellence of learning at A&T and meeting adult learners where they are.”
For students like 32-year-old Deanna Satterwhite, that flexibility is transformative. Just two weeks before starting as a traditional undergraduate in 2018, Satterwhite was diagnosed with kidney failure. Years of treatment, a kidney transplant, and an accident that cost her vision in one eye delayed her education.
“The idea of sitting in a classroom every day while managing treatments, appointments and recovery was overwhelming. But then online learning changed everything,” she said. “Online education didn’t just offer flexibility—it offered dignity. It reminded me I was still capable. That my goals were still valid. And that even on the hardest days, I could still move forward.”
Dr. Jacqueline Williams, Ph.D., associate professor of marketing and supply chain management in the Willie A. Deese College of Business and Economics, also acknowledged the freedom and hope that online learning offers to nontraditional students.
“I can testify that online education opens doors that were once previously closed,” said Williams.
Chancellor James R. Martin II noted he sees Project Kitty Hawk as a vehicle to reach new demographics, especially adult learners aged 24+, and have a virtually unlimited impact locally and globally.
“We want to engage people for their life, not just from 18 to 22 for four years,” said Martin. “This further enhances our ability to serve our traditional 18- to 22-year-old demographic as well, because this program offers more flexibility to many of them who work and have additional responsibilities.”
Martin also said it’s important to note that knowledge is being created and shared at a higher rate, and the university must adapt to an evolving educational and career landscape.
He also emphasized that A&T is positioning itself as a lifelong learning platform suitable for all stages of life and career.
“Learning is a lifestyle, not an event,” said Martin.
