WSSU chancellor, students engage state leaders during Legislative Day visit
Winston-Salem State University Chancellor Bonita J. Brown and three WSSU students visited the North Carolina Legislative Building Wednesday at the invitation of N.C. Sen. Paul Lowe Jr., D-Forsyth.
Lowe, who received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters during WSSU’s 2025 spring commencement, invited the group to Raleigh to meet state legislators – particularly members of the Senate – and to discuss key university initiatives and concerns.
During the visit, which Lowe dubbed “WSSU Day with the North Carolina Senate,” he guided Ramiyah Summers, student government association president-elect; Quincey Constant, SGA vice president-elect; and Gabrielle Erwin, an astrobotany research scholar, on a tour of the building and introduced them to several colleagues.
Before the tour, the students spoke with Senate Minority Leader Sydney Batch, D-Wake. They asked about the path to becoming a legislator and shared their academic interests and post-graduation goals. Batch, elected in December 2024, is the first woman to lead a Senate Democratic caucus in North Carolina history.
SGA representatives from at least three other UNC System schools—North Carolina Central University, Western Carolina University and Appalachian State University—were also at the Legislative Building on April 22 for “Student Government Day.”
“It was exciting to host and connect with students in a more personal way,” Lowe said. “I was very much impressed with the WSSU students, as I knew I would be. I wanted to expose WSSU in a more profound and personal way at the General Assembly, and I’m working with Chancellor Brown, whom I had met previously, to help her navigate matters related to the General Assembly and the university.”
Joining Brown and the students in Raleigh April 22 were Kelley Mills, vice chancellor and chief of staff; Dr. Jill Keith, director of WSSU’s Biomedical Research Infrastructure Center and professor of biochemistry; Kimberly Reese, executive director of university events; and Juan Nader, director of product and strategic products at PatientReady.
