Undergraduate Bulletin > University History, Officers, & Faculty > History of UNCG
The History of The University of North Carolina at Greensboro
The first state-supported school for the higher education of women in North Carolina was chartered in 1891 as the State Normal and Industrial School. It opened on October 5, 1892 to 223 students, a 15-member faculty, and classes in three departments: business, domestic science, and teaching. Charles Duncan McIver, who with other pioneers in public education crusaded for higher education for women, was the first president of the institution, serving from 1892 until his death in 1906.
In 1896 State Normal’s name was changed to the State Normal and Industrial College.
In 1919, the school was renamed North Carolina College for Women, as it continued to educate women in the liberal arts with particular emphasis in the fields of teaching, home economics, music, and physical education.
The first graduate degree, the Master of Arts, was awarded in 1922.
The General Assembly of 1931 combined the North Carolina College for Women, The University of North Carolina (at Chapel Hill) and the North Carolina State College of Agriculture and Engineering (at Raleigh) into a Consolidated University. The campus at Greensboro thus became The Woman’s College of the University of North Carolina.
The first doctoral degree was awarded in June of 1963.
“WC” became coeducational in July of 1963, when laws were amended to authorize admission of both men and women at all levels of instruction on all University campuses. At that time, the Greensboro campus was again renamed as The University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
In October 1971 the General Assembly adopted legislation that combined all 16 of the state-supported institutions of higher education into a single University of North Carolina, governed by a board of governors and administered by a president. Each constituent institution has a separate board of trustees and is administered by a chancellor.
Dr. Linda P. Brady became the tenth chancellor of The University of North Carolina at Greensboro August 1, 2008. Brady succeeded Dr. Patricia A. Sullivan, UNCG’s first woman chancellor, who retired July 31, 2008, after almost 14 years in the post.
UNCG’s fall 2010 resident headcount enrollment was 17,397—18 percent of whom are graduate students—with 1,116 full- and part-time instructional faculty. UNCG offers over 100 undergraduate areas of study, master’s degrees in a wide variety of concentrations, and four doctoral degrees in 26 areas of study. The campus on Spring Garden Street, its original location, has grown to 204 acres and 91 buildings. The overall University's 357-acre campus includes Gateway University Research Park and is located in Greensboro, a city of 257,997.
