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The University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNC Charlotte, University of Charlotte, UNCC, or for athletics purposes, Charlotte) is a public university located in Charlotte, North Carolina. It opened September 23, 1946 and emphasizes the study areas of teaching, research, engineering and public service.

History

Founded in 1946 as the Charlotte Center to serve the educational needs of returning World War II veterans, UNC Charlotte has grown to become a doctoral/research-intensive institution and is the fourth-largest of the 16 UNC campuses, enrolling nearly 21,000 students as of fall 2005. In addition to a broad array of undergraduate and master's degree programs in the arts and sciences, it houses seven colleges including architecture, business administration, education, engineering, information technology, and health and human services. The university offers 82 baccalaureate programs, more than 60 master's degree programs, and 16 doctoral programs. Fifteen degree and certificate programs are offered via distance education, from 25% to 100% online. UNCC's first emphasis is on teaching, followed by research, engineering and responsive public service.

Like many of the United States' "younger" universities, it owes its inception to the G.I. Bill and its effects on public education. In 1949, when the state closed the centers, the Charlotte Center was taken over by the city school district and became Charlotte College, a two-year institution. Funded first by student tuition payments, then by local property taxes, it became state-supported in 1958 upon joining the newly formed North Carolina community college system. Classes were held at Central High School, near uptown Charlotte, until the school moved to its current location in 1961. In 1963, UNCC became a four-year college. It adopted its current name July 1, 1965, upon becoming part of the Consolidated University of North Carolina, since 1972 called the University of North Carolina System.

Campuses

The University operates several campuses in Charlotte. The Main Campus is situated on just under 1,000 acres (4 km²) of rolling land between U.S. Highway 29 and N.C. Highway 49, about 10 miles (16 km) from Uptown Charlotte. The campus is self-contained, meaning that no major roads run through the campus. The campus boasts several manmade lakes, and is heavily wooded. Near the center of campus are two gardens that attract over 300,000 visitors a year. Much of the architecture on the campus, particularly the oldest buildings, are post-modern and utilitarian-looking because they were built with limited state funds in the 1960s and 1970s. Under the campus' third chancellor, James Woodward, the campus has and is undergoing a major change. The newest buildings, funded from state bonds, are being constructed in brick with classical architecture. Concrete and asphalt sidewalks have largely been replaced by brick. The campus' road system is being upgraded to include landscaped medians and more trees.

Attached to the main campus is a 100 acre (0.4 km²) campus, created in 2000, called the Charlotte Research Institute (CRI Campus). This research-oriented campus focuses on precision metrology and intelligent manufacturing; opto-electronics and optical communication; and software and information technology. This campus brings together faculty, students, and outside researchers to work together.

The third campus is located in Uptown Charlotte. This campus primarily focuses its attention on business and evening courses, which caters to Uptown workers. Currently located in the Mint Museum of Craft+Design, the campus recently announced plans to construct its own building in Uptown.

The fourth campus is located in an area of South Charlotte called Ballantyne. At this campus, the University's College of Information Technology offers a limited number of graduate courses. The University utilizes space in an office building for this campus.

Leaders of the university

Bonnie E. Cone, founder

Bonnie E. Cone (1907-2003), or Miss Bonnie as she was known to students, was chosen to lead the Charlotte Center in 1946, and she was instrumental in convincing the state to keep the school open in 1949. She was the leader that chose the current site of the school, and helped plan the original campus master plan. Until 1965, she served as president of Charlotte College. She stated that March 2, 1965 was the "happiest day of her life"; it was the day the North Carolina legislature voted to bring Charlotte College into the UNC system. She served as an acting Chancellor of the university until 1966, when Dean Colvard was selected as permanent chancellor. Even though she had led the college since 1946, the State wanted a leader with experience of running a 4-year, public university. Cone and the university were profiled in the July 16,1965 issue of TIME Magazine. In the article, she stated, "we are not here to elevate ourselves but the institution", when asked about the chancellor position. She served in various official positions until her retirement in 1973, at which time the main campus's student union was renamed the Cone University Center. Cone continued to work on behalf of the school in unofficial capacities until her death in March of 2003. She is interred in the Van Landingham Gardens on the east side of the main campus, and a non-denominational meditation center is planned near the site. She is posthumously known as the founder of the school, a title which she rejected during her lifetime because she felt many people had a hand in creating and building the university. During her lifetime, she received 10 honorary degrees from various colleges and universities and was inducted posthumously into the Order of the Long Leaf Pine in recognition to her contributions to North Carolina history. In 2004 the stretch of U.S. Highway 29 near the main campus was officially renamed the "Dr. Bonnie Cone Memorial Highway."

Chancellors

Dean W. Colvard was appointed the first chancellor of the young university in 1966. A North Carolina native, Colvard had served as president of Mississippi State University (MSU). At MSU he was the first president to defy university policy of not playing against integrated teams when he ordered the men's basketball team to play Loyola University Chicago in 1963. At UNC Charlotte, Colvard took on the challenge of converting the school from a junior college to a 4-year member of the UNC system. He oversaw accreditation of the university, development of University Research Park (now one of the top 5 largest research parks in the country), constructed the first residence halls, created the first graduate programs, and grew the enrollment from about 1,700 to just over 8,000 students. He retired as chancellor in 1978, and currently serves as Chancellor Emeritus. Colvard also received the Order of the Long Leaf Pine. The Colvard building, completed on the main campus in 1979, is named in his honor and houses the College of Health and Human Services, as well as the Department of Psychology.

The second chancellor of the university, E.K. Fretwell was named in 1979. Fretwell came to the university from University at Buffalo, where he was president. Under Fretwell, campus enrollment surged from 8,000 students to over 12,000. He oversaw the creation of the Graduate School, created more graduate degrees, integrated the library's card catalog into the Internet in 1983, created the ground work for a major business incubator, helped to develop the university's surrounding neighborhood, and increased academic grants to over $6.1 million dollars. Fretwell retired as chancellor in 1989. He served as interim president of the University of Massachusetts from 1991-1992, and in 1998, he served as the interim president of the University of North Florida. In 1996 UNC Charlotte opened the Fretwell building, dedicated in honor of him and his wife Dorrie. The building headquarters the College of Arts and Sciences. He and his wife live in Charlotte.

James H. Woodward was named the University's chancellor in 1989, when he was appointed to succeed Fretwell. Woodward came to UNC Charlotte from the University of Alabama at Birmingham where he served as dean of engineering and senior vice president of Academic Affairs. Under Woodward, enrollment has grown to over 19,000 students. Like his predecessors, he continued the growth of the Graduate School, adding doctoral programs. He also oversaw the schools largest fundraising campaign in its history and the largest building boom in its history - as of the summer of 2005, no less than six buildings are actively under construction on the main campus. Woodward also oversaw creation of the CRI Campus. Woodward announced his retirement in 2004, and left the office of chancellor on June 30, 2005. Like his predecessors, he is currently serving as Chancellor Emeritus and teaching in the university's engineering department. In November of 2005, it was announced that the newly-completed Science and Technology building on the main campus would be named in Woodward's honor.

Philip L. Dubois is the fourth and current chancellor, assuming his current duties on July 15, 2005. He returns to Charlotte after serving as the president of the University of Wyoming from 1997 through 2005. Previously, Dubois served as the Provost and professor of political science at UNC Charlotte from 1991 until 1997. Dubois is the first chancellor, along with his wife and children, to occupy the brand new Chancellor's House (known as the Bissel House) on the UNC Charlotte campus that was completed in the winter of 2005. Dubois is expected to oversee the process of the University becoming the third research-extensive university in the State.

Colleges

For more information, please see The UNC Charlotte homepage

Athletics

For athletics purposes, the school is called Charlotte; this change was made official when the University changed the athletic department's name in 2000.

Charlotte's team nickname is 49ers; this nickname is derived from the year 1949, when the school was saved from being closed. It is often erroneously believed that the nickname is derived from the campus's location on N.C. Highway 49; however, this is merely a coincidence and the highway is not the reason for the namesake. The school's mascot is "Norm the Niner," an old goldminer. Norm is depicted in statue form near the front entrance of the main campus (a replica of this statue can be seen in the above photograph with Cone). The 49er fanbase is referred to as Niner Nation.

The school is a member of the NCAA's Division I (with no football program) and is in the Atlantic 10 Conference, which it joined on July 1, 2005. The school was previously a member of the Sun Belt Conference (1976-1991), the Metro Conference (1991-1995), and Conference USA (1995-2005). Charlotte athletic director Judy Rose is nationally respected and in 2000 became the first woman to serve on the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament Selection Committee.

Athletic facilities at Charlotte have improved dramatically over the past decade. In 1996 men's basketball returned to campus full-time for the first time in nearly 20 years with the opening of Dale F. Halton Arena. A new outdoor sports facility, the Irwin Belk Track and Field Center, opened in 1999 and serves as the home to the 49ers track and field teams in addition to both men's and women's soccer. Phillips Field, the baseball facility, is currently undergoing a $6 million overhaul and will be renamed Robert and Mariam Cannon Hayes Stadium. The golf team's new practice facility at Rocky River Golf Club in Concord is nearing completion.

Men's basketball is the most-followed sport at Charlotte. While other Charlotte teams have successful seasons on a mostly-intermittent basis, The 49ers cagers have been consistently successful for many years, reaching the NCAA Tournament eleven times and the NIT on five occasions. The 49ers made the NCAA Final Four in 1977, their first year making the tournament. After falling back into obscurity during the early 1980's, the program was resurrected under head coach Jeff Mullins. After Mullins left, Melvin Watkins, the starting point guard on the 1977 Final Four team, was named head coach in 1996. After Watkins resigned in 1998, Bobby Lutz, another UNC Charlotte graduate, was named head coach.

Women's basketball has enjoyed recent success, making three straight trips to post-season play for the first time in program history. These postseason advancements including an NCAA tournament appearance in 2003 and Women's NIT bids in 2004 and 2005. Amanda Butler, the program's associate head coach, was named head coach in April 2005.

The men's soccer team advanced to the NCAA College Cup in 1996. The team is led by head coach John Tart who was named the Conference USA co-Coach of the Decade.

All 49er sporting events are free to students.

Identity Issues

Over the years, an increasing number of alumni have become disgruntled with the official name of the university. Numerous confusions with UNC Chapel Hill have occurred on such high-profile television programs such as The Today Show and American Idol, plus the school's name appears in various fashions in the print media, from UNC Charlotte (the correct method), to UNCC (considered acceptable until recently), to UNC-Charlotte, to North Carolina-Charlotte, to NC-Charlotte. The athletic department's name change to simply Charlotte in 2000 alleviated that problem in most of the sports media, but the issue of school identity persists. Many students at the University refer to it simply as "Charlotte," leading many people, including Charlotte mayor Pat McCrory, to call for the school's name to change to "The University of Charlotte."

The lack of a football program is also a nagging issue for many students and alumni. Many 1970s - 1980s era alumni credit Bonnie E. Cone with the initial ban on a football program, which has persisted throughout the university's history. Many students and alumni believe that a football program would energize student life and encourage more students to remain in Charlotte over the weekends.

Administration timeline

  • Bonnie E. Cone (founder; director, 1946-1949; president, 1949-1965; acting chancellor, 1965-1966)
  • Dean W. Colvard (chancellor, 1966-1978)
  • E. K. Fretwell (chancellor, 1979-1989)
  • James H. Woodward (chancellor, 1989-2005)
  • Philip L. Dubois (chancellor, 2005- )

Notable alumni and faculty

Alumni

(with year of graduation in parentheses)

Faculty

Facts

  • The first-ever meeting of the University of North Carolina System Board of Governors was held in the J. Murrey Atkins Library on the UNC Charlotte campus in 1972.
  • When Chancellor Fretwell oversaw the library's card catalog system conversion to computers in 1983, the University became the first library in the country to have a computerized card catalog.
  • UNC Charlotte is the only university in the country to have three Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching Professors of the Year on the faculty at one time.
  • By the year 2015, the University is projected to have over 30,000 students.

Points of interest

Books

Sanford, Ken (1996) Charlotte and UNC Charlotte, Growing Up Together. University of North Carolina at Charlotte; Charlotte, North Carolina.

See also

External links

1946 establishments | Atlantic 10 Conference | Charlotte, North Carolina | Universities and colleges in North Carolina | University of North Carolina at Charlotte

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "University of North Carolina at Charlotte".

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