University of North Carolina at Greensboro - History

History

Credit for the founding of UNCG goes mainly to Charles Duncan McIver, a crusader for the cause of women's education. Charles D. McIver served the institution as its first chief executive officer with the title of President. This position has also seen various names, with the administrator being known as the Dean of Administration after 1934 and Chancellor from 1945 to present.

The school was established as a women's college by legislative enactment on February 18, 1891 as the State Normal and Industrial School and opened October 5, 1892. The school provided instruction in business, domestic science, and teaching with a student body of 223 and a faculty of 15 in its first year. R. S. Pullen and R. T. Gray gave the original 10-acre (40,000 m2) site in Greensboro, N.C. where the first building was erected with state funds totaling $30,000. It is the first and only public university in North Carolina founded for the purpose of educating women. In 1949, it became the largest all-female institution in the United States.

The school has seen many names over the years, changing from the "State Normal and Industrial School" to the State Normal and Industrial College in 1896, and again in 1919 to North Carolina College for Women. In 1932, it changed to the Woman's College of the University of North Carolina, when it became one of the three charter institutions of the Consolidated University of North Carolina, and changed again to the University of North Carolina at Greensboro when men were first admitted to the school in 1963. It is remembered fondly by many graduates of the Woman's College simply as "the W.C."

UNCG is in the midst of expanding beyond its traditional borders onto West Lee Street, a major city thoroughfare, with the construction of an 800 bed residence hall for students, and this is just the beginning of the $200 million dollar project on Lee Street. The new construction will be a mixed-use development, with space for retail and restaurants, along with student residence halls and a new student recreation center. The university's expansion into the West Lee Street Corridor was triggered by UNCG's strategic housing plan, which calls for the university to increase the percentage of undergraduates living in university housing from 30 percent to more than 40 percent over the next decade.

In addition to providing room for UNCG's growth, the expansion also syncs with Greensboro's revitalization plan for the High Point Road/West Lee Street corridor, a main entry point and thoroughfare in the city. The project will also spur economic development in the area. Projections estimate the development will generate more than $590 million in new spending between 2014 and 2023, create 945 new jobs and boost local property revenues by $7.5 million.