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North Carolina Central University

Coordinates: 35°58′27″N 78°53′55″W / 35.97417°N 78.89861°W / 35.97417; -78.89861
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North Carolina Central University
Former name
National Religious Training School and Chautauqua for the Colored Race (1910–1915)
National Training School (1915–1923)
Durham State Normal School for Negroes (1923–1925)
North Carolina College for Negroes (1925–1947)
North Carolina College at Durham (1947–1969)
Motto"Truth and Service"
TypePublic historically black university
Established1910; 114 years ago (1910)
Parent institution
University of North Carolina
AccreditationSACS
Academic affiliation
TMCF
Endowment$55 million (2021)[1]
ChancellorKarrie G. Dixon
ProvostOntario S. Wooden
Students7,553 (Fall 2022)
Location
Durham
,
North Carolina
,
United States
CampusLarge city[2], 135 acres (0.55 km2)
NewspaperThe Campus Echo[3]
ColorsMaroon and gray
   
NicknameEagles
Sporting affiliations
MascotEddie the Eagle
Websitewww.nccu.edu
North Carolina Central University
North Carolina Central University campus
North Carolina Central University is located in North Carolina
North Carolina Central University
North Carolina Central University is located in the United States
North Carolina Central University
LocationBounded by Lawson St., Alston Ave., Nelson, and Fayetteville Sts., Durham, North Carolina
Coordinates35°58′27″N 78°53′55″W / 35.97417°N 78.89861°W / 35.97417; -78.89861
Built1928
ArchitectAtwood & Nash; Public Works Administration
Architectural styleColonial Revival, Georgian Revival
MPSDurham MRA
NRHP reference No.86000676 [4]
Added to NRHPMarch 28, 1986

North Carolina Central University (NCCU or NC Central) is a public historically black university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by James E. Shepard in affiliation with the Chautauqua movement in 1909, it was supported by private funds from both Northern and Southern philanthropists. It was made part of the state system in 1923, when it first received state funding and was renamed as Durham State Normal School. It added graduate classes in arts and sciences and professional schools in law and library science in the late 1930s and 1940s.

In 1969 the legislature designated this a regional university and renamed it as North Carolina Central University. It has been part of the University of North Carolina system since 1972 and offers programs at the baccalaureate, master's, professional, and doctoral levels. The university is a member of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund.

History

[edit]
Presidents/Chancellors
James E. Shepard President 1909–1947
Alfonso Elder President 1948–1963
Samuel P. Massie President 1963–1966
Albert N. Whiting President
Chancellor 		1967–1972
1972–1982
LeRoy T. Walker Chancellor 1983–1986
Tyronza R. Richmond Chancellor 1986–1992
Donna J. Benson Interim Chancellor 1992–1993
Julius L. Chambers Chancellor 1993–2001
James H. Ammons Chancellor 2001–2007
Beverly Washington Jones Interim Chancellor 2007–2007
Charlie Nelms Chancellor 2007–2012
Charles Becton Interim Chancellor 2012–2013
Debra Saunders-White Chancellor 2013–2016
Johnson O. Akinleye Interim Chancellor 2016–2017
Johnson O. Akinleye Chancellor 2017–Present

North Carolina Central University was founded by James E. Shepard as the National Religious Training School and Chautauqua for the Colored Race in the Hayti District. Chautauqua was an educational movement that originated in the Northeast. The school was chartered in 1909 as a private institution and opened on July 5, 1910. Woodrow Wilson, the future U.S. president, contributed some private support for the school's founding.[5]

The school was sold and reorganized in 1915, becoming the National Training School; it was supported by Margaret Olivia Slocum Sage, a philanthropist of New York who was particularly concerned about education. (She founded the Russell Sage Foundation and made generous bequests to several schools.) The National Training School supported Black teacher development in the Jim Crow era, a time when Black education was underfunded by southern states at both the lower and upper levels.

Statue of NCCU founder James E. Shepard. James E. Shepard was also a pharmacist, civil servant and educator. He served as the first president of NCCU for nearly 40 years.

Becoming a state-funded institution in 1923, this school was renamed as Durham State Normal School for Negroes; normal schools trained teachers for elementary grades. In 1925, reflecting the expansion of its programs to a four-year curriculum with a variety of majors, the General Assembly converted the institution into the North Carolina College for Negroes, dedicating it to the offering of liberal arts education and the preparation of teachers and principals of secondary schools. It was the nation's first state-supported liberal arts college for black students.[6] To avoid the state Jim Crow system of segregated passenger cars on trains, Shepard insisted on traveling to Raleigh by car to lobby the legislature.[6] The college's first four-year class graduated in 1929.

The college was accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools as an "A" class institution in 1937 and was admitted to membership in that association in 1957. Graduate courses in the School of Arts and Sciences were added in 1939, in the School of Law in 1940, and in the School of Library Science in 1941. A "race relations conference" was held at the college in July 1944.[7]

In 1947, the General Assembly changed the name of the institution to North Carolina College at Durham. On October 6, 1947, Shepard, the founder and president, died. He was succeeded in 1948 by Alfonso Elder. At the time of Elder's election he was serving as head of the Graduate Department of Education and had formerly been dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. Elder retired September 1, 1963. Samuel P. Massie was appointed as the president on August 9, 1963, and resigned on February 1, 1966. On July 1, 1967, Albert N. Whiting assumed the presidency. He served as president and chancellor of the institution. Among the significant developments during his service was the creation of NCCU School of Business. Programs in public administration and criminal justice were also launched. Whiting retired June 30, 1983.

The 1969 General Assembly designated the institution as one of the State's regional universities, and the name was changed to North Carolina Central University. Since 1972, NCCU has been a constituent institution of the University of North Carolina system. On July 1, 1972, the state's four-year colleges and universities were joined to become The Consolidated University of North Carolina, with 16 individual campuses headed by a single president and governed by the University of North Carolina Board of Governors. However, each campus was led by a separate chancellor and a campus-specific board of trustees.[8]

Whiting was succeeded by LeRoy T. Walker as chancellor, followed by Tyronza R. Richmond, Julius L. Chambers (who had previously been director-counsel (chief executive) of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund), James H. Ammons, Charlie Nelms, and Debra Saunders-White in 2013. Saunders-White was the first woman to hold the office on a permanent basis (Donna Benson was the first woman to serve as interim chancellor of the university).[9] Saunders-White took a leave of absence in 2016, then provost, Johnson O. Akinleye, was appointed as acting chancellor. Following her death in November 2016, Akinleye became interim chancellor.

Johnson O. Akinleye was elected as the 12th chancellor of NCCU on June 26, 2017.[10] In this position, Akinleye has worked to expand the university's academic partnerships, including new agreements with community colleges, as well as introduced a robust online, distance-education program, NCCU Online. He also created K-12 initiatives and implemented a security strategy to increase safety for campus constituents.

Campus

[edit]

The campus is located about a mile south of downtown Durham, North Carolina and about three miles east of Duke University. Eleven buildings built before 1940 are included in a national historic district. All of the buildings, except for the three residences, are Georgian Revival-style buildings; they have contemporary fireproof construction with steel trusses and brick exterior walls. They include the James E. Shepard Administration Building, Alexander Dunn Hall, Annie Day Shepard Hall, and five institutional buildings built in the late 1930s under the auspices of the Public Works Administration.[11] The campus was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.[4]

Organization

[edit]

NCCU is a part of the University of North Carolina (UNC) System. The campus is governed by a thirteen-member Board of Trustees: eight elected, four appointed, and the president of the Student Government Association also serves as an ex-officio member. The Board elects its officers annually and meets five times per year.[12]

Student body composition as of May 2, 2022
Race and ethnicity[13] Total
Black 82% 82
 
Hispanic 5% 5
 
Other[a] 5% 5
 
White 4% 4
 
Asian 1% 1
 
Economic diversity
Low-income[b] 63% 63
 
Affluent[c] 37% 37
 

Schools and colleges

[edit]
  • School of Business (AACSB-accredited)
  • School of Education (CAEB-accredited)
  • School of Law (ABA- and AALS-accredited)
  • School of Library & Information Sciences[14] (ALA-accredited)
  • College of Health & Sciences[15]
  • College of Arts, Social Sciences & Humanities[16]
  • School of Graduate Studies[17]

Research institutes

[edit]
  • The Julius L. Chambers Biomedical Biotechnology Research Institute (BBRI)
  • Biomanufacturing Research Institute and Technology Enterprise (BRITE)

Additional programs

[edit]

Student activities

[edit]

Student organizations

[edit]

North Carolina Central University has over 130 registered student organizations and 12 honor societies.

Student media

[edit]

The students of North Carolina Central University publish the Campus Echo, a bi-weekly newspaper that has been in publication since the school's founding in 1910.[19][20] The Campus Echo contains articles covering local events, arts and entertainment, and sports among other topics.

[edit]
  • James E. Shepard, c. 1947, founder of the National Religious Training School and Chautauqua for the Colored Race
    James E. Shepard, c. 1947, founder of the National Religious Training School and Chautauqua for the Colored Race
  • North Carolina Central University entrance seen from S. Alston Avenue
    North Carolina Central University entrance seen from S. Alston Avenue
  • View of the NCCU campus seen from the James E. Shepard Administration Building
    View of the NCCU campus seen from the James E. Shepard Administration Building
  • The NCCU Student Center
    The NCCU Student Center

Athletics

[edit]
Main article: North Carolina Central Eagles
See also: North Carolina Central Eagles men's basketball and North Carolina Central Eagles football
  • NCCU's O'Kelly-Riddick Stadium home to the MEAC Division I FCS Eagles
    NCCU's O'Kelly-Riddick Stadium home to the MEAC Division I FCS Eagles
  • A view of the NCCU track, soccer field along with Richmond Residence Hall and the LeRoy T. Walker Physical Education Complex (far right)
    A view of the NCCU track, soccer field along with Richmond Residence Hall and the LeRoy T. Walker Physical Education Complex (far right)

NCCU sponsors 14 men's and women's sports teams that participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I as a newly readmitted member of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. Athletic teams include football, softball, baseball, basketball, track and field, tennis, volleyball, bowling, and golf.

NCCU championships
Basketball (Men)
Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association Champions (CIAA) 1946, 1950
NCAA Division II Tournament Appearances 1957, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1993, 1996, 1997
NCAA Division II Regional Champions 1989, 1993
NCAA Division II National Champions 1989
Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Champions (MEAC) 2014, 2015, 2017
Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Tournament Champions and NCAA Division I Tournament Appearances 2014, 2017, 2018, 2019
Football
Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association Champions (CIAA) 1953, 1954, 1956, 1961, 1963, 1980, 2005, 2006
NCAA Division II Playoff Appearances 1988, 2005, 2006
Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Champions (MEAC) 1972, 1973, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2022
Track & Field (Men)
Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association Champions (CIAA) 1964, 1965, 1971
Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Champions (MEAC) 1972, 1973, 1974
NAIA National Champions 1972
Tennis (Men)
Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association Champions (CIAA) 1957, 1958, 1959, 1964, 1965, 1998
Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Champions (MEAC) 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975
Volleyball (Women)
Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association Champions (CIAA) 1999, 2004, 2005, 2006
NCAA Division II Playoff Appearances 2004, 2005, 2006
Softball
Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association Champions (CIAA) 1998, 1999, 2006
NCAA Division II Playoff Appearances 2006, 2007
Basketball (Women)
Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association Champions (CIAA) 1984, 2007
NCAA Division II Playoff Appearances 1984, 2001, 2002, 2006, 2007
Cross Country (Women)
Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association Champions (CIAA) 2005, 2006
NCAA Division II Regional Champions 2006
Cross Country (Men)
Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association Champions (CIAA) 2004
Bowling (Women)
Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association Champions (CIAA) 2001

Notable alumni

[edit]
Name Class year Notability Reference(s)
Arenda Wright Allen 1985 judge of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia
Sunshine Anderson singer
Louis Austin newspaper publisher
Dorothy F. Bailey 1962 civic leader, Maryland Women's Hall of Fame inductee [21]
Frank Ballance 1963 former member of the U.S. House of Representatives (North Carolina 1st district)
Ernie Barnes 1960 artist and former professional football player
Larry Black Olympic track & field gold and silver medalist
Dan Blue 1970 multiple African-American "firsts": North Carolina Speaker of the House; president of National Conference of State Legislatures
Herman Boone 1958 former high school football coach, profiled in the motion picture Remember the Titans
Julia Boseman 1992 State Senator (North Carolina)
Jim Brewington former professional football player
Wanda G. Bryant 1982 North Carolina Court of Appeals jurist
G. K. Butterfield 1974 Congressman and former Associate Justice, North Carolina Supreme Court
Phonte Coleman rapper
Kim Coles comedian and actress
Julius L. Chambers 1958 lawyer, civil rights leader, and educator; founded the first integrated law firm in North Carolina
Eva M. Clayton former member of the U.S. House of Representatives (North Carolina's 1st district)
Lee Davis 1968 former professional basketball player, 1-time ABA all-star [22]
Morris "Moe" Davis 1983 United States Air Force officer, lawyer, and administrative law judge who is running as a Democrat for Congress in North Carolina's 11th Congressional District; appointed the third Chief Prosecutor of the Guantanamo military commissions, where he served from September 2005 until his resignation in October 2007 citing objections over the use of waterboarding in obtaining evidence
Ivan Dixon 1954 actor, Hogan's Heroes
Patrick Douthit ("9th Wonder") attended Grammy award-winning hip-hop producer, college lecturer and former teaching fellow at Harvard University
Mike Easley 1976 former Governor of North Carolina
Rick Elmore 1982 North Carolina Court of Appeals jurist
Harold T. Epps Sr. 1948, 1950 prominent North Carolina attorney who was instrumental in desegregating the University of North Carolina School of Law
Stormie Forte 2002 first African-American woman and openly LGBTQ woman to serve on the Raleigh City Council
Charles Foster Hurdler at the 1976 Summer Olympics
Robert D. Glass 1949 first African American justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court
Bill Hayes 1965 former head football coach at Winston Salem State University and North Carolina A&T State University; current athletic director at Winston-Salem State University
Harold Hunter first African-American to sign a contract with the NBA; former coach for Tennessee State, player for North Carolina College [23]
Maynard Jackson 1964 first black mayor of Atlanta; graduate of NC Central University School of Law
Sam Jones NBA Hall of Famer
Vernon Jones politician, former Georgia state legislator, and former chief executive officer of DeKalb County, Georgia
Stanton Kidd professional basketball player
Eleanor Kinnaird Member of the North Carolina Senate (23rd district)
Clarence Lightner first black mayor of Raleigh, N.C.
Bishop Eddie Long Senior Pastor, New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, Lithonia, Georgia
Lillian M. Lowery Superintendent of the Maryland State Department of Education
Jeanne Lucas first black elected to the North Carolina Senate
Daniel Sharpe Malekebu 1913 first Malawian medical graduate; doctor, missionary, and anti-colonial activist
Crystal Mangum false accuser in the Duke lacrosse case and convicted murderer [24]
Robert Massey 1989 former NFL defensive back and current head football coach at Shaw University
Tressie McMillan Cottom 2009 published author, sociologist, and professor
Jonathan Melton 2011 first openly gay member of the Raleigh City Council
Henry "Mickey" Michaux member of the North Carolina House of Representatives (31st district)
LeVelle Moton 1996 former NC Central basketball player and current head coach of the men's basketball team
Elaine O'Neal 1984 first African-American female Mayor of Durham
Ida Stephens Owens 1961 biochemist at the National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Greg Peterson 2007 former professional football player
Xavier Proctor 2013 football player
Charles Romes 1977 former professional football player
Ben Ruffin 1964 civil rights activist, educator, and businessman
Julius Sang former Kenyan track athlete
Richard Sligh 1966 professional football player-Oakland Raiders (California) and Cincinnati "Bengals" (Ohio); "Tallest Pro Football Player"
Al Stewart J.D. acting United States Secretary of Labor (2021)
Ted G. Stone M.A. 1958 Southern Baptist evangelist and recovered amphetamine addict
André Leon Talley editor-at-large, Vogue
Cressie Thigpen 1968 North Carolina Court of Appeals jurist
Donald van der Vaart former Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality
Ernie Warlick former AFL and CFL professional football player
Doug Wilkerson former professional football player
Paul Winslow former professional football player
Yahzarah attended singer
David Young former professional basketball player

Diedra Solomon is in the NCCU Athletic Hall of Fame. Dr. LeRoy Walker, emeritus chancellor of NC Central University and the former first black President of the United States Olympic Committee inducted her into the NCCU Athletic HOF. She was the first WNBA Detroit Shock (FA) basketball player from NC Central University. She is a pioneer in sports and a member of the Omicron Delta Kappa Honor Society. Diedra Solomon is a member of the NC Central University’s first CIAA Tournament Championship Women’s Basketball Team. They were featured on BET Television. She helped lead her team to the first NCAA Tournament appearance in NC Central University’s history. Diedra Solomon is an All CIAA Championship Tournament Player.


Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ Other consists of Multiracial Americans & those who prefer to not say.
  2. ^ The percentage of students who received an income-based federal Pell grant intended for low-income students.
  3. ^ The percentage of students who are a part of the American middle class at the bare minimum.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "North Carolina Central University | Data USA".
  2. ^ "IPEDS-North Carolina Central University".
  3. ^ "Campus Echo Online".
  4. ^ a b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
  5. ^ James Edward Shepard to Woodrow Wilson, October 2, 1909, in Arthur S. Link, ed., The Papers of Woodrow Wilson, Volume 19, pp. 399-400.
  6. ^ a b Channing, Steven (April 1, 2009). "John Hope Franklin, 1915-2009". Independent Weekly.
  7. ^ "Folder 128: Nathan Carter Newbold (Director of Negro Education, state of North Carolina), July 1944-December 1944: Scan 2 :: James e. Shepard Papers".
  8. ^ "Board of Trustees". Retrieved November 12, 2010.
  9. ^ Platt, Wes (February 8, 2013). "The stars kind of collided". Durham Herald-Sun. Archived from the original on April 15, 2014. Retrieved April 14, 2014.
  10. ^ "Johnson O. Akinleye, Ph.D., NCCU 12th Chancellor".
  11. ^ Claudia Roberts Brown (June 1984). "North Carolina Central University" (PDF). National Register of Historic Places - Nomination and Inventory. North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office. Retrieved October 1, 2014.
  12. ^ "About the Board". NCCU. Archived from the original on June 22, 2011. Retrieved November 13, 2010.
  13. ^ "College Scorecard: North Carolina Central University". United States Department of Education. Retrieved July 19, 2024.
  14. ^ "School of Library and Information Sciences". Nccuslis.org. Retrieved July 28, 2015.
  15. ^ "Welcome". Nccu.edu. Archived from the original on January 7, 2011. Retrieved July 28, 2015.
  16. ^ "College of Arts and Sciences". Nccu.edu. Retrieved July 28, 2015.
  17. ^ "School of Graduate Studies".
  18. ^ "NCCU Online".
  19. ^ Echo Staff. "About the Campus Echo". Archived from the original on May 11, 2012. Retrieved August 1, 2012.
  20. ^ Digital NC. "North Carolina Central University Newspapers". digitalnc.org/. Digital NC. Retrieved August 1, 2012.
  21. ^ "Dorothy F. Bailey". Maryland Women's Hall of Fame. Maryland State Archives. Retrieved July 8, 2016.
  22. ^ "Lee Davis Statistics". Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved March 24, 2009.
  23. ^ "Former Tennessee State basketball coach Harold Hunter dies". The City Paper. March 7, 2013. Archived from the original on November 2, 2013. Retrieved March 30, 2013.
  24. ^ "Crystal Gail Mangum: Profile of the Duke Rape Accuser". www.foxnews.com. Fox News. March 25, 2015. Retrieved September 24, 2023.
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