History || Officers || Board of Governors
UNCA Catalog: Table of Contents

History of The University of North Carolina

In North Carolina, all the public educational institutions that grant baccalaureate degrees are part of The University of North Carolina. The University of North Carolina at Asheville is one of 16 constituent senior institutions of the multicampus state university.

The University of North Carolina, chartered by the North Carolina General Assembly in 1789, was the first public university in the United States to open its doors and the only one to graduate students in the 18th century. The first class was admitted in Chapel Hill in 1795. For the next 136 years, the only campus of The University of North Carolina was at Chapel Hill.

In 1877, the General Assembly began sponsoring additional institutions of higher education, diverse in origin and purpose. Five were historically black institutions and another was founded to educate American Indians. Several were created to prepare teachers for the public schools. Others had a technological emphasis. One is a training school for performing artists.

In 1931, the General Assembly redefined The University of North Carolina to include three state-supported institutions: the campus at Chapel Hill (now the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), North Carolina State College (now North Carolina State University at Raleigh) and Woman's College (now the University of North Carolina at Greensboro). The new multicampus University operated with one board of trustees and one president. By 1969, three additional campuses had joined the University through legislative action: the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, the University of North Carolina at Asheville and the University of North Carolina at Wilmington.

In 1971, the General Assembly passed legislation bringing into The University of North Carolina the state's 10 remaining public senior institutions, each of which had until then been legally separate: Appalachian State University, East Carolina University, Elizabeth City State University, Fayetteville State University, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, North Carolina Central University, Pembroke State University, Western Carolina University and Winston-Salem State University. This action created the current 16-campus University. (In 1985, the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, a residential high school for gifted students, was declared an affiliated school of the University; and in 1996, Pembroke State University was renamed the University of North Carolina at Pembroke through legislative action.)

The UNC Board of Governors is the policy-making body legally charged with "the general determination, control, supervision, management and governance of all affairs of the constituent institutions." It elects the president, who administers the University. The 32 voting members of the Board of Governors are elected by the General Assembly for four-year terms. Former board chairmen and board members who are former governors of North Carolina may continue to serve for limited periods as non-voting members emeriti. The president of the UNC Association of Student Governments, or that student's designee, is also a non-voting member.

Each of the 16 constituent institutions is headed by a chancellor, who is chosen by the Board of Governors on the president's nomination and is responsible to the president. Each institution has a board of trustees, consisting of eight members elected by the Board of Governors, four appointed by the governor, and the president of the student body who serves ex-officio. (The North Carolina School of the Arts has two additional ex-officio members.) Each board of trustees holds extensive powers over academic and other operations of its institution on delegation from the Board of Governors.

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The University of North Carolina Officers

Molly Corbett Broad, B.A, M.A................President 
Gretchen M. Bataille, B.A., M.A.Ed., Ph.D....Senior Vice President, Vice President for Academic Affairs 
Jeffrey R. Davies, B.S.B.A, M.S.B.A..........Vice President for Finance and Chief Financial Officer 
Diane G. Oblinger, B.S., M.S., Ph.D..........Vice President for Information Resources 
Richard H. Robinson, Jr., A.B., LL.B.........Vice President for Legal Affairs and General Counsel 
Judith Pulley, B.A., M.A., Ph.D. ............Vice President for Planning 
Gary T. Barnes, B.A., M.S., Ph.D. ...........Vice President for Program Assessment and Public Service 
James B. Milliken, B.A., J.D. ...............Vice President for Public Affairs and University Advancement 
Charles R. Coble, A.A., A.B., M.A.T., Ed.D. .Vice President for University-School Programs 
Rosalind R. Fuse-Hall, B.S., J.D. ...........Secretary of the University 

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The University of North Carolina Board of Governors

Benjamin S. Ruffin (chair)...................Winston-Salem
John F. A.V. Cecil (vice chair)..............Asheville
Lois G. Britt (secretary)....................Rose Hill
Bradley T. Adcock............................Durham
G. Irvin Aldridge............................Manteo
J. Addison Bell..............................Matthews
F. Edward Broadwell, Jr......................Asheville
William T. Brown.............................Fayetteville
Angela R. Bryant.............................Rocky Mount
William L. Burns, Jr.........................Durham  
C. Clifford Cameron..........................Charlotte
Bert Collins.................................Durham
Chancy R. Edwards............................Knightdale
Ray S. Farris................................Charlotte
H. Frank Grainger............................Cary
James E. Holshouser, Jr. ....................Southern Pines
Peter Keber..................................Charlotte
Teena S. Little..............................Southern Pines
Helen Rhyne Marvin...........................Gastonia
Timothy Keith Moore..........................Shelby
Jeffrey Nieman...............................Chapel Hill
Maxine H. O'Kelley...........................Burlington
R.V. Owens III...............................Nags Head
Barbara S. Perry.............................Kinston
Patsy B. Perry...............................Durham
D. Wayne Peterson............................Pinehurst
Jim W. Phillips, Jr. ........................Greensboro
H.D. Reaves, Jr. ............................Fayetteville
John L. Sanders..............................Chapel Hill
J. Craig Souza...............................Raleigh
Priscilla P. Taylor..........................Chapel Hill
Robert F. Warwick............................Wilmington
J. Bradley Wilson............................Durham
Ruth Dial Woods..............................Pembroke

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