University of North Carolina System

[3]The University of North Carolina System is comprised of 16 constituent institutions throughout the state that form a multicampus public university. Consolidation of the state's public educational institutions began in 1931, when Governor O. Max Gardner [4] proposed consolidating the University of North Carolina (now the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill [5]), North Carolina State College of Agriculture and Engineering (now North Carolina State University [6]), and the North Carolina College for Women (now the University of North Carolina at Greensboro [7]). His primary objectives were to eliminate unnecessary duplication of functions of the three institutions and to create a nationally distinctive university. But it was a report [8]on governmental efficiency and economy commissioned by the state from the Brookings Institution [9] in 1930 that gave the final impetus to consolidation. Frank Porter Graham [10], then president of the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill [5], served as the system's first president, and a single board of trustees, consisting of 100 members, was appointed with full authority to manage the three campuses.

[11]Additions to the consolidated UNC System followed. In 1965 the General Assembly [12] added a fourth campus, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte [13], and in 1969 it added the University of North Carolina at Asheville [14] and the University of North Carolina at Wilmington [15]. In 1971 the General Assembly passed legislation bringing into the University of North Carolina System the state's ten remaining senior institutions: Appalachian State University [16], East Carolina University [17], Elizabeth City State University [18], Fayetteville State University [19], North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University [20], North Carolina Central University [21], North Carolina School of the Arts [22], Pembroke State University (renamed the University of North Carolina at Pembroke [23] in 1996), Western Carolina University [24], and Winston-Salem State University [25].

Each of the 16 constituent institutions is headed by a chancellor, who is chosen by the UNC Board of Governors [26] on the president's recommendation and is responsible to the president. Each institution has a board of trustees, consisting of eight members elected by the UNC Board of Governors, four appointed by the governor, and the president of the student body, [27]who serves ex officio. Each board has extensive powers over the operations of its institution on delegation from the Board of Governors.

In the early 2000s the 16 campuses had a combined enrollment of nearly 170,000 students and offered more than 200 degree programs. In addition to an array of liberal arts programs, the system has 2 medical schools and a teaching hospital, 2 law schools, a veterinary school, a school of pharmacy, 10 nursing programs, 15 schools of education, 3 schools of engineering, and a specialized school for performing artists. The UNC System presidents under consolidation have been Frank Porter Graham (1932-49); Gordon Gray [28] (1949-55); William C. Friday [29] (1956-86); C. D. Spangler Jr. (1986-97); Molly Corbett Broad (1997-2005); and Erskine Bowles (2005-).