University of North Carolina at Greensboro


The University of North Carolina at Greensboro is a public research university in Greensboro, North Carolina. It is part of the University of North Carolina system. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges to award baccalaureate, master's, specialist, and doctoral degrees.
The university offers over 100 undergraduate, 61 master's, and 26 doctoral programs. UNCG is also home to the Weatherspoon Art Museum.

History

The university was established as a woman's college in 1891 by legislative enactment and opened in 1892. Credit for the establishment of UNCG is given to Charles Duncan McIver. McIver served as the institution's first Chief Executive Officer with the title of President. This position was also known as Dean of Administration after 1934 and Chancellor since 1945.
The school provided business, domestic science, and teaching instruction, with a student body of 223 and a faculty of 15 in its first year. R. S. Pullen and R. T. Gray donated the original site in Greensboro, where the first building was erected, with state funds totaling $30,000.
It is North Carolina's first and only public university founded to educate women. In 1949, it became the nation's largest all-female institution.
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; it changed again to the University of North Carolina at Greensboro when men were first admitted to the school in 1963.

Recognition and rankings

In 2023, Forbes magazine's "America's Top Colleges" ranked UNC Greensboro 485th out of 650 universities, liberal arts colleges, and service academies nationwide, 216th among public universities, and 108th among schools in the South.
In 2023, Money magazine ranked UNC Greensboro as one of “America’s Best Colleges.”
In its 2022 rankings, U.S. News & World Report ranked UNC Greensboro tied for 219th in “National Universities,” tied 112th in the ranking of "Top Public Schools," and 214th in “Best Value Schools.”
In its 2021 rankings, U.S. News & World Report ranked UNC Greensboro tied for 258th out of 389 national universities, tied for 126th in its ranking of 209 "Top Public Schools", and 23rd out of 389 universities in "Top Performers on Social Mobility".
In its 2019–2020 rankings, Money magazine ranked UNC Greensboro 509th for "best value" out of 744 universities in the U.S.
In 2020, Washington Monthly ranked UNC Greensboro 96th out of 389 schools on its National Universities list. Washington Monthly assesses the quality of schools based on social mobility, research, and promoting public service.
In 2019, Forbes magazine's "America's Top Colleges" list ranked UNC Greensboro 559th out of 650 universities, liberal arts colleges, and service academies nationwide; 202nd among public universities, and 128th among schools in the South.

Campus

Historic structures include the Julius I. Foust Building, Spencer Hall, the Quad, the Chancellor's Residence, the former Aycock Auditorium, renamed UNCG Auditorium, and Alumni House. Other features include a statue of Minerva, to the east of Elliott University Center. Minerva has been a part of campus from the first diploma bearing her likeness in 1894 to the statue erected near the center in 2003. Minerva also inspired the university's new graphic identity program, which was launched in 2004.

Athletics

The intercollegiate athletics program at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro reaches as far back as the late 1940s. During the 1980s, all Spartan teams competed in Division III and then Division II of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, and all teams have competed in Division 1 since Fall 1991. Between 1982 and 1987 the Men's Soccer team won the NCAA Division III national championship title every year except for 1984. Today UNCG competes in the Southern Conference, which is made up of 10 schools across five states in the Southeast.
UNCG's men's basketball team moved into a "new" home in 2009–10, making the Greensboro Coliseum their home court.
Former UNCG women's basketball coach Lynne Agee, who retired following the 2010–11 season, ranks among the most successful coaches in intercollegiate women's basketball history. She is one of just 45 coaches in the history of the women's game to have engineered more than 600 victories. Under Agee's guidance, UNCG reached the 20-win plateau 16 times. The Spartans also earned berths into the Division I national tournament once, the Division II tournament once and the Division III tournament seven times. With Agee at the helm, UNCG became one of only 10 teams nationally to reach the NCAA tournament each of the first seven years it was held. With UNCG's 1998 NCAA appearance, Agee became the first women's coach in history to take teams to the NCAA tournament in all three divisions.

Student life

Clubs

In 2010, clubs and organizations affiliated with UNCG included 36 honor societies and 20 fraternities and sororities. UNCG also has an active student government association, founded in 1910, Campus Activities Board, and several foreign culture groups, a Neo-Black Society, PRIDE!, Queer Student Collective, The Science Fiction Fantasy Federation, and various performing arts, religious and service programs. Student media groups also produce UNCG's newspaper The Carolinian, CORADDI fine arts magazine, and the campus radio station, WUAG. In the Fall of 2022, a black autistic student was unfairly removed without warning from the Esports and Gaming club.

Club sports

All clubs are recognized student organizations through the UNCG's Office of Campus Activities & Programs.
This is a list of clubs that are members of the Club Sports Council:
The UNCG University Libraries system has two branches. They are:
Other affiliated libraries on campus include:
  • the Michel Family Teaching Resources Center and the SELF Design Studio
  • the Intercultural Resource Center Library

    Academic units

UNCG is home to research institutes and centers including the Gateway University Research Park, Center for Applied Research, Center for Creative Writing in the Arts, Center for Drug Discovery, Institute for Community and Economic Engagement, Center for Biotechnology, Genomics & Health Research, Music Research Institute and the Southeastern Regional Vision for Education.
The university is organized into one traditional college, one specialty college, one professional college, and seven professional schools:
The College of Arts and Sciences is the largest of the eight academic units that make up the university, with almost 500 full-time faculty in 21 academic departments and seven interdepartmental programs, spanning the arts, humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, and mathematics. John Z. Kiss was appointed Dean on July 1, 2016.
UNCG requires all students, no matter what their major, to complete a General Education Curriculum that includes courses in the traditional liberal arts, as well as courses that introduce them to new perspectives that have become increasingly important today. The college offers most of the university's general education courses, in addition to the hundreds of more specialized courses that make up its undergraduate majors and graduate programs.

English Department

The English Department, established in 1893, offers a Bachelor of Arts, Master of Arts, PhD, and multiple minors. The writing program was, and continues to be, one of the most popular and successful parts of department. A writing center was established in 1985 aimed at students in the College of Arts and Sciences. Today, the university Writing Center caters to all students and faculty and is housed under the Division of Student Success along with a Speaking Center, Digital ACT Studio, and Academic Achievement Center. The department is ranked #7 in 2021 in NC for the English BA. The PhD program has been recognized on U.S. News & World Report's 2022 Best Graduate School Rankings as the #3 PhD in English program in NC and #99 overall.
The English Department is housed in the Moore Humanities and Research Administration Building, but was previously housed in the now-demolished McIver Building, which was called "the ugliest classroom building in America."
Notable Alumni & Faculty
In May 2017, alum Adam Tarleton gave the commencement address. For a brief period in 1973, Nobel prize winner Louise Gluck held a position as a visiting poet.
Notable Emeritus Faculty include: Fred Chappell and Craig Nova.

Lloyd International Honors College

The Lloyd International Honors College offers three Honors academic programs that allow students to enhance their general-education studies, work in their major, or their entire undergraduate education while at UNCG. All Honors students take special Honors courses that are generally restricted to no more than 20–25 students and often have an interdisciplinary focus. For those who wish to complete International Honors or Full University Honors, an international experience and a second language are required.