HISTORICAL STATEMENT
Today, one of the nation’s leading Historically Black Universities and Colleges (HBCU), North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University is recognized as the top producing university for African American engineers and technologists. The University’s programs have numerous accreditations including the first nationally accredited AACSB accounting program in the nation among HBCUs. The university’s history as one of only eighteen HBCUs 1890 land-grant universities is well reflected in agriculture, animal science, and environmental science programs, and a growing student enrollment is a further reflection of the demands for the North Carolina A&T’s programs in education, nursing, and arts and sciences. North Carolina A&T also has a rich civil rights legacy, and its students, especially the Greensboro Four who are credited with beginning the movement, played a prominent role in the sit-ins of the 1960s.
Today’s university has changed a great deal from the Agricultural and Mechanical College for the “Colored Race” established by an act of the General Assembly of North Carolina ratified on March 9, 1891. The College actually began operation during the school year of 1890-91, before the passage of the state law creating it.
The scope of degree programs has been expanded to meet new demands. The first graduate degree was approved when the General Assembly authorized the institution to grant the Master of Science degree in education and certain other fields in 1939. The first master’s degree was awarded in 1941.
The General Assembly repealed previous acts describing the purpose of the
College in 1957, and redefined its purpose as follows: “The primary purpose
of the College shall be to teach the Agricultural and Technical Arts and
Sciences and such branches of learning as related thereto, the training
of teachers, supervisors, and administrators for the public schools of
the State, including the preparation of such teachers, supervisors and
administrators for the Master’s degree. Such other programs of a
professional or occupational nature may be offered as shall be approved
by the North Carolina Board of Higher Education, consistent with the
appropriations made therefore.”
North Carolina’s General Assembly voted to elevate the College to the status of a Regional University effective July 1, 1967. On October 30, 1971, the General Assembly ratified an Act to consolidate the Institutions of Higher Learning in North Carolina. Under the provisions of this Act, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University became a constituent institution of The University of North Carolina effective July 1, 1972.
Nine presidents/chancellors have served the Institution since it was founded in
1891. They are as follows: Dr. J. O. Crosby (1892-1896), Dr. James B. Dudley
(1896-1925), Dr. F.D. Bluford (1925-1955), Dr. Warmoth T. Gibbs (1956-1960), Dr.
Samuel DeWitt Proctor (1960-1964), Dr. Lewis C. Dowdy (1964-1980), Dr. Cleon F.
Thompson (Interim Chancellor – 1980-1981), Dr. Edward B. Fort (1981-1999), and
Dr. James C. Renick (1999-Present).