University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC Chapel Hill, UNC, North Carolina or Carolina) is a public research university in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1789, the university began enrolling students in 1795, making it one of the oldest public universities in the United States.

The university offers degrees in over 240-270 distinct academic programs, divided among 13 professional schools and a primary unit, the College of Arts & Sciences. It is classified as "R1: Doctoral Universities – very high research activity" and is a member of the Association of American Universities (AAU). The National Science Foundation ranked UNC–Chapel Hill ninth among American universities for research and development expenditures in 2023 with $1.5 billion. Its endowment is $5.7 billion, making it the ninth-wealthiest public academic institution in the United States as of 2024.

The campus covers 760 acres (310 ha), encompassing the Morehead Planetarium and the many stores and shops located on Franklin Street. Students can participate in over 550 officially recognized student organizations. UNC-Chapel Hill is a charter member of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), which was founded on June 14, 1953. The university's athletic teams compete in 28 intercollegiate sports and are known as the Tar Heels. They have won 51 NCAA team championships in eight different sports which ranks eighth all time, and 52 individual national championships.

UNC-Chapel Hill is one of three corners of North Carolina's Research Triangle. The other two corners are North Carolina State University in Raleigh and Duke University in Durham.

History

The University of North Carolina was chartered by the North Carolina General Assembly on December 11, 1789; its cornerstone was laid on October 12, 1793, at Chapel Hill, chosen because of its central location within the state. It is one of three universities that claims to be the oldest public university in the United States, and the only such institution to confer degrees in the eighteenth century as a public institution.

During the Civil War, North Carolina governor David Lowry Swain persuaded Confederate president Jefferson Davis to exempt some students from the draft, so the university was one of the few in the Confederacy that managed to stay open. However, Chapel Hill suffered the loss of more of its population during the war than any village in the South, and when student numbers did not recover, the university was forced to close during Reconstruction from December 1, 1870, until September 6, 1875. Following the reopening, enrollment was slow to increase and university administrators offered free tuition for the sons of teachers and ministers, as well as loans for those who could not afford attendance.

Following the Civil War, the university began to modernize its programs and onboard faculty with prestigious degrees. The creation of a new gymnasium, funding for a new chemistry laboratory, and organization of the Graduate Department were accomplishments touted by UNC president Francis Venable at the 1905 "University Day" celebration.

Despite initial skepticism from university president Frank Porter Graham, on March 27, 1931, legislation was passed to group the University of North Carolina with the State College of Agriculture and Engineering and Woman's College of the University of North Carolina to form the Consolidated University of North Carolina. In 1963, the consolidated university was made fully coeducational, although most women still attended Woman's College for their first two years, transferring to Chapel Hill as juniors, since freshmen were required to live on campus and there was only one women's residence hall. As a result, Woman's College was renamed the "University of North Carolina at Greensboro", and the University of North Carolina became the "University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill".

During World War II, UNC was one of 131 colleges and universities nationally that took part in the V-12 Navy College Training Program which offered students a path to a Navy commission.

In 1951, a court ordered the university to admit the first Black students to the schools of law and medicine. The first students were Harvey Beech, James Lassiter, J. Kenneth Lee, Floyd McKissick, and James Robert Walker in law and Oscar Diggs in medicine. In 1955 after the U.S. Supreme Court outlawed all forms of segregation in the public schools, federal courts ordered the admission of black undergraduates to the university. The first three Leroy Frasier, John Lewis Brandon and Ralph Frasier were from Hillside High School in Durham, North Carolina.

Campus

UNC-Chapel Hill's campus covers around 760 acres (310 ha), including about 125 acres (51 ha) of lawns and over 30 acres (12 ha) of shrub beds and other ground cover. In 1999, UNC-Chapel Hill was one of sixteen recipients of the American Society of Landscape Architects Medallion Awards and was identified (in the second tier) as one of 50 college or university "works of art" by T.A. Gaines in his book The Campus as a Work of Art.

The oldest buildings on the campus, including the Old East building (built 1793–1795), the South Building (built 1798–1814), and the Old West building (built 1822–1823), stand around a quadrangle that runs north to Chapel Hill. This is named McCorkle Place after Samuel Eusebius McCorkle, who campaigned for the foundation of the university and was the original author of the bill requesting the university's charter.

A second quadrangle, Polk Place, was built in the 1920s to the south of the original campus, with the South Building on its north side, and named after North Carolina native and university alumnus President James K. Polk. The Wilson Library is at the south end of Polk Place.

McCorkle Place and Polk Place are both in what is the northern part of the campus in the 21st century, along with

the Frank Porter Graham Student Union, and the Davis, House, and Wilson libraries. Most university classrooms are located in this area, along with several undergraduate residence halls. The middle part of the campus includes Fetzer Field and Woollen Gymnasium along with the Student Recreation Center, Kenan Memorial Stadium, Irwin Belk outdoor track, Eddie Smith Field House, Boshamer Stadium, Carmichael Auditorium, Sonja Haynes Stone Center for Black Culture and History, School of Government, School of Law, George Watts Hill Alumni Center, Ram's Head complex (with a dining hall, parking garage, grocery store, and gymnasium), and various residence halls. The southern part of the campus houses the Dean Smith Center for men's basketball, Koury Natatorium, School of Medicine, Adams School of Dentistry, Eshelman School of Pharmacy, Gillings School of Global Public Health, UNC Hospitals, Kenan–Flagler Business School, and the newest student residence halls.

Campus features

Located in McCorkle Place is the Davie Poplar tree under which a popular legend says the university's founder, William Richardson Davie, selected the location for the university. The legend of the Davie Poplar says that as long as the tree stands, so will the university. However, the name was not associated with the tree until almost a century after the university's foundation. A graft from the tree, named Davie Poplar Jr., was planted nearby in 1918 after the original tree was struck by lightning. A second graft, Davie Poplar III, was planted in conjunction with the university's bicentennial celebration in 1993. The student members of the university's Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies are not allowed to walk on the grass of McCorkle Place out of respect for the unknown resting place of Joseph Caldwell, the university's first president.

Academics

Graduate & Professional programs

• UNC College of Arts & Sciences
• UNC School of Government
• UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media
• UNC Adams School of Dentistry
• The Graduate School
• UNC School of Medicine
• UNC School of Education
• UNC School of Law
• UNC School of Nursing
• UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy
• UNC Kenan–Flagler Business School
• UNC School of Social Work
• UNC School of Information and Library Science
• UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health
• UNC School of Data Science & Society
• UNC School of Civic Life & Leadership

Curriculum

As of 2007, UNC-Chapel Hill offered 71 bachelor's, 107 master's and 74 doctoral degree programs. The university enrolls students from all 100 North Carolina counties and state law requires that the percentage of students from North Carolina in each freshman class meet or exceed 82%. The student body consists of 17,981 undergraduate students and 10,935 graduate and professional students (as of Fall 2009). Racial and ethnic minorities comprise 30.8% of UNC-Chapel Hill's undergraduate population as of 2010 and applications from international students more than doubled in five years from 702 in 2004 to 1,629 in 2009. Eighty-nine percent of enrolling first year students in 2009 reported a GPA of 4.0 or higher on a weighted 4.0 scale. The most popular majors at UNC-Chapel Hill in 2009 were biology, business administration, psychology, media and journalism, and political science. UNC-Chapel Hill also offers 300 study abroad programs in 70 countries.

At the undergraduate level, all students must fulfill a number of general education requirements as part of the Making Connections curriculum, which was introduced in 2006. English, social science, history, foreign language, mathematics, and natural science courses are required of all students, ensuring that they receive a broad liberal arts education. The university also offers a wide range of first year seminars for incoming freshmen. After their second year, students move on to the College of Arts and Sciences, or choose an undergraduate professional school program within the schools of medicine, nursing, business, education, pharmacy, information and library science, public health, or media and journalism. Undergraduates are held to an eight-semester limit of study.

Undergraduate admissions

UNC-Chapel Hill's admissions process is "most selective" according to U.S. News & World Report. For the Class of 2025 (enrolled fall 2021), UNC-Chapel Hill received 53,776 applications and accepted 10,347 (19.2%). Of those accepted, 4,689 enrolled, a yield rate (the percentage of accepted students who choose to attend the university) of 45.3%. UNC-Chapel Hill's freshman retention rate is 96.5%, with 91.9% going on to graduate within six years.

Athletics

North Carolina's athletic teams are known as the Tar Heels. They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level (Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) sub-level for football), primarily competing in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) for all sports since the 1953–54 season. Men's sports include baseball, basketball, cross country, fencing, football, golf, lacrosse, soccer, swimming & diving, tennis, track & field and wrestling; while women's sports include basketball, cross country, fencing, field hockey, golf, gymnastics, lacrosse, rowing, soccer, softball, swimming and diving, tennis, track & field and volleyball.

The NCAA refers to UNC-Chapel Hill as the "University of North Carolina" for athletics. As of December 2024, the university had won 51 NCAA team championships in eight different sports, tied for 7th all-time. These include twenty two NCAA championships in women's soccer, eleven in women's field hockey, five in men's lacrosse, six in men's basketball, one in women's basketball, one in women's tennis, three in women's lacrosse, and two in men's soccer. Consensus collegiate national athletes of the year from North Carolina include Rachel Dawson, Erin Matson, Katelyn Falgowski, Ryleigh Heck, Ashley Hoffman, Leslie Lyness, Cindy Werley in field hockey; Phil Ford, Kenny Smith, Sean May, Lennie Rosenbluth, Tyler Hansbrough, Jerry Stackhouse, Antawn Jamison, James Worthy and Michael Jordan in men's basketball; and Mia Hamm (twice), Yael Averbuch, Amber Brooks, Crystal Dunn, Whitney Engen, Kate Faasse, Lorrie Fair, Meredith Florance, April Henrichs, Debbie Keller, Casey Nogueira, Heather O'Reilly, Cindy Parlow, Catherine Reddick, Lindsay Tarpley, Shannon Higgins, Kristine Lilly, and Tisha Venturini in women's soccer.

Men's basketball

Carolina has enjoyed long success as one of the top college basketball programs in the country. The program claims seven national championship teams, six NCAA National Championships and one retroactive championship, for the 1924. This championship was awarded by the Helms Foundation and the Premo-Porretta Power Poll. UNC has also won eighteen Atlantic Coast Conference tournament (ACC) titles, and thirty-three ACC regular season titles.

Under coach Frank McGuire, the Tar Heels won one national championship in 1957. The 1956-57 team went undefeated on their way to the school's first NCAA tournament championship. McGuire was succeeded by Dean Smith. After struggling early in his tenure, Smith entrenched the Tar Heels as a basketball powerhouse over his 36 years as head coach. At the time of his retirement, Smith's 879 wins set the record for the most wins of any men's college basketball head coach. Under Smith, the Tar Heels won two national championships, 13 ACC Tournament championships, and one NIT Championship. Smith is also credited with popularizing the four corners, which he employed until the introduction of the shot clock in college basketball. Smith is also credited with developing "The Carolina Way," epitomized by his motto of "Play hard, play smart, play together," and by other team-oriented practices including "point to the passer," where the player who scores a basket thanks his teammate for the assist.

Student life

Organizations and activities

Most student organizations at UNC-Chapel Hill are officially recognized and provided with assistance by the Carolina Union, an administrative unit of the university. Funding is derived from the student government student activity fee, which is allocated at the discretion of the Undergraduate Senate (UGS) or the Graduate and Professional Student Government Senate (GPSG Senate).

The largest student fundraiser, the UNC Dance Marathon, involves thousands of students, faculty, and community members in raising funds for the North Carolina Children's Hospital. The organization conducts fundraising and volunteer activities throughout the year and, as of 2008, had donated $1.4 million since its inception in 1999.

The student-run newspaper The Daily Tar Heel received the 2004–2005 National Pacemaker Award from the Associated Collegiate Press. Founded in 1977, WXYC 89.3 FM is UNC-Chapel Hill's student radio station that broadcasts 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Programming is left up to student DJs. WXYC typically plays little heard music from a wide range of genres and eras. On November 7, 1994, WXYC became the first radio station in the world to broadcast its signal over the internet. A student-run television station, STV, airs on the campus cable and throughout the Chapel Hill Spectrum system. Founded in 1948 as successor to the Carolina Magazine, the Carolina Quarterly, edited by graduate students, has published the works of numerous authors, including Wendell Berry, Raymond Carver, Don DeLillo, Annie Dillard, Joyce Carol Oates, and John Edgar Wideman. Works appearing in the Quarterly have been anthologized in Best American Short Stories and New Stories from the South and have won the Pushcart and O. Henry Prizes.

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