Newspapers / Elizabeth City State University … / Oct. 1, 1973, edition 1 / Page 5
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THE COMPASS....OCTOBER, 1973....PAGE 5 You Can’t Learn It All on Campus For most college students in the past, graduation has brought the first, often bewil dering introduction into the adult world of work, responsi bility, of earning real money. But at a growing number of black campuses and white at which the earning-learning plan called “cooperative edu cation” has been introduced, students greet graduation not with fear of the unknown but with a newly justified confi dence that they are equipped in knowledge and experience to be successful in well-paying, interesting careers that await them. As more colleges and universities institute programs of cooperative education, in which students spend part of their school year in the classroom and part in industry- being paid for work that is related to their field of study-each graduation sends a greater number of highly motivated, poised, better-pre pared graduates out to be met eagerly by businesses and public and private agencies that have learned from expe rience that students who have “co-oped” have a lot extra to offer. Studies show that such students start off knowing more about their jobs, enjoy their work more and tend to stay in their chosen field longer than students who have not had cooperative education. Begun in 1906 at the University of Cincinnati as a program to let engineering students gain practical experience, coopera tive education has been expanded in recent years to fields ranging from law to food Our Past In Brief Elizabeth City State Univer sity is the school we are attending now and some of us are graduates. How many of us know the history of our school? The following article is just a brief summary of the history of our school, in hope that ever student is interested enough in his own history to read it. Elizabeth City State Univer sity has been a growing, co-educational, undergraduate, public, state-supported institu tion since March 3, 1891. The bill to establish the institution was introduced by Mr. Huge Cale, a black representative from Pasquotank County, as House Bill 383 in the North Carolina Genera! Assembly. Initally, the institution was created, by law, as a normal school for the specific purpose of “teaching and training teachers” of the black race “to teach in the common schools” of North Carolina. It was named State Colored Normal School and began operation on January 4, 1892, with a faculty of two members, 23 students, and a budget of $900.00. The first principal was Peter Weddick Moore and his assistant was John Henry Manning Butler. In 1899, the institution survived a statewide effort to consolidate normal schools and, during the same year, began its first summer session. The school was moved to its present and permanent location on September 9, 1912. The institution was directed under the skillful and dynamic leadership of five presidents from 1891 to 1968. Each of these administrators, with inadequate financial support but with the sacrificial efforts of many persons, generated change and growth in his unique way. The first principal and president was Peter Weddick Moore (1859-1934). The en rollment was increased from 23 to 355 students. The P.W. Moore Section in the Library was named in his honor. The second president was John Henry Bias (1879-1939). Under his leadership the institution was expanded from a two-year normal to a four-year teachers college in 1937. Its name was officially changed to Elizabeth City State Teachers College March 30, 1939. BiasHall was named in his honor. The third president was Harold Leonard Trigg, and the fourth president was Sidney David Williams. Our fifth president was Walter nathaniel Ridley. Under his leadership the total enrollment reached its highest peak, a total of 1,013 students in 1965-66. A total of 197 students graduated with degrees in 1968. Following this period of vigorous expan sion in all phases of the service. Many educators say there is no student in any field of study who cannot gain by it, and in the past ten years hundreds of colleges have started giving some of their students the chance to work part of the year off campus. The number of black students in cooperative education is still comparatively small, but a determined cadre of black officials at universities, col leges and junior colleges across the countr;^ is working to make this number multiply. Elizabeth City State Univer sity is not going to deprive its students of this great opportu nity. we will help the number multiply. This program will be instituted as a part of our ;urriculum beginning the se cond semester of the 1973-1974 academic school year. More information will be printed about this program in later issues. If further information is desired earlier contact Mr. William A. Pierce, Director of Career Counseling and Place ment at Elizabeth City State University. E.C.S.U.’s First Session Opened January 4, 1892 institution’s operations under his leadership, from 1958 to 1968, Dr. Ridley resigned June 30, 1968. Marion Dennis Thorpe became the sixth president on July 1, 1968. Like his predecessors, he brought to the institution experience in higher education, including an assistant directorship with the North Carolina State Board of Higher Education, and the Vice-Presidency of Central State University in Ohio. His b being a native North Carolinian and a product of its educational system through the graduate level gives him an additional “feel” for the present and future needs of the institution. Under the leadership of Dr. Thorpe, two new dormitories were constructed during the 1969-70 academic year. These dorms are now called New Womens’ and New Mens’. The University Center was opened for operation in the fal of 1969. The new cafeteria was opened to the students in 1968. Elizabeth City State College was one of the oldest and last of the state-supported institutions in North Carolina to be honored by the change of its name from “college” to “university.” Effective July 1, 1969, the college b ecame Elizabeth City State University. To assist Dr. Thorpe in realizing the programed goals of the University are more than 200 administrative staff and faculty members dedicated to “keep on pushing” for an institution and program of “excellence without excuse.” As the institution moves towards its centennial, it is firmly dedicated to continue to build upon the foundations already laid by the five former presidents and to seek to create new advances of service for those who come and believe in the University’s motto, “To Live Is To Learn.” ECSU Expands Curriculum Elizabeth City State Univer sity proposes to meet the COLUMNS OF LANE HALLHOUSES OFFICES AND CLASSROOMS. challenge of our times by offering undergraduate con centrations in Environmental Science, Environmental Edu cation and Geology. These programs will prepare students for a large number of job opportunities with various federal and state departments and with private concerns. It will allow students to move into employment areas which to this date have not been open to our students because of lack of training. The program will prepare students to enter one of the rapidly growing number of universities which are offering graduate programs in these fields. There are only a very small number of colleges in the United States which presently offer undergraduate concen trations in Environmental Science and Environmental Education. Furthermore, there are no Black colleges in North Carolina which offer programs in Geology and there are only four Black Ph.D. Geologists in the entire United States. Yet no one would argue about the relevance and importance of these subjects. They will serve both the students and the :ommunity, and will add considerable strength to the overall science program. This program will at the same time move toward a better liberal arts representation. Perhaps, even more important, the programs will present students with a whole new realm of motivating interests. This program is being supported by a $177,000.00 grant from the National Science Foundation. This project will benefit the Elizabeth City, Hertford and Edenton areas greatly. It will enhance the University - Community rela tionship. There are already signs of the contributions, including voluntary student work with the North Carolina Public Health Services of Asquotank, Chowan, and Per quimans counties in relating the living environment to disease in these areas. Coope ration with the community in problems of solid waste and sewage disposal and water quality is being carried out now. Lectures to adult groups on the role of the public in local [Continued On Page 6]
Elizabeth City State University Student Newspaper
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Oct. 1, 1973, edition 1
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