SPECIAL NCCU EDITION
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Add One Letter. And
N.C.C. BECOMES UNIVERSITY
Students in this summer
session began their work in a
college and will finish early in
August as university students.
Most never noticed the change.
On July 1, North Carolina
College became North Carolina
Central University, a member
of the state’s regional universi
ty system. The change, ap
proved earlier this year by the
General Assembly, was made
without fanfare or ceremony.
For one day, the black metal
sign which stands near the flag-
fX)le beside B. N. Duke Audi
torium was without lettering.
The campus painters eradicated
the old name on the evening of
June 30, and by 11 a.m., July 2,
the new name had been lettered
in.
That was the only physical
change made in the campus’
appearance. No changes in the
school’s programs are antici
pated as a direct result of the
change in status.
Regional universities in North
Carolina offer graduate work at
the master’s level. The first four
such universities, and North
Carolina College, offered such
programs at the inauguration
of the system. NCC also offered
graduate professional degrees in
law and library science.
In that sense, North Carolina,
College was already a regional
university before the legislature
awarded the new name.
History
In September, North Carolina
Central University enters its
60th year. During the past 59
years, the institution has passed
through several stages of growth
and development, which re
flected themselves in purpose,
financial support, physical plant,
student enrollment size and
preparation of faculty, cur
riculum, degree programs, and
accreditation.
Since Dr. James E. Shepard
founded the National Religious
Training School and Chautau
qua in 1910, the school has gone
under several names. Since
1925, North Carolina College
had been a part of the official
name.
In 1916, Dr. Shepard’s school
became the National Training
School. In 1923, it was the Dur
ham State Normal School; in
1925, North Carolina College
for Negroes; and in 1947, North
Carolina College at Durham.
First Days
In association with others.
Dr. James E. Shepard, who was
an active layman and a leader
of the Sunday School move
ment, announced plans to found
what they called a National
Training School for the Colored
Race somewhere in the South.
He was invited to investigate
Durham by the Durham Mer
chants Association.
In 1910, Durham had a
population of 18,241 and was
the hub of four railroad sys
tems. As an inducement for the
location of the school near Dur
ham, the merchants offered a
25 acre site one half mile from
the corporate limits of Durham.
When the school was built, its
physical plant included eight
buildings with electric lights
and steam heat, valued at
$60,000. The school was sup
ported by private donations and
student fees.
15 On Faculty
In 1919, the National Re
ligious Training School and
Chautauqua had 15 faculty
members working for “the de-
Placement Bureau
Reports Success
Frances Hairston, who grad
uated from North Carolina Cen
tral University in June, has
begun a career in computer
programming with E. I. DuPont
de Nemours, and Jasper Nance,
also a June graduate, will work
in quality control with the same
firm.
Miss Hairston, an honor
mathematics student from Lex
ington, N. C., and a graduate of
Dunbar High School there, and
Nance, a business administration
major who graduated from
Columbus High School in Lake
View, S. C., are two of eight
NCCU graduates who were em
ployed by DuPont this year.
Four other seniors were
offered employment by the
firm. Salaries offered to grad
uates of the Durham institution
by DuPont ranged from $7,200
a year to more than $10,000 a
year.
Lindsay Merritt, Director of
the Placement Bureau at the
university, had just received a
comprehensive report from Du
Pont, showing job offers made
and accepted as a result of the
company’s two days of recruit
ment efforts at North Carolina
Central University.
“DuPont is not the company
which made the most offers, or
hired the most graduates,” Mer
ritt said. “One reason I chose
to mention DuPont is that they
have three plants in this state.
One of my prime concerns is
geting North Carolina busi
nesses to employ more of our
graduates.”
If North Carolina businesses
are not hiring NCCU graduates
to the extent they should, they
velopment in young men and
women of that fine character
and sound academic training
requisite for real service.” Al
together, 201 students were en
rolled. Three graduated in 1911.
Those 15 faculty members
found it necessary to double in
brass in many subjects, because
during the early years the
school offered more courses and
programs of study than for
many years afterward. The
early bulletins list the following
programs, all requiring three or
four yeMs of Latin, Greek, and
Bdble study for completion;
Normal, Teacher Training, Col
lege Preparatory, Classical
Course for the A.B. degree.
General Science Course for the
B.S. degree, and Chemistry.
In addition, the bulletin de
scribed almost twenty vocation
al and trades courses ranging
from weaving to mural dec
orating. A major emphasis of
the school was the training of
ministers and religious work
ers. Dr. Shepard said, “A re
ligious life will tend to care
of the educational and industrial
side of life.”
In 1915, the school, in
financial difficulties, was sold
by its original incorporators.
Mrs. Russell Sage of New York,
a wealthy philanthropist, pur
chased the property and Dr.
Shepard continued as president
of the National Training School,
reincorporated and reorganized.
During this period the em
phasis was college preparation,
although the central objective
was still described as “The Re
ligious, Literary, and Industrial
Training of the Colored Race.”
In addition to the institution’s
main role as an academy, gram
mar school courses were offered
for students wishing to attend
who were unprepared for sec-
See NCC Becomes, Page 6
TFMJTH
Summer Echo
North CaroHna Central University
Durham, Norh Carolina, Wednesday, July 30, 1969
are not keeping up with na
tional industry. North Carolina
Central University was visited
during the recruiting season,
which now runs from October 3
through the end of May, by 506
recruiters from industry, finan
cial institutions, retail organiza
tions, transportation firms,
municipal agencies and federal
agencies.
That figure of 506 does not
include educational institutions,
which continue to employ a
large p>ercentage of NCCU grad
uates.
The industrial recruiters con
ducted a total of 3,083 individual
interviews. The 382 seniors
who registered for interviews
with the Placement Bureau
averaged about four interviews
apiece. (Merritt says the other
interviews were conducted with
graduate students, already reg
istered or with undergraduates
seeking summer employment.)
The placement officer estimates
that 500 job offers resulted from
those interviews.
Salaries offered ranged from
a low of $5,100 annually to a
high of $11,000. “The average
salary offered was about
$7,000.”
Most in demand were grad
uates with degrees in account
ing, chemistry, and mathe
matics, for whom industrial
salary offers started at $8,000.
This group was followed by
business administration majors
in popularity.
DuPont, for example, em
ployed students who had major
ed in mathematics, accounting,
chemistry, business administra-
See Placement, Page 3
S
North Carolina Central University’s Administration Building, the oldest perm^ent building _ on
campus, has seen many changes in name and goals for the school since it was built. For a historical
survey of those changes, see story on this page.
Students Come From 31 County Region
North Carolina Central Uni
versity is truly a regional uni
versity.
More than half of the stu
dents at NCCU during the fall
semester of 1968 came from 31
contiguous counties, roughly in
the center of the state. None of
the counties had fewer than 20
students enrolled in September,
1968.
The block includes all coun
ties along the Virginia border
from Person east to Hertford,
the four counties immediately
to the west of Durham, and a
solid block of counties south to
the South Carolina border and
the Sand Hills.
Only a few other North Caro
lina counties outside this block
had more than 20 students en
rolled in what was then North
Carolina College at Durham.
Those counties were Iredell,
Cleveland, Gaston, and Meck
lenburg in the western Pied
mont, Madison and Buncombe
in the mountains, and Pas
quotank and New Hanover in
the east.
Within the contiguous block,
only Greene County had fewer
than 20 students, but that coun
ty is surrounded by counties
with more than 20.
The coxmties within the block
with more than 20 students are
the following: Forsyth, GuU-
ford, Alamance, Orange, Dur
ham, Person, Granville, Vance,
Warren, Halifax, Northampton,
Hertford, Bertie, Edgecombe,
Nash, Franklin, Wake, John
ston, Wilson, Pitt, Beaufort,
Craven, Lenoir, Wayne, Samp
son, Cumberland, Duplin, Bla
den, Columbus, Robeson, and
Scotland.
Durham had an enrollment of
512 students and Wake an en
rollment of 148.
This information is taken
from “A Statistical Abstract of
Significant Characteristics of
North Carolina College,” com
piled by the Office of Research
and Evaluation at the institu
tion.