Prior to UNC Charlotte's founding, Charlotte had long sought a public university. In the late 1880s, the city bid for what would become
North Carolina State University, but lost to
Raleigh after a local farmer offered to donate land for the campus. In 1946, the city sought a state-run medical school; instead, the state expanded the
existing medical school at the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. On September 23, 1946, the
Charlotte Center of the University of North Carolina opened with an enrollment of 278 students. The Charlotte city school system was tasked with running the center, and it named doctoral student Charles Bernard director of the center. The center held night classes at Central High School in present-day Uptown Charlotte. It initially offered only freshman-level courses, but added sophomore-level courses in 1947 by demand. By 1948, the Charlotte Center was one of only four extension centers still open. The Consolidated University determined that its three campuses could handle student demand, and it announced that it would close the remaining centers on July 1, 1949. On April 4, 1949, in response to local efforts led by Cone, the
North Carolina General Assembly created the Charlotte Community College System. The system included two schools, both of which opened in 1949:
Charlotte College, which served white students, and
Carver College, which served black students. In 1950, the state recognized Charlotte College as a "standard
junior college", allowing students to transfer credits to senior colleges. Cone served as director—and later president—of the college, which continued to hold classes at Central High School. The school was racially desegregated as a result of the
U.S. Supreme Court case
Brown v. Board of Education in 1954 (Carver College would later merge with another institution to become
Central Piedmont Community College). By 1957, enrollment increased to 492, and the school's leaders began searching for a permanent site for the campus. They decided on a tract of land northeast of the city. The college became state-supported in 1958 upon joining the newly formed
North Carolina Community College System and moved to its current location in 1961. It added a junior year of study in 1963, and a senior year in 1964. On March 3, 1965, the North Carolina General Assembly designated Charlotte College the fourth campus of the
University of North Carolina, under its current name, effective July 1. On May 29, 1966, 81 students became the school's first graduating class as a UNC system school. In 1969, the school opened its first dormitory, housing approximately 600 students,
Leaders of the university Bonnie Ethel Cone, founder Bonnie Ethel Cone (1907–2003), or Miss Bonnie as she was known to students, was chosen to be director of the Charlotte Center in 1947. From 1949 to 1965, she served as president of Charlotte College. When Charlotte College joined the UNC system in 1965, Cone served as acting chancellor until 1966.
Chancellors Dean W. Colvard (1913–2007) was appointed the first chancellor of the young university in 1966. A North Carolina native, Colvard had served as president of
Mississippi State University (MSU). At MSU he was the first president to defy university policy of not playing against integrated teams when he ordered the men's basketball team to play
Loyola University Chicago in 1963. At UNC Charlotte, Colvard took on the challenge of converting the school from a small college to a four-year member of the UNC system. Indeed, he had been chosen specifically because UNC system officials believed the newly minted UNC Charlotte needed a leader with experience running a four-year university. Colvard oversaw accreditation of the university, development of University Research Park (now one of the top five largest research parks in the country), constructed the first residence halls, created the first graduate programs, and grew the enrollment from about 1,700 to just over 8,000 students. He retired as chancellor in 1978, served as Chancellor
Emeritus until his death. Colvard also received the Order of the Long Leaf Pine. The Colvard building, completed on the main campus in 1979, is named in his honor and houses the Department of Psychology.
E.K. Fretwell (1923–2012), the second chancellor of the university, was named in 1979. He came to the university from Buffalo State College where he was president. Under Fretwell, campus enrollment surged from 8,000 students to over 12,000. He oversaw the creation of the Graduate School, created more graduate degrees, integrated the library's card catalog into the Internet in 1983, created the groundwork for a major business incubator, helped to develop the university's surrounding neighborhood, and increased academic grants to over $6.1 million. Fretwell retired as chancellor in 1989. He served as interim president of the
University of Massachusetts system from 1991 to 1992, and in 1998, he served as the interim president of the
University of North Florida. In 1996 UNC Charlotte opened the Fretwell building, dedicated in honor of him and his wife Dorrie. The building headquarters the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences.
James H. Woodward succeeded Fretwell in 1989. Woodward came to UNC Charlotte from the
University of Alabama at Birmingham where he served as dean of engineering and senior vice president of academic affairs. Under Woodward, enrollment grew to over 19,000 students. Like his predecessors, he continued the growth of the Graduate School and added new doctoral programs. He oversaw the largest fundraising campaign in the school's history and its largest building boom; in the summer of 2005, no less than six buildings were actively under construction on the main campus. He also oversaw the creation of the CRI Campus. Woodward announced his retirement in 2004 and left the office of chancellor on June 30, 2005. Woodward Hall, which houses the College of Computing & Informatics, was dedicated in his honor on November 16, 2005. He is currently Chancellor Emeritus and teaches in the university's William States Lee College of Engineering.
Philip L. Dubois was the fifth leader and fourth chancellor of the university. Dubois assumed his duties as chancellor on July 15, 2005. He returned to Charlotte after serving as the president of the
University of Wyoming from 1997 through 2005. Previously, he was the
Provost and Professor of Political Science in the Department of Political Science (now the Department of Political Science and Public Administration) at UNC Charlotte from 1991 until 1997. Dubois, along with his wife and children, was the first chancellor to occupy the Chancellor's Residence (known as the Bissell House) on the UNC Charlotte campus that was completed in the winter of 2005. His goal was to oversee the process of the university becoming the fourth research-extensive university in the state.
2019 mass shooting On April 30, 2019, a
mass shooting occurred in the Woodford A. Kennedy Building on campus, killing two and leaving four others injured. The shooter, identified as Trystan Andrew Terrell, was arrested shortly afterwards. ==Campuses==