NORTH CAROLINA, UNIVERSITY OF

state system of higher education, consisting of a main campus in Chapel Hill and branches in Asheville, Charlotte, Greensboro, and Wilmington, N.C., U.S. The system also includes North Carolina State University in Raleigh, Appalachian State University in Boone, East Carolina University in Greenville, Elizabeth City State University in Elizabeth City, Fayetteville State University in Fayetteville, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in Greensboro, North Carolina Central University in Durham, North Carolina School of the Arts and Winston-Salem State University in Winston-Salem, Pembroke State University in Pembroke, and Western Carolina University in Cullowhee. All institutions are coeducational centres of undergraduate study. Most of them offer graduate degree programs. Total enrollment in the state system is approximately 150,000. The main campus at Chapel Hill is a major research university comprising 14 colleges and schools, including schools of Law, Medicine, and Dentistry. Kenan-Flagler Business School is part of the Chapel Hill campus. North Carolina State University is the other major research institution in the state system; its sites include a 78,000-acre (31,500-hectare) research forest. The school is a land-grant university with an emphasis on engineering, sciences, and technology. North Carolina State also operates colleges of forest resources and veterinary medicine. Five of the universities in the systemElizabeth City State, Fayetteville State, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State, North Carolina Central, and Winston-Salem Stateare historically African-American institutions. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill was chartered in 1789, and it became, in 1795, the first state university to open its doors. Old East, completed in 1794, is the oldest state university building in the United States. The university remained open through the American Civil War, but it was forced to close from 1870 until 1875 during the Reconstruction period. North Carolina State and North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State, both created under the 1862 Morrill Act that established land-grant colleges, were established in 1887 and 1891, respectively. In 1931 the Chapel Hill campus joined with the Greensboro campus and North Carolina State to form a three-campus University of North Carolina system. Charlotte was added to the system in 1965, Asheville and Wilmington in 1969. The remaining universities joined the system in 1971.