History
UNC Charlotte, North Carolina’s urban research university, is integral to the social, cultural and economic fabric of the Charlotte region and beyond. Charlotte delivers high-quality, affordable education and drives progress and innovation through top-tier research and creative discovery. UNC Charlotte was one of a generation of universities founded in metropolitan areas of the United States immediately after World War II in response to rising education demands generated by the war and its technology.
To serve returning veterans, North Carolina opened 14 evening college centers in communities across the state. The Charlotte Center opened Sept. 23, 1946, offering evening classes to 278 students in the facilities of Charlotte’s Central High School. After three years, the state closed the centers, declaring that existing facilities were sufficient to meet the needs of returning veterans and recent high school graduates.
Charlotte’s education and business leaders, long aware of the area’s unmet needs for higher education, moved to have the Charlotte Center taken over by the city school district and operated as Charlotte College, offering the first two years of college courses.
Once Charlotte College became firmly established, efforts were launched to give it a campus of its own. With the backing of Charlotte business leaders and legislators from Mecklenburg and surrounding counties, land was acquired on the northern fringe of the city and bonds were passed to finance new facilities. In 1961, Charlotte College moved its growing student body into two new buildings on what was to become a 1,000-acre campus 10 miles from Uptown Charlotte.
Three years later, the North Carolina General Assembly approved bills making Charlotte College a four-year, state-supported institution. The next year, 1965, the legislature approved bills creating the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, the fourth campus of the statewide university system.
The most important figure in UNC Charlotte’s history during the early years was Bonnie Cone. Affectionately known as “Miss Bonnie,” Cone was instrumental in the growth and success of the nascent university. She held the title of director of Charlotte Center, became president after its conversion to Charlotte College and served as acting chancellor during the college’s transition to UNC Charlotte. Her tireless advocacy for the establishment of a four-year, state-supported school in the Charlotte region is a foundation of the thriving university of today.
Now a leading public research university, UNC Charlotte has the second-largest undergraduate enrollment in the UNC System and is the largest institution in the Charlotte region. The university comprises eight academic colleges and nearly 3,700 faculty and staff, offering 79 bachelor’s, 64 master’s and 24 doctoral programs.
The University’s historic growth has been accompanied by a rise in its infrastructure and connection to the city of Charlotte. With the opening of the LYNX Blue Line extension in 2018, access to Uptown Charlotte is now just a short train ride away. At the 9th Street Station, a gaze upward reveals The Dubois Center at UNC Charlotte. The distinctive, 11-story glass structure at the corner of 9th and Brevard streets, which opened in fall 2011, is the only UNC System classroom building conceived and designed specifically to serve the businesses, organizations and people of an urban center.
UNC Charlotte continues to grow exponentially. As of July 2024, the University boasted more than 178,000 alumni and growing by more than 8,000 new alumni each year.
In 2021, under the leadership of Chancellor Sharon L. Gaber, the University embraced a bold new vision as an emerging top-tier global research university to support the industries and communities in the greater Charlotte region. With growing research expenditures, rising national recognition for innovative academic and student success programs, and impactful new partnerships and discoveries, Charlotte earned the nation’s highest research designation – Carnegie R1 – in February 2025.