UNC Charlotte is 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 stimulated 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 on September 23, 1946, offering evening classes to 278 freshmen and sophomore students in the facilities of Charlotte's Central High School. After three years, the state closed the centers, declaring that on-campus facilities were sufficient to meet the needs of returning veterans and recent high school graduates.

Charlotte’s education and community 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. Later the same leaders asked Charlotte voters to approve a two-cent tax to support that college.

Charlotte College drew students from the city, Mecklenburg County, and from a dozen surrounding counties. The two-cent tax was later extended to all of Mecklenburg County. Ultimately financial support for the college became a responsibility of the State of North Carolina. As soon as Charlotte College was 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 into two new buildings on what was to become a 1,000-acre campus 10 miles from downtown Charlotte.

Three years later, the North Carolina legislature approved bills making Charlotte College a four-year, state-supported college. A year later, the legislature approved bills making Charlotte College a branch of The University of North Carolina.

In the years since, UNC Charlotte has grown at a rate of about 4 percent a year. With an enrollment of nearly 20,000 students, it is the fourth largest of the 16 institutions that make up The University of North Carolina system. Within the next 10 years, UNC Charlotte expects to grow to 28,000 students.

UNC Charlotte is a comprehensive university offering a full array of baccalaureate programs, over 50 programs leading to a master's degree, and nine programs leading to doctoral degrees. The doctoral programs are in electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, applied mathematics, information technology, biology, educational leadership, special education, counseling, and public policy. About 20 percent of its students are enrolled in graduate programs.

Students attend UNC Charlotte from 98 of North Carolina's 100 counties, from 48 of the 50 states and from about 65 foreign countries. Approximately 25 percent live in residence halls on the campus. Another 25 percent live in private housing that surrounds the campus. The remainder commutes from within the metropolitan region. Overall about 26 percent of our student enrollment is minority; of this, 15.3 percent of our students are African-American.

In 1995-96, during the celebration of its 50^th anniversary as an institution, UNC Charlotte awarded its 50,000^th degree. It now has more than 58,000 alumni.

Take a virtual tour of UNC Charlotte - www.uncc.edu/admissions/tour/index.html.