University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, public, coeducational institution in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. It is the flagship campus of the University of North Carolina system. The school was founded in 1789, making it the oldest public university in the United States. Land for the new institution was secured in the central part of the state, and in 1793 construction began on the college’s first building. This two-story brick structure, now called Old East, is the oldest public university building in the country. The university admitted its first students in 1795, offering instruction in classical subjects, including Greek, Latin, and philosophy. In 1820 professors from the university conducted the first state geological survey in the nation. In 1831 the university became the first public college to build an astronomical observatory.

By the middle of the 19th century, the University of North Carolina ranked as one of the largest colleges in the United States. One of the few colleges in the South that remained open throughout the Civil War (1861-1865), it closed for five years during the postwar Reconstruction period. The college reopened in 1875 and added graduate-level programs the following year. It introduced a medical curriculum in 1879 and a teacher training program in 1885. In 1897 the college admitted women for the first time. Following World War I (1914-1918) the school grew rapidly, adding a business school, a school of social work, a school of library science, and a number of other programs.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill confers bachelor’s, master’s, professional, and doctoral degrees in the arts and sciences, humanities, business, education, engineering, law, and the health professions. The university’s research institutes include the Clinical Center for the Study of Development and Learning, the Thurston Arthritis Research Center, the Institute for Research in Social Science, and the Triangle Universities Nuclear Laboratory. Graduates of the University of North Carolina include James K. Polk, the 11th president of the United States; actor Andy Griffith; and professional basketball player Michael Jordan.