A New Administration

At the helm during this pivotal period was Chancellor John Tyler Caldwell. During his administration, 1959-1971, NC State experienced explosive growth.  Several key decisions led to this expansion, beginning with the effort to reorganize State College toward full university status. In order to achieve this goal, State offered new programs and degrees, including opening the School of Physical Science and Mathematics in 1960.

The key change occurred when the Board of Trustees and the Board of Higher Education approved a new Bachelor of Arts degree in 1963.  The process toward expanding the college’s degree offerings in the humanities began the year previous to Caldwell’s election with the presentation of the Long Range Plan in 1958. “North Carolina State University came into existence with a technological stamp upon its brow,” said Caldwell during his General Faculty Meeting Address in 1963, “I wish to acknowledge with praise the role of this faculty in promoting the liberal arts degree for North Carolina State… I might even recall that my visits to the campus preparatory to my being elected your Chancellor involved heavy barrages from Professor Edsall and others – even from Board members – on the subject. ”[1] A new School of Liberal Arts was created that began offering degrees in the humanities and social sciences.

State College finally ascended to university status, upon which the administration faced the problem of renaming the school. Consolidated University administrators proposed changing the name of State College to the “University of North Carolina at Raleigh,” sparking outrage among faculty and students, who argued that the name would imply that “State has been demoted to the Raleigh branch of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; therefore stifling school spirit and student initiative.”[2] A tentative compromise resulted in the official name “North Carolina State of the University of North Carolina at Raleigh,” which Caldwell is quoted saying is, “about the sorriest name I have ever heard for an institution.” This lasted for two years and the name would be finalized to the current North Carolina State University in 1965.[3]

Also in 1965, compulsory ROTC participation for all students ended, signaling a shift away from the strong military focus at State. Enrollment of female more than doubled from 1963 to 1964. New buildings and dormitories were erected to accommodate a rapidly expanding student body. Therefore the result of these changes, names aside, is a dramatic shift in the makeup of the student body.