Brief History of NCSU

Founding

NCSU was founded as a land-grant college under the auspices of the Morrill Act of 1862. The act made it possible for states to establish colleges that emphasized agriculture and mechanic arts and provided higher-education opportunities for farmers and workers. Under the act, the federal government provided public land that states could sell and invest the proceeds for "the endowment, support, and maintenance of at least one college where the leading object shall be, without excluding other scientific and classical studies, and including military tactics, to teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts ... in order to promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and professions in life."

Name Changes

The institution was founded in 1887 as North Carolina College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts. Since then, it has undergone several name changes to North Carolina State College of Agriculture and Engineering in 1917 to University of North Carolina at Raleigh in 1962 to North Carolina State of the University of North Carolina at Raleigh in 1963 to North Carolina State University at Raleigh in 1965.