The University of North Carolina at Greensboro is one of the sixteen university campuses of The University of North Carolina, the birthplace of public higher education in America.
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro was established by legislative enactment on February 18, 1891. The City of Greensboro, situated near the geographical center of the state, was selected for the location of the new institution after its citizens approved $30,000 in bonds for its first buildings. R.S. Pullen and R.T. Gray gave the original 10-acre site. The institution opened on October 5, 1892 with a student body of 198 and a faculty of 15 - and the final enrollment reached 223 at the end of the first year. Classes were organized in three departments: commercial, domestic science and pedagogy.
The institution came into being as a direct result of a crusade by Dr. Charles Duncan McIver on behalf of the education of women. Other pioneers in public school education - notably, Edwin A. Alderman, James Y. Joyner and M.C.S. Noble - assisted McIver, but to him, more than to any other individual, the University owes its foundation.