How UNC Charlotte went from a school for WWII veterans to a massive university

Flashback: As veterans looked to use their GI Bill benefits, North Carolina colleges and universities opened centers offering night classes to meet the demand.

• UNC Charlotte began as the Charlotte Center. Both veterans and non-veterans were able to enroll, and classes began on Sept. 26, 1946, at Central High School.
• By 1947, the Charlotte Center had more than 300 students, and it ultimately grew to house more students than all of the states's other centers combined, the Observer reported in 1949.
• When the centers closed in 1949, the Charlotte Center became Charlotte College. The Charlotte school board oversaw the new two-year junior college.

Zoom in: A key figure in the school's history was Bonnie Cone. She worked over 12 hours a day during the center's first year, teaching Central High students by day and Charlotte Center students by night.

• After the inaugural year, Cone pushed for the Charlotte Center to offer more than just freshman coursework, which was added in 1947. Cone also became the Charlotte Center's director that year. She later served as president and then acting chancellor as the school evolved.

Context: The sprawling campus in today's University City didn't begin to take shape until 1957. Less than a year after breaking ground, Charlotte College's new campus opened on Sept. 20, 1961, with roughly 900 students.

• In 1963, it transitioned to a state-supported institution. Two years later, the school was officially a University of North Carolina campus.
• Charlotte has since added master's and doctoral programs and has been deemed a doctoral/research-intensive university by the UNC Board of Governors.
• UNC Charlotte added an Uptown location in 2011 and a football program in 2013 (of which they're in the midst of a $70 million football stadium expansion). The light rail came to campus in 2018.

By the numbers: UNC Charlotte's 2026-27 enrollment included a record first-year class of 5,165 students. The school also saw a record transfer class of 3,154 students.

• There are 27,464 undergraduate students and 5,581 graduate students, according to university data.

The big picture: The university's growth is a reflection of the city's. That growth has allowed the university to work with major corporations, from Honeywell to Charlotte Douglas International Airport.

• "As Charlotte has grown and its economy has evolved, the University has evolved with it," UNC Charlotte chancellor Sharon Gaber tells Axios via email. "We respond to the needs of the region through the degree programs we create, the research we conduct and the partnerships we build with businesses and industries."
• "That means preparing graduates with the skills employers need, developing research that helps solve their real-world challenges and working directly with industry to turn ideas into innovation and economic opportunity."

Go deeper: Honeywell to invest $10M in UNC Charlotte with innovation hub

What's next: UNC Charlotte leaders hope to surpass 35,000 students — 20% of whom would be graduate students and more than 15% online students — by 2031, Gaber says.

• The university is also prioritizing its expanding research arm, including the recent multimillion-dollar National Science Foundation investment, Gaber says.