University of North Carolina

The University of North Carolina is a multi-campus public university system composed of all 16 of North Carolina's public universities, as well as the NC School of Science and Mathematics, the nation's first public residential high school for gifted students. Commonly referred to as the University of North Carolina system or the UNC system to differentiate it from the original campus in Chapel Hill, the university has a total enrollment of over 183,000 students and confers over 75% of all baccalaureate degrees in North Carolina in 2008. UNC campuses conferred 43,686 degrees for 2008–2009, the bulk of which were Bachelor's level with 31,055 degrees awarded.

History

Founded in 1789, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is the oldest public university in the United States. In 1877, the State of North Carolina began sponsoring additional higher education institutions. Over time the state added a women's college (now known as the University of North Carolina at Greensboro), a land-grant university (North Carolina State University), five historically black institutions (North Carolina A&T State University, North Carolina Central University, Winston-Salem State University, Fayetteville State University, and Elizabeth City State University) and one to educate American Indians (the University of North Carolina at Pembroke). Others were created to prepare teachers for public education and to instruct performing artists.

UNC

UNC is a three-letter acronym that may refer to:

Education

Politics

Margaret Spellings

Margaret Spellings, nee Dudar (born November 30, 1957), is an education administrator and American Politician. She is currently President-elect of the University of North Carolina and is scheduled to take office on March 1, 2016.

Spellings worked in several positions under George W. Bush during his tenure as Governor of Texas and President of the United States. She was one of the principal proponents of the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act that aimed at reforming primary and secondary education. She served as Secretary of Education in Bush's administration from 2005 to 2009, during which time she convened the Commission on the Future of Higher Education to recommend reform at the post-secondary level. After leaving her role as Secretary of Education, she founded Margaret Spellings & Company, an education consulting firm in Washington, D.C., and is a senior advisor to the Boston Consulting Group and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Early life and education

Margaret Dudar was born on November 30, 1957 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and moved with her family to Houston when she was in the third grade. She graduated from Sharpstown High School in 1975.

North Carolina

North Carolina (ⁱ/ˌnɔːrθ kærəˈlaɪnə/) is a state in the southeastern region of the United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west, Virginia to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. North Carolina is the 28th most extensive and the 9th most populous of the 50 United States. North Carolina is known as the Tar Heel State and the Old North State.

North Carolina is composed of 100 counties. Its two largest metropolitan areas are among the top ten fastest-growing in the country: its capital, Raleigh, and its largest city, Charlotte. In the past five decades, North Carolina's economy has undergone a transition from reliance upon tobacco, textiles, and furniture-making to a more diversified economy with engineering, energy, biotechnology, and finance sectors.

North Carolina has a wide range of elevations, from sea level on the coast to 6,684 feet (2,037 m) at Mount Mitchell, the highest point in North America east of the Mississippi River. The climate of the coastal plains is strongly influenced by the Atlantic Ocean. Most of the state falls in the humid subtropical climate zone. More than 300 miles (500 km) from the coast, the western, mountainous part of the state has a subtropical highland climate.