When Dr. Karrie G. Dixon became the 13th chancellor of North Carolina Central University in the summer of 2024, the institution’s finances were a mess.
A state audit would later reveal just how bad the bookkeeping had been. It found $45 million in financial reporting errors for the fiscal year prior to Dixon’s tenure.
This story originally ran in The EDU Ledger's August HBCU edition.
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When Dr. Karrie G. Dixon became the 13th chancellor of North Carolina Central University in the summer of 2024, the institution’s finances were a mess.
A state audit would later reveal just how bad the bookkeeping had been. It found $45 million in financial reporting errors for the fiscal year prior to Dixon’s tenure.
“The first thing, of course, when something like that is greeting you as you lead a new institution, is to figure out what happened and why,” Dixon says.
The report identified inadequate internal controls as a culprit behind the misreporting.
“So that told me we needed to assess where we are with processes, policies, how we conduct ourselves, and how we can strengthen oversight of our internal controls — but do it in a way that we maximize effectiveness and efficiency,” Dixon explained.
With that in mind, Dixon and her team got busy in an effort to get the university’s bookkeeping back on track. Among other things, she ordered a hiring freeze for all except “essential” positions, as well as a reduction in spending across the university.
“It was a culture change at first because people weren’t used to being told ‘No, they can’t buy this,’ or ‘No, you have to prioritize what makes the most sense now and what can wait,’” Dixon recalls.
“These were tough, bold decisions,” she continues, “but in the long run, we would see a difference.”
Indeed, state auditor Dave Boliek noted in December 2025 that NCCU had achieved a “welcomed turnaround” when he issued the school its first clean audit in three years.
“Our audit found no material weaknesses in internal controls or instances of reportable noncompliance,” Boliek stated in the audit that covered Dixon’s first year in office. “This audit represents hard work from the team at NCCU.”
This is not Dixon’s first time turning around a troubled HBCU.
When Dixon became interim chancellor and later chancellor of Elizabeth City State University — a small, public HBCU located in Elizabeth City, North Carolina — in 2018, she faced similar challenges.
“There were discussions around closure,” Dixon recalls. “And it was mainly because the university lost 60% of its enrollment, was down to 1,100 students. And the university was on accreditation warning as well.”
“That experience, leading Elizabeth City State University, really helped me to develop an eye for what are the pieces that need to be put together in order to address some of the challenges that some of our small HBCUs are facing, and not just HBCUs, really small institutions are facing.”
When Dixon left Elizabeth City, enrollment had grown to over 2,000 students, there were zero audit errors, and the university was in good standing with its accreditor. The Assembly — a North Carolina state news organization — credited Dixon with being a “gamechanger” in Elizabeth City State University’s turnaround.
“The university was in a place of growth and ... was contributing to the economic development as an economic engine in northeastern North Carolina, which is very rural,” Dixon said.
Now, Dixon is accomplishing similar feats at NCCU.
The university is one year into a five-year strategic plan that was adopted in 2025. Titled “Soaring to New Heights: Vision 2030,” the plan prioritizes — among other things — adopting new degree pathways in high-demand fields, such as AI, cybersecurity, and public health.
A few months into her tenure, Dixon secured a $1 million grant to fund the first-ever AI institute at an HBCU, complimenting existing research institutes in biomedical and biomanufacturing research.
Dixon is seeking to parlay North Carolina Central’s research portfolio into Research 2 status — the second highest distinction given to research universities under the Carnegie classification system.
The university’s nursing program is among the best HBCUs in the state, having achieved a 96% passing rate on the nursing licensure exam.
“I always say if I have to go to hospital, I want an Eagle nurse working with me,” Dixon said.
Enrollment at the university is at a record high, having surpassed 9,000 students for the first time in its history in Fall 2025 — 9,160, to be precise, or a 6.8% increase over the 8,579 students enrolled in Fall 2024.
“Our enrollment has been amazing,” Dixon said. “We have led the UNC System in enrollment growth since I’ve been here.
“Every single semester we have grown, and what that tells me is that students want to be here,” Dixon said. “They want to be Eagles. So, it’s our responsibility to make sure that we strengthen the operations and the financial footing of the institution.”
This story originally ran in The EDU Ledger's August HBCU edition.
