Dr. Kyle Carter, chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, has some advice for university administrators with major milestones on the horizon. “Start very early,” he emphasized. Carter, who arrived at the campus as the new chancellor in July 2010, felt he had a late start for planning the university’s 125th anniversary, which kicked off in March. “Two years out is not sufficient time,” Carter says. “I was thinking three years would be enough, but now I think it should be five years out. However, everything we’ve had has been a home run.” Because of the historic significance in the community, university officials decided to kick off the observance on March 14 this year and extend the celebration for 14 months, concluding during commencement next spring. The slogan for the commemoration is “Honoring Our Heritage, Soaring Toward Our Future.”
UNC-Pembroke’s rich and storied history began in 1887 as the Croatan Normal School. It was originally an elementary school because education levels were low. The goal was to educate American Indians of Robeson County and train teachers for the public schools. The first four-year diploma was granted in 1940. UNC-Pembroke joined the new UNC university system in 1972.
The school is located in the home of the largest American Indian tribe east of the Mississippi, the Lumbee, which currently has a population of more than 55,000. From 1939 to 1953, Pembroke was the only state-supported, four-year college for American Indians in the nation. Today, UNC-Pembroke is one of the most diverse universities in the country, with more than 6,000 students. There are 41 undergraduate majors and 17 master’s degree programs. Although the percentage of American Indian students has declined through the years, the most recent figure shows an increase from 700 American Indians to approximately 1,000 today, officials say.
Historians point to a period of enrollment growth in 1953 when the university “self-integrated” and more Whites and Blacks attended. Student population also surged in 2000-2010, growing from 3,000 to 7,000. African-American enrollment increased, and Latino and Asian students began enrolling.
From 2001 to 2012, approximately $100 million was spent on new construction and renovations.
One of the long-lasting anniversary projects is the creation of the Southeast American Indian Studies (SEAIS) program. UNC-Pembroke aims to become the foremost research and scholarship university for Southeast American Indian studies, with an undergraduate major and minor. Fundraising for an endowed professorship of $1 million is underway. UNC-Pembroke already has a Native American Resource Center, which houses local and national history, artifacts and contemporary works by Indian artists.
A major participant in the community, UNC-Pembroke sponsors a powwow and also takes part in the annual Lumbee Homecoming. The university will host its 6th Annual Southeast Indian Studies Symposium next spring.
