Wilmington College began as a temporary college center under the Division of Extension at UNC-Chapel Hill in 1946. After the passage of a public referendum in March 1947, Wilmington College gained the local support and property tax levy to earn permanent status.
Wilmington College awarded the Associate in Arts to 14 graduates at its inaugural graduation ceremony,. There were many more students who had registered in 1946-1947. It is unknown why so many students left. It's possible that many transferred while others had to work. The college was founded in part to serve GI's returning from service during World War II.
After winning the National Junior College Baseball Championship in Grand Junction, Colo., the Wilmington College baseball team was honored with a Joint Resolution by the N. C. Senate. The Wilmington College baseball team were national champions in 1961 and 1963.
On Wilmington College's first day as a four-year college, president William M. Randall responded to questions about a new law, HB 1395, An Act to Regulate Visiting Speakers at State Supported Colleges and Universities.
50 seniors earned bachelor degrees on June 13, 1965. They were the first recipients of the bachelor degree in the school's history. 22 additional students expecting to graduate in August were also listed in the program.
After establishing itself as a four-year college in 1963, the next step for Wilmington College was to rally support for joining the University of North Carolina system.
Dr. Hubert A. Eaton, the first Black UNCW Board of Trustees chair, recounts meeting with John T. Hoggard in 1961 to initiate a plan for the desegregation of the college. Two Black students enrolled in 1962.
Marshall Collins and Ernest Fullwood were the first African Americans to attend Wilmington College--the institution that grew into the University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW).
On this day in 1948, a group of college students published and distributed the inaugural edition of the Seahawk--a 4-page mimeographed newspaper. This was the first student publication for Wilmington College.
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