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East Carolina Teachers Training School was established in Greenville in 1907 at the behest of former Governor and Greenville resident Thomas Jordan Jarvis. A lifetime proponent of public education, Jarvis was an advocate for teacher training during his public service career and was tapped by locals to sway the legislature to approve an institute of higher education in Greenville. Eight eastern North Carolina sites were considered, but Greenville was selected after much deliberation.
Groundbreaking ceremonies were held on July 2, 1908. The school opened on October 5, 1909, to provide “young men and women such an education and training as shall fit and qualify them for teaching in the public schools of North Carolina.” Robert Herring Wright, the school’s first president, served from 1909 to 1934, overseeing many changes on campus. East Carolina Teachers Training School operated as a two-year institution until the Batchelor of Arts degree was offered in 1920. The name was changed the following year to East Carolina Teachers’ College. The college offered a Masters of Arts degree in 1929, and began to diversify its curriculum. In 1951 it became East Carolina College, and East Carolina University in 1967. Five years later, on July 1, 1972, East Carolina University was incorporated into the Consolidated University of North Carolina System.
References:
Mary Jo Jackson Bratton, East Carolina University: The Formative Years, 1907-1982 (1986)
William S. Powell, Higher Education in North Carolina (1964)
Catherine W. Bishir and Michael T. Southern, A Guide to Historic Architecture of Eastern North Carolina (1996)
East Carolina University website:
http://www.ecu.edu/
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