Sunday, March 23, 2014

Eagle Pride, Amplified: Will North Carolina Central University's 1st NCAA Tournament Bid Boost Academics?

DURHAM, North Carolina  -- If North Carolina Central University were not in the same city as Duke University, you’d likely have heard more about them – not just their sports but their academic programs as well.

NCCU transitioned to NCAA’s Division I in the years preceding their final approval for the 2011-2012 season. The Eagles scored an NCAA men’s basketball tournament berth for winning the Mid-Eastern Atlantic Conference championship this year. Prior to the tournament, they finished the season 28-6 on a 20-game winning streak, with a notable 10-point victory over N.C. State just before Thanksgiving.

I had the pleasure of serving as a professor of pharmaceutical sciences at NCCU for almost four years and it was one of the most enriching personal and professional experiences of my career. Beyond working in one of two biotechnology and biomedicine-focused research institutes, NCCU afforded me the opportunity to engage with students and faculty in their tremendous jazz studies program, and everywhere across campus from criminal justice and library sciences to public administration, educational and health disparities, and communications.

A historically-Black college/university with an enrollment of 8,155 students – 6,369 undergrads and 1,786 – NCCU ranks 12th on the U.S. News & World Report list of HBCUs; fourth among state-funded HBCUs. NCCU is one of 17 institutions that comprise the University of North Carolina system (which includes UNC-Chapel Hill and NC State) – one of five HBCUs – and was the first in the system to require ...

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