BUIES CREEK — Over the past five years, Campbell University has enrolled more undergraduate students from North Carolina than any of the 36 private colleges and universities in the state, according to the North Carolina Independent Colleges and Universities’ 2013-2014 Statistical Report released in late August.
In the most recent comparative data available, Campbell enrolled 4,440 undergraduate students from North Carolina during fall 2013. Only one other private college or university in North Carolina enrolled more than 2,000 in-state undergraduate students during fall 2013, according to the NCICU report. On average, NCICU schools enrolled 1,073 undergraduates from North Carolina in fall 2013.
The annual statistical report, based on surveys of the 36 NCICU members, also includes enrollment data back to 2009. Since at least 2009, data show that Campbell has enrolled more undergraduates from North Carolina — both annually and cumulatively — than any other private college or university in the state. Over that same time, Campbell’s total undergraduate enrollment increased by 20.5 percent, better than the NCICU schools’ average enrollment growth of 2.8 percent.
“We want to enroll students from across the nation and around the world, but a primary objective of Campbell University has always been to serve North Carolina,” Campbell President Jerry M. Wallace said. “We’re very proud and grateful that North Carolina students see in Campbell a university they want to attend.”
J.A. Campbell, a Baptist minister, founded the boarding school Buies Creek Academy in 1887 at a time when the rural community of Buies Creek had no school. As North Carolina began rolling out public high schools, in 1926, Buies Creek Academy transformed itself from a boarding school to Campbell Junior College. Since then, the institution has evolved to become Campbell College (1961) and Campbell University (1979).
The university’s developments over the past three decades have aligned with the greatest needs facing North Carolina. Campbell started the Norman Adrian Wiggins School of Law in 1976 when more than half of the lawyers in North Carolina were located in only seven of the state’s 100 counties. Nine years later, Campbell opened the first pharmacy school in the United States in nearly 40 years.
More recently, Campbell opened in August 2013 the first medical school in North Carolina in 35 years: the Jerry M. Wallace School of Osteopathic Medicine. The university has also added other health programs in physical therapy, physician assistant, and public health over the past five years. This fall Campbell welcomed its first cohort of pre-nursing students. In all, 85 students are enrolled in the Bachelor of Science in Nursing program’s first pre-nursing seminar, which is a prerequisite to apply to the upper-level division of the nursing program.
In addition, Campbell’s Board of Trustees approved this past spring a feasibility study for a Bachelor of Science in Engineering program, which the university hopes to initiate in fall 2016.
“This is an exciting period of growth for Campbell University, which has been strategic and intentional in adding new degree programs that complement its offerings in business, education, pharmacy, law, divinity, the liberal arts, sciences, and other fields,” said Britt Davis, Campbell’s vice president for institutional advancement and assistant to the president. “Together, these new programs and historical strengths have allowed Campbell to become a more academically diverse institution and attractive option for students.
“At the same time, we haven’t lost sight of one of our primary objectives to serve the citizens of North Carolina,” Davis added. “We’re incredibly proud to be able to lay claim to the fact that we enroll more undergraduate students from North Carolina than any private school in the state. We’re grateful for all those students who have chosen to be part of this flourishing university.”
NCICU’s 2013-14 statistical report comes on the heels of Campbell announcing it welcomed in the fall of 2014 one of its largest incoming group of new students in the university’s 127-year history. Of the 1,082 new students, 82 percent hail from North Carolina.
Photo by Bill Parish; graphic by Jonathan Bronsink.