With a new chancellor at its helm and its first enrollment increase in a decade, North Carolina Central University is aiming to rise into the ranks of the nation's top universities.
James Ammons, NCCU's new chancellor, came to the university in June after 18 years at Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, where he saw the school nearly triple its enrollment and become a top institution. His plans for NCCU are equally ambitious.
The key elements of this plan, Ammons said, are attracting high-caliber students, reaching out to corporate America, recruiting outstanding faculty and connecting with the community.
"We are developing a vision and a strategic plan to position NCCU to be one of the leading universities in the country," he said, adding that the university is already seeing benefits from these plans.
In their attempt to build corporate links, NCCU will host an industry summit today, bringing between 65 and 70 corporations such as Oracle, IBM and Xerox to campus as a jumping-off point for relationships that Ammons said he hopes can provide scholarships, internships, technical assistance and equipment and bring distinguished lecturers to the campus.
"Corporations that need a highly talented workforce and also need diversity are looking for places where they can recruit top talent to help diversify their workforces," Ammons said.
Red Hat Executive Vice President Mark Webbink, who is co-chairing the summit with Red Hat President and CEO Matthew Szulik, said he was enthusiastic that NCCU would definitely be a place that Red Hat could look to recruit employees, especially as the university is currently working to advance technology programs.
The industry summit ties in with another of Ammons' goals, attracting top students. He said he aims to put together scholarship packages that will include extra incentives like internships and laptop computers.
Along with raising the caliber of the student body, Ammons said he hopes to continue this year's trend of increased enrollment and begin working on student retention.
Director of Undergraduate Admissions Jocelyn Foy enumerated a variety of reasons behind this year's increase of 274 students. NCCU employed aggressive marketing strategies, worked with alumni, targeted high-achieving students and offered more scholarships.
Although no specific eligibility requirements are yet planned, Foy said she expects some such changes under Ammons' administration.
Ammons said he plans to put into place an admissions profile that will take into consideration class rank, test scores, courses, socioeconomic factors and grade point average.
"[The profile] in some instances will include students who other universities wouldn't take a chance on, but we are," he said.
Ammons and Foy said the idea that enrollment and student caliber cannot simultaneously increase is a misconception.
"When people talk about providing access, they think that what you're going to do is lower quality," Ammons said. "That's not what we're going to do."
The emphasis on enrollment and retention resonates, as declines in enrollment throughout the 1990s led to a $956,000 budget shortfall that Ammons said will be felt primarily in the areas of teaching, research and service. The university did receive $121 million in state bond money for construction and renovation, primarily of residence halls.
In order to further NCCU's prestige, Ammons is also concentrating on recruiting top professors and expanding the university's stronger programs. A number of endowed chairs are currently vacant, and the corporate relationship that Ammons hopes to establish can help put in place attractive salary packages and benefits, he said.
One of the programs he hopes to expand is that of biomedical science. For example, he wants the curriculum to include genomics and viral informatics. The Julius L. Chambers Biomedical/Biotechnology Research Institute is currently conducting research in those areas and will continue to work with students interested in biomedical science, said Dr. Ken Harewood, the institute's director.
"We are complementing and supplementing the experience that they get in the classroom and better preparing them for their careers," Harewood said.
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