Show & Teal

A Changing Landscape

Seven and a half decades has brought a lot of change to a campus that originally housed three buildings and 238 students. UNCW continues to welcome students and visitors from around the world. While the signature Georgian architecture, 50-foot clock tower on Campus Commons, 10-acre Herbert Bluethenthal Memorial Wildflower Preserve and proximity to area beaches will remain touchstones of the campus experience, several construction projects to benefit future generations of Seahawks are underway. – CC & KV

Groundbreaking for the Randall Library Renovation and Expansion project occurred in May 2022. The three-story expansion project includes 80,000 square feet of new building construction, renovations of the existing building and the addition of a connecting bridge, akin to the one that joins Fisher University Union and Fisher Student Center. The renovation and expansion will transform the space into a true 21st century academic library with a dedicated event and programming space, data visualization lab, technology hub and multimedia studio. In February, Chancellor Aswani K. Volety signed a teal girder before it was placed as the final beam as part of the project’s “topping out” milestone. Completion is expected in fall 2024.

UNCW became a residential campus in 1971 with the opening of Galloway Hall. The co-ed residence hall housed 400 students and was the first air-conditioned one in the state. Aging infrastructure landed the currently unoccupied six-story “Dorm 71” on the demolition list. The Council of State approved the demolition at its February meeting.

UNCW leverages its enviable location by offering in-depth curricula and research experiences in coastal and ocean sciences. In 2019, UNCW launched the Bachelor of Science in Coastal Engineering, its first engineering degree and the first of its kind in the U.S. Its first cohort of students graduated in December 2022. A 16,000-square-foot coastal engineering facility was completed in 2022 and includes a wave lab with a 24-meter wave flume.

The two-story King Hall, former home of the Donald R. Watson School of Education, was built in 1969. Yearlong renovations to accommodate a new space for the Honors College and uplifts for film studies faculty offices and the first-floor auditorium are slated to begin in May.

July 2023 marks the start of two new academic colleges at UNCW, emerging from the College of Arts and Sciences: the College of Humanities, Social Sciences and the Arts, and the College of Science and Engineering. These new colleges continue UNCW’s journey in advancing Seahawk academics by allowing expansion of student educational experiences, further supporting the great work of faculty and staff and responding to an evolving higher education landscape.

Changes to campus buildings, the overall landscape and plans for growth are part of an ongoing master planning process and the evolution of the university. UNCW’s physical campus includes the main campus on S. College Road and the Center for Marine Science near Myrtle Grove.