Places in Time

Duke Centennial Hall provides state-of-the-art teaching facilities and research laboratories for one of the most highly regarded engineering colleges in the Southeastern United States.

The 106,786-square-foot facility houses the Office of the Dean of the William States Lee College of Engineering and the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Engineering Science. It was dedicated Friday, Sept. 8, 2006, along with the adjacent William Grigg Hall, whose namesake is chairman emeritus of Duke Energy. Grigg served the company for 35 years prior to his retirement in 1997.

The North Carolina Humanities Council (NCHC) will move its administrative offices to Charlotte in early 2015, to take advantage of what its leaders believe are new and exciting opportunities for organizational development and collaborations in the state’s largest city.

First was football, and starting in fall 2015 the UNC Charlotte Marching Band will take the field. UNC Charlotte alumni Vickie and Gene Johnson have been the driving force behind the band, and they are donating $2 million to support the endeavor.

Dedicated on Sept. 8, 2006, William H. Grigg Hall is home to a number of Charlotte Research Institute offices and facilities, including the Center for Optoelectronics and Optical Communications.

The E.K. and Dorrie Fretwell Building honors the campus contributions of UNC Charlotte’s second chancellor and his wife.
At the time of its dedication on May 23, 1996, the 162,000-square-foot facility was the largest academic structure on campus. It contains approximately 250 faculty offices and classroom seating for about 2,100 students. Built for $18 million, the four-story facility was constructed with revenues from a bond issue approved by North Carolina voters in a November 1993 referendum.

Dedicated May 6, 2004, Cato Hall was once the first point of contact for prospective students interested in enrolling at the state’s urban research institution. Named for Wayland H. Cato Jr., the building houses the Undergraduate Admissions Office, the Graduate School and the Chancellor’s Office, as well as internal audit and legal affairs. A distinguished […]

University leaders, colleagues and members of the community recently gathered for a formal ceremony to dedicate the atrium in the College of Education in honor of dean emeritus Mary Lynne Calhoun. Ellen McIntyre, current dean of the college, presided over the ceremony and spoke of the indelible mark Calhoun left on the college and her […]

Within the Cone University Center, there is the John Paul Lucas Room. It honors one of the University’s early advocates and supporters. A native of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Lucas was born July 25, 1908. He earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Duke University and a master’s degree from N.C. State University. He also earned […]

The Sheldon Phelps Smith Building honors an individual whose foresight helped to chart UNC Charlotte’s educational course. Smith, vice president and general manager of the Douglas Aircraft Company’s Charlotte Division, served as a trustee of Charlotte College from 1958 to 1965. He is credited with bringing an engineering program to the institution. Through his generosity, […]

The Sheldon Phelps Smith Building honors an individual whose foresight helped to chart UNC Charlotte’s educational course.
Smith, vice president and general manager of the Douglas Aircraft Company’s Charlotte Division, served as a trustee of Charlotte College from 1958 to 1965. He is credited with bringing an engineering program to the institution. Through his generosity, Douglas Aircraft Co. engineers taught at Charlotte College on a released time basis; as many as nine part-time instructors from Douglas were in service at one time.