UNC-W is proud to be 'laid back'

WILMINGTON — UNC-Wilmington — an easygoing, coastal school — prides itself on its small environment, but student demand has called for incremental expansion.

UNC-W, with a world-renowned marine biology program and the nation’s highest athletic graduation rate, receives about 9,600 applications each year.

The university enrolls about 2,000 students each year. And many of those turned away are quality applicants, UNC-W Chancellor Rosemary DePaolo said.

The administration wants to meet some of that demand without destroying the small size that characterizes the university. “We don’t want to become a mega-university,” she said.

If it did, there would be no one to serve the students who thrive in more interactive settings, DePaolo said. “That’s what we’re all about — providing high-quality education for all these students in our state.”

The recent National Survey of Student Engagement placed UNC-W far beyond the national average in student-faculty interaction, based in part on the number of e-mails exchanged between the two groups.

UNC-W emphasizes instruction above study, but when professors do research, students are highly involved, DePaolo said.

The university plans to double its number of nursing and teaching graduates — even though it already ranks third in the state for the latter — and balance enrollment growth with more faculty attraction and retention, DePaolo said.

The personal interaction with faculty hasn’t gone unnoticed by students.

Donny Tait, a senior from Raleigh, said instructors’ high availability sets the university apart.

“I don’t think there’s been any teacher who hasn’t been accessible,” he said. “And I’ve been here four years.”

Fun in the sun

The nearby beach is what drew Tait from the Triangle to UNC-W. Many students rent apartments on the waterfront or hit the waves on weekends, he said.

Many of the most visible campus organizations are based on water sports, and swimming is one of the school’s best athletic teams, Tait said.

Deborah Brunson, director of the Office of Campus Diversity, credits the school’s low minority population — about 9 percent — partly to UNC-W’s beach locality, which she said is generally not appealing to black students.

But there’s more to the school than saltwater. Students say it’s got style — a relaxed one.

Tait, DePaolo and second-term Student Body President Zachary Wynne all independently described UNC-W as laid-back or casual.

“Students always use that phrase,” DePaolo said. “… People aren’t pretentious.”

There’s typically no hurry to get from place to place, and people make time for friendliness, Tait said.

Moving forward

A Jan. 6 column in the university’s weekly newspaper urged a campus struck by two student-on-student murders last year to maintain that friendliness and to not distrust classmates.

Wynne said that the students were shocked by the murders but that they didn’t let it affect their lifestyle.

“I give credit to the parents, students and leaders for realizing that these were isolated events and this is a very safe campus.”

The Association for Campus Entertainment aims to make UNC-W fun as well. It has brought big names such as Dave Chapelle and Bill Bellamy to campus. And with the Screen Gems film studio nearby, sometimes fame visits the area on its own.

Tait recalled spotting “Dawson’s Creek” star Katie Holmes and Chris Klein of “American Pie” together in a restaurant and running into Big Boi and Andre 3000 from Outkast in an ABC Store.

Around town

When students aren’t celeb-spotting for fun, they’re often hanging out off campus.

Since the great majority of them, 70 percent to 80 percent, don’t live in dorms, there’s not much to keep students around campus when classes end, Wynne said. “At night and on weekends, it’s very much dead unless there’s a game.”

The campus’s gameroom is busy before the weekend movie, Wynne said, but many students paint the vibrant town of Wilmington teal for fun — frequenting clubs, shops and theaters — or party in their abodes.

During weekdays, there’s no central area for students to congregate. Instead, there are several dispersed gathering points.

The Campus Commons, a grassy lakeside area where students gather for organization fairs and concerts, sits a few buildings away from the Warwick Center.

Part of the school’s major construction efforts, racking up a bill of $500 million, aims to centralize student activity.

Left out in the cold

The university will look to the legislature for funds this session, something other schools have had better success with in the past.

From 1972 to 1995, UNC-W grew by 305 percent and only received enough funding for growth of 50 percent, she said.

Wynne said legislators pay special attention to research universities or institutions in need of growth. “It seems like you’re never rewarded for doing the right thing,” he said, referring to UNC-W’s ability to attract students without state funds.

 

Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.