UNCG Centennial Oral History Project

Details

Who's responsible?: Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives, UNCG University Libraries (Repository)
How much has been digitized?: This collection has been digitized in its entirety.
Where can I find more information?: No finding aid available.
Topics: Schools and Colleges
People
North Carolina
Subject headings: University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Contributing Institution: Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives, UNCG University Libraries

Pages

: Oral History interview with Hannelore "Lori" Vinica Bushell [text/print transcript]; Hannelore 'Lori' Vinica Bushell (1944- ) is a member of the class of 1969 of The University of North Carolina at Greensboro and was a German major. In 1975, she returned to the university as adjunct faculty in the department of German and Russian. Bushell tells of campus life and how it had changed when she returned from her junior year in Germany'student attitudes and customs, rules and regulations, activism of the 1960s and how black students lived. She talks about the strength of her academic experiences, especially regarding faculty. She recalls the controversy between the Alumni Association and Chancellor William Moran regarding control of the Alumni House and alumni donations and her feelings about teaching in the same department from which she graduated.

: Oral history interview with Adelaide Fortune Holderness; Adelaide Fortune Holderness (1913-2013) was a history major and member of the Class of 1934 at Woman's College of the University of North Carolina, now The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and received an honorary degree in 1975. She was president of the Alumni Association and member of the Board of Governors of the Consolidated University of North Carolina System. Holderness describes her life as a town student, working in the offices of Dr. Walter Clinton Jackson and Dean Harriet Elliott and her presidency of the Alumni Association. She remembers friendships made with faculty, the administrations of Chancellors Walter Clinton Jackson, Otis Singletary, Edward Kidder Graham Jr., James Ferguson, Gordon Blackwell and William Moran and Dean Katherine Taylor. She talks about her love of the Alumni House, its d'cor and purpose, and her time on the Board of Governors when the Consolidated University of North Carolina System was instituted. She recalls coeducation, integration, the changes they brought to the college and the controversy between the Alumni Association and Chancellor Moran regarding funding and the Alumni Association's relationship with the Development Office. Mrs. Holderness died in 2013, approximately one month before her 101st birthday.

: Oral history interview with Ann Bannerman Osborne; Ann Bannerman Osborne (1927- ) is a member of the Class of 1947 of the Woman's College of the University of North Carolina, now The University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Osborne discusses student and dormitory life, campus traditions and the war years, i.e., rationing and the death of President Franklin Roosevelt. She talks about influential faculty such as Louise Alexander, the leadership benefits of an all-girl school, playing intramural basketball and the body mechanics course. Osborne describes the desegregation of Woman's College and the city of Greensboro, the move to Division I athletics and Chancellor William Moran's controversy with the Alumni Association and his influence in the building and renovation of campus facilities.

: Oral history interview with Ann Brothers Currin; Ann Brothers Currin (1930-1991) graduated from the Woman's College of The University of North Carolina in 1951, now The University of North Carolina at Greensboro or UNCG. She was an art education major, a class officer and member of Golden Chain honorary society. Currin recalls her adjustment to college, student life during the Korean War, the return of veteran students, campus rules and dormitory life. She discusses campus traditions, the role of student government and the judicial board, the high academic standards of the institution and the advantages of attending an all-women's college. She talks about her understanding of the rift between Chancellor William Moran and the Alumni Association, the administration of Chancellor Edward Kidder Graham Jr. and her associations with Dean Katherine Taylor and faculty members Louise Alexander and Gregory Ivy. She also reminisces about the McCarthy Hearings and the birth of the new nation of Israel.

: Oral history interview with Ann Oakley; Ann Oakley (1929- ) graduated in 1951 from Woman's College of the University of North Carolina, now UNCG (The University of North Carolina at Greensboro). A French major, she taught at Grimsley High School, Greensboro, North Carolina. Oakley recalls transferring to Woman's College, the high quality of its programs and the Depression years. She describes campus life, restrictive dormitory living and Saturday classes. Oakley discusses how she helped form the National Student Association on campus; campus traditions and the quality of the professors, especially Richard Bardolph, Helen Ingraham and Ren' Hardr'. She talks about the move to NCAA Division I athletics and the Alumni Association/Chancellor William Moran controversy regarding finances.

: Oral history interview with Anna Reardon; Anna Joyce Reardon (1910-2003) began her career at Woman's College of the University of North Carolina, now The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, as an instructor in the Department of Physics in 1941. She served as department head from 1942-65 and retired in 1975. Reardon discusses living arrangements of single faculty in the forties, the effects of World War II on campus, her coeducational summer school physics classes, the physics faculty and department heads and her relationship with Dean Mereb Mossman and Chancellor Walter Clinton Jackson. She describes becoming head of the department almost as soon as she arrived because the men faculty were serving in the war effort. She talks about the physics curriculum, which included x-ray technology and the audiovisual and photography programs, and the career successes of the physics graduates. She recalls designing the photography laboratory, the university sermon program, teaching in an aviation program and the student science lecture, where she brought Joseph Shea, director of NASA's [National Aeronautic and Space Administration, United States government agency] manned space program, to campus.

: Oral history interview with Astrid Terry; Astrid Terry (1966- ) graduated from The University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 1988 with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursing. Terry describes the nursing program, attrition, and clinical and academic work. She talks about dormitory life, fraternities and sororities, changes in the alcoholic drinking age, the gay population, and Tate Street. Terry enjoyed the small college atmosphere and availability of faculty.

: Oral history interview with Betsy Bulluck Strandberg; Betsy Bulluck Strandberg (1926- ) is a member of the Class of 1948 of the Woman's College of the University of North Carolina, now The University of North Carolina at Greensboro [UNCG]. Strandberg discusses coming to Woman's College because her mother was a graduate; changing her major from music to biology; having to attend summer school at Dr. Archie Shaftsbury's marine lab in Beaufort, North Carolina; and dormitory and student life. A student government officer, she describes the tight restrictions and of Chancellor Walter Clinton Jackson allowing a student who was drunk to withdraw rather than be expelled as the rules specified. Strandberg talks about her wish that Woman's College had been coeducational, the move to NCAA Division I athletics, the controversy between the Alumni Association when she was president and Chancellor William E. Moran, and the possibility of UNCG's being part of the engineering program at North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University. She feels that all the UNC System schools need not offer every major and every level of degree.

: Oral history interview with Betsy Umstead; Elizabeth "Betsy" C. Umstead (1928-2001) graduated in 1949 with a degree in physical education from Woman's College of the University of North Carolina, now The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG). She received a master of arts degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1952, a master of education from Harvard University in 1965, and a PhD from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill in 1968. Umstead was on the faculty of Goucher College, Limestone College, Boston University-Sargent College, and Randolph College. She spent the last twenty-five years of her teaching career at UNCG. In 1957, Umstead received a Fulbright Fellowship to teach at Queen Aliyah College in Baghdad, Iraq. Umstead talks about her impression of Woman's College as a student, including the dress code; dorm life; dining hall food; and traditions such as Chapel, commencement, Daisy Chain, and The Corner on Tate Street. She discusses administrators Harriet Elliott and Mereb Mossman, professor Katherine Taylor, and the controversy surrounding the administration of Chancellor Edward Kidder Graham, Jr., and how it divided the campus. Umstead explains the function of the Student Government Association, the Judicial Board, and the honor system on campus during the late 1940s. She describes the changes that college experienced when it integrated in 1956, obtained university status, and transitioned to a coeducational university in 1963. Umstead notes that how the Physical Education Department successfully prepared for men students in 1964. She also discusses the growth of the university under Chancellor William E. Moran's administration from 1979 to 1994.

: Oral history interview with Betty Brown Jester; Betty Brown Jester (1910-1994) was a member of the Class of 1931 of the North Carolina College for Women, now The University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She was manager of the bookstore from 1931-1945, Alumnae Association President in 1947, and Alumnae Secretary from 1948-1955. She received the Alumni Distinguished Service Award in 1972. Jester describes her life as a day student, joining The Carolinian staff, the effect of the Depression, student life, campus traditions and managing the bookstore. She talks about the Chancellor Edward Graham Jr. and the Chancellor William Moran/Alumni Association controversies. She discusses alumni records, smoking regulations, the resignations of Clara Booth Byrd and Evon Dean and the rebuilding of Curry Building. She explains paying no tuition because of going into State of North Carolina service, how she was chosen Alumnae Secretary and her views on coeducation and integration and forced busing.

: Oral history interview with Betty Hobgood Eidenier; Betty Hobgood Eidenier (1944- ) is everlasting class president of the class of 1966 at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG). She came to the university when it was named Woman's College of the University of North Carolina. Eidener recalls her role in student government and student campus life and traditions. She discusses the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1961, the North Carolina Speaker Ban in 1963, President John F. Kennedy's assassination in 1963 and sociological attitudes as the college became integrated and coeducational. She talks about the strong curriculum of the institution and remembers Chancellor James S. Ferguson and the English faculty, especially Randall Jarrell.

: Oral history interview with Betty Lou Mitchell Guigou and Bobbie Minton; Betty Lou Mitchell Guigou (1929- ) graduated in 1951 from the Woman's College of the University (WC), now The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG). Bobbie Minton (1920-2010) graduated from WC in 1940. She was named to Phi Beta Kappa and retired as assistant director of admissions at UNCG. Guigou and Minton explain their reasons for attending the college and student life from the perspectives of a town student (Minton) and a dormitory student (Guigou). They talk about women war veterans returning to campus and the many women from New York and New Jersey who were classmates. They discuss the effects of coeducation and integration, especially from the admissions standpoint, and their views on the Alumni Association finances controversy.

: Oral history interview with Beverly Bell Armfield; Beverly Bell Armfield (1926- ) is a member of the Class of 1948 of the Woman's College of the University of North Carolina, now The University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Armfield discusses student and dormitory life, for example, required work in the cafeteria, no cars on campus, dormitory restrictions, the scarcity of men during World War II and the relative isolation of the student body. She talks about student government, where she was social chairman; class marshals; the body mechanics class; campus societies, Rat Day, and working on the Coraddi. She describes student-faculty relationships and emphasizes the quality education she received.

: Oral history interview with Blackwell P. Robinson; Blackwell P. Robinson (1916-1991) became a member of the history department faculty at the Woman's College of the University of North Carolina in 1957. He retired from The University of North Carolina at Greensboro as an associate professor of history in 1981. Blackwell talks about administrators Katherine Taylor and Mereb Mossman; the administrations of Chancellors Edward Kidder Graham, Gordon Blackwell, Otis Singletary and Interim Chancellor W. Whatley Pierson, his good friend; and history department colleagues Richard Bardolph, Len Wright, Magnihilde Gullander, Vera Largent and Richard Current. He describes the relationship between history and political science faculty, when they were a combined department, and his feelings that coeducation and integration lowered the academic reputation of the institution (He asked not to have black students in his classes.) He describes how faculty and prostitutes lived up and down McIver Street, where he lived; running for Congress and the administration of Consolidated University of North Carolina President William Friday.

: Oral history interview with Brenda Cooper; Brenda Meadows Cooper (1942- ) obtained her undergraduate and master's degrees at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG) and returned to the university in 1968 as assistant director of alumni affairs. She became associate director of alumni affairs, then director of alumni affairs and secretary of the alumnae association in 1990. She retired in 1995. Cooper has a unique perspective as she has been an undergraduate student, a graduate student and an employee of UNCG. She recalls the history of the alumni association, from her work as a student employee to the mission of the office'education, information, student recruitment and raising money. She discusses the causes and outcome of the rift between the alumni association and university administration in the early '90s. She talks about the resignation of Chancellor Edward Kidder Graham Jr, the integration and coeducation of Woman's College and tells anecdotes about former students and faculty and the history of the institution.

: Oral history interview with Brenda Meadows Cooper; Brenda Meadows Cooper (1942- ) obtained her undergraduate and master's degrees at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG) and returned to the university in 1968 as assistant director of alumni affairs. She became associate director of alumni affairs, then director of alumni affairs and secretary of the alumnae association in 1990. She retired in 1995. Cooper has a unique perspective as she has been an undergraduate student, a graduate student and an employee of UNCG. She recalls her undergraduate years, both as a residential and commuter student; her involvement in student government and other activities and the perspective of being a first-generation college graduate. She discusses the traditions of the university, such as Rat Day, class jackets and sister classes. She tells of the special relationship Chancellor Otis Singletary had with students and the atmosphere of the campus during the introduction of integration and coeducation to UNCG.

: Oral history interview with Carol Bottoms; Carol Bottoms (1955- ) graduated from The University of North Carolina at Greensboro with a bachelor of science in home economics in 1977. Her major was food and nutrition. She is a dietician and nutritionist. Bottoms discusses the strength of the food and nutrition major in the School of Home Economics (now School of Human Environmental Sciences). She recalls how the addition of men, black students and fraternities/sororities and changed social mores affected the university. She talks about the university's transition to Division I athletics.

: Oral history interview with Carol Bottoms, 1991; Carol Bottoms (1955- ) graduated from The University of North Carolina at Greensboro with a bachelor of science in home economics in 1977. Her major was food and nutrition. She is a dietician and nutritionist. Bottoms discusses the strength of the food and nutrition major in the School of Home Economics (now School of Human Environmental Sciences). She recalls how the addition of men, black students and fraternities/sororities and changed social mores affected the university. She talks about the university's transition to Division I athletics.

: Oral history interview with Catherine M. Turner; Catherine M. Turner (1926-2013) came to The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG) in 1971 as an assistant professor in the School of Nursing. She retired in 1988 as assistant dean and an associate professor in the School of Nursing. ;Turner discusses the coursework, especially psychiatric and maternity, and admission to and the growth and integration of the School of Nursing. She describes the nursing practicums at hospitals and doctors' offices and the matching of a nursing student with a maternity patient. Turner talks about the accreditation process, the National Nursing Exam, serving on faculty committees, the leadership and expertise of Dean Eloise Lewis, and her experience with teaching a Vietnam veteran.

: Oral history interview with Catherine Webb White; Catherine Webb White (1921-2005) graduated in 1942 with a Bachelor of Science in Secretarial Administration from Woman's College of the University of North Carolina, now The University of North Carolina at Greensboro. White talks about entering college at age sixteen; going to area colleges on weekends for social events; and dating both local and college boys. She recalls class jackets, the Daisy Chain, dances, the dress code, graduation, marshals, and Tuesday Chapel. White discusses student life, the importance of the Student Government Association, the effect of World War II on the campus, and the everlasting friendships that she made at college. She remembers impromptu campus checks to see who was absent without permission; the college having more liberal rules and regulations than other girls' schools; and out of state students especially from New Jersey. White also discusses administrators Harriet Elliott, Barbara Parrish, and Katherine Taylor.

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