 "Photo: David Fitts/Echo staff photographer")
"Welcome to NCCU" reads the sign above the front door of the once-overcrowded McDougald House at 617 Lawson Street, which once housed the entire Office of Undergraduate Admissions.
Now, Admissions is located in a spacious new office just 100 feet down the street, in a building which also houses the new parking deck and bookstore.
"This new facility is the place where prospective students and guests will visit to receive admissions information, begin campus tours and receive counseling as it relates to being admitted to NCCU," said Anthony Brooks, director of undergraduate admissions.
Before settling in its new digs, undergraduate admissions occupied many locations across the sloping hills and verdant green.
In 1910 at the University's founding, undergraduate admissions was located in Hoey Administration Building under the direction of Frances Eagleson, the first University registrar, who worked at N. C. Central university from 1921-1963.
The office remained at Hoey until 1964 when the two entities split to better service NCCU and its students.
In 1980, admissions moved to the Shepard House under Nancy Rowland, director from 1980-1997."The Shepard House was structurally an unsafe building that we were in," said LuAnn Edmonds-Harris, who was an admissions counselor in 1986, now director of marketing and promotions in the athletics department.
"The fire department shut down the front porch because it was unstable which meant that people had to enter the building from the back door to see the admissions staff."
Meanwhile, McDougald House was being renovated for the department of personnel, now called human resources.
"One day Chancellor Tyronza R. Richmond came by the office and could not get in the front door," Edmonds-Harris said.
"He saw the conditions we were working in as perspective students were dropping off applications and decided to stop the McDougald House renovation for the department of personnel."
In 1991, Chancellor Richmond notified the undergraduate admissions staff that they had a week to move to their new location in McDougald House.
From that point forward, undergraduate admissions continued to grow in the McDougald House by adding more staff and adding a basement.
Over time, the house became too small for the undergraduate admissions staff. "In 2010 Chancellor Nelms, Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs and Enrollment Management Kevin Rome and myself had a vision to create a new center that would be modern, competitive and equipped to serve the needs of today's prospective students, parents and guests in a more cutting edge facility," said Brooks.
That shared idea grew into the new Admissions Center, which opened in February. The new facility offers more modern work spaces, computers, and an overall more welcoming environment to prospective students and their families.
However, there is more work to be done. According to Brooks, there will be new signage, televisions that will stream in the names of incoming guests and tours of NCCU, cablevision, to enhance the already-impressive location.
More importantly, students taking advantage of the services the entire facility provides is what he hopes to see. Although most of the action takes place in the Admissions Center, McDougald House is still being used for the processing staff and the director of admissions' office.
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