Universities and Colleges

University of North Carolina at Wilmington
601 S. College Rd., Wilmington
(910) 962-3000

Cape Fear Community College
411 N. Front St., Wilmington
(910) 362-7000
www.cfcc.edu

The main campus is located along the Cape Fear River in downtown Wilmington. A new North Campus located on a 140-acre site in northern Hanover County offers more than a dozen programs and continuing-education classes. A Pender County satellite center is located in Burgaw, about 21 miles north of Wilmington, (910) 259-4966. Classes are also held at area schools and community centers. Most recently, CFCC began offering classes at the Surf City Community Center.

CFCC offers more than 60 technical and vocational fields, along with a very popular college transfer program. The college's two-year Associate in Applied Science (A.A.S.) Degrees include: accounting, architectural technology, associate degree nursing, automotive systems technology, business administration, chemical technology, computer engineering technology, criminal justice technology, dental hygiene, e-commerce, early childhood associate, electrical/electronics technology (instrumental concentration), environmental science technology, heavy equipment and transport technology (marine systems concentration), hotel and restaurant management, information systems, interior design, landscape gardening, machining technology, marine technology, mechanical engineering technology, mechanical engineering technology (drafting and design concentration), network administration and support occupational therapy assistant, office systems technology, paralegal technology and radiography.

One-year diploma programs include: air conditioning, heating and refrigeration technology, auto-body repair, boat building, carpentry, cosmetology, dental assisting, early childhood associate, electrical/electronics technology (marine systems concentration), film/video production, industrial maintenance technology, marine propulsion systems, masonry, medical transcription, pharmacy technology, practical nursing and welding technology.

Twenty-two Certificate Programs range from six weeks to two semesters. They include many of the same areas as the diploma and degree-granting programs, but training is less comprehensive and of shorter duration. Some others are truck driver training, manicuring/nail technology, real estate and real estate appraisal, customer service and licensed practical nurse refresher.

As part of its continuing education services, the Cape Fear Community College's Center for Business, Industry and Government offers low-cost computer classes and provides customized seminars, workshops and training programs for local companies and organizations. Through the Gateway Program, CFCC offers college classes to high school students so that they can earn college credit while still in high school. CFCC recently established an Early College for Pender County and will open an Early College in New Hanover County in the fall of 2007. The college also offers free courses in high-school equivalency (GED), English as a Second Language (ESL) and adult literacy. Many other special programs and seminars are free or very reasonably priced. CFCC's Marine Technology program is the only one of its kind on the East Coast. The college maintains small and large ocean-going vessels for the program, which is enhanced by a deep-water pier on the Cape Fear River at the Wilmington campus. One of these vessels was integral to the recovery of artifacts from the wreck of what is believed to be Blackbeard's flagship, Queen Anne's Revenge.

The college has a growing number of intercollegiate sports teams in men's basketball, men's soccer, golf, women's soccer and women's volleyball. Day and evening classes in semester-long cycles are available at all campuses, and financial aid is available for eligible applicants.

Miller-Motte College
5000 Market St., Wilmington
(910) 392-4660, (800) 784-2110

Mount Olive College at Wilmington offers convenient, flexible programs for working adults. Mount Olive College is geographically distributed in six eastern North Carolina communities, including Mount Olive, Goldsboro, New Bern, Washington, the Research Triangle Park area of Raleigh-Durham and Wilmington. The college provides degree programs in locations, times and formats that fit the busy lifestyles of working adults. Through their innovative approach to education, working adults have the opportunity to earn a degree while continuing their employment. Students enter a class (called a cohort), meet four hours one night a week and complete a sequence of courses that lead to an associate’s or bachelor’s degree.

Mount Olive College at Wilmington offers both associate's and bachelor's degree options. The Heritage Plus program, designed specifically for working adults who have little or no college experience, provides the core courses needed for an associate’s degree. In addition, Mount Olive College offers the following bachelor's degree programs: criminal justice and criminology, early childhood education, healthcare management, and management and organizational development.

Brunswick Community College
 U.S. Hwy. 17 N., Supply
(910) 755-7300
705 N. Lord St., Southport
(910) 371-2400
Leland Industrial Park, Leland
(910) 457-6329, (800) 754-1050

New at BCC are associate's degree programs in biotechnology and accounting. In collaboration with Regis University, BCC students may now transfer credits to Regis and complete their bachelor's degree online. Associate Degree Programs may allow students to transfer credits to a four-year college and include: aquaculture, associate degree nursing, associate in arts, associate in fine arts, associate in science, business administration, computer information, computer programming, cosmetology, early childhood education, health information, horticulture, industrial systems, office systems, and turfgrass management technologies.

Diploma and Certificate Programs provide an opportunity for advanced training in less than two years. Programs include: air conditioning, heating and refrigeration, aquaculture, basic law enforcement training, business administration, cosmetology, early childhood education, esthetics, general occupational, health information, horticulture, manicuring, networking, nursing assistant, office systems, phlebotomy, practical nursing, turfgrass management, web technology and welding.

BCC offers a variety of distance-learning classes in both curriculum and personal enrichment areas. These courses are taught via Internet, telecourse and interactive video. Community and continuing education courses provide an outlet for community members to learn news skills or participate in classes for fun. Learning opportunities include emergency services training, computer skills classes, and free basic skills training, which includes English as a Second Language (ESL), adult high school and high school equivalency (GED). Individuals have access to more than 300 online courses through BCC's ed2go.com/Brunswick program. The college also houses the BCC Interagency program, an educational/ vocational/ developmental program for adults with developmental disabilities. Through its New and Expanding Industry Program and its Small Business Center, BCC works closely with area business and industry to tailor skills training to their needs. The college assists industry in seeking, evaluating, training and retraining employees according to changing standards. BCC will design courses to fit various needs and conduct industrial courses at the job site to upgrade employees to associate degree levels.

The BCC library provides college students, faculty, staff and adult residents of the county with access to a variety of educational resources and services. Twenty thousand educational resources are available in the library collection and can be searched using the online catalog. Several computer workstations are available in the library for access to educational information online. The Brunswick Educational Transition Center serves residents whose first language is not English. The center is a collaboration between BCC, Brunswick County Public Schools and the government of Mexico. This is the first center of its kind in the United States.

The BCC Odell Williamson Auditorium is a 1,500-seat facility that serves as the Center for the Arts in Southeastern North Carolina. The center provides artistic expression to the region in the form of music, theater, concerts and much more (see our Arts chapter).

The purpose of the BCC athletic program is to promote and encourage in such a way that results will be consistent and supportive with the total educational purpose of the college. In 2004–05 the BCC Men's Basketball team won the NJCAA Region 10 Division 1 championship. The college also offers women's basketball and volleyball with support from a cheerleading squad and mascot, Dunkin the Dolphin.

Research Facilities

UNCW Center for Marine Science
5600 Marvin K. Moss Ln., Wilmington
(910) 962-2301

The Center for Marine Science at the University of North Carolina Wilmington is dedicated to interdisciplinary approaches to questions in basic and applied research in the fields of oceanography, coastal and estuarine studies, marine biology, marine chemistry, marine geology, marine biotechnology and aquaculture. Faculty members conducting marine science research in the departments of biology and marine biology, chemistry and biochemistry, earth sciences, and physics and physical oceanography participate in this program. Faculty members serve on regional, national and international research and policy advisory groups, thereby contributing to the development of agendas on marine research in the United States and the world. International interactions with labs in Europe, North and South America, Australia, New Zealand, Asia, Africa, Bermuda, the Bahamas and Caribbean, and all regions of the coastal United States augment extensive programs addressing North Carolina coastal issues. By integrating these advisory functions with research programs of the highest quality, CMS enhances the educational experience provided by UNCW for both undergraduate and graduate students in marine science.

Located on the Intracoastal Waterway, just six miles from the main campus, the 75,000-square-foot Center for Marine Science has a teaching auditorium for up to 150 individuals, fully equipped research laboratories, classrooms, marine science laboratories, a greenhouse with running seawater, a radioisotope lab, computer workrooms, cold rooms, walk-in freezers and temperature-controlled rooms. The location of the new center provides easy access to regional marine environments such as tidal marshes/mud flats/sand flats, tidal creeks, barrier islands and tidal inlets, the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, near-shore forests and both highly developed and minimally developed estuarine environments. The center has a 900-foot pier on the Intracoastal Waterway, which can accommodate several coastal research vessels, and maintains specialized equipment for underwater research and 19 research vessels ranging in size from 16 to 70 feet. The center serves as host for the NOAA–sponsored National Undersea Research Center, the Coastal Ocean Research Monitoring Program, an extension office for the North Carolina Sea Grant, the Marine Mammal Stranding Network, the North Carolina National Estuarine Research Reserve, the Harmful Algal Bloom Laboratories for Analytical Biotechnology and UNCW's Marine Quest Program, which is an extensive community outreach program for public schools and adult education.

The Bluefish Society supports the center's public outreach efforts, helping to defray operating costs for the popular Planet Ocean Seminar Series and other community enrichment programs. An individual membership is $75 per year; membership for a couple is $150; family membership is $200 per year. Contributors have the opportunity to interact with world-renowned scientists, high-level government officials and other environmental experts featured at Planet Ocean Seminars. They also receive invitations to selected special events at the center, discounts on Odyssey programs and a Bluefish Society lapel pin.

North Carolina National Estuarine Research Reserve
UNCW Center for Marine Science, 5600 Marvin K. Moss Ln., Wilmington
(910) 962-2470

The U.S. Congress created the National Estuarine Research Reserve system in 1972 to preserve undisturbed estuarine systems for research into and education about the impact of human activity on barrier beaches, adjacent estuaries and ocean waters. The reserves are outdoor classrooms and laboratories for researchers, students, naturalists and others. The headquarters of the North Carolina National Estuarine Research Reserve (NCNERR) is housed at the UNCW Center for Marine Science Center in cooperation with the N.C. Division of Coastal Management. The NCNERR program manages four estuarine reserve sites as natural laboratories and coordinates research and education activities.

Masonboro Island and Zeke's Island are two of the four components of NCNERR, the others being Rachel Carson Reserve near Beaufort and Currituck Banks in northeastern North Carolina. Nationally threatened loggerhead sea turtles nest at Zeke's Island, Rachel Carson and Masonboro Island. Brown pelicans and ospreys are common to all four points. With more than 5,000 protected acres, Masonboro Island is the last and largest undisturbed barrier island remaining on the southern North Carolina coast and one of the most productive estuarine systems along the coast. The Zeke's Island component of the Reserve, immediately south of Fort Fisher, includes almost 2,000 acres and actually consists of three islands — Zeke's, North Island, No-Name Island — and the Basin, the body of water enclosed by the breakwater known locally as the Rocks. NCNERR allows traditional activities to continue, such as fishing and hunting within regulations, on Zeke's and Masonboro Island. (For further information about these islands, see our chapters on Attractions; Camping; and Sports, Fitness and Parks.)

The NCNERR sites are also managed as part of the North Carolina Coastal Reserve (NCCR) system. Containing 10 sites in all, the NCCR serves as the state counterpart to the federal NERR system. In our area, two sites are of particular interest. The first of these is Bald Head Woods, on Bald Head Island. This site is the best example of an intact maritime forest in the southeastern part of the state. A globally imperiled ecosystem, the maritime forest serves to stabilize barrier islands and provides habitat for coastal species. The other NCCR site of local interest is Bird Island, located just south of Sunset Beach. While many of the barrier islands along the N.C. coast are experiencing beach erosion, Bird Island is one of the few on which the beach is actually accreting. As such, visitors can observe the stages of succession in coastal ecosystems as the dunes grow and the beach extends seaward. Both sites are free and open to the public during daylight hours.

North Carolina State Horticultural Crops Research Station
3800 Castle Hayne Rd., Castle Hayne
(910) 675-2314