Engaging North Carolina
Ashe County
Quick Facts
Students: 30Applicants: 30
Alumni: 280
Park Scholars: 0
Goodnight Scholars: 2
Caldwell Fellows: 0
Ashe County Christmas tree farm.
Ashe County Christmas tree farm.
Ashe County Cheese for sale in West Jefferson.
Ashe County Cheese for sale in West Jefferson.
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Pride of the Pack
Devoted to Education
Dean Wallace Colvard, professor and university chancellor, was born in Ashe County in 1913. The salutatorian of his high school class, Colvard became the first member of his family to go to college, and he went on to earn a doctorate in agricultural economics before being tapped to run NC State University’s animal science program in 1948. He also served as NC State’s dean of agriculture before becoming president of Mississippi State University in 1960.
At MSU Colvard defied a pro-segregation court injunction in 1963 by allowing the MSU basketball team to compete in an NCAA tournament against a team with African American players.
In 1966 Colvard returned home to North Carolina to serve as UNC Charlotte’s first chancellor, where he oversaw and completed the institution’s transition from junior college to accredited university within the larger UNC System. After Colvard retired in 1978, he continued to devote himself to educational causes by helping to found the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics in Durham and the interactive Discovery Place museum in Charlotte. [Read More.]