For immediate release

July 17, 1998

Contact: Public Relations

Phone: 252-985-5141

Rocky Mount, NC -- The North Carolina Wesleyan College Board of Trustees met July 15 in a special called meeting by Board Chairman Robert Mauldin and Wesleyan President John White to keep current with the rapid changes and growth challenges facing the College.

Bill Dove, of Dove-Knight, a local architecture firm associated with a number of North Carolina Wesleyan building projects, presented a modified design for the College's planned Recreation Center, a 30,000+-square-foot expansion to the Everett Gymnasium. The facility is to include recreational space to accommodate additional growth for the College's intramural program, for recreation science, and for athletic training. The plans include two additional basketball courts, an aerobics room, and an additional weight room. The plans will be further refined with Wesleyan staff members while funds are being raised for construction of the building.

Trustees approved naming the art gallery in the Thomas J. Pearsall Jr. Building the Four Sisters Gallery. The gallery has recently been completed and will be formally opened at the Founders' Day celebration on October 22. It houses the College's Robert Lynch Collection of Outsider Art. The "four sisters" are the children of Mack and Alice Braswell, whose land holdings included Belmont Farm, a portion of which was donated to the College for its main campus. The Gallery honors Elizabeth Braswell Pearsall, and is in memory of her sisters, Mattie May Braswell Gorham, Vivian Braswell, and Alice Bryan Braswell. In 1956, the original surviving sisters gave the land for the new college to be built in Rocky Mount. The Four Sisters Gallery celebrates the College's collection of art of the North Carolina coastal plains. It is a nationally recognized collection of art from self-taught artists, who, while they have no formal artistic training, reflect the deep human emotions of life and values in Eastern North Carolina and the general human experience.

The Board received an update on the College's plan to fund residential housing expansion and the upgrading of campus technology through the sale of bonds. On-going capital projects include the completion of the Thomas J. Pearsall, Jr. Building, housing the Four Sisters Gallery and a modern Enrollment Management Office; two new 40-person residential suites; and the refurbishing of Spruill Hall, originally built as the College's infirmary, but soon to house the College's technology operation. Trustees authorized the final application for the bonds.

Bill Kincheloe, Chair of the Quality of Life Campaign, gave the Board an update on the silent phase of the $10 million comprehensive fundraising campaign for capital, annual, and endowment support. Advance calls to key supporters of the College indicate continued strong support for the College as it completes the preliminary stages for the Quality of Life Campaign. In addition, Day for Wesleyan, the College's annual community fundraiser, is scheduled to take place this year on Tuesday, September 22.

Trustees established a Special Committee on Faculty Employment that will receive recommendations about faculty employment policies and procedures from the faculty and administration. The committee will be responsible for presenting a final documentfor Board consideration at the Fall Board Meeting on October 23, 1998. They received a report on the restructuring of academic divisions and the work of the Academic Planning Committee.

Trustees heard updates on 1998-99 enrollment across the College, which is up and on target for the planned growth of the number of traditional day students, anticipating the largest enrollment in the history of the College. In addition to new incoming first-year and transfer students, the College's retention rate has increased based on the number of students returning to the residence halls. Also, new initiatives are being introduced to expand enrollment in NC Wesleyan's successful Adult Degree Programs in Raleigh, Goldsboro, and Rocky Mount. The College is also in the final stages of preparation to open a new teaching locale in Durham for adult learning.

North Carolina Wesleyan is an independent, four-year liberal arts college affiliated with the United Methodist Church. The College offers bachelor's degrees in 22 majors to traditional-aged students on the Rocky Mount campus. NC Wesleyan also offers an adult degree program geared to working adults, with classes in Rocky Mount, and at additional teaching sites in Raleigh, Goldsboro, and Durham.

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