WSSU: A decade of progress
WSSU highlights milestones from the last decade.
- 2010 – WSSU rolls out a new 5-year strategic plan.
- 2011 – The doctoral program in physical therapy is established.
- 2011 – The City of Winston-Salem renames Stadium Drive “Rams Drive.”
- 2012 – The Enterprise Conference and Banquet Center opens in Southeast Winston-Salem. The center is a combination of business incubators and community education centers.
- 2012 – WSSU has a record number of graduates (1,200).
- 2013 – The $25-million Donald J. Reaves Student Activities Center opens.
- 2013 – WSSU awards doctorate degrees for the first time with 24 physical therapy students graduating.
- 2014 – In a study from N.C. Department of Commerce, WSSU ranks as the no. 1 university in the UNC System for graduates received jobs in NC after graduation and the no. 1 in the Triad for the highest salary after receiving an undergraduate degree.
- 2014 – The newly renovated Hill Hall opens. The 38,000-square-foot building cost $11.7 million.
- 2015 – Dr. Elwood L. Robinson becomes WSSU’s 13th chancellor.
- 2015 – The Center for Design Innovation, a partnership with UNCSA and Forsyth Tech, opens as the first facility in the south district of the Innovation Quarter.
- 2016 – WSSU rolls out a 5-year strategic plan.
- 2016 – The university unveils a new university logo and updated branding.
- 2016 – Wall Street Journal ranks WSSU the no. 1 HBCU in North Carolina.
- 2016 – WSSU is asked to be one of 44 institutions in AASCU’s institutional transformation project to redesign the first year of college and create sustainable change for student success.
- 2016 – Bridge project connects Lowery Street and main campus.
- 2017 – WSSU is recognized as the first historically Black university to be named a Social Mobility Innovator by CollegeNET.
- 2017 – The university rolls out a new Ram logo.
- 2017 – A new campus master plan is developed as WSSU celebrates its 125th anniversary.
- 2017 – WSSU launches the Center for the Study of Economic Mobility with a $3 million gift from the Thurgood Marshall College Fund’s Center for Advancing Opportunity.
- 2017 – WSSU is selected as one of four institutions participating in Purposeful Pathways: Faculty Planning for Curricular Coherence, funded by The Teagle Foundation, part of AAC&U’s Liberal Education and America’s Promise signature initiative.
- 2017 – WSSU selected as one of 12 institutions in the Council on Undergraduate Research project Integrating and Scaffolding Research into Undergraduate STEM Curricula: Probing Faculty, Student, Disciplinary, and Institutional Influences funded by National Science Foundation.
- 2018 – Douglas Covington Hall, a $24 million living/learning community for freshmen, opens.
- 2018 – WSSU becomes the first HBCU Adobe Creative Cloud campus.
- 2018 – WSSU receives a record $2.3 million in NSF grants to boost undergraduate research.
- 2018 – A video of two graduating drum majors on stage during commencement goes viral and is featured on national stations, including, “Dish Nation,” NBC’s “Today” and “NBC Nightly News.”
- 2018 – WSSU receives a $600,000 Andrew W Mellon Foundation grant for three years for infusing scholarship in the humanities curriculum.
- 2019 – Money magazine ranks WSSU the no. 1 public HBCU in the nation in its “Best Value Rankings” (2019-20).
- 2019 – WSSU welcomes its largest freshman class since 2008.
- 2019 – 99-year-old alumna Elizabeth Barker Johnson, a member of the 6888th Regiment during World War II, finally gets to walk on stage to collect her diploma. The story is featured on TV stations across the nation, including NBC’s “Today,” Ebony, Southern Living, Fox News, and “NBC Nightly News.”
- 2019 – WSSU raises more than $2 million in 10 months as part of its Million Dollar Match fundraising campaign.
