Encyclopedia of UNCG History
An online resource for exploring the history of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro
building namesakes
Emily Harris Preyer (1919-1999)
Emily Irving Harris Preyer was born in Reidsville, NC in 1919 and grew up in Greensboro. Preyer attended Greensboro Senior High School (now Grimsley High School) and then went on to the Woman’s College (WC) of the University of North Carolina (now UNC Greensboro). While at the WC she double majored in English and French […]
Katherine H. Taylor (1909-1994)
Katherine Henrietta Taylor was born on March 19, 1909, in Salisbury, North Carolina. She graduated from the North Carolina College for Women (now UNCG) in 1928 and was one of two alumnae elected to membership in the Alpha Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, a national honorary scholastic fraternity. Taylor received her masters at Radcliffe and soon […]
Mereb E. Mossman (1905-1990)
Mereb Ethna Mossman was born on December 1, 1905 in Winfield, Kansas. She received her bachelor’s degree from Morningside College in 1926 and her masters from the University of Chicago in 1928. She was a social worker in Chicago at the Chicago Orphan Asylum and head of the Department of Sociology at Ginling College in […]
Laura Hill Coit (1875-1944)
After receiving a diploma from Statesville Female College (now Mitchell Community College), Laura Hill Coit enrolled at State Normal in 1894. During her time as a student, she worked as a student assistant in the science department. She graduated in 1896. In 1901, she took on the role of secretary of the college and administrative assistant. […]
Maud Gatewood (1934-2004)
Maud Gatewood was born and raised in Yanceyville, North Carolina. Her mother encouraged her to take drawing classes at Averett College in Danville, Virginia. Maud spent her youth drawing and sketching and in 1950 (at the age of 16), she came to UNCG. In 1954, she graduated from Woman’s College (now UNCG) with a Bachelor […]
Harriet Elliott (1884-1947)
Harriet Wiseman Elliott was born in Carbondale, Illinois, on July 10, 1884, and died there on August 6, 1947. She attended Park College in Parkville, Missouri, received her bachelor’s degree from Hanover College in Indiana and her master’s degree from Columbia University in New York. Elliott joined the faculty of the North Carolina State Normal […]
Edward Jacob Forney (1860-1948)
Edward Jacob Forney (1860-1948) was a leader in public education in North Carolina. He was born near the Catawba-Lincoln county line and educated in the public schools of Newton and at Catawba College. He became State Superintendent of Public Instruction in Raleigh in 1890 and came to the State Normal and Industrial School (now the […]
Mary Petty (1863-1958)
Mary Petty grew up in a Quaker community known as Bush Hill outside of Greensboro, NC. She received her bachelor’s degree from Wellesley in 1885, and taught briefly at Guilford College (also in Greensboro) before coming to the State Normal and Industrial School in 1893. She led the department of chemistry there from 1893 to […]
Margaret C. Moore (d. 1975)
Margaret Catherine Moore of Baltimore, Maryland, attended the Woman’s College of the University of North Carolina where she earned her Bachelor of Science degree in physical education and biology in 1935. While in school, Margaret was a member of the Adelphian Literary Society, the Athletic Association Cabinet, College Chorus, Playlikers, and the Student Government Association Judicial […]
Patricia A. Sullivan (1939-2009)
Dr. Patricia Ann Sullivan (nee Nagengast) was born in Staten Island, New York in 1939. In 1961 she graduated from the Notre Dame College of St. John’s University in New York. After graduate school, she taught at Wells College in New York and Texas Woman’s University. In 1981, she began a job as dean of […]