North Carolina Carolina at Chapel Hill). More than 200 years later, the University of North Carolina system encompasses 17 public universities including North Carolina State University, North Carolina A&T State University, North Carolina Central University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, East Carolina University, Western Carolina University, Winston-Salem State University, the University of North Carolina at Asheville, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, UNC Wilmington, Elizabeth City State University, Appalachian State University, Fayetteville State University, and UNC School of the Arts, and . Along with
North Carolina Central University two bands selected from North Carolina to participate in the 2011 Rose Bowl Parade in Pasadena, CA. North Carolina Central University North Carolina Central University (NCCU), also known as simply Central, is a public historically black university in the University of North Carolina system, located in Durham, North Carolina, offering programs at the baccalaureate, master's, professional and doctoral levels. The University is a member-school of Thurgood Marshall College Fund. North Carolina Central University was founded by James E. Shepard as the National Religious Training School and Chautauqua for the Colored Race in the Hayti District. Chautauqua was an educational movement.