Alexander Hall
Title
Alexander Hall
Description
Alexander Hall is located on North Campus just south of Wolf Plaza and is home to the living learning community Global Village. The residence hall opened in 1939, and was originally called “A” Dormitory. In 1940, Alexander Hall was renamed after Sydenham Bernard Alexander, Jr, an alumni and member of the Board of Trustees. According to Alice Reagan’s North Carolina State University: A Narrative History, during World War II, Alexander Hall was used by the Army Air Corps, along with nearby Turlington Hall. Between the two dorms there was a barrack area, a sentry post, a canteen, and a recreation room provided by the YMCA.
After the war, Alexander Hall housed male students, however, in September 1967, Alexander Hall became a women’s dormitory, making it the second women’s dormitory at NC State after Watauga. An article in the Statelog from December 1966 stated this was due to an expected increase in women students, and the fact that Carroll Hall, which was being built to house women, would not be completed by the fall of ‘67. Women living in Alexander would have had to follow special curfews which only applied to women students. According to Regan’s A Narrative History, the restrictions gradually lessened in 1968 when junior and senior women were exempt from the curfew and were finally dropped altogether in 1971.
Alexander Hall became a men’s dormitory again and in the fall of 1975 the Alexander International Hall program opened. This program was meant to facilitate cross-cultural understanding between domestic and international students and was organized so that each international student would room with a domestic student. The dormitory also held events such as international coffees and hosted trips to Washington D.C. for the international students. Alexander Hall was chosen due to its central location and the large basement which could serve as the International Lounge. In 1977, the International Program expanded to include women and Alexander Hall became a co-ed dormitory.
In 1980, the first official Study Abroad Office opened in the basement of Alexander Hall. A 2005 Technician article celebrating the 25th anniversary of the office reported that when it first opened the office was funded by laundry machine revenues. Before the Study Abroad Office, there was a Foreign Student Adviser, whose position expanded to be the Foreign Student and Study Abroad Adviser beginning in 1972.
NC State has a long history of international students and international cooperation, beginning with the first international student to enroll in 1892, Jose Fabio Santo Trigo, from Cuba. It is unclear if Trigo graduated from NC State, as there is little information on him. The NC State Historic Timelines list Teisaku Sugishita of Japan, as the first Asian graduate from NC State, graduating in 1898 with a degree in Civil Engineering. A 1937 Technician article reported that enrollment that year exceeded all previous marks, including eight foreign students. The countries represented were students from Mexico, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Iraq, Canada, and Argentina. The number of international students at NC State remained relatively low until the 1960s. It wasn’t until then the school began providing special services to support international students in the form of an International Center, cosponsored by the YMCA, which was located in the basement of the King Religious Center, demolished in 1975, located where the design school is today.
International Students were largely referred to as “foreign students” for much of the 20th century at NC State. In 1948, with the establishment of the International Student’s Organization, later committee, they requested to be called “international students,” however foreign student and international student both continued to be used. The International Student committee’s report focused on the isolation international students faced. One move to solve this issue was the announcement that international students would no longer be “housed by nationality with all in the same dorm,” instead students would be scattered across the campus. In addition to advocating for international students on campus, the committee also organized events and an international student soccer team.
In 2005, Alexander International Hall became Global Village, following the University's living learning village initiative which began in 2002. The villages are residence hall communities centered around different student interests. The Living Learning Initiatives website describes them as, “communities of students joined by the same academic, personal or lifestyle interests, whether that’s a passion for the arts or a commitment to conservation.” Global Village continues to facilitate a program which houses domestic and international students together. They also provide academic programming on global and cultural issues as well as excursions around Raleigh and North Carolina as well as places like New York City and Washington D.C.
Beyond Alexander Hall and Global Village, NC State has become a more global community through the years. A 2005 Technician article reported that the number of NC State Students studying abroad tripled every ten years between 1980 and 2005. NC State’s Study Abroad webpage estimates that in 2018-2019, about 22% of students studied abroad. Just as studying abroad has become steadily more popular, the number of international students at NC State has steadily increased since the 1980s. In 1989, the total number of international students surpassed 1,000; by 2015, the number had increased to 4,000 international students. The Office of International Services reports that in 2021, there were approximately 6,000 international students at NC State.
Primary Source References
North Carolina State University, University Archives Reference Collection, University Buildings, Sites, Landmarks Files, UA 050.004, NC State University Libraries Special Collections Research Center
North Carolina State University, Division of Student Affairs, Student Organization Resource Center Records, UA 016.059, NC State University Libraries Special Collections Research Center
North Carolina State University, Division of Student Affairs, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Records, UA 016.001, NC State University Libraries Special Collections Research Center
North Carolina State University, Division of Student Affairs, Student Organization Resource Center Records, UA 016.059, NC State University Libraries Special Collections Research Center
Technician (Raleigh, N.C.) (LH1.N6 T4), Special Collections Research Center at NC State University Libraries
Secondary Source References
Bound, John; Braga, Breno; Khanna, Gaurav; Turner, Sarah. “The Globalization of Postsecondary Education: The Role of International Students in the US Higher Education System.” Journal of Economic Perspectives 35, no. 1. (Winter 2021): 163-184. DOI: 10.1257/jep.35.1.163.
Mukherjee, Mousumi. “US Study Abroad from the Periphery to the Center of the Global Curriculum in the Information Age.” Policy Futures in Education 10, no. 1 (March 2012): 81–89. https://doi.org/10.2304/pfie.2012.10.1.81.
NC State University. “Facts and Figures.” Study Abroad. Accessed May 9, 2021. https://studyabroad.ncsu.edu/about/facts-figures/#:~:text=The%20number%20of%20NC%20State,State%20undergraduate%20students%20study%20abroad.
NC State University. “Village Options.” Living Learning Initiatives. Accessed May 9, 2021.
https://villages.dasa.ncsu.edu/village-options/
NC State University Libraries. “Enrollment and Tuition.” Historical State Timelines. Accessed May 9, 2021. https://historicalstate.lib.ncsu.edu/timelines/enrollment-and-tuition
NC State University Libraries. “Asian American Community.” Historical State Timelines. Accessed May 9, 2021. https://historicalstate.lib.ncsu.edu/timelines/asian-american-community
Reagan, Alice E. North Carolina State University, a Narrative History. Raleigh: North Carolina State University Foundation and North Carolina State University Alumni Association, 1987.
After the war, Alexander Hall housed male students, however, in September 1967, Alexander Hall became a women’s dormitory, making it the second women’s dormitory at NC State after Watauga. An article in the Statelog from December 1966 stated this was due to an expected increase in women students, and the fact that Carroll Hall, which was being built to house women, would not be completed by the fall of ‘67. Women living in Alexander would have had to follow special curfews which only applied to women students. According to Regan’s A Narrative History, the restrictions gradually lessened in 1968 when junior and senior women were exempt from the curfew and were finally dropped altogether in 1971.
Alexander Hall became a men’s dormitory again and in the fall of 1975 the Alexander International Hall program opened. This program was meant to facilitate cross-cultural understanding between domestic and international students and was organized so that each international student would room with a domestic student. The dormitory also held events such as international coffees and hosted trips to Washington D.C. for the international students. Alexander Hall was chosen due to its central location and the large basement which could serve as the International Lounge. In 1977, the International Program expanded to include women and Alexander Hall became a co-ed dormitory.
In 1980, the first official Study Abroad Office opened in the basement of Alexander Hall. A 2005 Technician article celebrating the 25th anniversary of the office reported that when it first opened the office was funded by laundry machine revenues. Before the Study Abroad Office, there was a Foreign Student Adviser, whose position expanded to be the Foreign Student and Study Abroad Adviser beginning in 1972.
NC State has a long history of international students and international cooperation, beginning with the first international student to enroll in 1892, Jose Fabio Santo Trigo, from Cuba. It is unclear if Trigo graduated from NC State, as there is little information on him. The NC State Historic Timelines list Teisaku Sugishita of Japan, as the first Asian graduate from NC State, graduating in 1898 with a degree in Civil Engineering. A 1937 Technician article reported that enrollment that year exceeded all previous marks, including eight foreign students. The countries represented were students from Mexico, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Iraq, Canada, and Argentina. The number of international students at NC State remained relatively low until the 1960s. It wasn’t until then the school began providing special services to support international students in the form of an International Center, cosponsored by the YMCA, which was located in the basement of the King Religious Center, demolished in 1975, located where the design school is today.
International Students were largely referred to as “foreign students” for much of the 20th century at NC State. In 1948, with the establishment of the International Student’s Organization, later committee, they requested to be called “international students,” however foreign student and international student both continued to be used. The International Student committee’s report focused on the isolation international students faced. One move to solve this issue was the announcement that international students would no longer be “housed by nationality with all in the same dorm,” instead students would be scattered across the campus. In addition to advocating for international students on campus, the committee also organized events and an international student soccer team.
In 2005, Alexander International Hall became Global Village, following the University's living learning village initiative which began in 2002. The villages are residence hall communities centered around different student interests. The Living Learning Initiatives website describes them as, “communities of students joined by the same academic, personal or lifestyle interests, whether that’s a passion for the arts or a commitment to conservation.” Global Village continues to facilitate a program which houses domestic and international students together. They also provide academic programming on global and cultural issues as well as excursions around Raleigh and North Carolina as well as places like New York City and Washington D.C.
Beyond Alexander Hall and Global Village, NC State has become a more global community through the years. A 2005 Technician article reported that the number of NC State Students studying abroad tripled every ten years between 1980 and 2005. NC State’s Study Abroad webpage estimates that in 2018-2019, about 22% of students studied abroad. Just as studying abroad has become steadily more popular, the number of international students at NC State has steadily increased since the 1980s. In 1989, the total number of international students surpassed 1,000; by 2015, the number had increased to 4,000 international students. The Office of International Services reports that in 2021, there were approximately 6,000 international students at NC State.
Primary Source References
North Carolina State University, University Archives Reference Collection, University Buildings, Sites, Landmarks Files, UA 050.004, NC State University Libraries Special Collections Research Center
North Carolina State University, Division of Student Affairs, Student Organization Resource Center Records, UA 016.059, NC State University Libraries Special Collections Research Center
North Carolina State University, Division of Student Affairs, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Records, UA 016.001, NC State University Libraries Special Collections Research Center
North Carolina State University, Division of Student Affairs, Student Organization Resource Center Records, UA 016.059, NC State University Libraries Special Collections Research Center
Technician (Raleigh, N.C.) (LH1.N6 T4), Special Collections Research Center at NC State University Libraries
Secondary Source References
Bound, John; Braga, Breno; Khanna, Gaurav; Turner, Sarah. “The Globalization of Postsecondary Education: The Role of International Students in the US Higher Education System.” Journal of Economic Perspectives 35, no. 1. (Winter 2021): 163-184. DOI: 10.1257/jep.35.1.163.
Mukherjee, Mousumi. “US Study Abroad from the Periphery to the Center of the Global Curriculum in the Information Age.” Policy Futures in Education 10, no. 1 (March 2012): 81–89. https://doi.org/10.2304/pfie.2012.10.1.81.
NC State University. “Facts and Figures.” Study Abroad. Accessed May 9, 2021. https://studyabroad.ncsu.edu/about/facts-figures/#:~:text=The%20number%20of%20NC%20State,State%20undergraduate%20students%20study%20abroad.
NC State University. “Village Options.” Living Learning Initiatives. Accessed May 9, 2021.
https://villages.dasa.ncsu.edu/village-options/
NC State University Libraries. “Enrollment and Tuition.” Historical State Timelines. Accessed May 9, 2021. https://historicalstate.lib.ncsu.edu/timelines/enrollment-and-tuition
NC State University Libraries. “Asian American Community.” Historical State Timelines. Accessed May 9, 2021. https://historicalstate.lib.ncsu.edu/timelines/asian-american-community
Reagan, Alice E. North Carolina State University, a Narrative History. Raleigh: North Carolina State University Foundation and North Carolina State University Alumni Association, 1987.
Creator
Emma Stout
Date
2021/05/14
Citation
Emma Stout, “Alexander Hall,” Brick Layers: An Atlas of New Perspectives on NC State’s Campus History, accessed December 25, 2024, https://bricklayers.history.ncsu.edu/items/show/43.