The Best of 2024: An HPU Year in Review

HPU welcomed the largest student enrollment in the university’s 100-year history with 6,335 students arriving on campus for the start of the fall semester. HPU bucked national trends in higher education by increasing its enrollment by nearly 5% this year, up from 6,040 students in fall 2023. The record number of students includes the inaugural classes for three new schools that opened this fall — the Kenneth F. Kahn School of Law, the Workman School of Dental Medicine and the David S. Congdon School of Entrepreneurship. To prepare for the record enrollment, HPU's campus continued to grow this past summer with $100 million in construction projects underway.

The Workman School of Dental Medicine, the state’s only private dental school, welcomed its inaugural class of 60 students this fall. In September, the students crossed the stage during the school’s first white coat ceremony. They are taking classes this year at the dental school’s temporary location on North Main Street in High Point. They will move into a new three-story, 77,500-square-foot building that will serve as the permanent home for the Workman School of Dental Medicine when it opens this summer. Construction on the building has reached the halfway point.

HPU, which was founded as High Point College in 1924, celebrated its centennial anniversary on Sept. 14. It was a major milestone for the university, which has grown from 122 students in its inaugural class in 1924 to the largest student enrollment in school history at 6,335 students this fall.

HPU’s Teresa B. Caine School of Nursing reached a major milestone when it earned full approval for its Bachelor of Science in Nursing program from the North Carolina Board of Nursing. The approval came after the nursing school’s inaugural class of students graduated. The first cohort earned a 100% pass rate on the NCLEX, the national licensing exam for registered nurses.

HPU’s Access to Innovators program gives students an opportunity to engage with industry leaders and be mentored by them while on campus. Ten in-residence experts were added in 2024, including:

• Mark Bradburn, founder of The Bradburn Group at Morgan Stanley and HPU’s Wealth Management Innovator in Residence
• Lee Greenwood, Grammy Award-winning singer and HPU’s Artist in Residence
• Alan McCollough, the former CEO of Circuit City and HPU’s Executive in Residence
• Teena Piccione, global transformation and operations executive at Google and HPU’s Data Expert in Residence

They join an impressive list of industry leaders that includes Apple Co-Founder Steve Wozniak (HPU’s Innovator in Residence), former Netflix CEO and Co-Founder Marc Randolph (HPU’s Entrepreneur in Residence) and Dallas Mavericks CEO Cynt Marshall (HPU’s Sports Executive in Residence).

On Nov. 8, Grammy Award-winning singer Lee Greenwood opened HPU’s 14th Annual Veterans Day Celebration by performing “The Star-Spangled Banner” in front of more than 2,500 veterans, family members and community guests in the Nido and Marianna Qubein Arena and Conference Center. It was the largest audience ever for the Veterans Day event. Greenwood, who serves as HPU’s Artist in Residence, closed the program with an inspiring performance of his patriotic anthem “God Bless the USA” as a bald eagle named Clark soared over the crowd.

The HPU family responded immediately to help communities in western North Carolina that were impacted by Hurricane Helene. Within days of the Category 4 storm hitting the region, HPU students, faculty, staff and parents considered ways to assist hurricane victims. HPU raised more than $33,000 and donated thousands of bottles of water and hundreds of boxes of nonperishable food, diapers and supplies. A group of students spent their fall break pilgrimage delivering approximately 20,000 donated items to hurricane victims in Boone, North Carolina.

HPU’s athletic department reached several milestones in the Big South Conference in 2024. In March, HPU hosted the Big South Conference Tournaments for men’s and women’s basketball for the first time in school history. The tournaments drew a total of 20,000 fans to the Nido and Mariana Qubein Arena and Conference Center and generated a combined $7 million in local economic impact. Two months later, HPU received the George F “Buddy” Sasser Cup Trophy for the third consecutive year. The trophy is given to the top overall athletic institution in the Big South. The HPU men’s soccer team became the first Big South team in any sport to beat the nation’s #1 team when the Panthers earned a 1-0 upset at the University of Pittsburgh on Oct. 14.

HPU held two Commencement Ceremonies in the spring for the first time in school history, including the first-ever Commencement for graduate students. The milestone reflects the tremendous growth in HPU’s graduate programs. More than 1,400 degrees were conferred during the spring graduate and undergraduate ceremonies in early May, including nearly 400 degrees to graduate students.

On May 1, Madison Crowell, a freshman from Hinesville, Georgia, announced that she would attend HPU after being accepted to 231 college and universities across the country and receiving nearly $15 million in scholarships. Countless national and international media outlets took note of her accomplishments. ABC’s “Good Morning America,” People magazine and the BBC published stories about Crowell going above and beyond during the college process, and CNN and the “CBS Mornings” show recognized her hard work. In October, Crowell and her parents appeared as guests on the nationally syndicated “Jennifer Hudson Show.”

HPU added women’s rowing as its 17th NCAA Division I athletic program this fall after competing in rowing as a club sport for decades. Led by coach Jessica Deitrick, the Panthers opened their inaugural season by competing at the High Point Autumn Rowing Festival at Oak Hollow Lake on Oct. 6. The lake, located a short drive from HPU’s campus, serves as the team’s home venue. HPU has joined Duke University and the University of North Carolina as one of only three Division I rowing programs in North Carolina.