Warren Ashby

Warren Ashby was born in Newport News, Virginia on May 15, 1920. He received his Bachelors of Arts degree in English from Maryville College in 1939, his Bachelors of Divinity degree in Christian Ethics and Social Problems from Yale University in 1942, and his Doctorate of Philosophy degree in Religion and Philosophy, also from Yale, in 1947.

Ashby teaching, 1969

Ashby began his teaching career at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1947 before transferring to the Woman’s College (now UNCG) in 1949 to be an associate professor in the Department of Philosophy. Ordained as a Methodist minister, Ashby specialized in Western Ethics and was known to sometimes officiate wedding ceremonies for his students. In 1958, he was promoted to full professor. Following his interest in the life of UNC President Frank Graham, Ashby took a research leave from the college in 1960 to begin collecting materials for an upcoming biography.
Upon his return to Woman’s College in 1961, Ashby continued teaching in the Department of Philosophy. In 1966, he was appointed director of the UNCG honors program and would serve in that role until 1970 when he became the Director of the Residential College (later renamed in his honor in 2007). Ashby’s long standing service to the university was formally acknowledged in 1967 when he received the UNCG Alumni Teaching Excellence Award.  He was recognized again in 1982 with the Gladys Strawn Bullard Award which honors faculty and staff who have provided outstanding leadership and service to the university.

Along with his distinguished teaching career, Ashby was known as a leading advocate for the Civil Rights Movement in Greensboro. He often held group meetings at his house with students from Woman’s College, Greensboro College and Bennett College to discuss the current social and political climate. In 1955, when it was considered dangerous for a white male to speak out in favor of civil rights in the South, Ashby wrote a letter to the editor of the Greensboro Daily News strongly endorsing an integrated public education. That same year, Ashby led a “faculty council resolution” supporting desegregation of UNC campuses. In the 1960s, during Greensboro’s civil rights demonstrations, Ashby served on several biracial committees “seeking racial harmony in the city.” He continued to push for complete desegregation on the university level through the 1960s and 1970s. In 1971, he advocated for a quota system that would guarantee minority employment.

Dr. Warren Ashby died October 3, 1985.

Other notable accomplishments of Dr. Warren Ashby:

• Ford Fellowship for Princeton University in Hartford College (1952-1953)

• Consultant for the National Family Life Education Project (ASHA) (1953-1955)

• President of the Family Service-Travelers Aid Association of Greensboro (1958)

• Consultant/Associate Director for Southern Student Human Relations Summer Seminars at Ohio State University and the University of Illinois (1958-1959)

• Director of the International Conferences and Seminars program for Southern Asia in the International Affairs Divisions of the American Friends Service Committee (1964-1966)

Warren Ashby Residential College

Today's Spartan Stories post was written by Sophia Kranz, a graduate student in UNCG's Library and Information Science department. In Fall 2013, Sophia interned in Special Collections and University Archives, processing a number of collections, creating finding aids, and developed an online exhibit on the history of computing on campus. The Warren Ashby Residential College Records, an archival collection Sophia processed during her internship, provided historical information for this post.

Located in Mary Foust Hall, the Warren Ashby Residential College is among the oldest continually operating living-learning communities in North Carolina. Wanting to keep the intimate academic experience at the university, “Residential College” was founded in 1970 by the Dean of Arts and Sciences Robert Miller and Professor of Philosophy Warren Ashby. In developing the residential college, they stressed the need for a community and wanted to develop a strong connection between liberal studies and community life, where its residents form a unity of academic and social experiences.

Instruction in Warren Ashby Residential College

Admission into the residential college is by invitation through student applications. The college wants a representative group of the entire class, academically, ethnically, economically, and by gender. Ashby students are offered priority access to an in-house academic program which focuses primarily on fulfilling the UNCG General Education Curriculum (GEC) requirements. Ashby provides a setting that encourages innovative study, small classes, unity of academic and social experiences, and close student-faculty contacts. The program is intended to challenge students to think critically and systematically about a variety of relevant issues and to link their academic fields to societal challenges. Students are usually confined to their freshman and sophomore years within the college due to more specialized studies in the student's junior and senior years. Following the two year stay in the residential college, most of Ashby's students become student leaders on campus and to achieve academic honors.

Mary Foust Residence Hall, circa 1973

The ARC offers a unique experience of having small classes held within in the building in relaxed environments, faculty offices, and having live-in faculty members. This results in a close knit community allowing its students to freely explore their academic, service, and social interests. Students are also encouraged to be a part of committees within the ARC and campus wide to develop leadership skills and collaborative learning opportunities.

On September 6, 2007, the UNCG Board of Trustees voted to officially name the residential college program in memory of Warren Ashby, who taught at the university for more than 30 years and was the first director of the residential college.