Gardner-Webb University is a private Baptist university located in Boiling Springs, North Carolina. The school has 14 academic departments and offers 45 programs of study. The school offers associate’s, bachelor’s, master’s, and doctorate programs and has sixteen satellite campuses across the state. The university is the youngest of North Carolina’s Baptist colleges.
The history of Gardner-Webb University begins in the 1920s. The growth of public high schools correlated with the decrease in parochial school enrollment. As a result, some boarding schools changed their mission. One was Boiling Springs High, which in 1928 became Boiling Springs Junior College.
In 1942 the school’s name was changed to Gardner-Webb Junior College in honor of Governor O. Max Gardner and his wife, Faye Webb Gardner; the two had helped fund and strengthen the college during the 1930s. After World War II the school grew rapidly. New facilities were built and an increased enrollment filled the classrooms. With support from the North Carolina Baptist Convention starting in 1947, the junior college eventually became a senior college in 1969 and was renamed Gardner-Webb College. In 1971 the school acquired official accreditation as a senior college.
Starting in the 1980s, Gardner Webb instituted a graduate program in education as well as a study abroad program with Dhoto University in Japan. Soon after, business and divinity school programs were added to the graduate curriculum. In 1993 the school was renamed Gardner-Webb University. In 2001, the school’s first doctorate program, the Doctor of Ministry was offered. Over the years the school has been active in teacher and ministerial education and continues to maintain a close partnership with the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina.
Today, the school offers joint degree programs in engineering with Alabama’s Auburn University and UNC-Charlotte. In the fall of 2023 the school had 1,840 students.