1921-1940
With the elevation to a four-year college ETTCS became East Carolina Teacher College. The first BA in Teaching was awarded in 1922 and throughout the next twenty years
programs of study became increasingly specialized. The first master’s degree was awarded to Deanie Boone Haskett in 1933. Campus would continue to expand as well with new
dormitories and a new library which would later be named after David J. Whichard. Both the student newspaper, he Teco Echo, and the annual yearbook, the Tecoan, began publication
in 1923. By the 1930s, men were enrolling in increasing numbers and, in 1932, the first man graduated from ECTC with a four-year degree. The same year formal intercollegiate
competition began with the formation of basketball, football, and baseball teams. On April 25, 2934 Robert Wright who had been president of the college since its formation died.
He was succeeded by Leon Meadows who was committed to a program of teacher certification but willing to consider a liberal arts curriculum.