The University of Georgia ( UGA ) is a public research university located in Athens, Georgia, the oldest and largest of the state's institutions of higher learning. Founded in 1785, UGA claims to be the oldest public university in the United States.
The university regularly performs well in both undergraduate and graduate program rankings in such publications as U.S. News & World Report and BusinessWeek , as well as studies ranking top journalism schools. (accessed on May 16, 2007); see also .
As a college town, Athens often ranks highly. On campus, students enjoy a successful athletics program, an acclaimed student newspaper - The Red and Black, and a strong Greek system. The university also hosts the prestigious Peabody Awards.
It is the largest university of the University System of Georgia, with an enrollment of 34,885 as of Fall 2009.
Organization
The President of the University of Georgia (currently Michael F. Adams) is the head administrator and is appointed and overseen by the Georgia Board of Regents.
The University comprises sixteen schools and colleges:
- College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
- Franklin College of Arts and Sciences
- Terry College of Business
- College of Education
- College of Environment & Design
- College of Family and Consumer Sciences
- Daniel B. Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources
- Graduate School
- Henry W. Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication
- School of Law
- College of Pharmacy
- College of Public Health
- School of Public and International Affairs
- School of Social Work
- College of Veterinary Medicine
- Eugene P. Odum School of Ecology
History
Antebellum History
- The University of Georgia was incorporated on January 27, 1785, by the Georgia General Assembly, which had given its trustees, the Senatus Academicus of the University of Georgia, 40,000 acres (160 km²) for the purposes of founding a “college or seminary of learning.” The Senatus Academicus was composed of the Board of Visitors and the Board of Trustees and the Georgia Senate governed both boards.
- Portions of the original land grant were sold to raise $7,463.75 by 1798, and on July 2, 1799, the Senatus Academicus met in Louisville, Georgia and decided to officially begin the University.
- The first meeting of the university's board of trustees was held in Augusta, Georgia on February 13, 1786. The meeting installed its first president, Abraham Baldwin, a native of Connecticut and graduate of Yale University. This meeting also identified the 633 acres (2.6 km²) on the banks of the Oconee River on which the university was to be built (which was officially part of Jackson County at that time).
- The first classes were held in 1801, in Franklin College—named in honor of Benjamin Franklin—under the direction of President Josiah Meigs; the college graduated its first class on May 31, 1804.
- The Senatus Academicus convened for the last time in Dothan, Georgia from November 3, 1859, through November 5, 1859, after which it was replaced with a Board of Trustees which reported to the entire General Assembly (both the House and the Senate).
The Civil War Era
- During the American Civil War, the University closed in October 1863 and reopened in January 1866 with an enrollment of seventy-eight students including veterans utilizing an award of $300 granted by the General Assembly to injured soldiers younger than thirty. In that same year, the legislature appropriated $2,000 for the creation of a College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts to utilize a federal land grant available at that time for the creation of such schools. The agricultural department within the University opened on May 1, 1872.
20th Century
- White and male for the first century of its history, UGA began educating female students during Summer school in 1903 and finally as regular undergraduates in 1918. Before official admission of women to the University, several woman were able to complete graduate degrees through credit earned in Summer school sessions. The first woman to earn such a degree was Mary Lyndon. She received a Master of Arts degree in 1914. Mary Creswell earned the first undergraduate degree in June 1919, a B.S. in Home Economics. UGA dormitories Creswell Hall and Mary Lyndon Hall are named after these alumnae.
- In 1961, UGA became racially integrated with the admission of Hamilton E. Holmes and Charlayne Hunter (now Hunter-Gault) after notable tension with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. In 2001, on the fortieth anniversary of their having first registered for classes, the University renamed a prominent campus building in their honor as the Holmes-Hunter Academic Building. Although Hunter and Holmes were the first African-American students to matriculate at UGA, Mary Frances Early became the first African-American graduate by earning her master’s (MMEd) in music education in 1962. In 1963, Chester Davenport became the first African-American to be admitted to the UGA School of Law and its first African-American graduate (LL.B. 1966). A decade later, Sharon Tucker was the first female African-American law graduate, earning her J.D. in 1974.
Recent Years
- The University has seen its academic reputation rise markedly since Georgia's HOPE Scholarship program was started in 1993. The school has grown both in size and reputation. The merit-based scholarship allows any resident of the state of Georgia to attend any public college in the state without paying tuition, provided they maintain a 3.0 GPA. The average SAT for incoming freshmen in 2008 was 1253, and national rankings for the school have risen consistently.
- UGA is designated as both a land-grant and sea-grant university. The university's motto is Et docere et rerum exquirere causas ("To teach and to inquire into the nature of things").
- UGA's Henry W. Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication awards the prestigious George Foster Peabody Awards, which are presented annually for excellence in television and radio news, entertainment and children’s programming. The University also presents the annual Delta Prize for Global Understanding, which recognizes individuals or groups whose initiatives promote peace and cooperation among cultures and nations.
- UGA has an extensive network of student activities that center around academic, religious, social and fraternal organizations. It maintains one of the South's oldest and most active Greek systems, and the fraternity and sororities maintain homes both on and off campus. Organizations include both Democrat and Republican student clubs, Order of Omega, Arch Society, student philanthropies such as UGA HEROs, ugaMIRACLE and Relay for Life, and secret societies such as Palladia and Gridiron. The university's National Alumni Association has over 50,000 members and operates a center in both Athens and Atlanta, Georgia which can be found in the Atlanta Financial Center.
Campus
Though there have been many additions, changes, and augmentations, UGA’s campus maintains its historic character and southern charm. The historical practice has been to divide the 614-acre (2.5 km 2 ) main campus into two sections, North Campus and South Campus. In the last decade, new facilities have added "East Campus" to the traditional map. This area includes new apartment-like dorms called East Campus Village. Adjacent is the newest and fourth dining hall on campus called The Village Summit at Joe Frank Harris Commons. Also on East campus is the Performing and Visual Arts Complex, the Ramsey Center for Physical Activity and the new Lamar Dodd School of Art. "West Campus" is a term used as an informal reference to the area where many of the freshman residence halls are located; most UGA freshman live in one of the high rise dorms in this area.
Modeled on Yale University’s Central/Old Campus, UGA’s North Campus contains the picturesque historic buildings—such as the Chapel, Old College, New College, Demosthenian and the Phi Kappa Halls, Park Hall, Meigs Hall, and the President’s office—as well as modern additions such as the Law School and the Main Library. The dominant architectural themes are Federal—the older buildings—and Greco-Roman Classical/Antebellum style. UGA’s North Campus has also been designated an arboretum by the State of Georgia.
Perhaps the most notable North Campus fixture, though, is the cast-iron gateway that stands at its main entrance. Known as "The Arch" (but often erroneously pluralized to "The Arches"), the structure was patterned after the Seal of the State of Georgia, and has faced historic downtown Athens ever since it was erected in the 1850s. Although the Seal's three pillars represent the state's three branches of government, the pillars of The Arch are usually taken to represent the Georgia Constitution's three principles of wisdom, justice, and moderation,
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