Just after the close of the American Revolution, the Georgia legislature took a step that was to start another revolution--this one in higher education. In 1785, Georgia became the first state in the nation to grant a charter for a state-supported university, a decision setting the precedent whereby states would provide for the higher education of their citizens.

The infant University existed for sixteen years on paper only, without campus, money, faculty, or students. Finally in 1801 a site was selected for the campus, and the first few students began to trickle into the newly formed frontier town of Athens. That first year the faculty consisted only of the College president, Josiah Meigs. Classes were held in a primitive log structure while the University, then called Franklin College, waited for its first permanent building.

From such tenuous beginnings, The University of Georgia has grown to become a major teaching, research, and service institution with almost 2,900 full-time faculty, 13 colleges, and a physical plant serving almost 31,000 students. The main campus covers 611 acres, and the University owns extensive acreage across the state. Off-campus centers and experiment stations carry University services to all parts of the state, directly affecting the lives of millions through continuing education, specialized institutes, and applied research.

From its original classical curriculum, the University's scope and diversity of degree programs have grown dramatically. At the undergraduate level, the University provides an associate degree and 19 baccalaureate degrees with concentrations in 177 major fields. At the graduate level, it offers 24 master's degrees in 146 areas of concentration, 22 educational specialist degree programs, and doctoral degrees--Ph.D., Ed.D., D.M.A., and D.P.A.--in 108 areas. In addition, professional degree programs are available in law (JD), pharmacy (PHARMD), and veterinary medicine (DVM). The University's research programs combine to make it one of the largest research institutions in the country.

The rich heritage of the tree-shaded campus of Franklin College, now the University's Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, has been preserved in spite of extensive campus expansion to provide modern classroom and laboratory facilities. The arch at the campus entrance, the 1806 Old College structure which now houses administrative offices, and other early nineteenth-century buildings renovated for continuing use offer quiet tribute to Georgia's 200-year commitment to provide quality education for its citizens. The new 400,000 square-foot Ramsey Student Physical Activity Center, the School of Music Performance Halls and Classroom Building, and the Georgia Museum of Art are the first buildings to be occupied in the new east campus area. Their bold architecture reflects the exciting growth and development occurring at the University.

The most complete account of this institution's long and interesting history is T. G. Dyer's The University of Georgia: A Bicentennial History, 1785-1985. Several other studies provide insight into various periods of the University's history: E. M. Coulter, College Life in the Old South; A. L. Hull, A Historical Sketch of The University of Georgia; H. C. Tuck, Four Years at The University of Georgia, 1877-1881; and R. P. Brooks, The University of Georgia Under Sixteen Administrations, 1785-1955. F. N. Boney's Pictorial History of The University of Georgia, published during the University's Bicentennial, S. Abell's, The University of Georgia, a book of photographs commissioned by the Alumni Society in 1987, and F. N. Boney's A Walking Tour of The University of Georgia, issued in 1989 by The University of Georgia Press, provide additional insight, background, and color to the University's history and traditions.