Facts

Chartered by the Georgia General Assembly Jan. 27, 1785, in Savannah, The University of Georgia is America’s first state chartered university and the birthplace of the American system of public higher education.

Two men who were leaders of the early University of Georgia also signed the United States Constitution. Abraham Baldwin, who wrote UGA’s charter and was the institution’s first president, and William Few, a member of the Board of Trustees, signed the Constitution on behalf of Georgia at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, Pa., in 1787.

The University's Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication administers the Peabody Awards program. Often cited as the most prestigious award in electronic media, the Peabody Awards recognize excellence, distinguished achievement and meritorious service by radio and television networks, stations, cable television organizations, producing organizations and individuals. The Peabody archives, housed at UGA, contain some of the best radio and television programs produced in the last six decades.

Private giving to UGA soared to $108.3 million in FY06, a 12 percent increase over the previous year and the first time private donations exceeded $100 million. UGA’s Archway to Excellence fund-raising campaign surpassed its $500 million goal in March of 2007, more than a year ahead of the scheduled end of the campaign. The campaign—the largest and most ambitious fund-raising initiative in UGA history—focused on building the University’s endowment to support major academic goals and meet educational needs of students and faculty.

Bernard Ramsey, who died in July of 1996, was UGA’s most generous benefactor. His total contributions to the University of about $44.7 million included an $18.8 million bequest — the single largest gift ever made to UGA. The Bernard B. and Eugenia A. Ramsey Student Physical Activities Center is named for Mr. Ramsey and his late wife.

The Terry College of Business is named for alumnus C. Herman Terry, who died in June 1998, and his wife Mary Virginia Terry. Mr. and Mrs. Terry provided a $6 million gift that allowed the college to establish an endowment that supports outstanding business college faculty members and provides scholarships for top business students.

The late Charles A. Wheatley, an Americus businessman, made contributions to the University exceeding $10 million. Wheatley’s contributions include a $1.1million bequest in his will, plus earlier gifts of stock in his engineering company and more than 3,000 acres of land valued at $8.5 million.

The UGA libraries have established the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame to recognize authors for their contributions to the state’s literary heritage. Two writers, living or deceased, are chosen annually for induction into the Hall. Among the first members: Margaret Mitchell, Martin Luther King Jr., Flannery O’Conner, Sidney Lanier and W.E.B. DuBois.

The University is a co-sponsor of the Biennial Institute for Georgia Legislators, one of the few programs of its kind conducted by a higher education institution in the U.S. The institute provides orientation for new members of the Georgia General Assembly, and offers programs on major issues and policy questions for incumbent legislators.

UGA and Delta Air Lines have created the Delta Prize for Global Understanding, an annual award that recognizes individuals or groups whose initiatives have promoted peace and cooperation among cultures and nations of the world. Delta Air Lines gave UGA an $890,000 grant to create the award, which consists of a $10,000 cash prize and an original work of art. Recipients of the award include former President Jimmy Carter and Rosalynn Carter, Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa, former Soviet Union President Mikhail Gorbachev; Vaclav Havel, first president of the Czech Republic; and CNN founder Ted Turner.

The Georgia Review, the University’s quarterly literary journal, was for five consecutive years a finalist in the fiction category for a National Magazine Award, one of the highest accolades in the magazine publishing industry. The Review won the award in 1986. In the fall of 1989, the Review published a previously unpublished short story by Robert Louis Stevenson. Withheld from publication by his family following his death in 1894, the story is considered the last of Stevenson’s finished works to be unaccounted for in literary circles.

The University’s Small Business Development Center was established in 1977 as one of the first such programs in the country. The program annually provides hundreds of small businesses and prospective entrepreneurs with counseling, management training, continuing education, alumni networking and advocacy.

The UGA chapter of Kappa Kappa Psi honorary band service fraternity was named top chapter among 179 chapters in the nation for the two-year span 2003-2005. The chapter is the first chapter at a Southeastern Conference school to win the honor in the last 25 years. In 2000, UGA’s Redcoat Band received the Sudler Trophy, the highest honor awarded to a college marching band. The Redcoats were the first band in the SEC to win the trophy.

In May of 2006, the Redcoat Band made a two-week concert tour in China, performing in five cities before thousands of people. The Redcoats are the first U.S. college band ever to give a marching band performance in China.

In addition to its status as a land-grant institution, the University is one of 30 institutions in the U.S. to be designated a Sea Grant College. The University in 1980 became the 15th institution to attain Sea Grant status — a recognition of excellence in marine research, education and advisory services.

The University was host for the Eighth Annual Conference of Former Secretaries of State in October of 1990. The meeting, which brings together former U.S. secretaries of state to discuss international affairs and U.S. foreign policy, was held at the University to honor the late Dean Rusk, who was Professor of International Law at UGA from 1970-90. Rusk, who died in 1994, was secretary of state in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations.

The first Phi Beta Kappa chapter in the state of Georgia was founded at UGA in 1914. Phi Beta Kappa is the oldest and most prestigious undergraduate honors organization in America. Only 270 colleges and universities have a chapter.

The University’s public service program is one of the largest and most comprehensive conducted by an American educational institution. Public service workers annually tally more than seven million contact hours with Georgia citizens.

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