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Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College (ABAC) is a
public college A public university or public college is a university or college that is in owned by the state or receives significant public funds through a national or subnational government, as opposed to a private university. Whether a national universit ...
in
Tifton, Georgia Tifton is a city in Tift County, Georgia, United States. The population was 17,045 at the 2020 census. The city is the county seat of Tift County. The area's public schools are administered by the Tift County School District. Abraham Baldwin Ag ...
. It is part of the
University System of Georgia The University System of Georgia (USG) is the government agency that includes 26 public institutions of higher learning in the U.S. state of Georgia. The system is governed by the Georgia Board of Regents. It sets goals and dictates general ...
and offers
baccalaureate Baccalaureate may refer to: * ''Baccalauréat'', a French national academic qualification * Bachelor's degree, or baccalaureate, an undergraduate academic degree * English Baccalaureate, a performance measure to assess secondary schools in England ...
and
associate degrees An associate degree is an undergraduate degree awarded after a course of post-secondary study lasting two to three years. It is a level of qualification above a high school diploma, GED, or matriculation, and below a bachelor's degree. The f ...
. The college is named after
Abraham Baldwin Abraham Baldwin (November 22, 1754March 4, 1807) was an American minister, Patriot, politician, and Founding Father who signed the United States Constitution. Born and raised in Connecticut, he was a 1772 graduate of Yale College. After the ...
, a signer of the United States Constitution from Georgia and the first president of the
University of Georgia , mottoeng = "To teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things.""To serve" was later added to the motto without changing the seal; the Latin motto directly translates as "To teach and to inquire into the nature of things." , establ ...
. ABAC was established in 1908 as the Second District A&M School. The name was changed to the South Georgia A&M College in 1924, and to the Georgia State College for Men in 1929. It became Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College in 1933 when ABAC became a part of the newly formed University System of Georgia. At that time, ABAC's mission was devoted to associate level studies in agriculture, home economics, and related fields. Today, ABAC offers a variety of bachelor's degree programs as well as associate degrees. The college became the owner of Possum Poke in 1999.


Academics

The School of Agriculture and Natural Resources is the largest area of study at ABAC. The Forestry track of the Natural Resources Management program is accredited by the
Society of American Foresters The Society of American Foresters (SAF) is a professional organization representing the forestry industry in the United States. Its mission statement declares that it seeks to "advance the science, education, and practice of forestry; to enhance t ...
. Nursing is the largest single major. This associate degree program prepares students to be certified as a
Registered Nurse A registered nurse (RN) is a nurse who has graduated or successfully passed a nursing program from a recognized nursing school and met the requirements outlined by a country, state, province or similar government-authorized licensing body to o ...
(R.N.). Learning laboratories such as the J.G. Woodroof Farm and the Forest Lakes Golf Club enhance the academic curriculum. ABAC's 516-acre campus also includes the Georgia Museum of Agriculture and Historic Village, located one mile south of the main campus. Key components of the museum include an 1890s village, a blacksmith shop, a grist mill, a cotton gin, a print shop, a saw mill, and a steam locomotive.


Student life

There are numerous student organizations on the ABAC campus. Students have the opportunity to get involved with organizations ranging from the Student Government Association to the Forestry-Wildlife Club.


Campus media

''The Stallion'' is the premier student newspaper in both the state and the southeast region. It wins annual awards for excellence in all categories, such as editorials, feature writing, photography, layout and design, given by the Georgia Press Association. Staff of the literary magazine, ''Pegasus'', and creative writing faculty sponsor numerous poetry readings each year. Other events include a Writer's Harvest and contributions to the George Scott Day festival. ABAC also has its own radio station, WPLH 103.1.


Athletics, music, and clubs

Intercollegiate sports teams include baseball, golf, and tennis for men, and softball, tennis, and soccer for women. ABAC has five national championships, three in softball and two in men's tennis. ABAC has achieved international attention through its music program. The music program at ABAC includes a jazz band, jazz choir, concert band, concert choir, bluegrass band, and pep band. The ABAC jazz band has been on three tours of Europe. ABAC vocalists performed in 2011 at
Lincoln Center Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 millio ...
. The ABAC Arts Connection brings art and cultural events to Tifton and surrounding counties. The Baldwin Players theatre troupe stage performances during the fall and spring semesters. Recently, ABAC became a member institution of the Georgia Poetry Circuit. ABAC has a Greek system on campus with the
Sigma Alpha Sigma Alpha () is a professional agricultural sorority. History On January 26, 1978, five students, Ann Huling Mathews, Cindie Davis, Marilyn Burns, Jennifer McMillan and Amy Mathews, founded Sigma Alpha at the Ohio State University. Since that ...
,
Lambda Sigma Upsilon Lambda Sigma Upsilon Latino Fraternity, Inc. () ("L-S-U" or "Upsilons") is an intercollegiate Latino oriented Greek lettered fraternity, founded on April 5, 1979 at Rutgers University–New Brunswick. Lambda Sigma Upsilon has 81 undergraduate ...
,
Alpha Gamma Rho Alpha Gamma Rho (), commonly known as AGR, is a social/professional, agriculture fraternity in the United States, currently with 71 collegiate chapters. Founding The fraternity considers the Morrill Act of 1862 to be the instrument of its incepti ...
and
Kappa Sigma Kappa Sigma (), commonly known as Kappa Sig, is an American collegiate social fraternity founded at the University of Virginia in 1869. Kappa Sigma is one of the five largest international fraternities with currently 318 active chapters and colo ...
fraternities. One of the more active clubs on campus is the Agricultural Engineering Technology Club. It is known for holding truck and tractor pulls on campus each fall and spring. The club maintains the ABAC Crackerjack pulling tractor, an Allis Chalmers 190XT, built in the 1970s by former staff member Jimmy Grubbs. The AET club has also recently completed work on a new pulling tractor, an AGCO Allis 9650, making the ABAC AET club the only college organization in the U.S. that currently has two running and competitive Super Farm pulling tractors. Almost all of the work building the new tractor and the work needed to maintain Crackerjack is performed by the students in the club. The club uses both tractors as recruiting tools not only for the organization, but for the school as well.


Housing

Over 1,200 students live on the ABAC campus in modern housing units. In ABAC Place, every student has a private bedroom in a four-bedroom, two-bath apartment. The ABAC Lakeside facility offers suite-style living for freshmen on the north shore of Lake Baldwin.


Campus

The ABAC campus is used as an open-air classroom for students in the School of Agriculture and Natural Resources due to the large number of trees, plants, shrubs, and fields on campus. ABAC faculty, staff, students and visitors also enjoy the well-manicured grounds of the college. A renovation project was recently completed for the original three buildings on campus, Tift, Lewis, and Herring Halls. New landscaping and a new front lawn for ABAC were also a part of the renovation process. ABAC has a lab science building that was opened in 2016. ABAC also has a satellite campus in Bainbridge.


Notable alumni

*
Fred Bond, Jr Fred may refer to: People * Fred (name), including a list of people and characters with the name Mononym * Fred (cartoonist) (1931–2013), pen name of Fred Othon Aristidès, French * Fred (footballer, born 1949) (1949–2022), Frederico Rodr ...
., tobacco industry representative and politician *
Ralph Bryant Ralph Wendell Bryant (born May 20, 1961) is a retired Major League Baseball player. He played with the Los Angeles Dodgers in the major leagues, and with the Chunichi Dragons and Kintetsu Buffaloes in Nippon Professional Baseball. He batted left- ...
, former major league baseball player who played with the
Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brooklyn ...
* Tom Cheney, struck out the highest number of batters in a single
Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
game playing for the Washington Senators * Cathy Cox, former
Secretary of State of Georgia The Secretary of State of the U.S. state of Georgia is an elected official with a wide variety of responsibilities, including supervising elections and maintaining public records. The office has had a four-year term since 1946. Before 1880, the ...
*
Harris DeVane Marvin "Harris" DeVane Jr. (August 2, 1963 – March 1, 2018) was an American stock car racing driver. He competed in the ARCA Racing Series, scoring his only career series victory in one of the closest finishes in series history at Atlanta Motor ...
, stock car racing driver *
Kyle Farnsworth Kyle Lynn Farnsworth (born April 14, 1976) is a former professional baseball pitcher. He has played for the Chicago Cubs (1999–2004), Detroit Tigers (2005, 2008), Atlanta Braves (2005, 2010), New York Yankees (2006–2008), Kansas City Royals (2 ...
, former journeyman relief pitcher. *
George Thornewell Smith George Thornewell Smith (October 15, 1916 – August 23, 2010) was an American Democratic Party politician and jurist from the state of Georgia. The sixth Lieutenant Governor, state legislator, Speaker of the State House of Representatives, was ...
, only person to win contested elections in all three branches of the
state of Georgia Georgia is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee and North Carolina; to the northeast by South Carolina; to the southeast by the Atlantic Ocean; to the south by Florida; and to the west by ...
government; former
lieutenant governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...
*
Boo Weekley Thomas Brent "Boo" Weekley (born July 23, 1973) is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour. Overview Born in Milton, Florida, Weekley turned professional in 1997 and played on mini-tours until 2002, when he qualified for the ...
, professional
golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...
er who plays on the
PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also k ...
* Harold Bascom Durham Jr. received
Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of valor. ...
for his actions in
Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
.


References


External links

* {{authority control Public universities and colleges in Georgia (U.S. state) Agricultural universities and colleges in the United States Educational institutions established in 1908 Universities and colleges accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Education in Tift County, Georgia Buildings and structures in Tift County, Georgia Forestry education 1908 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state) NJCAA athletics University System of Georgia