Tift College was a

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...

liberal arts Liberal arts education (from Latin "free" and "art or principled practice") is the traditional academic course in Western higher education. ''Liberal arts'' takes the term ''art'' in the sense of a learned skill rather than specifically the ...

women's college Women's colleges in higher education are undergraduate, bachelor's degree-granting institutions, often liberal arts colleges, whose student populations are composed exclusively or almost exclusively of women. Some women's colleges admit male stud ...

located in

Forsyth Forsyth may refer to: Places Oceania * Forsyth Island, Queensland, Australia, one of the West Wellesley Islands (aka Forsyth Islands) * Forsyth Island, Tasmania, Australia * Forsyth Island (New Zealand), in the outer Marlborough Sounds of South I ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

. Founded in 1849, the college ceased operations in 1987, after being merged with

Mercer University Mercer University is a private research university with its main campus in Macon, Georgia. Founded in 1833 as Mercer Institute and gaining university status in 1837, it is the oldest private university in the state and enrolls more than 9,000 ...

in nearby Macon, Georgia. The campus facilities have been adapted for use as the headquarters of the

Georgia Department of Corrections The Georgia Department of Corrections (GDC) is an agency of the U.S. state of Georgia operating state prisons. The agency is headquartered in Forsyth, on the former campus of Tift College. Headquarters The GDC has its offices in Gibson Hall, lo ...

. The facility is known as State Offices South at Tift College (SOSTC). The

campus A campus is traditionally the land on which a college or university and related institutional buildings are situated. Usually a college campus includes libraries, lecture halls, residence halls, student centers or dining halls, and park-like se ...

is 20 miles north of Macon.

History

Tift College was founded in 1849 as the Forsyth Female Collegiate Institute. It was renamed Monroe College in 1857 and as Bessie Tift College in 1907 in honor of an

alumna Alumni (singular: alumnus (masculine) or alumna (feminine)) are former students of a school, college, or university who have either attended or graduated in some fashion from the institution. The feminine plural alumnae is sometimes used for grou ...

. In 1898, it became affiliated with the

Georgia Baptist Convention The Georgia Baptist Mission Board is an association of Baptist churches in the U.S. state of Georgia. It is one of the state conventions associated with the Southern Baptist Convention. Formed in 1822, it was one of the original nine state conve ...

. The name was shortened to Tift College in 1956. Tift College merged with

Macon, Georgia Macon ( ), officially Macon–Bibb County, is a consolidated city-county in the U.S. state of Georgia. Situated near the fall line of the Ocmulgee River, it is located southeast of Atlanta and lies near the geographic center of the state of Geo ...

in 1986. Mercer and the Tift College Alumnae Association joined together to form a partnership to preserve the legacy of Tift College. In 1987 the college was closed by Mercer. The Mercer University Board of Trustees voted to change the name of its School of Education to the Tift College of Education to carry on the educational legacy of Tift College. Over the years, Mercer has continued to maintain the heritage, identity and ideals of Tift College, most notably through the Tift College Scholars Program. The program honors a select group of young women at Mercer with scholarships and inclusion in one of the university's most distinguished scholastic organizations. In 2006, the governor announced plans to use the Forsyth campus for the headquarters of the

. After renovation of buildings for this purpose, the move took place in 2010.Morgan, Carly.
Forsyth Prepares for Dept. of Corrections Arrival
" ''

WMAZ WMAZ-TV (channel 13) is a television station in Macon, Georgia, United States, affiliated with CBS and The CW Plus. The station is owned by Tegna Inc., and maintains studios on Gray Highway on the northeast side of Macon; its transmitter is lo ...

''. November 2009. Retrieved on December 7, 2009.

Legacy and honors

* Tift College of Education at Mercer University * Tift College Scholars Program, for young women

References

External links

*
Tift College State Historical Marker
" ''GeorgiaInfo''

External links

* https://web.archive.org/web/20140829082031/http://www.dcor.state.ga.us/NewsRoom/VideoLibrary/Video_Tift_Groundbreaking.htm
Tift College Alumnae Association

Mercer University

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{{authority control Educational institutions established in 1849 Defunct private universities and colleges in Georgia (U.S. state) Former women's universities and colleges in the United States Mercer University Embedded educational institutions Defunct Christian universities and colleges Educational institutions disestablished in 1986 1849 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state) History of women in Georgia (U.S. state)

History

Legacy and honors

See also

References

External links

Further reading

External links