Georgia College & State University (Georgia College or GC) is a

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...

liberal arts university A liberal arts college or liberal arts institution of higher education is a college with an emphasis on undergraduate study in liberal arts and sciences. Such colleges aim to impart a broad general knowledge and develop general intellectual capac ...

Milledgeville, Georgia Milledgeville is a city in and the county seat of Baldwin County in the U.S. state of Georgia. It is northeast of Macon and bordered on the east by the Oconee River. The rapid current of the river here made this an attractive location to b ...

. The university enrolls approximately 7,000 students and is a member of the University System of Georgia and the

Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges The Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges (COPLAC) is a consortium of 30 public colleges and universities in 27 states and one Canadian province. Established in 1987, COPLAC advances the aims of its member institutions and drives awareness of the ...

. Georgia College was designated Georgia's "Public Liberal Arts University" in 1996 by the Georgia Board of Regents. Students pursue majors and graduate degree programs throughout the university's four colleges: College of Arts & Sciences, J. Whitney Bunting College of Business and Technology, John H. Lounsbury College of Education, and College of Health Sciences. Georgia College Athletics' 11 teams compete in the

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is an intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environmen ...

Peach Belt Conference.

History

Georgia College was chartered in 1889 as Georgia Normal and Industrial College. Its emphasis at the time was largely vocational, and its major task was to prepare young women for teaching or industrial careers. In 1917, in keeping with economic and cultural changes in the state, Georgia Normal and Industrial College was authorized to grant 4-year degrees, the first of which was awarded in 1921. In 1922, the institution's name was changed to Georgia State College for Women. The university has been a unit of the University System of Georgia since the system's founding in 1932. Mary "Flannery" O'Connor entered as a freshman in 1942. Active in student publications, she graduated three years later and became one of the South's most noted writers. Also during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, Georgia State College for Women served as one of four colleges that trained

WAVES Waves most often refers to: * Waves, oscillations accompanied by a transfer of energy that travel through space or mass. * Wind waves, surface waves that occur on the free surface of bodies of water. Waves may also refer to: Music *Waves (ban ...

for the U.S. Navy. After the war, enrollment declined as women preferred co-educational colleges. The name was changed to Woman's College of Georgia in 1961, and, when the institution became coeducational in 1967, it became Georgia College at Milledgeville. The name was shortened to Georgia College in 1971. In August 1996, the Board of Regents approved a change of name to Georgia College & State University, and a new mission as Georgia's Public Liberal Arts University.

Campus

The central campus comprises about in the center of Milledgeville, near the grounds of the former state capitol. The campus contains buildings of red brick and white Corinthian columns, representative of those constructed during the pre-Civil War

Antebellum Antebellum, Latin for "before war", may refer to: United States history * Antebellum South, the pre-American Civil War period in the Southern United States ** Antebellum Georgia ** Antebellum South Carolina ** Antebellum Virginia * Antebellum ar ...

period, when Milledgeville was the capital of Georgia. Bell Hall and Russell Auditorium are credited to architect J. Reginald MacEachron. Atkinson Hall (1896) is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

. Other historic buildings on the campus include Sanford Hall (1938), Russell Auditorium (1926), Ina Dillard Russell Art Museum (the original section of the library) (1932), Chappell Hall (1963) (on the site of an earlier Chappell Hall built in 1907), Parks Hall (1911), Terrell Hall (1908), Maxwell Student Union (1972), Beeson Hall (1937), Porter Hall (1939), Lanier Hall (1926), Ennis Hall (1920), and Herty Hall (1954 and expanded in 1972). Most of the university's residence halls are located a block from central campus along with the sports complex, called the Centennial Center. The Old Governor's Mansion is also within walking distance of the residence halls and front campus. West Campus, a extension from the central campus, contains The Village student apartments and athletic fields. In addition, GC operates a large recreational area on Lake Laurel (approximately 5 minutes from the central campus) which is used by students in the university's Environmental Science and Outdoor Education programs. The university library houses the manuscript collection of author Flannery O'Connor, an alumna of the university, and of U.S. Senator Paul Coverdell, whose career included serving as director of the

Peace Corps The Peace Corps is an independent agency and program of the United States government that trains and deploys volunteers to provide international development assistance. It was established in March 1961 by an executive order of President John ...

when the

Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall (german: Berliner Mauer, ) was a guarded concrete barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and East Germany (GDR). Construction of the Berlin Wall was commenced by the gover ...

fell.

Athletics

Known as the Georgia College Bobcats, the college is currently a member of NCAA Division II and the Peach Belt Conference. Georgia College sponsors varsity teams in baseball, men's and women's basketball, men's and women's cheerleading, men's and women's cross country, golf, dance team, women's soccer, softball, men's and women's tennis, women's volleyball, men's and women's esports and collegiate bass fishing.

Student life

Student housing

Georgia College provides housing on campus for students. Students have the option to reside either in a suite-style residence hall on Central Campus or in an apartment at The Village on West Campus.

Greek life

Georgia College has a Greek system with over 21 sororities and fraternities under various councils.

College Panhellenic Council

* Alpha Delta Pi (ΑΔΠ) * Alpha Gamma Delta (ΑΓΔ) *

Alpha Omicron Pi Alpha Omicron Pi (, AOII, Alpha O) is an international women's fraternity founded on January 2, 1897, at Barnard College on the campus of Columbia University in New York City. The main archive URL iThe Baird's Manual Online Archive homepage "AOI ...

(ΑΟΠ) * Delta Gamma (ΔΓ) * Delta Zeta (ΔΖ) * Kappa Delta (ΚΔ) * Phi Mu (ΦΜ) * Zeta Tau Alpha (ΖΤΑ)

National Pan-Hellenic Council The National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC) is a collaborative umbrella council composed of historically African American fraternities and sororities also referred to as Black Greek Letter Organizations (BGLOs). The NPHC was formed as a permanent ...

Alpha Kappa Alpha Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. () is the first intercollegiate historically African American sorority. The sorority was founded on January 15, 1908, at the historically black Howard University in Washington, D.C., by a group of sixteen s ...

(ΑΚΑ) *

Alpha Phi Alpha Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. () is the oldest intercollegiate historically African American fraternity. It was initially a literary and social studies club organized in the 1905–1906 school year at Cornell University but later evolved in ...

(ΑΦΑ) *

Delta Sigma Theta Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. () is a List of African-American fraternities, historically African American Fraternities and sororities, sorority. The organization was founded by college-educated women dedicated to public service with an emph ...

(ΔΣΘ) *

Kappa Alpha Psi Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. () is a historically African American fraternity. Since the fraternity's founding on January 5, 1911 at Indiana University Bloomington, the fraternity has never restricted membership on the basis of color, cree ...

(ΚΑΨ) *

Omega Psi Phi Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. () is a historically African-American fraternity. The fraternity was founded on November 17, 1911, by three Howard University juniors Edgar Amos Love, Oscar James Cooper and Frank Coleman, and their faculty a ...

(ΩΨΦ) *

Phi Beta Sigma Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc. () is a List of African-American fraternities, historically African American Fraternities and sororities, fraternity. It was founded at Howard University in Washington, D.C. on January 9, 1914, by three young Afr ...

(ΦΒΣ) *

Sigma Gamma Rho Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. () is a historically African American sorority, international collegiate, and non-profit community service organization that was founded on November 12, 1922, by seven educators on the Irvington campus (1875– ...

(ΣΓΡ) *

Zeta Phi Beta Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. () is a historically African American sorority. In 1920, five women from Howard University envisioned a sorority that would raise the consciousness of their people, encourage the highest standards of scholastic ach ...

(ΖΦΒ)

Interfraternity Council

Alpha Tau Omega Alpha Tau Omega (), commonly known as ATO, is an American social fraternity founded at the Virginia Military Institute in 1865 by Otis Allan Glazebrook. The fraternity has around 250 active and inactive chapters and colonies in the United Stat ...

(ΑΤΩ) *

Delta Sigma Phi Delta Sigma Phi (), commonly known as Delta Sig or D Sig, is a fraternity established in 1899 at The City College of New York (CCNY). It was the first fraternity to be founded on the basis of religious and ethnic acceptance. It is also one of th ...

(ΔΣΦ) *

Kappa Alpha Order Kappa Alpha Order (), commonly known as Kappa Alpha or simply KA, is a social Fraternities and sororities, fraternity and a fraternal order founded in 1865 at Washington and Lee University, Washington College (now Washington and Lee University) i ...

(ΚΑ) *

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 col ...

(ΚΣ) *

Pi Kappa Phi Pi Kappa Phi (), commonly known as Pi Kapp(s), is an American Greek Letter secret and social fraternity. It was founded by Andrew Alexander Kroeg Jr., Lawrence Harry Mixson, and Simon Fogarty Jr. on December 10, 1904 at the College of Charleston i ...

(ΠΚΦ) *

Pi Kappa Alpha Pi Kappa Alpha (), commonly known as PIKE, is a college fraternity founded at the University of Virginia in 1868. The fraternity has over 225 chapters and colonies across the United States and abroad with over 15,500 undergraduate members over 3 ...

(ΠΚΑ) * Theta Chi (ΘΧ)

United Greek Council

* Gamma Sigma Sigma (ΓΣΣ) * Lambda Sigma Upsilon (ΛΣΥ) *

Mu Sigma Upsilon Mu Sigma Upsilon Sorority, Incorporated () is a multicultural intercollegiate sorority founded on November 21, 1981 at Rutgers University, New Brunswick. It is a non-profit Greek-lettered organization for college-educated women that promotes th ...

(ΜΣΥ) *

Omega Delta Sigma Omega Delta Sigma () National Veterans Fraternity, also known as ODS, is a leadership and service based co-ed fraternity. History Omega Delta Sigma was founded at the University of Florida in 1999 as a way for veterans to come together, share exp ...

(ΩΔΣ) *

Sigma Alpha Omega Sigma Alpha Omega () is an American non-denominational Christian sorority for women, founded at North Carolina State University on January 5, 1998. However, they can trace their roots back to the once co-educational Chi Alpha Omega fraternity fou ...

(ΣΑΩ)

Student Government Association

Georgia College's Student Government Association (SGA) serves the campus community by addressing student concerns, promoting understanding within the college community, and administering all matters which are delegated to the student government by the university president. The responsibility for the governing of the student body is vested in the students themselves. All students are members of the SGA upon their enrollment, and officers and senators are elected on a yearly basis.

Notable alumni

* Helen Matthews Lewis, sociologist, historian, and activist *

Tanvi Ganesh Lonkar Tanvi Ganesh Lonkar (born 5 March 1995) is an Indian actress best known for her 2008 best movie role as the teenage version of "Latika", a character in the Academy Award-winning film ''Slumdog Millionaire''. As a member of the cast of that film, ...

, actress * Sherrilyn Kenyon, author * Susan Dowdell Myrick, journalist, educator, author, and conservationist * Tony Nicely, former CEO of

GEICO The Government Employees Insurance Company (GEICO ) is a private American auto insurance company with headquarters in Chevy Chase, Maryland. It is the second largest auto insurer in the United States, after State Farm. GEICO is a wholly owne ...

* Flannery O'Connor, writer and essayist * Rachael Kirkconnell, television personality

References

External links

*
Official athletics website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Georgia College and State University 1889 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state) Buildings and structures in Baldwin County, Georgia Education in Baldwin County, Georgia Educational institutions established in 1889 Former women's universities and colleges in the United States Liberal arts colleges in Georgia (U.S. state) Universities and colleges accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Public universities and colleges in Georgia (U.S. state) Public liberal arts colleges in the United States