Student Learning Center

Setting the Pace for Leadership in the Peach State

In January 1785 two years after the Revolutionary War ended and four years before George Washington’s first inauguration the Georgia legislature adopted the charter that created the University of Georgia. Over the past 220 years, Georgia and its university have grown together as partners in a burgeoning prosperity that has made the state an economic showplace and the university a fast-track contender for educational preeminence. With some 33,400 students, a work force of more than 9,500 and an annual budget of $1.2 billion, the University of Georgia is Georgia’s largest, oldest and most comprehensive educational institution and a driving force in the state’s dynamic development. Widely recognized for excellence in instruction, research and public service, UGA has moved into the ranks of America’s foremost public universities.

RANKINGS

Kiplinger’s Magazine:
Ranked fourth among the 20 best public colleges that “combine great academics with reasonable costs.”

U.S. News & World Report:

Ranked 19th among top 50 public universities.
Ranked 42nd among top 50 national “Great Schools at Great Prices.”
Graduate program in public administration ranked third among 248 programs nationally. Within public administration, graduate program in public finance ranked third.
Graduate program in public relations ranked fourth among the nation’s top journalism schools. Graduate program in advertising ranked fifth; graduate program in radio/television ranked 12th.
Overall graduate program in College of Education is 27th among 187 programs in the nation. Graduate programs in vocational/technical education, elementary education and counseling ranked in the top 10.
School of Law among top 15 public law schools in the U.S., and among top four public law schools in the South.
Graduate program in number theory ranks 10th in U.S.
Graduate program in College of Pharmacy ranked 22nd in the nation.
Terry College of Business undergraduate program ranked 29th in the nation, and undergraduate programs in insurance, real estate and management information programs ranked in the top 20.

SCHOLASTIC AND RESEARCH STRENGTHS

UGA students consistently win some of the top scholarships awarded to American undergraduates. UGA has had four Rhodes Scholars in the last nine years, and students have also received Goldwater, Truman, Gates-Cambridge, Marshall and Mellon scholarships.

Dr. Edward J. Larson, professor of history and law, received the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for History.

Eve Trout Powell, associate professor of history, received the MacArthur Foundation Fellowship in 2003. Professors Patty Gowaty and Michael Duncan were elected Fellows of the American Association Advancement of Science in 2004 and political science professor John Maltese was named Georgia’s 2004 Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. UGA has four faculty members in both the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Georgia received a total of $159.9 million in research awards, grants and contracts in fiscal year 2004. Research expenditures in FY2004 exceeded $313 million, keeping UGA among the leaders for research spending among major national universities.

LEADERSHIP FOR GEORGIA

Thirteen internationally known authorities have joined UGA’s faculty as eminent scholars under the Georgia Research Alliance. The GRA a consortium of state government, private industry and six Georgia universities provides funding for leading scientists and scholars whose research and development work advance the state’s economy.

The University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication is home of the Peabody Awards, one of the nation’s premier honors in radio, television andcable broadcasting.

Georgia is both a Land grant and Sea Grant institution, and is home to the State Botanical Garden, the Georgia Museum of Art, and the Museum of Natural History, designated by the Georgia General Assembly as the state’s official botanical garden, art museum and natural history museum.

OUTSTANDING FACILITIES

The $43 million Student Learning Center is one of the largest and most technologically advanced teaching facilities at any American university. The 200,000-square foot building contains 26 computerwired classrooms with a total of 2,240 seats; an electronic library which seats 2,000 and has 500 computer workstations; and a reading room and numerous study and meeting rooms.

East Campus Village, a complex of four new student residence halls and associated amenities located on East Campus near the Ramsey Student Center, provides housing for 1,200 students. A dining hall and an 850-vehicle parking deck also are part of the complex.

Construction continues on the Paul D. Coverdell Building for Biomedical and Health Sciences. Named in honor of the late U.S. senator from Georgia, the $40 million, 200,000-square foot structure on the Georgia campus will provide space for interdisciplinary and graduate programs, research in infectious diseases and immunity, molecular medicine, public health and the environmental sciences disciplines.

SUPER STUDENT-ATHLETES

UGA student athletes received the NCAA Top VIII Award for six consecutive years. Presented annually by the NCAA, the award recognizes the nation’s top eight studentathletes for outstanding achievement in athletics, academics and leadership. The university’s winners are football player Jon Stinchcomb (2002), swimmer Kimberly Black (2001), swimmer Kristy Kowal (2000), track and field star Debbie Ferguson (1999), football player Matt Stinchcomb (1998) and swimmer Lisa Coole (1997). Georgia football player Terry Hoage received the award in 1984 when it was called the Top Five Award.

For two consecutive years, UGA women swimmers were named NCAA Woman of the Year in recognition of excellence in academics, athletics and community service. Kimberly Black won the award for 2001 and Kristy Kowal was the winner for 2000. The late Lisa Coole was NCAA Woman of the Year in 1997.

NOTABLE ALUMNI

Many alumni have achieved outstanding success in communications fields including Tom Johnson, former chairman of the Cable News Network News Group; international journalist Charlayne Hunter-Gault; the late newspaper columnist and humorist Lewis Grizzard; and television personalities Deborah Roberts, Deborah Norville and Chef Alton Brown.

Other well-known alumni of the University of Georgia include Gov. Sonny Perdue; U.S. Senators Johnny Isakson and Saxby Chambliss; William P. (Billy) Payne, who was president and chief executive officer of the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games; country music recording artist and television personality Bill Anderson; A.D. “Pete” Correll, chairman and chief executive officer of Georgia-Pacific Corp.; Pat Mitchell, president of PBS; Robert Benham, the first African American Chief Justice of the Georgia Supreme Court; and Dan Amos, CEO of AFLAC.

University of Georgia Athletics