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When the University of Georgia was incorporated by an act
of the General Assembly on January 27, 1785, Georgia became
the first state to charter a state-supported university. In
1784 the General Assembly had set aside 40,000 acres of land
to endow a college or seminary of learning.
At the first meeting of the board of trustees, held in Augusta
on February 13, 1786, Abraham Baldwin was selected president
of the university. A native of Connecticut and a graduate
of Yale University, Baldwin -- who had come to Georgia in
1784 -- drafted the charter adopted by the General Assembly.
The university was actually established in 1801 when a committee
of the board of trustees selected a land site. John Milledge,
later a governor of the state, purchased and gave to the board
of trustees the chosen tract of 633 acres on the banks of
the Oconee River in northeast Georgia.
Josiah Meigs was named president of the university and work
was begun on the first building, originally called Franklin
College in honor of Benjamin Franklin and now known as Old
College. The university graduated its first class in 1804.
The curriculum of traditional classical studies was broadened
in 1843 to include courses in law, and again in 1872 when
the university received federal funds for instruction in agriculture
and mechanical arts.
Fifteen colleges and schools, with auxiliary divisions, carry
on the university’s programs of teaching, research,
and service. These colleges and schools and the dates of their
establishment as separate administrative units are: Franklin
College of Arts and Sciences, 1801; College of Agricultural
and Environmental Sciences, 1859; School of Law, 1859; College
of Pharmacy, 1903; D. B. Daniel B. Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources,
1906; College of Education, 1908; Graduate School, 1910; C.
Herman and Mary Virginia Terry College of Business, 1912;
Henry W. Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication,
1915; College of Family and Consumer Sciences, 1933; College
of Veterinary Medicine, 1946; School of Social Work, 1964;
College of Environment and Design, 1969; School of
Public and International Affairs, 2001; and the College of Public Health, 2005. The Division of General
Extension, now the Georgia Center for Continuing Education Conference Center & Hotel,
was incorporated into the university in 1947.
In 1931 the General Assembly of Georgia placed all state-supported
institutions of higher education, including UGA, under the
jurisdiction of a single board. This organization, known as
the University System of Georgia, is governed by the board
of regents. The board of regents’ executive officer,
the chancellor, exercises a general supervisory control over
all institutions of the University System, with each institution
having its own executive officers and faculty.
The photos and a majority of the text above were reproduced
from F.N. Boney’s book, A Pictorial History of the
University of Georgia, 1984, University of Georgia Press
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