Campus History

Beginning in 1974 with 504 students, Atlanta Junior College (AJC) became the 31st institution of the University System of Georgia and the only public two-year college within Atlanta's city limits. The college has evolved during its 50-year history. AJC grew into Atlanta Metropolitan College in the 1987-1988 academic year. The school underwent another name change in 2012, becoming Atlanta Metropolitan State College (AMSC), an institution that offers bachelor's degrees alongside associate degrees and certificate programs. The college reached its highest enrollment (to date) of 3,129 in 2013. With a championship-winning intercollegiate men's basketball team, AMSC became the first Georgia institution to rank among the nation's top five Division I junior colleges for academic performance. Although it has grown from one building to seven facilities on 65.4 acres, the institution remains committed to its mission of being a gateway to an affordable, accessible, and quality college education for students in the Atlanta area and beyond.

Georgia Tech has become one of the nation's top-10-ranked public universities and boasts a former U.S. president, TV personality and Hall-of-Fame athletes among its prominent alumni.

From humble beginnings as a small technological institute that opened in 1888, Georgia Tech is now renowned throughout the world for its excellence in technological education and research. A top-10-ranked public university, according to U.S. News & World Report rankings, famous Georgia Institute of Technology alumni include Jimmy Carter, G. Wayne Clough, Jeff Foxworthy, Sam Nunn, Randolph Scott, and Leonard Wood, along with many famous athletes. Georgia Tech has won four national college football championships, the first in 1917 under the legendary coach John Heisman. Today, Georgia Tech has a student body of more than 29,000 at the undergraduate and graduate levels and more than 155,000 living alumni. The institute has an annual economic impact of about $3 billion upon Georgia's economy. Authors and Tech alumni Matthew Hild and David L. Morton take you inside the journey of how this institute got to where it is today.

The history of Berry College is rooted in its musical culture and reflects an important part of Martha Berry's life and mission for her school. Located 60 miles north of Atlanta, Berry College began in 1902 as a small rural school, driven by Martha's desire to educate impoverished children and young adults in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. Through tireless fund-raising and dedication, Berry School grew from its humble beginning into an exemplary four-year liberal arts college. As Martha Berry gained widespread notoriety for her work in education, the music program performed for such guests as Henry Ford, Emily Vanderbilt, Theodore Roosevelt, and other notable leaders in business and politics. By 1948, the school's unofficial motto was "Everybody Sings at Berry." With continued success over the last 60 years, Berry's musical groups continue to gain recognition as they perform locally, nationally, and internationally.

The rich history of Tallulah Falls School mirrors the story of northeast Georgia, from a rural, remote past to a bright, boundless future.

The school, established in 1909 in response to the unmet educational needs of area children, has evolved through the decades, now meeting the needs of students both near and from countries around the world. Today, the school serves more than 500 students in grades 5 through 12, representing 20 countries. With a robust college-preparatory curriculum delivered with an equal focus on character development, students leave Tallulah Falls School well prepared for future success. The imprint of those who attended the school in the past is still visible today, with vintage structures alongside modern classroom buildings and new athletic facilities. Weathered rock walls wind through campus, reminders of those formative years. They mark the way for those who will pass through these historic gates, adding their contributions to the storied history of Tallulah Falls School. This book builds on the history established in these early records of the school, adding the exponential significance of the past 15 years to the archives.

E. Lane Gresham serves as the director of communications and media for Tallulah Falls School. Passionate about local history, Gresham brings her talent for storytelling to this project and the many roles she plays within the school community and beyond.

Albany State University, located in southwest Georgia on the banks of the Flint River, is a four-year unit of the University System of Georgia with five academic schools and degree programs in more than 40 areas of study. Founded in 1903 as the Albany Bible and Manual Training Institute by Joseph Winthrop Holley, the institution-patterned after Booker T. Washington's Tuskegee Institute-provided industrial, normal, and religious education for African Americans. In 1917, it became a state-supported, two-year college (Georgia Normal and Agricultural College), and in 1932 entered the University System of Georgia. In 1943 it became a four-year institution (Albany State College) and experienced tremendous growth from 1943 to 1996, when the name was changed to Albany State University.

Within these pages are some 200 photographs depicting the growth initiated by Dr. Joseph Winthrop Holley and continued through the leadership of five dynamic presidents: Dr. Aaron Brown (1943-1954); Dr. William H. Dennis (1954-1965); Dr. Thomas M. Jenkins (1965-1969); Dr. Charles L. Hayes (1969-1980); and Dr. Billy C. Black (1980-1996). Current president Dr. Portia Holmes Shields began a major renovation program for ASU-complete with new buildings and state-of-the art technology-after the devastating floods of 1994 and 1998. Poised for continued growth in the 21st century, the historic institution and its rich history are celebrated in this engaging volume of images.

In January of 1913, South Georgia State Normal College opened in Valdosta, Georgia, with three students who paid $10 a year for tuition and $12 per month for food and board. Colonel W.S. West donated land for the campus to the state, the Georgia Senate allocated $25,000 to the school, the city of Valdosta raised $50,000, and Richard Holmes Powell was chosen as the school's first president. From this early ambitious endeavor to educate the traditionally underserved students of South Georgia grew a college that has served not only as an institution of higher learning but also as a valuable resource for citizens all over the region. Known as Georgia State Womens College (1992-1950) and Valdosta State College (1950-1993), Valdosta State University boasts a long and distinguished history. What was once a training school for teachers now offers a wide variety of undergraduate programs and awards masters and several doctorate degrees. Within these pages, the colorful characters, cherished traditions, memorable social and sporting events, and picturesque campus of VSU are all brought to life. Photographs taken from the Valdosta State University Archives date back to the school's beginnings, before the student body became co-educational. View the early May Queens and their courts parading on school grounds and the Old English Christmas Feast; step back to the days when men first arrived on campus, bringing a variety of new social, civic, and athletic organizations with them; and discover the remarkable beauty of the school's Spanish Mission-style campus.

In 1906, the founders of what would become Georgia Southern University pledged to build a college that would prepare students to succeed in a changing world.

The First District Agricultural and Mechanical School served well the needs of women and men who lived in a farm-based economy. As the 20th century unfolded, the college did something that is rare in the history of higher education: it changed its name five times to meet the educational needs of its citizens. A university since 1990, Georgia Southern provides opportunities for a diverse and inclusive student body that now exceeds 20,000. Each year, graduates earn diplomas at the bachelors, masters, and doctoral levels. Today, the road to the future begins on a path that learners long have traveled: it leads up through a green forest to Sweetheart Circle. Old A&M has become one of the nation's distinctive universities. Those who study and teach here say the campus is the most beautiful in America. At its heart is a pair of neatly coupled lakes, framed by historic willows, live oaks, and stately pines. The light of learning still shines brightly from Statesboro's highest hill.

In 1902, Martha Berry founded the Industrial School for Boys to educate the children of the Southern Appalachian Mountains, and in 1909 the school admitted women. The institution grew from a mountain industrial school to a two-year college in its first twenty-four years, became a four-year college in 1930, and has since become one of the leading liberal arts colleges in the South.

This volume portrays, in word and image, the role of sports at Berry College throughout its 100-year history. Situating athletics within the social and cultural life of the college, the book includes both intramural and intercollegiate sport, and traces the evolution of the Viking tradition as it both parallels and reflects the development of sport in the United States. The story begins with the recreational and leisure activities of the early years of the school and traces the continuation of the sporting spirit from the days of the "Silver and the Blue" through the post-war "Blue Jacket" tradition, and ends with the Viking years of the last four decades. Of notable interest in the book is the development of the women's sports program, which has brought four national titles to the college; the importance of soccer to the college; the well-rounded intercollegiate program, which currently fields teams in seven sports; and an excellent intramural program.

Join Author Rodney T. Cohen as he reveals the history & beginnings of the Black Colleges of Atlanta and the distinguished alumni they shaped.

By 1865, although Atlanta and the Confederacy still lay wounded in the wake of the Union victory, black higher education began its thrust for recognition. Some of the first of the American colleges formed specifically for the education of black students were founded in Atlanta, Georgia. These schools continue, over a century later, to educate, train and inspire. Through an engaging collection of images and informative captions, their story begins to unfold. Atlanta University was the pioneer college for blacks in the state of Georgia. Founded in 1865, it was followed by Morehouse College in 1867, Clark University in 1869, and Spelman and Morris Brown Colleges in 1881. By 1929, Atlanta University discontinued undergraduate work and affiliated with Morehouse and Spelman in a plan known as the ""Atlanta University System."" A formal agreement of cooperation including all of the Atlanta colleges occurred in 1957, solidifying the common goal and principles each school was founded upon-to make literate the black youth of America. Today, the shared resources of each institution provide a unique and challenging experience for young African Americans seeking higher education. The schools boast a long and distinguished list of alumni and scholars, including W.E.B. DuBois, James Weldon Johnson, Martin Luther King, Henry O. Tanner, and C. Eric Lincoln.

Benedictine Military School is perhaps the most enduring and successful of all of the apostolates founded by the Benedictine Order in Georgia. The school's legacy began in 1874 with the establishment of St. Benedict's Parish in downtown Savannah and the first monastery in the South at Isle of Hope in 1876. Benedictine College, as it was originally called, was begun as a boys' preparatory school in 1902 and was organized on a military basis in the tradition of the Citadel and other Southern military schools of the era. This book tells the unique story of "BC"--from its origins as a small, Catholic, all-boys' high school on Bull Street to the dramatic growth that led to the establishment of today's Modernist Seawright Drive campus on Savannah's suburban southside during the early 1960s. With over 7,000 graduates, it has become a tradition among several generations of Savannah families for their sons to attend the alma mater of their fathers and grandfathers.

Oglethorpe University, located in Atlanta, Georgia, was chartered in 1835 and began as a Presbyterian institution in the town of Midway, making it one of the earliest denominational institutions below the Virginia line. The university was named for James Edward Oglethorpe, founder of the colony of Georgia. After closing in 1862 because of the Civil War, the
school reopened for a short time in the early 1870s. Oglethorpe was rechartered in 1913, and in 1916, classes began at the university's present location on Peachtree Road. Throughout its history, the university has garnered national and international attention through its famous alumni, such as poet Sidney Lanier; by conferring honorary degrees on prominent societal leaders, including Franklin D. Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson; and because of its beautiful campus and historic buildings. Since its
refounding in Atlanta, Oglethorpe University has earned a reputation for offering students a strong liberal arts education, preparing graduates to "make a life, make a living, and make a difference."