The University of Georgia Chartered by the Georgia General Assembly Jan. 27, 1785, in Savannah, The University of Georgia is America’s first state chartered university and the birthplace of the American system of public higher education. Two men who were leaders of the early University of Georgia also signed the United States Constitution. Abraham Baldwin, who wrote UGA’s charter and was the institution’s first president, and William Few, a member of the Board of Trustees, signed the Constitution on behalf of Georgia at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, Pa., in 1787. • UGA is among the top schools in three major rankings of American universities for educational value. •UGA ranked first among national universities, both public and private, in payback ratio, according to the January 2008 issue of Smart Money magazine. The magazine, published by the Wall Street Journal, quantified the long-term value of education based on tuition costs and graduates’ earning power at different stages in their lives. UGA’s payback ratio is 338%. • UGA is ranked 20th among public universities in the 2009 U.S. News & World Report “Best Colleges” issue. U.S. News has ranked UGA 22nd or better for nine years in a row. • Kiplinger’s Magazine ranks UGA 4th on its list of best values among 100 public colleges and universities in America. • UGA was 10th on Princeton Review’s 2004 list of the 25 Most Connected Campuses, a ranking of universities with the best technological capabilities for teaching, learning and communicating. • U.S. News & World Report ranks the Terry College of Business’s MBA program 49th among more than 500 accredited MBA programs in the country. The rankings are based on reputation, student selectivity, placement success, faculty resources and research activity. • UGA has had 21 Rhodes Scholars including six since 1996. UGA was the only public university in America with two Rhodes Scholars in 2007. • UGA ranks fifth nationally in the number of students studying abroad. •UGA is home of the Peabody Awards, presented annually for excellence in television and radio news, entertainment and children’s programming. The Peabody archives, housed at UGA, contain some of the best radio and television programs produced in the last six decades. •The Eugene P. Odum School of Ecology, the first stand-alone academic school in the world devoted specifically to the study of ecology, began operation at UGA on July 1, 2007. •In addition to its status as a land-grant institution, the University of Georgia is one of 30 institutions in the U.S. to be designated a Sea Grant College. In 1980, the University of Georgia became the 15th institution to attain Sea Grant status - a recognition of excellence in marine research, education and advisory services. • The School of Law is tied for 32nd among the nation’s 100 top accredited law schools in rankings compiled by U.S. News & World Report. The school is tied for 11th among the nation’s public law schools and is one of the top four public law schools in the South. • The 229 first-year students who enrolled in the School of Law in 2008 had a median score on the Law School Admission Test of 163, placing them near the top 10 percent of test-takers nationwide. •The College of Veterinary Medicine ranks 12th among the nation’s veterinary schools and the College of Pharmacy is ranked 22nd in rankings compiled by U.S. News & World Report. • In 2008, UGA concluded the largest and most successful fund-raising effort in its 223-year history when the Archway to Excellence campaign ended with a total of $653.6 million. • Construction was recently completed on the expansion of the Tate Center, with a 500-space parking deck on the bottom two floors. The new Lamar Dodd School of Art building on East Campus opened in the fall of 2008. An expansion of the Pharmacy building is expected to be completed in 2009. The next major projects are an expansion of the Georgia Museum of Art and the construction of a Special Collections Library on Hull Street.
For more information about the University of Georgia and its national rankings, faculty, students, research, facilities and alumni visit www.uga.edu/profile/pride.html