University of Georgia facts for kids

The University of Georgia (UGA) is a university that is in and around Athens, Georgia. The university was created January 27, 1785 and was the first state university in the United States. However, it was not the first state university to hold classes or to graduate students. That honor belongs to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

About 34,000 students go to the school. The University's mascot is a bulldog named "Uga".

Diversity

Only white male students studied at UGA during the first century of its history. UGA began educating female students during the summer of 1903. Women were not admitted as full-time undergraduates until 1918. Before official admission of women to the University, several women were able to complete graduate degrees through credit earned during the summer sessions. The first woman to earn such a degree was Mary Lyndon. She received a Master of Arts degree in 1914. Mary Creswell earned the first undergraduate degree in June 1919, a B.S. in Home Economics. Two UGA dormitories are named after these graduates: Creswell Hall and Mary Lyndon Hall.

Racial integration started in 1961, with the admission of Hamilton E. Holmes and Charlayne Hunter after notable tension with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. In 2001, on the fortieth anniversary of their having first registered for classes, the University renamed a prominent campus building in their honor: Holmes-Hunter Academic Building. Although Hunter and Holmes were the first African-American students to matriculate at UGA, Mary Frances Early became the first African-American graduate by earning her master’s (MMEd) in music education in 1962. In 1963, Chester Davenport became the first African-American admitted to the UGA School of Law and its first African-American graduate (LL.B. 1966). A decade later, Sharon Tucker was the first female African-American law graduate, earning her J.D. in 1974.

Images for kids

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  Lyman Hall, one of founders of the University of Georgia

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  Abraham Baldwin, one of the founders and first president of the University of Georgia

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  Mary Ethel Creswell, in 1919, the first woman to earn an undergraduate degree at the university

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  The Holmes-Hunter Academic Building

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  Zell Miller, UGA alumnus and former Governor and U.S. Senator who helped establish the HOPE Scholarship

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  The Peabody Awards (statuette pictured) originated at, and are awarded by, the University of Georgia

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  Founders Memorial Garden

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  The Arch

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  Ilah Dunlap Little Memorial Library

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  Lumpkin House on Cedar Street on the UGA campus

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  Paul D. Coverdell Center for Biomedical and Health Sciences

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  Zell B. Miller Learning Center

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  Richard B. Russell Jr. Special Collections Libraries Building

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  A fountain in the State Botanical Garden of Georgia

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  Stegeman Coliseum at UGA hosted 1996 Summer Olympics events.

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  The R/V Savannah research vessel at the Skidaway Institute of Oceanography

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  University of Georgia dormitories on Sapelo Island.

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  Coastal Plain Experiment Station in Tifton.

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  UGA Health Sciences Campus Administration Building - Winnie Davis Hall

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  The College of Environment and Design building at the University of Georgia is a LEED certified structure that features 72 solar panels and water reclamation technology.

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  Phi Kappa Hall

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  The first football squad at the University of Georgia in 1892.

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  The Olympic flag waves at the 1996 games.

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  Uga VI, the official live mascot of the Georgia Bulldogs 1999–2008

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  The Arch at the University of Georgia

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  United States Senator Saxby Chambliss

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  Terrell Davis, Pro Football Hall of Famer

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  Natasha Tretheway, United States Poet Laureate

See also

In Spanish: Universidad de Georgia para niños