Augusta University

Academy of Richmond County

Old Medical College in Augusta, Georgia in 1934

Following the American Revolution, a zeal for education spread through the new United States. Augustans, too, caught this fire and chartered the state’s first academy in 1783.

In 1791 when President George Washington attended the examinations at the Academy of Richmond County, the school offered post-secondary studies in Latin, French, Greek, algebra, and trigonometry to prepare students for transfer to universities as sophomores. This year of college work was the beginning of higher education in Augusta.

Medical College of Georgia

In the early 19th century the seeds of medical education were also germinating. In 1817 the city established a board to overlook the health problems of the town. The next year, on property purchased from the Trustees of the Academy, a ten-bed City Hospital was constructed. In 1822, Dr. Milton Antony and seven physicians organized the Medical Society of Augusta to improve healthcare and physician education. Four years later, Antony began instructing students in the City Hospital, joined the following year by Dr. Joseph Adams Eve. In 1828, the two physicians secured a state charter to establish the Medical Academy of Georgia, which could award Bachelor of Medicine degrees. In order to grant the M.D. degree, the General Assembly revised the 1828 charter, changing the name to the Medical Institute of Georgia and in 1833 to the Medical College of Georgia (MCG) to more accurately reflect its true mission and status. MCG moved into a grand new building on Telfair St. in 1835, on property adjoining the Academy.

Civil War

Throughout the antebellum era, the two institutions operated side by side, with ARC students even being allowed to attend certain lectures at MCG.

When the Civil War began in 1861, both institutions suspended classes as faculty and students took roles in the war efforts. ARC’s building became a hospital, and the MCG building became surgeons’ quarters, with its amphitheater serving as an operating room. When the war ended in 1865, MCG resumed classes, although ARC served as headquarters for federal troops for two more years before resuming operation.

In 1867, Col. George Washington Rains, the Confederate commandant of the Augusta Arsenal and the Augusta Powder Works, was asked to reopen ARC. He became regent (headmaster) and established a new Scientific Department. ARC students could attend his classes at MCG, where Rains also taught chemistry. In 1873, MCG became loosely affiliated with the University of Georgia as its Medical Department and in 1880, Col. Rains became dean (president) of MCG and serving until 1884.

20th Century

In 1910 ARC came under control of the Richmond County Board of Education, which added a formal fifth year of study as preparation for college.

Augustans boasted that it was the only high school in the state offering college credit. In 1912, legislation officially made MCG the Medical Department of UGA and the institution moved to a new campus in January 1913.

As the national junior college movement gained momentum, ARC’s fifth year evolved in 1925 into the first chartered junior college in the state—the Junior College of Augusta (JCA). The following year ARC and the JCA moved to a new location on Baker Avenue, where they would share space for the next 31 years. The Medical College was also evolving. New facilities advanced its academic, research, and clinical care mission. When the University System was created in 1932, it absorbed control of UGA and its medical department and the medical college became the first of Augusta’s higher education institutions to become part of the University System of Georgia.

Both institutions made contributions in World War II and in the post war years both began periods of expansion and growth.

In 1950, MCG regained its autonomy and again became the Medical College of Georgia. In 1956 the institution completed construction of its own teaching hospital. Also in the 1950s, overcrowding reached a critical point at the building shared by ARC and JCA. A remedy was found when the U.S. government abandoned the Augusta Arsenal in 1955 and the college acquired part of the property, adding to the footprint over the years and converting old arsenal building to educational purposes. The JCA joined the University System in 1958 becoming Augusta College. In 1963, the College became a four-year institution; the first graduate degrees were added in the 1970s and others over the next decades.

Throughout the post war years both institutions grew physically and programmatically. They also made important changes in the student bodies. The medical college began admitting women in 1922 and the junior college was co-ed from the beginning. Both institutions remained racially segregated, however, until the mid-1960s when the first African Americans matriculated.

In 1996 Augusta College acquired university status as Augusta State University. In 2011 MCG became Georgia Health Sciences University to reflect its broad mission in many fields of health sciences.

Both schools had expanded programs to meet the education needs of the rapidly changing society of the late 20th/early 21st century. Building on the legacies of its parent institutions, in 2013 the two universities became one.

GHSU–ASU consolidation

On January 8, 2012, the Georgia Board of Regents unanimously approved the consolidation of Augusta State University and Georgia Health Sciences University.^[9] Ricardo Azziz was appointed president of the merged institution.

The USG described the advantages and goals of the "bold move to create a new university that builds on the strength of two institutions with distinct missions", including to create a 21st-century research institution that provides high quality and comprehensive undergraduate programs and top-tier health education and research that meets regional and statewide needs; continue to support the access mission which is vital to regional needs; allow for growth of research efforts to spur economic development and facilitate knowledge transfer; offer a wide array of undergraduate programs in liberal arts and professional fields; recognize the geographic proximity of the two universities (~2 miles apart); and build on the strong community support that both enjoyed.^[10]

They also identified challenges facing the consolidation, including that significant differences existed in institutional mission, organization, and governance; that complexity associated with current health system structure would be further complicated by integration, and that there would be branding and identity issues.^[10] GHSU was a selective graduate and professional-level research university, while Augusta State was a primarily undergraduate-level urban commuter school designed to make college accessible. The USG faced the challenge of not setting admissions standards so high that Augusta State's students couldn't get in, while at the same time not watering them down to the detriment of the medical school's reputation.^[11]

One branding issue arose while choosing a new name. A group composed of members from both institutions began the work of selecting a name for the new institution. They conducted branding studies and solicited suggestions from the community, then sent the Board of Regents three finalists, from which the regents chose Georgia Regents University. Many in Augusta opposed the name, wanting the city's name to be a part of it.^[12] In October 2012, the university added the city's name to the university name for marketing purposes, so that it became Georgia Regents University Augusta.^[13]

Regent University (based in Virginia) subsequently filed a lawsuit for a trademark infringement against the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia over the name change in August 2012. The lawsuit was settled out of court in June 2013.^{[14][15][16][17]}

Augusta University

On September 15, 2015, the Board of Regents voted to change the name to "Augusta University." Board chairman Neil Pruitt said the decision was made to "support the long-term strategic direction of the institution and build on our partnership with the Augusta community."^[18]

College of Allied Health Sciences

The College of Allied Health Sciences offers doctoral degree programs in applied health science and physical therapy; master's degree programs in clinical laboratory sciences, medical illustration, occupational therapy, physician assistant and public health; and bachelor's degree programs in clinical laboratory science, dental hygiene, health information management, nuclear medicine technology, radiation therapy and respiratory therapy. Post-baccalaureate programs include health information management and the Augusta Area Dietetics Internship. All programs are fully accredited. Clinical programs include the Clinic for Prosthetic Restoration, the Driving Simulation Laboratory and the Low Vision Rehabilitation Clinic. Established in 1968, the college enrolled 648 students in fall 2015.^[19]

Pamplin College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences

Allgood Hall is named after State Senator Thomas Allgood Sr, who was killed in a plane crash

Named in honor of philanthropist and alumna Katherine Reese Pamplin, the college houses six departments with 17 undergraduate and one graduate degree programs:^[20] Art; Communications; English and Foreign Languages, History, Anthropology, and Philosophy; Music; and Social Sciences. The college also boasts a certificate program in European Union Studies.

Accreditations include the Council on Social Work Education,^[21] National Association of Schools of Art and Design,^[22] National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration,^[23] and the National Association of Schools of Music.^[24]

The University's Center for Public Service and Research is housed in the department of Political Science, as is Model United Nations.^[25] Other extracurriculars include Model Arab League, a partnership with the Augusta University Cancer Center to offer art and music therapy to patients on the Health Sciences campus,^[26] and The Bell Ringer, an award-winning student newspaper.^[27]

James M. Hull College of Business

The James M. Hull College of Business is accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB),^[28] and has been since 1999. It was given its current name in 2006 after James M. Hull, who donated two million dollars to the college and university as a whole – the largest such gift in Augusta State school history. It offers undergraduate degrees in Accounting (from the Knox School of Accountancy), Computer Science, Finance, Management, Marketing, and Management Information Systems (MIS), and an MBA program for graduate students.^[29]

The Summerville campus at Augusta University includes an amphitheatre and science hall, pictured here.

Dental College of Georgia

Established in 1969 as the Medical College of Georgia School of Dentistry until its renaming as Georgia Health Sciences University College of Dental Medicine (2011–2012), and lastly, Georgia Regents University College of Dental Medicine (2013–2015), the Dental College of Georgia stands as the state's sole dental school at Augusta University. The Dental College of Georgia (DCG) offers a four-year program leading to a Doctor of Dental Medicine (DMD) degree and is fully accredited by the Commission of Dental Accreditation of the American Dental Association. The curriculum covers oral biology, clinical sciences, behavioral sciences and management. A state-of-the-art building housing 10 departments, faculty and student clinical practice facilities and research laboratories opened in Fall 2011. Enrollment is anticipated to increase to 400 by 2016.

A newly opened dental facility will enable the state's only dental school to increase its class size to 100 by 2016.^[30] The AU/University of Georgia partnership campus in Athens will enable the Medical College of Georgia to increase class size to 300 by 2020.

College of Education

The College of Education is accredited by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE),^[31] which found "no improvements needed" upon their last inspection completed in 2012.^[32] The college offers undergraduate degrees in Early Childhood Education, Middle Grades Education, Secondary Education, and Pre-K–12 Programs. Graduate students may pursue a Masters of Teaching (MAT), Masters of Education (M.Ed.), Education Specialist (Ed.S.), or Master of Science (MS).

The Graduate School

The Graduate School offers programs leading to master, specialist in education, and doctoral degrees in the fields of education, business, biomedical science, biostatistics, allied health science, nursing, psychology, and public administration. It also hosts GRU's Graduate Research Day, as well as provides support for the Student Training and Research program, which provides research learning opportunities for students.^[33]

Medical College of Georgia

The Medical College of Georgia's freshman class of 230 students is among the 10 largest medical school classes in the country and is expected to grow to 300 within 10 years. The college's expansion plan includes the Medical College of Georgia/University of Georgia Medical Partnership campus in Athens, clinical campuses in Albany, Rome and Savannah, and the Southeast Georgia Health System in Brunswick.^[34] Enrollment in 2011–12 totaled 852.

College of Nursing

The Graduate Statue, outside an entrance to Augusta University's Greenblatt Library on its Health Sciences campus

The college first opened in 1943 as the department of nursing education within the University of Georgia College of Education, with an Atlanta-based center to offer graduate courses. It relocated to the then-Medical College of Georgia in 1956 to become the MCG School of Nursing.^[35]

The school was renamed the Georgia Health Sciences University College of Nursing in 2011, reflecting MCG's name change. In 2013, the GHSU College of Nursing and ASU nursing department became the GRU College of Nursing.^[36] It produces the most nurses in Georgia on a yearly basis.^[37]

It offers BSN, MS, DNP, and Ph.D programs, and was ranked 44th in graduate nursing programs in the 2011 U.S. News & World Report.^[38]

The college contains many programs, including the 10th Doctor of Nursing program, several nurse practitioner programs, a Master's-entry Clinical Nurse Leader Program, as well as Georgia's only nursing anesthesia program.^[39][40] There are initiatives with East Central Regional Hospital,^[41] Good Samaritan House,^[42] Healthy Grandparents Program,^[43] Costa-Layman's Nursery,^[44] and a partnership with Jjaghan University in China.^[45]

The college has satellite campuses in Athens and Columbus.

The college is also home to the Beta Omicron chapter of Sigma Theta Tau International.

College of Science and Mathematics

The College of Science and Mathematics is made up of five departments: Biology, Chemistry and Physics, Mathematics, Military Science, and Psychology. It offers 15 undergraduate degrees, a minor in Military Science which grants a graduate the rank of Second Lieutenant, and an M.S. Program in Psychology with three tracks.^[46] The Board of Regents recently approved the request for seeking funding to move Science & Mathematiscs to the Medical Campus in Downtown Augusta.^[47]

School of Computer and Cyber Sciences

The School of Compute and Cyber Sciences was founded in 2017 to provide education opportunities in the fields of cybersecurity and information technology for Augusta University students to meet the cyber job growth in the Augusta area and the State of Georgia. Partnerships with the State of Georgia along with the United States Army Cyber Command based out of Fort Gordon, Georgia and other military partners have been formed to train students through Augusta University at the Georgia Cyber Center on the Nathan Deal Campus of Innovation.

Health Sciences

The Health Sciences campus first began in 1913 as the college moved to the Newton building and expanded from there, with the Dugas Building in 1937 marking the earliest building currently on the campus. The first clinical facility opened as the Eugene Talmadge Memorial Hospital in 1956.^[49]

Located in Augusta's Medical District, the Health Sciences campus features all medical programs of the university, as well as the Health Sciences Building, Interdisciplinary Research Building, Wellness Center, Cancer Center, Medical College of Georgia, and Dental College of Georgia.

The Health Sciences campus also contains the Augusta University Medical Center, the Children's Hospital of Georgia, and Augusta University's two residence halls, Oak Hall and Elm Hall, which opened in Fall 2016.

Summerville

Augusta University Summerville campus

The Summerville campus was originally used as a United States Army arsenal, established downtown in 1816 and relocated to the campus in 1827. By the turn of the twentieth century, the arsenal's prominence waned, beginning with the Spanish–American War in that the arsenal produced manufacturing equipment, seacoast targets, and was a repair station. In World War I, the station repaired rifles and small arms, but produced ordnance material and fire control operations for World War II.^[50]

In 1955, the arsenal was closed, and two years later the land was given to the local Board of Education, which used it to open the Junior College of Augusta. In 1958, the name changed to Augusta College, and in 1996 to Augusta State University.

Located on Walton Way, the Summerville campus houses many of the undergraduate programs and the Jaguar Student Activities Center. The Maxwell Performing Arts Theatre, the History Walk, the Mary S. Byrd Gallery of Art, The Honors Program, and the Maxwell Alumni House are all found on this campus. In addition, the James M. Hull College of Business, College of Education, College of Science and Mathematics, and Pamplin College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences are located here.

The campus was formerly well known for the Arsenal Oak, a tree that contained wood believed to be 250–400 years old, until it was cut down in June 2004 because of disease.^[51] A dedication ceremony of the replanting of the new Arsenal Oak took place on Friday, April 29, 2016, on the front lawn of the Benét House.^[52] The descendant was grown from an acorn of the original Arsenal Oak.^[53]

Forest Hills

A par 3 hole at Forest Hills

Then-Augusta State University opened a second campus in 1991 for athletics, complete with a 3,800-seat arena – Christenberry Fieldhouse, named in 2003 – and softball and baseball fields.^[50] The J. Fleming Norvell Golf House was added in 2007 with an adjacent driving range, putting green, and chipping area.^[54]

The campus contains Forest Hills Golf Club, home of the men's and women's golf teams and a public course available for play, and the 500-bed University Village student housing.

The Nathan Deal Campus for Innovation

The former Georgia Golf Hall of Fame riverfront property in Downtown Augusta has been developed to house the Augusta University Cyber Institute^[55] and the Georgia Cyber Innovation and Training Center which opened in July 2018.^[56] The Riverfront Campus was named in honor of Georgia Governor Nathan Deal who was on hand for the opening ceremony of the Hull-McKnight Building on the campus. A second cyber building will open in December 2018 with potential plans to expand more on the property.

Other

Augusta University has three satellite campuses for clinical study, in Albany, Rome, and Savannah.

UGA–MCG medical partnership

The College of Nursing has a satellite campus in Athens. AU's Medical College of Georgia (MCG) operates a partnership with the University of Georgia on the University of Georgia's new Health Sciences Campus, also in Athens. AU also has clinical campuses in Albany and Savannah, with one planned to open in Rome soon.

In 2010, MCG partnered with the University of Georgia (UGA) to create the UGA-MCG Medical Partnership. The Medical Partnership combines the experience of one of the nation's first medical schools with the resources of one of the nation's most comprehensive leading nationally ranked research universities. The result is an education that allows medical students to reach their full potential in a unique and stimulating learning environment. ^[57]

To accommodate its new Health Sciences Campus, in 2011 the University of Georgia acquired the 58-acre former U.S. Navy Supply Corps School which had extensive landscaped green spaces, more than 400 trees, and several historic buildings located on the hospital and medical office corridor of Prince Avenue near downtown Athens. After renovations and additions, in July 2012, the UGA-MCG Medical Partnership moved to the new University of Georgia Health Sciences Campus.

ECRH–AU medical partnership

East Central Regional Hospital contains two locations in Augusta and Gracewood, was taken over by GRU for administrative purposes in 2009 after the facility was considered for closure. The university's College of Nursing is actively involved in the daily activities, including patient care. The hospital specializes in behavioral health and mental disabilities.^[58]

US Army Cyber Center of Excellence at Fort Gordon–AU Cyber Institute partnership

Fort Gordon is home to the US Army Cyber Center of Excellence an the US Army Cyber Command. The partnership will strengthen the relationship between AU and ARCYBER by assisting soldiers transferring their training to the private sector as well as by sharing resources.^[59] The ribbon-cutting and opening ceremony of Augusta University's Cyber Institute took place in University Hall on the Summerville campus on Friday, September 16, 2016.^[60]

East Georgia State College Augusta

In 2013, East Georgia State College (EGSC), based in the rural city of Swainsboro, began a collaboration with AU to serve Augusta area students who do not meet AU's freshman admission requirements. Students enrolled in the program are enrolled as EGSC students and attend classes on the Summerville Campus. After completing 30 semester hours of college level coursework and attaining a minimum GPA of 2.3, students can then elect to transfer into a bachelor's program at AU. This collaboration replaces the former "University College" program.^[61]