Augusta State University

Augusta University

Former names	Augusta College
Type	Public
Active	January 27, 1785 (1785-01-27)–August 10, 2012 (2012-08-10)
President	Shirley Kenny (interim)[1]
Academic staff	200
Administrative staff	300
Students	6,919 [2]
Undergraduates	5,628[2]
Postgraduates	960[2]
Location	Augusta, Georgia, United States 33°28′37″N 82°01′23″W / 33.476843°N 82.023025°W / 33.476843; -82.023025Coordinates: 33°28′37″N 82°01′23″W / 33.476843°N 82.023025°W / 33.476843; -82.023025
Campus	Urban
Colors	Blue and White
Athletics	NCAA Division II
Mascot	Jaguars
Affiliations	Peach Belt Conference
Website	www.aug.edu

Augusta State University was a public university located in Augusta, Georgia, United States. On August 10, 2012, Augusta State merged with Georgia Health Sciences University to form Georgia Regents University, which would later be known as Augusta University.

History

Augusta State University was founded as the Academy of Richmond County in 1783 as a high school. It opened in 1785 and offered collegiate-level classes from its earliest days, and its classes were overseen by the Georgia state legislature. Graduates were accepted into colleges as sophomores or juniors. Operation of the academy was overseen by a board of trustees until 1909, when control was passed to the Augusta Board of Education. The college-level classes continued to be overseen by a committee of the state legislature. As enrollment increased, land for a new building was purchased. In 1925, prior to completion of the new building, the Junior College of Augusta was established. In 1957, the junior college separated from the academy and moved to its present location on Walton Way.

In 1958, the college became a part of the University System of Georgia and its name was formally changed to Augusta College. It remained a two-year college until 1963, when it attained four-year status. A second campus was added on Wrightsboro Road, which now houses athletics, kinesiology & health science, a golf house, and 18-hole golf course.

In 1996, Augusta College was renamed Augusta State University, along with name changes mandated for most of the rest of the university system.

On August 10, 2012, the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia approved the merger of the school by fall 2013 with nearby Georgia Health Sciences University. Ricardo Azziz took the helm of ASU in summer of 2012 in preparation for the oncoming consolidation. The board named the new university Georgia Regents University, which caused considerable local controversy.^[3] It also triggered a lawsuit for alleged trademark infringement by Regent University in Virginia, which was settled out of court in June 2013.^[4][5]

On September 15, 2015 Georgia Regents University voted and changed the name to "Augusta University". This change came from years of frustration from alumni and decreased fundraising brought in following the name change to GRU. "Augusta University" was one of the top choices during the original name change from Augusta State to GRU.

Academics

Augusta State was organized into six undergraduate colleges: Katherine Reese Pamplin College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, James M. Hull College of Business, the College of Education, the College of Allied Health Sciences, the College of Science and Mathematics, and the College of Nursing. Students could earn associate, bachelor, master, and specialist degrees in over 100 programs of study as well as a paralegal certificate and a cooperative doctorate. There was an Honors Program as well as a Cooperative Education program in which students alternated between classroom enrollment and real-life work experience in their field of study. Students also had opportunities for internships and study abroad programs.

The James M. Hull College of Business was featured by The Princeton Review in the 2008 edition of, "Best 290 Business Schools."^[6]

In May 2009 the university hosted the 25th annual National Science Olympiad tournament.

Athletics

Augusta State's athletic programs competed at the Division II level in the Peach Belt Conference of the NCAA, except for the men's and women's golf programs, both of which were Division I Independents.

The Jaguars' men's golf team won its first national title in 2010, knocking off perennial power Oklahoma State in the championship match at The Honors Course in Ooltewah, Tennessee. They defended their title in 2011 at Oklahoma State's home course, Karsten Creek, defeating the top-ranked Cowboys in the national semifinals and then Georgia in the final round of match play to reclaim the championship. The Jaguars became the first men's golf team to win consecutive national titles since Houston in 1984–85. They won five Big South Conference championships: 1985, 1986, 1987, 1990, 1991 under coach Ernie Lanford.

Augusta State's men's basketball program reached the Division II Elite Eight in Springfield, MA three consecutive years from 2008-2010, advancing as far as the national title game in '08. Through the end of the 2010-11 season, ASU had been nationally ranked for 65 consecutive weeks, the fifth-longest streak in the history of Division II basketball.^[7]

Augusta State's men's tennis program reached the NCAA Championships for the first time in Louisville, Kentucky, in 2012. The program made the Final Four in an epic run. It was the most successful year in the tennis program of the Jaguars.^[8] Also, Bernardo Fernandes landed the National honors in singles.^[9]

Other athletic programs at ASU included women's basketball, baseball, softball, men's and women's cross country, men's and women's tennis and volleyball.

Campus

Benet House

Payne Hall (former Augusta Arsenal building)

Reese Library

Reese Library, the information center of Augusta State, provided a wide variety of services for students. Thousands of journals, newspaper articles and books were available in electronic full-text through GALILEO, an initiative of the University System of Georgia. In support of student learning and research there was a collection of more than 503,000 print and online books, plus an extensive collection of government publications, special collections and archives of materials relating to Georgia Regents and the greater Augusta area, over 500 print periodicals and more than 30,000 online journal titles.

There were quiet study areas for individuals and groups, casual seating areas and study rooms, a family room for students with children, wireless connectivity to the Internet, photocopiers, microfilm copiers, laptops available to borrow, and more than 50 public computers providing access to online databases and full-text information.

GIL, the library’s computerized catalog, provided access to information about library materials and other university system libraries. GALILEO, a statewide computer system, provided a wealth of additional information resources including more than 200 journal and newspaper databases, some with full text. These and other electronic information resources were available in the library, on the campus computer network, and, in most cases from off-campus computers with a password. Materials from other libraries could be obtained through inter library loan via the University System of Georgia Universal Catalog’s GIL Express for books and via ILLIAD for books and journal articles, with the option of having journal articles delivered directly to campus email accounts.

The building is named for Dr. and Mrs. John T. Reese, parents of alumna Katherine Reese Pamplin. The three-story 80,000-square-foot (7,400 m²) library has a seating capacity of just over 500. The library, now part of Georgia Regents University, is open 85.5 hours a week when classes are in session, with breaks in the academic schedule.

Other buildings

Allgood Hall

The early 21st century saw substantial development of the campus, with about $100 million worth of new construction. Some of the new buildings included the Science Building (completed in 1997), Allgood Hall (2002), University Hall (2004), the Jaguar Student Activities Center (commonly known as "The JSAC"; 2006), and the D. Douglas Bernard, Jr. Amphitheatre (2008). Other existing structures on campus are Washington Hall, which houses the art department and gallery as well as bookstore and some business offices, the fine arts building, the Maxwell Theatre, and Galloway Hall, which houses Military Science and Continuing Education. Historic Arsenal Buildings (Rains, Benet, Payne, and Fanning) house administrative offices. Bellevue Hall houses the Dean of Students and academic affair. Boykin Wright Hall houses Counseling and the Career Center. ASU also has the Maxwell Alumni Houses, and a Guardhouse History Museum. The Christenberry Fieldhouse houses athletics and Kinesiology and Health Science.

Arsenal Oak

The Arsenal Oak in 2004

'The Arsenal Oak was a White oak tree located at the center of the campus. The oak tree, which was estimated to be over 250 years old, formed the basis of the university's logo. It bore the name, Arsenal Oak, because the university's campus was once the Augusta Arsenal. It is said that the poet Stephen Vincent Benét (the author of "John Brown's Body" and "The Devil and Daniel Webster" sat beneath the branches of the Arsenal Oak as a boy as he wrote his poetry. His father Colonel J. Walker Benét was stationed at the arsenal. Despite a decade long effort to save the Arsenal Oak from wood borers and hypoxylon canker, the diseased tree was removed in July 2004.

Notable alumni

See also

• Stephen Vincent Benet House
• Summerville (Augusta, Georgia)

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Augusta State University.

• Augusta State University — official website
• Augusta State University at universities.com
• Augusta State University athletics — official athletics website
• Augusta State University Reese Library