Georgia College and State University (Georgia College or GCSU) is a public liberal arts university institution located in Milledgeville, Georgia, United States. Serving a student body of roughly 7,300, the university operates as a member of both the University System of Georgia and the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges. The school officially received its designation as the state's "Public Liberal Arts University" from the Georgia Board of Regents in 1996.
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History
Georgia College was established after lobbying from women's education advocates such as Rebecca Latimer Felton, Julia Flisch, and Susan Cobb Milton Atkinson. In support of their petitions, Susan's husband, William Y. Atkinson, sponsored legislation for the founding of a state women's college. Georgia College was chartered on November 8, 1889 as Georgia Normal and Industrial College. Julia Flisch spoke at the cornerstone ceremony on November 27, 1890. The school did not formally open until September 30, 1891. Georgia College's emphasis at the time was largely vocational, and its major task was to prepare young women for teaching or industrial careers. In 1917, in keeping with economic and cultural changes in the state, Georgia Normal and Industrial College was authorized to grant 4-year degrees, the first of which was awarded in 1921. In 1922, the institution's name was changed to Georgia State College for Women.
The university has been a unit of the University System of Georgia since the system's founding in 1932. Mary "Flannery" O'Connor entered as a freshman in 1942. Active in student publications, she graduated three years later with a degree in social science and became one of the South's most noted writers. Some of her early short stories were published during this time, and her story, "A Late Encounter with the Enemy" is loosely based on an occurrence near campus. Also during World War II, Georgia State College for Women served as one of four colleges that trained WAVES for the U.S. Navy. Some of O'Connor's comics from this period depict the WAVES. After the war, enrollment declined as women preferred co-educational colleges.
The name was changed to Woman's College of Georgia in 1961, and, when the institution became coeducational in 1967, it became Georgia College at Milledgeville. The name was shortened to Georgia College in 1971. In August 1996, the Board of Regents approved a change of name to Georgia College and State University, and a new mission as Georgia's Public Liberal Arts University.
Campus
The campus is divided into four parts: Central Campus, South Campus, West Campus, and East Campus.
Central Campus was built on the remains of Penitentiary Square across from the Governor's Mansion. The Governor's Mansion served as the first dormitory. The Main Building burned down in 1924. In the 1930s, Baldwin County Jail was adjacent to campus.Presently, Central Campus comprises about 43.2 acres (17.5 ha) in the center of Milledgeville, near the grounds of the former state capitol (now Georgia Military College). The campus contains red brick buildings and white Corinthian columns, representative of those constructed during the pre-Civil War Antebellum period, when Milledgeville was the capital of Georgia. Bell Hall and Russell Auditorium are credited to architect J. Reginald MacEachron. Atkinson Hall (1896), originally a dormitory, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and now serves as the home of the College of Business. The campus included the "Peabody Model School" (named after the George Peabody College, now part of Vanderbilt University). Other historic buildings on the campus include Sanford Hall (1938), Russell Auditorium (1926), Ina Dillard Russell Art Museum (the original section of the library) (1932), Chappell Hall (1963) (on the site of an earlier Chappell Hall built in 1907), Parks Hall (1911), Terrell Hall (1908), Maxwell Student Union (1972), Beeson Hall (1937), Porter Hall (1939), Lanier Hall (1926), Ennis Hall (1920), and Herty Hall (1954 and expanded in 1972).Ina Dillard Russell Library houses the manuscript collection of author Flannery O'Connor, an alumna of the university, and of U.S. Senator Paul Coverdell, whose career included serving as director of the Peace Corps when the Berlin Wall fell.Most of the university's residence halls are located on South Campus by the main sports complex, called the Centennial Center. The Old Governor's Mansion is also within walking distance of the residence halls and front campus.
West Campus, a 500-acre (200 ha) extension two miles (3.2 km) from Central Campus, contains The Village student apartments and athletic fields.
East Campus is a large recreational area on Lake Laurel (approximately 5 minutes from Central Campus) which is used by students in the university's Environmental Science and Outdoor Education programs.
The Center for Innovation at Georgia College and State University opened in 2022.
Academics
Students pursue majors and graduate degree programs throughout the university's four colleges: College of Arts & Sciences, J. Whitney Bunting College of Business and Technology, John H. Lounsbury College of Education, and College of Health Sciences.
Rankings
In 2025, U.S. News & World Report ranked the university tied for No.15 out of 135 Regional Universities South, tied for No.6 in Top Public Schools, No.5 in Best Undergraduate Teaching, and tied for No.4 in Most Innovative Schools.
Admissions
For students accepted and enrolled in the Fall 2024, the average GPA was 3.70, the average SAT score was 1193, and the average ACT score was 26.
Athletics
The university's teams are known as the Georgia College Bobcats. The university is currently a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division II and the Peach Belt Conference. Georgia College sponsors varsity teams in baseball, men's and women's basketball, men's and women's cheerleading, men's and women's cross country, golf, dance team, women's soccer, softball, men's and women's tennis, women's volleyball, men's and women's eSports and collegiate bass fishing.
Student life
Student housing
Georgia College and State University (GSCU) provides comprehensive on-campus housing options. Students can choose between traditional suite-style residence halls located on Central Campus or fully equipped, apartment-style living at The Village on West Campus.
Greek life
GCSU has 20 fraternities and sororities. They are governed by three leadership councils and have over 2,100 students.
Student Government Association
Georgia College's Student Government Association (SGA) serves the campus community by addressing student concerns, promoting understanding within the college community, and administering all matters which are delegated to the student government by the university president. The responsibility for the governing of the student body is vested in the students themselves. All students are members of the SGA upon their enrollment, and officers and senators are elected on a yearly basis.
Notable alumni
Arts and letters
Flannery O'Connor, writer and essayist
Sherrilyn Kenyon, author
Jackson Pearce, author (attended)
Victoria Kennefick, poet (attended)
Margaret Anne Barnes, author and journalist
Rachael Kirkconnell, television personality
Tanvi Ganesh Lonkar, actress
Andy Offutt Irwin, storyteller and singer
Brantly Gilbert, singer
Education
Gertrude Ehrlich, mathematician
Helen Matthews Lewis, sociologist, historian, and activist
Susan Dowdell Myrick, journalist, educator, author, and conservationist
Colette Pierce Burnette, first female president of Huston-Tillotson University
Politics and Business
Ruth Carter Stapleton, Christian evangelist and sister of former U.S. president Jimmy Carter
Sandra Deal, literacy advocate and First Lady of Georgia
Allison Hooker, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs
Brenda Stanley, Oklahoma senator
Tangie Herring, Georgia state representative
Robbin Shipp, attorney and former Georgia state representative
Wilfred Dukes, Georgia state representative
Mack Jackson, Georgia state representative
Robert Dickey, Georgia state representative
Dicksie Bradley Bandy, entrepreneur and historian
Tony Nicely, former CEO of GEICO
Sports
Julius Joseph, basketball player
Michael Antonini, baseball pitcher (attended)
Notable faculty
Julia Flisch, writer, women's rights advocate
William Ivy Hair, historian
Peter Selgin, writer
Chika Unigwe, writer
Kerry James Evans, poet