University of West Georgia

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The University of West Georgia is a liberal arts university located in Carrollton, Georgia, approximately 50 miles (80 km) west of Atlanta, Georgia. It has an enrollment of 10,255 students (Fall 2003). The University is built on a 394 acre (2 km²) Carrollton, Georgia campus and off-campus classes are available in Dalton, in Newnan, and at Georgia Highlands College in Rome. The campus is an eclectic blend of old and new with structures dating from the early 1900s, as well as buildings of the most modern styles. The front or "Old Campus," is a three-block-long expanse of grassy hills shaded by old oak, elm, and maple trees. The extended modern campus stretches north of the "Old Campus." Overall, the campus has more than 50 buildings. The total budget for the university is over $100 million.

Contents

1 History
2 Academics
3 Psychology Program
4 Extra-Curricular
5 See also
6 External links
7 Sources

History

The University originated in 1906 as the Fourth District Mechanical & Agricultural School. In 1957 the Georgia Board of Regents authorized the school to confer a B.S. in Education. In 1967 the Board of Regents authorized the creation of a graduate-level program issuing master's degrees. In 1996, the name was changed by the Board from West Georgia College to State University of West Georgia, as part of the changes made to the entire University System of Georgia. On January 12th, 2005, the name of the institution was again changed by the Board from State University of West Georgia to University of West Georgia [link].

Academics

View of campus from third floor of Ingram Library

The University offers 113 programs of study through the College of Arts and Sciences, the Richards College of Business, the College of Education, the Honors College, and the Graduate School. Approximately 50 programs are available at the bachelor's level, 50 at the master's and specialist levels, and one at the doctoral level. The University operates an honors program through its Honors College. In addition, the university is one of few in the United States to hold a residential, early entrance to college opportunity for high school juniors and seniors, the Advanced Academy of Georgia. Advanced Academy students take college courses and reside on campus under the supervision of a professional residential staff. In so doing, when Academy students graduate from high school, they have completed two years of university work. Some of them graduate from high school almost as college seniors, and two Academy students have graduated from their high schools in June, and the University in December. Students in the Academy and Honors College have achieved national acclaim at the National Collegiate Honors Council, and other student research competitions, and have secured admission into such institutions as Harvard, MIT, Yale, and Oxford. A hallmark of the University of West Georgia is that its senior faculty, many with national credentials and honors, department chairs, deans, vice presidents, and the president of the university teach undergraduate courses. In fact, the VPAA, Dr. Tim Hynes, has taught an undergraduate course each of his 10 years at UWG, and the president, Dr. Beheruz N. Sethna, who is in his 12th year as President, puts his professor title before that of his administrative title, has taught an undergraduate course every year, has been elected Honors Professor of the Year by the students, and has been the faculty mentor for student research teams which have gone on to win national recognition and awards for their research work. On May 7th, 2004, the University issued its first doctoral degree [link]. On May 10, 2006, the University awarded its 50,000th degree.

Psychology Program

The University is unique in that it is one of only two public universities in the United States offering a psychology program with a humanistic and transpersonal focus. In 1967 Mike Arons, a student of Abraham Maslow, Paul Ricoeur, and Jim Klee, became chair of the West Georgia psychology department. Jim Thomas, then on the psychology faculty at West Georgia, and others had asked Abraham Maslow to recommend someone to them to initiate a humanistic emphasis there, and Arons was Maslow's recommendation. West Georgia's psychology department still stands as a unique center of humanistic and transpersonal psychology, based in existential and phenomenological philosophy. UWG has recently been approved to offer a doctorate level degree in this field.

Extra-Curricular

Satellite Image of the campus

Students have access to more than 90 student organizations covering academics, cultural/international, departmental/educational, professional and honor groups, politics, religion, service, recreation and sports, social fraternities and sororities, and debate. The athletics program fields men's intercollegiate teams in football, baseball, basketball, and cross country, and women's teams in basketball, cross country, soccer, softball, and volleyball. All intercollegiate sports are affiliated with Division II of the NCAA. The football team captured the 1982 NCAA Division III national championship and the women's basketball team won the 1974 AIAW small college national championship. In 2006, amid the NCAA Indian Mascots scandal, the UWG changed its athletic nickname to the "Wolves." [link]

The 394 acre (2 km²) pedestrian campus also includes an Indoor Pool, a Library with 561,900 volumes, a Gym, computer labs, tennis courts, baseball fields, soccer fields, a nature trail, a quarter-mile (400 m) running track, and basketball courts.

The university also operates a noncommercial radio station (WUWG-FM) at 90.7 MHz FM. It has been on the air since 1973 (originally as WWGC-FM), serving all of Carrollton and Carroll County as well as the student body of the university. The station is listener-supported affiliate of Public Radio International, with diverse programming from a wide variety of genres.

External links

Sources

http://www.usg.edu/inst/uwg/
http://www.westga.edu/documents/UG-full-2003.pdf
http://www.isep.org/us/ga/
http://www.westga.edu/~ucm/news/newmascot.html

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