Augusta University (AU) is a

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...

research university A research university or a research-intensive university is a university that is committed to research as a central part of its mission. They are "the key sites of Knowledge production modes, knowledge production", along with "intergenerational ...

and academic medical center in

Augusta, Georgia Augusta is a city on the central eastern border of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. The city lies directly across the Savannah River from North Augusta, South Carolina at the head of its navigable portion. Augusta, the third mos ...

, United States. It is part of the

University System of Georgia The University System of Georgia (USG) is the government agency that includes 26 public institutions of higher learning in the U.S. state of Georgia. The system is governed by the Georgia Board of Regents. It sets goals and dictates gener ...

and has satellite medical campuses in

Savannah A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) biome and ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach th ...

, Albany,

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, and

Athens, Georgia Athens is a consolidated city-county in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. Downtown Athens lies about northeast of downtown Atlanta. The University of Georgia, the state's flagship public university and an Research I university, ...

. It employs over 15,000 people, has more than 56,000 alumni, and is accredited by the

Southern Association of Colleges and Schools The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) is a regional educational accreditor recognized by the United States Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation. As of 2022, the organization oversees ap ...

History

Augusta University was officially formed January 8, 2013, from the consolidation of

Augusta State University Augusta State University was a public university in Augusta, Georgia. It merged with Georgia Health Sciences University in 2012 to form Georgia Regents University, later known as Augusta University. History Augusta State University was founded ...

and Georgia Health Sciences University in

by order of the

Board of Regents In the United States, a board often governs institutions of higher education, including private universities, state universities, and community colleges. In each US state, such boards may govern either the state university system, individual co ...

. Georgia Health Sciences University was chartered in 1828, upon the request of Milton Antony and Joseph Adams Eve, by the state of Georgia as the Medical Academy of Georgia to offer a single course of lectures leading to a bachelor's degree. Augusta State University traces its roots to 1783, when the Academy of Richmond County was founded 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 General Assembly The Georgia General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is bicameral, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. Each of the General Assembly's 236 members serve two-year terms and are directl ...

Campus

Augusta University's main campus in Augusta, Georgia, encompasses more than 200 acres and has four local campuses. It is made up of the former campuses between

and Georgia Health Sciences University, with additions from the University System of Georgia Board of Regents.

Health Sciences

The medical college of the university, its oldest and founding college, began as the Medical Academy of Georgia in 1828, moving into the now historic Old Medical College Building in 1835. The present Health Sciences campus was formed 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. 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 The Medical College of Georgia (often referred to as MCG) is the medical school of Augusta University, the state's only public medical school, and one of the top 10 largest medical schools in the United States. Established in 1828 as the Medical ...

, The Dental College of Georgia, and the College of Science and Mathematics. 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

The Summerville campus was originally used as a

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

arsenal, established in downtown Augusta 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 The Spanish–American War (April 21 – August 13, 1898) was fought between Restoration (Spain), Spain and the United States in 1898. It began with the sinking of the USS Maine (1889), USS ''Maine'' in Havana Harbor in Cuba, and resulted in the ...

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 World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. 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 and Human Development, and Pamplin College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences are located here. Augusta State University-The Belltower and Allgood Hall

Augusta State University-The Belltower and Allgood Hall

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. 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. The descendant was grown from an acorn of the original Arsenal Oak.

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. The J. Fleming Norvell Golf House was added in 2007 with an adjacent driving range, putting green, and chipping area. 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 and the Georgia Cyber Innovation and Training Center which opened in July 2018. The Riverfront Campus was named in honor of Georgia Governor

Nathan Deal John Nathan Deal (born August 25, 1942) is an American politician and former lawyer who served as the 82nd governor of Georgia from 2011 to 2019. A Republican, he previously served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. Deal served ...

who was on hand for the opening ceremony of the Hull-McKnight Building on the campus. The building is also the home of the university's newest School of Computer and Cyber Sciences. 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 medical student clinical study, in Albany,

, and

Rankings

In 2024, '' U.S. News & World Report'' ranked Augusta University tied for No.296 out of 436 National Universities, tied for No.161 out of 225 in Top Public Schools, tied for No.114 out of 686 in Nursing, and tied for No.252 out of 433 in Top Performers on Social Mobility.

Undergraduate admissions

In 2024, Augusta University accepted 85.5% of undergraduate applicants. Augusta University did not report high school

GPA Grading in education is the application of standardized measurements to evaluate different levels of student achievement in a course. Grades can be expressed as letters (usually A to F), as a range (for example, 1 to 6), percentages, or as num ...

data for its accepted students. Standardized test scores reported were an average 1120

SAT The SAT ( ) is a standardized test widely used for college admissions in the United States. Since its debut in 1926, its name and Test score, scoring have changed several times. For much of its history, it was called the Scholastic Aptitude Test ...

score (78% of applicants submitting), or an average 22 ACT score (25% submitting).

Partnerships

UGA–MCG medical partnership

The College of Nursing has a satellite campus in

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

. AU's

(MCG) operates a partnership with the

University of Georgia The University of Georgia (UGA or Georgia) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Athens, Georgia, United States. Chartered in 1785, it is the oldest public university in th ...

on the University of Georgia's new Health Sciences Campus, also in Athens. In 2010, MCG partnered with the

(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. To accommodate its new Health Sciences Campus, in 2011 the

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

. 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, with two locations in Augusta and Gracewood, was taken over by Augusta University for administrative purposes in 2009 after it was considered for closure. The hospital specializes in

behavioral health Mental health is often mistakenly equated with the absence of mental illness. However, mental health refers to a person's overall emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It influences how individuals think, feel, and behave, and how t ...

and

mental disabilities Developmental disability is a diverse group of chronic conditions, comprising mental or physical impairments that arise before adulthood. Developmental disabilities cause individuals living with them many difficulties in certain areas of life, espe ...

. The university's College of Nursing is now actively involved in daily hospital activities including hiring nurses for the hospital, partnering with other institutions to educate students in masters in nursing programs regarding mental healthcare, and utilizing a Dedicated Education Unit to help guide undergraduate nursing students in patient care.

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

Fort Eisenhower Fort Gordon, formerly known as Fort Eisenhower and Camp Gordon, is a United States Army installation established southwest of Augusta, Georgia in October 1941. It is the current home of the United States Army Signal Corps, United States Army Cy ...

is home to the US Army Cyber Center of Excellence and 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. 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.

East Georgia State College Augusta

In 2013, East Georgia State College (EGSC), a University System of Georgia institution 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 is modeled after EGSC's long-standing collaboration with

Georgia Southern University Georgia Southern University (informally known as Southern or Georgia Southern) is a public university, public research university in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. The largest campus is in Statesboro, Georgia, Statesboro, with ...

and replaces the former "University College" program.

Medical illustration program

Augusta University is one of five accredited programs offering a Masters of Science in Medical Illustration in North America in the college of Allied Health Science. The program is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP).

Athletics

The Augusta athletic teams are called the Jaguars. The university is a member of the Division II ranks of the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

(NCAA), primarily competing in the Peach Belt Conference (PBC) since the 1991–92 academic year; except in women's and men's golf, which those sports compete in the

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athlet ...

ranks as an affiliate member of the

Southland Conference The Southland Conference (SLC) is a collegiate athletic conference which operates in the South Central United States (specifically Texas and Louisiana). It participates in the NCAA's Division I for all sports; for football, it participates in ...

. Augusta competes in 13 intercollegiate varsity sports: Men's sports include baseball, basketball, cross country, golf, tennis & track & field; while women's sports include basketball, cross country, golf, softball, tennis, track & field and volleyball.

Golf

The men's golf program captured the school's first NCAA Division I Men's Golf National Championship on June 6, 2010, in Ooltewah, Tennessee, when the Jaguars defeated Oklahoma State University. The Jags then became the first Division I men's golf program in 27 years to repeat as National Champions on June 5, 2011, when they defeated the University of Georgia at Karsten Creek Golf Club in Stillwater, Oklahoma.

Notable alumni and faculty

Notable alumni and faculty of Augusta University's predecessor institutions include: * Doug Barnard, Jr., Congressman * Chen Be-yue,

Justice In its broadest sense, justice is the idea that individuals should be treated fairly. According to the ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', the most plausible candidate for a core definition comes from the ''Institutes (Justinian), Inst ...

of the

Constitutional Court A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ru ...

of the

Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

* John Britton, former professor, murdered by an anti-abortion extremist in 1994 * Paul Broun, Congressman *

Joelle Carter Joelle Marie Carter (born October 10, 1972) is an American actress. She is known for playing Ava Crowder in the FX series '' Justified'', and Laura Nagel in the NBC show '' Chicago Justice'', part of the One Chicago universe. Early life Cart ...

, actress * Edward J. Cashin, American historian; Professor emeritus of History; Director of the Center for the Study of Georgia History * Hervey M. Cleckley, co-author of the book ''The Three Faces of Eve'' * Judith Ortiz Cofer, author * Leila Denmark, pediatrician and medical researcher; co-developer of the pertussis vaccine * Michael T. Dugan, accounting academic; Professor of Accounting at Augusta University * Phil Gingrey, Congressman * Robert Benjamin Greenblatt, Physician and medical researcher specializing in endocrinology. He served as professor and chairman of MCG's Department of Endocrinology and was well-known for his work in women's reproductive health. *

Samuel L. Perry Samuel L. Perry is an American sociologist known for his research on American Christianity, politics, and sexual behavior. He is currently the Sam K. Viersen Presidential Professor of Sociology at the University of Oklahoma. The topics of Perr ...

, Professor of Sociology at the

University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma, United States. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two territories became the ...

* Isaac S. Hopkins, first President of

Georgia Institute of Technology The Georgia Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Georgia Tech, GT, and simply Tech or the Institute) is a public university, public research university and Institute of technology (United States), institute of technology in Atlanta, ...

* Anthony Kellman, Professor of English and Creative Writing; poet, novelist and musician * Darrell Kirch, AAMC president * Marguerite Littleton Kearney, director, Division of Extramural Science Programs,

National Institute of Nursing Research The National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR), as part of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, supports clinical and basic research to establish a Evidence-based medicine, scientific basis for the Nurse, nursing care of individuals across ...

* Lee Ann Liska, hospital administrator *

Michael Patrick Mulroy Michael Patrick Mulroy (born 1967) is the former United States Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense (DASD) for the Middle East, serving under Secretary James N. Mattis and Secretary Mark T. Esper. He was responsible for representing the Unite ...

, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Secretary

James Mattis James Norman Mattis (born September 8, 1950) is an American military officer who served as the 26th United States secretary of defense from 2017 to 2019. A retired Marine Corps four-star general, he commanded forces in the Persian Gulf War, th ...

* Simona Hunyadi Murph, Scientist, Engineer & Inventor at

Savannah River National Laboratory The Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) is a multi-program United States Department of Energy national laboratories, national laboratory for the U.S. United States Department of Energy, Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Environment ...

; adjunct professor at

* Matthew L. Nathan, 37th Surgeon General of the United States Navy * No-Hee Park, Dean, UCLA School of Dentistry and notable researcher of oral (head and neck) cancer and aging researchDavid Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
/ref> *

Patrick Reed Patrick Nathaniel Reed (born August 5, 1990) is an American professional golfer. He has nine tournament victories on the PGA Tour, including one major championship, the 2018 Masters Tournament, and two World Golf Championships, the 2014 WGC-C ...

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also known as the PGA Tour, the PGA Tour Champion ...

golfer *

Garret Siler Garret Andrew Siler (born October 25, 1986) is an American former professional basketball player. He formerly played center for Augusta State University (now Augusta University). When he went undrafted in the 2009 NBA draft, he first signed wit ...

, former NBA basketball player, currently holds the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

record for field goal percentage * Ed Tarver,

United States Attorney United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal ...

* Corbett H. Thigpen, co-author of the book ''The Three Faces of Eve'' * Laken Riley, murder victim

References

External links

*
Official athletics website

Digital Library of Georgia The Digital Library of Georgia (DLG) is an online public collection of documents and media about the history and culture of the state of Georgia, United States. The collection includes more than a million digitized objects from more than 200 Georgi ...

National Park Service "Discover Our Shared Heritage" travel itinerary
{{Coord, 33.47170, N, 81.98885, W, source:placeopedia, display=title Universities and colleges accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Universities and colleges formed by merger in the United States Educational institutions established in 1828 Education in Augusta, Georgia Public universities and colleges in Georgia (U.S. state) Economy of Augusta, Georgia Buildings and structures in Augusta, Georgia University System of Georgia