Information & Administration: Chronological Highlights

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Chronological Highlights

1873 North Georgia Agricultural College (NGAC) is established on January 6, 1873, as a land grant school of agriculture and mechanical arts. David W. Lewis is appointed president. 177 students register; 70 are female. Students request military training be included as part of the curriculum, thus beginning the Corps of Cadets.

1876 First Lieutenant Joseph Gerrard is appointed the first Commandant of Cadets.

1878 Miss Willie Lewis is the first woman to receive a degree from a state-supported college in Georgia.

1878 Fire destroys the old Mint Building, the only building on campus.

1880 The Price Memorial Building is built on the foundations of the Mint Building.

1886 Major W. S. Bassinger becomes second president.

1889 The Business department is added to the college curriculum.

1893 Reverend Dr. Isaac W. Waddell elected third president of college.

1897 J.S. Stewart elected fourth president.

1898 The first Dormitory building commissioned.

1903 Dr. E. S. Avis elected fifth president of college, but dies within eight months.

1904 Dr. G.R. Glenn elected sixth president of NGAC.

1914 Over 370 NGAC men and women serve in World War I.

1916 The National Defense Act officially establishes the Army Reserve Officer Training Corps (AROTC).

1920 The first AROTC class graduates. 180 officers are commissioned.

1922 Dr. Marion DuBose is the first member of the faculty to be named president.

1925 Colonel John W. West is first NGAC alumnus to be elected president of North Georgia.

1926 NGAC accredited by Georgia Association of Colleges. A gymnasium is built on campus.

1930 North Georgia Agricultural College changes name to North Georgia College (NGC) to reflect change to liberal arts curriculum.

1932 The Board of Regents for the University System of Georgia is created by Georgia General Assembly to become the governing body with control of all state-supported colleges.

1933 Primarily due to the Great Depression, NGC becomes a junior college.

1934 Jonathan C. Rogers is appointed tenth president of NGC.

1942 NGC campus is flooded with recruiters from all branches of military service. A U.S. Navy publicity stunt brings media attention to a group of recruits from the Corps of Cadets purportedly forming a "Hell's Angels" aviation squadron. Many North Georgia cadets who served in World War II lost their lives in service to their country.

1946 President Jonathan Rogers developed NGC into the largest junior college in the state and enables it to regain senior college status.

1949 Dr. Merritt E. Hoag becomes eleventh president of NGC.

1952 NGC officially becomes a Branch General ROTC program. Cadets may now be commissioned into any branch of the Army.

1970 Dr. John H. Owen named twelfth president of NGC.

1972 The Nursing program added to curriculum. All male students living on campus required to participate in the military program, which becomes voluntary for local male commuters.

1974 Women are accepted into Corps of Cadets. The Master of Education degree is approved as the first graduate program to be offered at NGC.

1976 Cadet Janet Walls is first female cadet from NGC to be commissioned.

1991 Masters of Physical Therapy is added as a second graduate program. ROTC program is named the "Number One" college military program in the nation.

1993 Dr. Delmas J. Allen becomes thirteenth president of NGC.

1995 ROTC program is again named "Number One" college military program in nation.

1996 The Board of Regents grants university status to college, thus changing the school's name to North Georgia College & State University (NGCSU). Masters of Public Administration is added as third graduate program. University is reorganized into five schools and two divisions.

1997 Dr. Sherman Day named fourteenth president of NGCSU. The Masters of Nursing in Family Nurse Practitioner becomes fourth graduate program available at NGCSU.

1999 Masters of Science in Community Counseling approved at NGCSU. Nathaniel Hansford is named as the fifteenth president of NGCSU.

2000 The Specialist Degree in Educational Leadership is approved by Board of Regents.

2001 Off-campus programs are established in Forsyth County and Nursing programs in Marietta and Austell. Campus size is significantly increased with the purchase of 218 acres by the NGCSU Foundation.

2002 NGCSU is named headquarters for the Georgia Servant Leadership Alliance, a seven institution consortium. John H. Owen Hall opened and the new Health and Natural Sciences Building is opened and dedicated.

2003 The John H. Owen Residence Hall was dedicated to the former North Georgia president of 22 years. The Forsyth program flourishes gaining an on-site coordinator and additional classrooms.

2004 The Pennington Military Leadership Center was dedicated on Veterans Day, Nov. 11, 2004. The renovated and rebuilt structure that formerly housed the physical plant operations now stands next tot he maint entrance to campus.

2005 In January 2005, Dr. David L. Potter is named the 16th President of NGCSU. In fall 2005, the university set a new enrollment record of more than 4,700 students, the largest enrollment in North Georgia's 132-history.

2006 The university's first doctoral program, leading to the doctor of physical therapy degree, was approved by the Board of Regents to be administered on the NGCSU campus, beginning in 2006, in association with the Medical College of Georgia and Armstrong Atlantic State University.

2007 During the 2006-2007 year, a $10 million gift from Mike and Lynn Cottrell to the School of Business was received, the larged donation to NGCSU in the institution's 134-year history. The School of Business was renamed the Mike Cottrell School of Business in honor of this generous gift.