The educational institution was founded in 1885 as the Georgia School of Technology as part of Reconstruction plans to build an industrial economy in the Southern United States. Initially it offered a degree in mechanical engineering only. By 1901, its curriculum had expanded to include electrical engineering, civil engineering, and chemical engineering. In 1948, the school changed its name to reflect its evolution from a trade school to a larger and more capable technical institute and research university.
Today, Georgia Tech is organized into six distinct colleges, containing approximately 31 departments/units, with a strong emphasis on science and technology. It is well recognized for its programs in engineering, computing, and the sciences, and offers degrees in architecture, liberal arts, and management.
Georgia Tech's main campus occupies a large part of Midtown Atlanta, bordered by 10th Street to the north and by North Avenue to the south, placing it well in sight of the Atlanta skyline. In 1996, the campus was the site of the athletes' village and a venue for a number of athletic events for the 1996 Summer Olympics. Whereas, previously, the midtown location placed Georgia Tech students in the middle of one of the highest metropolitan crime-rate areas in America, the construction of the Olympic village along with subsequent gentrification of the surrounding areas greatly increased public safety.
Student athletics, both organized and intramural, are an important part of student and alumni life. The school's intercollegiate competitive sports teams, the Yellow Jackets, and the nationally recognized fight song Ramblin' Wreck from Georgia Tech, have helped keep Georgia Tech in the national spotlight.
History
Founded on October 13, 1885, the Georgia School of Technology opened its doors in October 1888 to eighty-four students. The School's creation signaled the beginning of the transformation of the agrarian South to an industrial economy. During its first fifty years, Tech grew from a narrowly focused trade school to a regionally recognized technological university.
In 1948, the School's name was changed to the Georgia Institute of Technology to reflect a growing focus on advanced technological and scientific research. Women students were admitted in 1952, and in 1961 Georgia Tech became the first university in the Deep South to admit African American students without a court order.
In recent years, Georgia Tech has been a national leader in managing the global transition from an industrial economy to an information economy. Throughout its long history, Georgia Tech has always focused its efforts on preparing students to use their innovative skills and strong work ethic to solve real-world problems and improve the lives of people around the globe.
From the world-famous "Ramblin' Wreck" fight song to the Ramblin' Wreck Parade held every Homecoming to the fun and festivities of RATS Week, the Tech campus is steeped in time-honored traditions that students embrace from generation to generation.
Campus
The Georgia Tech campus is located in Midtown, an area north of downtown Atlanta. Although a number of skyscrapers — most visibly the headquarters of AT&T, The Coca-Cola Company, and Bank of America — are visible from all points on campus, the campus itself has few buildings over four stories and has a great deal of greenery. This gives it a distinctly suburban atmosphere quite different from other Atlanta campuses such as that of Georgia State University.
The campus is organized into four main parts: West Campus, East Campus, Central Campus, and Technology Square. West Campus and East Campus are both occupied primarily by student living complexes, while Central Campus is reserved primarily for teaching and research buildings.
Academic Reputation
The student body consists of 18,500 graduate and undergraduate students, and more than 900 full-time instructional faculty.
Historically, female enrollment at engineering institutions has been quite low and Georgia Tech is no exception. With about twice as many male students as females, Georgia Tech has one of the most unbalanced male-to-female ratios of any co-ed university. However, this is slowly changing presumably due to the university's growing liberal arts programs as well as outreach programs to encourage more female high school students to consider careers in science and engineering, such as the "Women In Engineering" program and also sponsoring a chapter of The Society of Women Engineers. As of Spring 2007, the freshman class of 2006–2007 had a ratio of 68.8% to 31.2%. The highest freshman ratio in the past few years (counting only Fall and Spring semesters) was Spring 2006, with a ratio of 70.5% to 29.5%.
The Georgia Institute of Technology is a public institution, receiving funds from the State of Georgia, tuition, fees, research grants, and alumni contributions. In 2006, the Institute's revenue amounted to approximately $879 million, with 27% of that amount from the state, and 12% from tuition and fees. Most of the remaining funds were donated by private sources, including the most generous alumni donor base, percentage-wise, of any public university ranked in the top 50. The Institute's expenses for 2006 were $860 million; 41% of that figure went to research, 21% to instruction, and 1% to scholarships.
Georgia Tech is consistently ranked well; it has remained in the top ten public universities in the United States for the last ten years. In 2008, U.S. News & World Report ranked Tech as the No. 7 public university, and 35th among all universities. Tech also has the No. 4 undergraduate engineering program, and the No. 4 graduate engineering program. Highly ranked engineering programs include its Schools of Industrial Engineering (1st), Biomedical (3rd), Mechanical (3rd), Aerospace (2nd), Electrical (4th), and Civil Engineering (4th) at the undergraduate level and Industrial Engineering (1st), Biomedical (2nd), and Aerospace (2nd) at the graduate level.
Research
Georgia Tech is currently classified by The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching as a university with very high research activity. Much of this research is funded by large corporations or governmental organizations. In addition to research performed by its academic units, Georgia Tech is affiliated with a nonprofit research organization referred to as the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI). GTRI provides sponsored research in a variety of technical specialties including radar, electro-optics, and materials engineering. Forty percent of Georgia Tech's research, especially government-funded classified work, is conducted through this counterpart organization. GTRI employs over 1,300 people, conducting over $110 million in research every year.
Colleges
College of Architecture
College of Management
College of Liberal Arts College of Computing
College of Engineering
College of Sciences
Georgia Institute of Technology was ranked 83rd in the 2008 Thes-Qs World University Ranking
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