The 'Georgia Institute of Technology', commonly known as 'Georgia Tech', is a
public,
coeducational
research university, part of the
University System of Georgia, and located in
Atlanta, Georgia,
USA, with in
Savannah, Georgia,
Metz, France,
Shanghai, China, and
Singapore. Georgia Tech is best known for its programs in
engineering,
computing, and the
sciences, though it also offers degrees in
architecture,
liberal arts, and
management.
Established in 1885
and opened in 1888 with the construction of
Tech Tower and a shop building,
[4] Georgia Tech's campus occupies a large part of
Midtown Atlanta. Founded as the 'Georgia School of Technology', it changed its name in 1948 to reflect its evolution from a
trade school to a
technical institute and
research university, and its
history and
traditions reflect that change. In 1996, it was the site of the athletes' village and a venue for a number of athletic events for the
1996 Summer Olympics.
History
Main articles: History of Georgia Tech
Establishment
The idea of Georgia Institute of Technology was introduced in 1865 during the
Reconstruction period. Two former
Confederate officers, Major
John Fletcher Hanson and
Nathaniel Edwin Harris, who had become prominent citizens in the town of
Macon, Georgia after the
war, strongly believed that the South needed to improve its technology to compete with the
industrial revolution that was occurring throughout the North.
Many Southerners at this time agreed with this idea. However, because the American South of that era was mainly comprised of agricultural workers and few technical developments were occurring, a technology school was needed.
In 1882, prominent Georgians, authorized by the
Georgia State Legislature and led by Harris, formed a committee and visited the Northeast to see firsthand how technology schools worked. Using examples from the Worcester County Free Institute of Industrial Science (now
Worcester Polytechnic Institute) and the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Atlanta technology school began development on the Worcester Free Institute model, which stressed a combination of "theory and practice," the "practice" component including student employment and production of consumer items to generate revenue for the school.
[6]
On
October 13,
1885,
Georgia Governor Henry D. McDaniel signed the bill to create and fund the new school.
[1] In
1887, Atlanta pioneer
Richard Peters donated four acres of his extensive land holdings to the state;
this land was bounded on the south by
North Avenue, and on the west by Cherry Street.
He then sold five adjoining acres of land to the state for
$10,000,
approximately equivalent to $182,717.44 in 2006.
[8] This land was located near the northern
city limits of Atlanta at the time of its founding, although the city has now expanded several miles beyond it. A historical marker on the large hill in
Central Campus notes that the site occupied by the school's first buildings once held fortifications built to protect Atlanta during the
Atlanta Campaign of the
American Civil War. The surrender of the city took place on the southwestern boundary of the modern Georgia Tech campus in 1864.
[9]
Early years
An early picture of Georgia Tech
The Georgia School of Technology opened its doors in the fall of 1888 with only two buildings.
One building (now
Tech Tower, an administrative headquarters) had classrooms to teach students; The second building featured a shop and had a
foundry,
forge,
boiler room and
engine room. It was designed specifically for students to work and produce goods to sell and fund the school. The two buildings were equal in size to show the importance of teaching both the mind and the hands;
though, at the time, there was some disagreement to whether the machine shop should have been used to turn a profit.
On
October 20,
1905,
U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt visited the Georgia Tech campus. On the steps of Tech Tower, Roosevelt presented a speech about the importance of technological education.
[10] He then shook hands with every student.
[11]
Georgia Tech's Evening School of Commerce began holding classes in 1912.
[12] The school admitted its first female student in 1917, although the state legislature did not officially authorize attendance by women until 1920.
Annie T. Wise became the first female graduate in 1919 and went on to become Georgia Tech's first female faculty member the following year.
In 1931, the
Board of Regents transferred control of the Evening School of Commerce to the
University of Georgia and moved the civil and electrical engineering courses at UGA to Tech.
Tech replaced the commerce school with what later become the
College of Management. The commerce school will later split from UGA and eventually become
Georgia State University.
Modern history
Founded as the Georgia School of Technology, it assumed its present name in 1948 to reflect a growing focus on advanced technological and scientific research.
[15] Unlike similarly-named universities (such as the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the
California Institute of Technology), the Georgia Institute of Technology is a
public institution.
The school's first female students were admitted in 1952,
[16] although women could not enroll in all programs at Tech until 1968. Industrial Engineering was the last program to open to women.
The first women's dorm, Fulmer Hall, opened in 1969.
Women constituted 28.6% of the undergraduates and 25.8% of the graduate students enrolled in Fall 2006.
[17] In 1959, a meeting of 2,741 students voted by an overwhelming majority to endorse integration of qualified applicants, regardless of race.
[18] Three years after the meeting, and one year after the
University of Georgia's violent integration,
Georgia Tech became the first university in the
Deep South to desegregate without a court order.
[19] There was little reaction to this by Tech students; according to former mayor
William Hartsfield, Tech students were "too busy to hate."
was instrumental in securing the
1996 Summer Olympics for Atlanta. A dramatic amount of construction occurred, creating most of what is now considered "West Campus" in order for Tech to serve as the
Olympic Village.
[20] The Undergraduate Living Center, Fourth Street Apartments, Sixth Street Apartments,
Eighth Street Apartments, Hemphill Apartments, and Center Street Apartments housed athletes and journalists. The
Georgia Tech Aquatic Center was built for swimming events, and the
Alexander Memorial Coliseum was renovated.
The school also erected the
Kessler Campanile and fountain to serve as a landmark and symbol of the Institute on television broadcasts.
Since then, the Campanile has come to be known by students as "The Shaft."
[21]
In 1994,
G. Wayne Clough became the first Tech alumnus to serve as the President of the Institute, and was in office during the
1996 Summer Olympics. In 1998, he separated the Ivan Allen College of Management, Policy, and International Affairs into the
Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts and returned the
College of Management to "College" status (Crecine, the previous president, had demoted Management from "College" to "School" status as part of a controversial 1990 reorganization plan).
[22][23] His tenure has been focused on a dramatic expansion of the institute, a revamped Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP), and the creation of an International Plan.
[24][25]
Academics
The Georgia Institute of Technology is a public institution, receiving funds from the
State of Georgia, tuition, fees, research grants, and alumni contributions. The student body consists of 18,500 graduate and undergraduate students, and more than 900 full-time instructional faculty.
[26]
Rankings
Georgia Tech is consistently ranked well; it has remained in the top ten public universities in the United States for the last nine years.
[27] In 2007, ''
U.S. News & World Report'' ranked Tech as the No. 7 public university, and 35th among all universities.
Tech also has the No. 5 undergraduate engineering program, and the No. 4 graduate engineering program.
Highly ranked engineering programs include its schools of Industrial Engineering (1st), Aerospace (2nd), Biomedical (3rd), and Civil Engineering (5th).
Colleges
Georgia Tech's undergraduate and graduate programs are divided into six Colleges. Collaboration among the Colleges is frequent, as mandated by a number of
interdisciplinary degree programs and research centers.
[29] Georgia Tech has sought to strengthen its undergraduate and graduate offerings in less technical fields, primarily those under the
Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts. That particular college has seen a 20% increase in admissions.
[30]
Research
There is a wide variety and amount of research at Georgia Tech, particularly given Georgia Tech's large size and formidable
academic reputation for quality
research, often
funded by large corporations or governmental organizations.
[31] In addition to research performed by the schools, Georgia Tech is affiliated with a nonprofit research organization referred to as the
Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI).
[32] GTRI provides sponsored research in a variety of technical specialties including radar, electro-optics, and materials engineering.
Forty percent the school'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.
Many
startup companies are produced through research conducted at Georgia Tech, with the
Advanced Technology Development Center and
VentureLab ready to assist the school's researchers and entrepreneurs in organization and commercialization. The
Georgia Tech Research Corporation serves as the school's contract and technology licensing agency. The school is ranked fourth for startup companies, eighth in patents, and eleventh in
technology transfer.
1.9 million square feet of space are devoted to research purposes at Georgia Tech and GTRI.
An upcoming addition to that space will be Georgia Tech's
Nanotechnology Research Center, scheduled for completion in Summer 2008,
[34] at which point it will be the largest
clean room in the
Southeastern United States.
Student life
Tech cheerleaders waving flags after a touchdown.
Set in the middle of
Midtown Atlanta, and with a tradition of top-ranked athletic teams and student activities, Tech students have a plethora of social options to choose from. Due to the prominence of Georgia Tech's athletic programs, attending athletic events is always an option for students.
In terms of off-campus social options, being located in the middle of a young and vibrant city like Atlanta offers a number of options for Tech students. Just off campus, there are several restaurants available to students, especially in
Tech Square. Meanwhile, "
Home Park," a neighborhood that borders the north end of campus, is a popular living area for Tech students and recent grads,
[35] and a number of parties and barbecues are hosted by the neighborhood's residents.
[36]
The school's administration has endeavored to reduce the levels of anxiety felt by many Tech students. Most notable have been the administration's
FASET (Familiarization and Adaptation to the Surroundings and Environs of Tech) and
Freshman Experience (a freshman-only dorm life program to "encourage friendships and a feeling of social involvement") programs, which help to acclimate new students to their surroundings and foster a greater sense of community.
[37]
Other school initiatives aimed at improving student life include the administration's efforts to boost
female enrollment at the school. 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.
As of Spring 2007, the freshman class of 2006–2007 had a ratio of 68.8% to 31.2%.
[38] The highest freshman ratio in the past few years (counting only Fall and Spring semesters)
[39] was Spring 2006, with a ratio of 70.5% to 29.5%.
Traditions
Main articles: Georgia Tech traditions
Tech has a number of legends and traditions, some of which have persisted for decades. Some are well-known; for example, the most notable of these is the popular but rare tradition of stealing the 'T' from Tech Tower.
Tech Tower, Tech's historic primary administrative building, has the letters TECH hanging atop it on each of its four sides. A number of times, students have orchestrated complex plans to steal the huge symbolic letter T, and on occasion have carried this act out successfully. The latest instance of this tradition occurred in
October 2005, when a replica of the T was stolen from the Student Services Building and returned two days later.
[40] One of the cherished holdovers from Tech's early years, a
steam whistle blows five minutes before the hour, every hour from 7:55 a.m. to 5:55 p.m.
[41] It is for that reason that the faculty newspaper is named ''The Whistle''.
Georgia Tech holds a heated, long and ongoing rivalry with the
University of Georgia, known as
Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate. The first known hostilities between the two schools trace back to
1891. The University of Georgia's literary magazine proclaimed UGA's school colors to be "
old gold, black, and
crimson." Dr. Charles H. Herty, the first UGA football coach, felt that
old gold was too similar to
yellow and that it "symbolized cowardice." After the 1893 football game against Tech, Herty removed old gold as an official school color.
[42] Tech would first use old gold for their uniforms, as a proverbial slap in the face to UGA, in their first unofficial football game against
Auburn in 1891.
[43] Georgia Tech's school colors would thenceforth be old gold and white.
Arts at Tech
Founded in 1907,
[44] the Glee Club was the first student organizations on campus, and still operates today. The Glee Club was among the first collegiate choral groups to release a recording of their songs. The group has toured extensively and appeared on
The Ed Sullivan Show twice, providing worldwide exposure to "
Ramblin' Wreck from Georgia Tech." Since its inception, the all-male Glee Club has split to form the Chorale and Chamber Choir, both mixed groups.
The
Georgia Tech Athletic Bands play a crucial part for school spirit and athletic support. It was founded in 1908 by 14 Students and Robert "Biddy" Bidez.
The Marching Band consistently fields over 300 members and even invites students from other Atlanta universities who do not have football programs (
Georgia State,
Emory,
Agnes Scott,
Kennesaw State, etc) to participate. Members of the marching band travel to every football game. Since its inception in 1996,
the
Georgia Tech Symphony Orchestra has grown from a dozen interested students into an 80+ member ensemble. It is now one of the largest performance groups on campus.
In 1963 the
Music Department, under the leadership of Ben Logan Sisk, was created under Tech's General College. In 1976 the Music department was assigned to the College of Sciences & Liberal Studies, and in 1991 was relocated to its current home in the
College of Architecture.
Under the Couch is a live music venue located beneath the Couch Building on West Campus. It is run by the Musician's Network. Georgia Tech also has a growing music scene, including the growing
a cappella groups on campus:
Nothin' but Treble,
Sympathetic Vibrations, and
Infinite Harmony, to name a few.
Many music, theatre, dance, and opera performances are held in the
Ferst Center for the Arts.
[45] DramaTech is the campus' student-run theater. The theater has been entertaining Georgia Tech and the surrounding community since 1947. They are also home to Let's Try This! (the campus
improv troupe) and VarietyTech (a song and dance troupe).
Momocon is an annual
anime/
gaming/
comics convention held on campus in March hosted by Anime O-Tekku, the Georgia Tech anime club. It is free admission and usually held in the Student Center and Instructional Center, as well as outdoor areas.
[46]
Student media
WREK, 91.1
MHz is known as "Wreck Radio." The studio is on the second floor of the Student Center Commons. Broadcasting with 40 kW ERP, WREK is among the nation's most powerful college radio stations. WREK is currently a student operated and run radio station, but there is currently a debate (as of April 2007) as to whether or not
NPR or
GPB should be given control over some of the station's airtime.
[47] Many students are opposed to such a change.
[48]
''
The Technique'', also known as the "''Nique''," is Tech's official
student newspaper. It is distributed weekly during the Fall and Spring semesters (on Fridays), and biweekly during the Summer semester (with certain exceptions). It was established on
November 17,
1911. ''
The Blueprint'' is Tech's yearbook, established in 1908. Other student publications include
''The North Avenue Review'', Tech's "free-speech magazine," and
''Erato'', Tech's
literary magazine. The offices of all student publications are located in the Student Services Building.
Campus services
Georgia Tech Cable Network, or GTCN, is the college's branded cable source. The station broadcasts WREK-FM on channel 17, in addition to student-generated content and recent movies on channels 20 and 21. Most non-original programming is obtained from
Dish Network. GTCN currently has 109
standard-definition channels and five
high-definition channels.
The Office of Information Technology, or OIT, manages most of the school's computing resources (and some related services such as campus telephones). With the exception of a few computer labs maintained by individual
colleges, OIT is responsible for most of the computing facilities on campus. Student, faculty, and staff e-mail accounts are among its services.
[49]
ResNet provides free technical support to all students and guests living in Georgia Tech's on-campus housing (excluding fraternities and sororities). ResNet is responsible for network, telephone, and television service, and most support is provided by part-time student employees.
[50]
Campuses
The Georgia Tech campus is located in
Midtown, an area north of downtown Atlanta. Although a number of
skyscrapers are visible from all points on campus — most notably the headquarters of both
AT&T and
The Coca-Cola Company as well as Atlanta's tallest building, the
Bank of America building — 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.
West Campus
West Campus is occupied primarily by apartments and coed undergraduate dormitories. Prominent apartments include Hemphill, Center Street, 6th Street, Maulding, Undergraduate Living Center (ULC), and
Eighth Street Apartments. Prominent dorms include
Freeman,
Montag,
Fitten,
Folk,
Caldwell, Armstrong, Hefner, Fulmer, and Woodruff Suites. The
Campus Recreation Center (formerly the Student Athletic Complex); a
volleyball court; a large, low natural green area known as the
Burger Bowl; and a flat artificial green area known as the SAC Fields are all located on the western side of the campus. Also within easy walking distance of West Campus is City Cafe, which is open 24 hours, Rocky Mountain Pizza, and Engineer's Bookstore, an alternative to Georgia Tech's official bookstore. West Campus is also home to a music club operated by students called
Under the Couch as well as a small diner and convenience store, West Side Market. Due to limited space, all auto travel proceeds via a network of one-way streets which connects West Campus to Ferst Drive, the main road of the campus.
Woodruff Dining Hall, or "Woody's," is the West Campus Dining Hall. It connects the Woodruff North and Woodruff South undergraduate dorms.
East Campus
A view of Skiles Walkway from the Student Center, facing east.
East Campus houses all of the Fraternities and Sororities as well as most of the undergraduate freshman dormitories. As of Fall 2007, North Avenue Apartments, previously owned by
Georgia State, are a part of Georgia Tech’s East Campus.
[51] About 2000 Georgia Tech undergraduates reside there. Although the residences are similar, East Campus is decidedly more urban than West Campus. East Campus abuts on the
Downtown Connector. Via a number of bridges over the highway as well as a tunnel under it, East Campus has quick access to Midtown and its businesses such as
The Varsity. Georgia Tech football's home,
Bobby Dodd Stadium is located on East Campus, as well as Georgia Tech basketball's home
Alexander Memorial Coliseum.
Brittain Dining Hall is the main dining hall for East Campus. It is modeled after a medieval church, complete with carved columns and stained-glass windows showing symbolic figures. The main road leading from East Campus to Central Campus is an ascending incline commonly known as "Freshman Hill" (in reference to the large number of freshman dorms near its foot) or simply "The Hill." On
March 8,
2007, the former Georgia State University Village apartments were transferred to Georgia Tech, and began housing students in the fall semester of 2007.
[52]
Central Campus
A view of central campus from the student center, facing northeast.
Central Campus is home to the majority of the academic, research, and administrative buildings. The Central Campus includes, among others: the Howey Physics Building; the Boggs Chemistry Building; the College of Computing; the
Klaus Advanced Computing Building; the Skiles Classroom Building, which houses the School of Mathematics and the School of Literature, Communication and Culture; the D.M. Smith Building, which houses the School of Public Policy and the School of History, Technology, and Society; and the Ford Environmental Science & Technology Building. In 2005, the School of Modern Languages returned to the Swann Building, a 100-year-old former
dorm that now houses some of the most technology-equipped classrooms on campus. Intermingled with these are a variety of research facilities, such as the Centennial Research Building, the Pettit Microelectronics Research Center, the
Nanotechnology Research Center, and the Petit Biotechnology Building.
Tech's administrative buildings, such as the Student Services Building ("Flag Building"),
Tech Tower, and the Bursar's Office, are also located here. The campus library, plus a small traditional eatery called
Junior's Grill, as well as a large communal building for students, the Fred B. Wenn Student Center (a student union), are also located on Central Campus. The Student Center provides a variety of recreational and social functions for students including: a computer lab, a game room ("Tech Rec"),
[53] the Student Post Office, a darkened Music Listening Room, a
movie theater, the Food Court, plus meeting rooms for various clubs and organizations. Adjacent to the eastern entrance of the Student Center is the
Kessler Campanile (which is referred to by students as "The Shaft"). The former Hightower Textile Engineering building was demolished in
2002 to create Yellow Jacket Park. More greenspace now occupies the area around the Kessler Campanile for a more aesthetically pleasing look, in accordance with the official Campus Master Plan.
[54] Numerous clubs and organizations hold activities in Yellow Jacket Park.
Technology Square
Main articles: Technology Square
Technology Square, also known as "Tech Square," is located across the
Downtown Connector and embedded in the city east of East Campus. It is home to the
College of Management, the official school bookstore, the Georgia Tech Hotel and Conference Center.
Buildings in Tech Square also serve as offices for a number of faculty and graduate students, the
GVU Center, the Georgia Tech Enterprise Innovation Institute, the
Advanced Technology Development Center,
VentureLab, and the Georgia Electronics Design Center. The buildings in Technology Square also host a variety of small restaurants and businesses, as well as business ventures spawned by Georgia Tech research. Opened in 2003, the district was built over run-down neighborhoods and has sparked a revitalization of the entire Midtown area.
Satellite campuses
In 1999, Georgia Tech began offering local degree programs to engineering students in Southeast Georgia, and in 2003 established a physical campus in
Savannah, Georgia.
Georgia Tech Savannah offers undergraduate and graduate programs in engineering, and boasts a robust research program with many activities centered on coastal concerns. It is also home to the regional offices of the Georgia Tech Economic Development Institute and the
Advanced Technology Development Center. The Georgia Tech Savannah campus offers engineering programs in conjunction with
Georgia Southern University,
South Georgia College,
Armstrong Atlantic State University, and
Savannah State University.
[55] The university further collaborated with the
National University of Singapore to set up
The Logistics Institute - Asia Pacific in
Singapore.
Georgia Tech also operates a campus in
Metz, in northeastern
France, known as
Georgia Tech Lorraine. Opened in October 1990,
[56] It offers Masters' level courses in
Electrical and
Computer Engineering,
Computer Science and
Mechanical Engineering and Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering and Mechanical Engineering. Georgia Tech Lorraine is known for a much-publicized lawsuit pertaining to the language used in advertisements; ''see
Toubon Law''. Additionally, the
College of Architecture maintains a small permanent presence in Paris, France in affiliation with the
École d'architecture de Paris-La Villette. There are plans to start a research and graduate education center in
Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh,
India.
[57][58]
Athletics
Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
logo,
Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate
Georgia Tech's
sports teams are variously called the ''
Yellow jackets'', the ''
Ramblin' Wreck'', and the ''
Engineers'', but the official nickname is ''Yellow Jackets''. They participate in
NCAA Division I within the
Atlantic Coast Conference. The school mascots are
Buzz and the
Ramblin' Wreck. The school's traditional
football rival is the
University of Georgia; the rivalry was, at one time, considered one of the fiercest in college football. The rivalry is commonly referred to as
Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate, which is also the title of a book about the subject.
[59] Tech has seventeen varsity sports: Men's Football, Men's and Women's Basketball, Men's Baseball, Women's Softball, Women's volleyball, Men's Golf, Men's and Women's Tennis, Men's and Women's Swimming and Diving, Men's and Women's Track and Field, and Men's and Women's Cross Country. Four Georgia Tech Football teams were selected as national champions in news polls: 1917, 1928, 1952, and 1990. In May 2007, the
women's tennis team won the NCAA National Championship with a 4-2 victory over UCLA, the first ever national title granted by the
NCAA to Tech.
[60][61]
Fight Song
Main articles: Ramblin' Wreck from Georgia Tech
Tech's fight song
"I'm a Ramblin' Wreck from Georgia Tech" is known worldwide. First published in the 1908
Blueprint,
[62] it was adapted from an old drinking song ("Son of a Gambolier"),
and embellished with trumpet flourishes by Frank Roman.
[63] Then-
Vice President Richard Nixon and
Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev sang the song together when they met in
Moscow in
1958 to reduce the tension between them.
As the story goes, Nixon didn't know any Russian songs, but Khrushchev knew that one American one as it had been sung on
The Ed Sullivan Show.
''I'm a Ramblin' Wreck'' has had many other notable moments in its history, including being the first school song played in
space.
[65] Gregory Peck sang the song while strumming a
ukulele in the movie ''
The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit''.
John Wayne whistled it in ''
The High and the Mighty''. Tim Holt's character sings a few bars of it in the movie ''
His Kind of Woman''. There are numerous stories of commanding officers in
Higgins boats crossing the
English Channel on the morning of
D-Day leading their men in the song to calm their nerves.
It is played after every Georgia Tech score in a football game.
Club sports
Georgia Tech participates in many non-
NCAA sanctioned club sports. These sports include and are not limited to
crew,
cricket,
cycling (winning three consecutive Dirty South Collegiate Cycling Conference mountain bike championships),
equestrian,
fencing,
field hockey,
gymnastics,
ice hockey,
kayaking,
lacrosse,
paintball,
roller hockey,
soccer,
rowing,
rugby,
sailing,
skydiving,
triathlon,
ultimate,
water polo, and Men's varsity
wrestling. Many club sports take place at the
Georgia Tech Aquatic Center, where swimming, diving, water polo, and the swimming portion of the Modern Pentathlon competitions for the
1996 Summer Olympics were held.
[66]
Alumni
Main articles: List of Georgia Institute of Technology alumni,
List of Georgia Institute of Technology athletes
There are many notable graduates, non-graduate former students and current students of Georgia Tech. Georgia Tech alumni are generally known as Yellow Jackets. According to the Georgia Tech
Alumni Association,
[67]
The first class of 95 students entered Georgia Tech in 1888,
[68] and the first two graduates received their degrees in 1890.
[69] Since then, the institute has greatly expanded, with an enrollment of 12,526 undergraduates and 6,128 postgraduate students
as of Fall 2007.
[70]
Many distinguished individuals once called Georgia Tech home. The most notable alumnus is probably
Jimmy Carter, former
President of the
United States and
Nobel Peace Prize winner, who briefly attended Georgia Tech in the early 1940s prior to matriculating at and graduating from the
United States Naval Academy.
[71] Another Georgia Tech graduate and
Nobel Prize winner,
Kary Mullis, received the
Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1993. A large number of businesspeople (
CEOs, directors, etc.) began their careers at the
College of Management. Some of the most successful of these are
Charles "Garry" Betty (CEO
Earthlink),
David Dorman (CEO
AT&T Corporation),
Mike Duke (CEO
Wal-Mart), and
James D. Robinson III (CEO
American Express and later director of
The Coca-Cola Company).
Tech graduates have been deeply influential in politics, military service, and activism.
Atlanta mayor
Ivan Allen, Jr. and former
United States Senator Sam Nunn have both made significant changes from within their elected offices. Current Georgia Tech president
G. Wayne Clough was also a Tech grad, the first Tech alumnus to serve in that position. Many notable military commanders are alumni;
William L. Ball was the 67th
Secretary of the Navy,
John M. Brown III is the Commander of the
United States Army Pacific Command, and
Leonard Wood was a
Medal of Honor winner for helping capture of the Apache chief
Geronimo.
[72] Wood was also Tech's first football coach and (simultaneously) the team captain, and was instrumental in Tech's first-ever football victory in a game against the
University of Georgia.
Numerous
astronauts and
NASA administrators spent time at Tech; most notably, Retired Vice Admiral
Richard H. Truly was the eighth administrator of NASA, and later served as the president of
GTRI.
John Young was the first commander of the
space shuttle and is the only person to have piloted four different classes of spacecraft. Georgia Tech has its fair share of noteworthy engineers, scientists, and inventors.
Kary Mullis developed the
polymerase chain reaction,
Herbert Saffir developed the
Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale, and
W. Jason Morgan made significant contributions to the theory of
plate tectonics and
geodynamics. In
computer science,
Krishna Bharat developed
Google News,
D. Richard Hipp developed
SQLite, and
Chaim Gingold and
Mike Pinkerton have contributed to
Spore and
Mozilla, respectively. Architect
Michael Arad designed the
World Trade Center Memorial in
New York City, and
John Portman designed several buildings across the globe, including Atlanta's
SunTrust Plaza.
Despite their highly technical backgrounds, Tech graduates are no strangers to the arts or athletic competition. Comedian/actor
Jeff Foxworthy of
Blue Collar Comedy Tour fame,
Mark Lee of
Third Day,
John Salley of
The Best Damn Sports Show Period, and
Randolph Scott all called Tech home. Several famous athletes have, as well; approximately 150 Tech students have gone into the
NFL, with many others going into the
NBA or
MLB. Well-known
American football athletes include former students
Calvin Johnson,
Reggie Ball, and
Keith Brooking, former Tech head football coaches
Pepper Rodgers and
Bill Fulcher, and all-time greats such as
Joe Hamilton,
Pat Swilling,
Billy Shaw, and
Joe Guyon. Tech's entrants into the NBA include
Jarrett Jack,
Luke Schenscher,
Stephon Marbury, and
Chris Bosh. Award-winning baseball stars include
Mark Teixeira,
Nomar Garciaparra, and
Jason Varitek. In golf, the legendary
Bobby Jones founded
The Masters,
David Duval was ranked #1 in the world in 2001, and
Stewart Cink was ranked in the top ten.
References
1. A Walk Through Tech's History
2. Fall 2007 Enrollment by College
3. Between 2005 and 2006 Endowment Assets
4. The Hopkins Administration, 1888-1895
5. The George W. Woodruff Schol of Mechanical Engineering
6. Engineers and the New South Creed: The Formation and Early Development of Georgia Tech, , James E., Brittain, Technology and Culture, 1977
7. A Walk Through Tech's History
8. The Inflation Calculator
9. Surrender Marker, Fort Hood, Change of Command Marker
10. Presidential Tour of Campus Not the First for the Institute
11. One Hundred Years Ago Was Eventful Year at Tech
12. Tech Timeline
13. Underground Degrees
14. History of Georgia State University
15. Georgia Tech History & Traditions
16. Georgia Tech Celebrates 50 Years of Women David Terraso
17. Office of Institutional Research & Planning: Facts and Figures: Enrollment by Gender
18. Being new to Tech was not always so easy Pat Edwards
19.
20. Touring the Olympic Village
21. You certainly won’t find these in Webster’s...
22. Geibelhaus lectures on controversial president Nikhil Joshi
23. Get over headtrip, Management J.R. Gray
24. International plan takes root Nikhil Joshi
25. Research, International Plan Fair hits Skiles Walkway Inn Inn Chen
26. Georgia Tech Facts and Figures
27.
28.
29. 2006 General Catalog: Interdisciplinary Programs
30. Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts Annual Report
31. Research
32. 2006 GTRI Annual Report
33. Mind to Market: A Global Analysis of University Biotechnology Transfer and Commercialization
34. Nanotechnology Research Center Building
35. Home Park provides close alternative Aghigh Ebrahimi
36. Home Park Festival seeks to entertain neighbors, help kids Hemanth Rao Meka
37. Georgia Tech Freshman Experience
38. Office of Institutional Research & Planning: Facts and Figures: Enrollment by Gender
39. A slightly higher percentage of freshmen women attend during Summer. See Office of Institutional Research & Planning: Facts and Figures: Enrollment by Gender for verification.
40. Replica Tech Tower 'T' stolen from Student Services Building
41.
42. College football tradition - Official school colors
43. Georgia Tech traditions
44. Campus music programs have storied history Rusty Johnson
45. About Us
46. Third annual MomoCon draws 2,600 gaming fans Andrew Guyton
47. PBA inquires about managing WREK James Stephenson
48. Leave WREK alone
49. Georgia Tech OIT
50. Georgia Tech ResNet
51. Tech acquires Ga. State dorms Craig Tabita
52. New construction on the Hill recreates historic appearance near Tech Tower Neeraj Kumar
53. Tech Rec
54. Campus Master Plan
55. Clough addresses Institute Jennifer Dykes
56. About Georgia Tech Lorraine
57. Tech explores educational prospects in India, China Usha Kantheti
58. U.S. universities expand overseas efforts to keep global edge Kent Hoover
59. Clean Old-fashioned Hate: Georgia Vs. Georgia Tech, , Bill, Cromartie, Strode Publishers, ,
60. Georgia Tech Wins NCAA Women's Tennis Title
61. Georgia Tech captures first NCAA women's tennis title
62. Fight Songs Pat Edwards
63. RamblinWreck.com: Georgia Tech Traditions
64. Who's No. 1? Fighting Words About Battle Hymns
65. Inventory of the Georgia Tech Songs Collection, 1900-1953
66. Georgia Tech Aquatic Center
67. Bylaws of the Georgia Tech Alumni Association, Inc.
68. GT Buildings: GTVA-UKL999-A
69. 20 Common Questions about Georgia Tech
70. Enrollment by College, Fall 2007
71. History of the NROTC Unit at Georgia Institute of Technology
72. From Civil War Battlefields to the Moon: Leonard Wood Joseph Byrd
External links
★
Georgia Tech website
★
Georgia Tech Directory
★
★
Official Campus Map
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