University of Georgia

The University of Georgia (UGA or Georgia) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Athens, Georgia, United States. Chartered in 1785, it is the first state-chartered public university in the United States. It is the flagship school of the University System of Georgia. In addition to the main campuses in Athens with their approximately 470 buildings, the university has two smaller campuses located in Tifton and Griffin. The university has two satellite campuses located in Atlanta and Lawrenceville, and residential and educational centers in Washington, D.C., at Trinity College of Oxford University, and in Cortona, Italy. The total acreage of the university in 30 Georgia counties is 41,539 acres (168.10 km2)

The university is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very High research activity and doctorate production", and is considered to have "Very High" undergraduate admissions standards with "Higher Earnings". The University of Georgia's intercollegiate sports teams, commonly known by their Georgia Bulldogs moniker, compete in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I as part of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The university has had more alumni as Rhodes Scholars since 1990 than nearly all other public universities in the country. Alumni also include a United States Poet Laureate, Emmy Award winners, Grammy Award winners, and multiple Super Bowl champions.
In 1784, Lyman Hall, a Yale University graduate and one of three medical doctors to sign the Declaration of Independence, as Governor of Georgia persuaded the Georgia legislature to grant 40,000 acres (160 km2) as an endowment for the purposes of founding a "college or seminary of learning." Besides Hall, credit for founding the university goes to Abraham Baldwin who wrote the original charter for University of Georgia. Originally from Connecticut, Baldwin graduated from and later taught at Yale before moving to Georgia. The Georgia General Assembly approved Baldwin's charter on January 27, 1785, and the University of Georgia became the first university in the United States to gain a state charter. Considered one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, Baldwin would later represent Georgia in the 1786 Constitutional Convention that created the Constitution of the United States and go on to be President pro tempore of the United States Senate. The task of creating the university was given to the Senatus Academicus, which consisted of the Board of Visitors – made up of "the governor, all state senators, all superior court judges and a few other public officials" – and the Board of Trustees, "a body of 14 appointed members that soon became self-perpetuating." The first meeting of the university's board of trustees was held in Augusta, Georgia, on February 13, 1786. The meeting installed Baldwin as the university's first president.