Georgia Institute of Technology

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Georgia Institute of Technology
Motto	Progress and Service
Established	October 13, 1885[1]
Type	Public
Endowment	$1.047 Billion[3]
President	G. Wayne Clough
Faculty	900
Students	16,654[2]
Undergraduates	11,482[2]
Postgraduates	5,172[2]
Location	Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Campus	Urban, 400 acres (1.61 km²)
Athletics	NCAA Division I. Eight men's varsity teams, seven women's. Tech Athletics
Colors	Old Gold and White
Nickname	Yellow Jackets, Ramblin' Wrecks
Mascot	Buzz, Rambling Wreck
Website	www.gatech.edu

The Georgia Institute of Technology, commonly known as Georgia Tech, is a public, coeducational university, part of the University System of Georgia, and located in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, with satellite campuses in Savannah, Georgia, Metz, France and Singapore.

Consistently ranked among the top ten public universities in the United States by U.S. News & World Report,^[4] 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^[1] and opened in 1888 with the construction of Tech Tower and a shop building,^[5] Georgia Tech's campus occupies a large part of Midtown Atlanta. In 1996, it was the site of the athletes' village, and a venue for a number of athletic events for the 1996 Summer Olympics.

[edit] History

Main article: History of Georgia Tech

[edit] Establishment

Atlanta during the Civil War (c. 1864)

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.^[5]

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 Boston Tech (now 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;^[1] this land was bounded on the south by North Avenue, and on the west by Cherry Street.^[1] He then sold five adjoining acres of land to the state for $10,000,^[1] approximately equivalent to $182,717.44 in 2006.^[7] 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.^[8]

[edit] 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.^[5] 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;^[5] though, at the time, there was some disagreement to whether the machine shop should have been used to turn a profit.^[6]

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.^[9] He then shook hands with every student.^[10]

Georgia Tech's Evening School of Commerce began holding classes in 1912.^[11] The school admitted its first female student in 1917, although the state legislature did not officially authorize attendance by women until 1920.^[11][12] 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.^[11][12] 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.^[11][12] 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.^[11][13]

[edit] Modern history

Institute President Dr. G. Wayne Clough speaks at a student meeting

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.^[14] 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.

Georgia Tech is sometimes called the North Avenue Trade School, although this was never its official title. The name stems from the fact that the campus is bordered to the south by North Avenue, and that (as mentioned above) the school in its earlier years was operated much like a trade school, with students working part of the day in a machine shop, and the other part of the day in classrooms. Today the name is still used in a humorous manner: the campus bookstore even sells shirts bearing the name "North Avenue Trade School."^[15]

The school's first female students (not counting the Evening School of Commerce) were admitted in 1952;^[16] and in 1961, Georgia Tech became the first university in the Deep South to desegregate without a court order.^[17]

John Patrick Crecine 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. The new Undergraduate Living Center, Woodruff Residence Halls and Dining Hall, 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.^[11]

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. 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.^[18][19]

[edit] Academics

Please help improve this article by expanding this section. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. Please remove this message once the section has been expanded. This article has been tagged since January 2007.

Georgia Tech's Tech Tower

The Georgia Institute of Technology is a public institution, receiving funds from the State of Georgia, tuition and fees, research grants, and alumni contributions. The student body consists of 17,000 graduate and undergraduate students, and more than 900 full-time instructional faculty.^[20]

Tech is consistently ranked well. As of 2006, U.S. News & World Report ranked Tech as the No. 8 public university, the No. 6 undergraduate engineering program, and the No. 4 graduate engineering program.^[20] In addition, Georgia Tech's College of Engineering and MIT's School of Engineering were the only two engineering programs in the nation to have U.S. News & World Report rank all of its schools in the top 10.^[21][22]

[edit] 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.^[23]

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.^[24]

[edit] Research

National Science Foundation statistics place Georgia Tech third among all U.S. universities for the volume of engineering research and development conducted. Georgia Tech's total research program topped $400 million for the fiscal year 2004.^{[citation needed]}

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). GTRI provides sponsored research in a variety of technical specialties including radar, electro-optics, and materials engineering. GTRI employs over 1,300 people, conducting over $110 million in research every year. Sponsored research at Georgia Tech is managed by the Georgia Tech Research Corporation (GTRC) and its subsidiary, the Georgia Tech Applied Research Corporation (GTARC).

The Georgia Tech Nanotechnology Research Center is scheduled to be completed Summer 2008,^[25] at which point it will be the largest clean room in the Southeastern United States.

[edit] Student life

Sign marking one entrance to Georgia Tech's campus

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, and a number of parties and barbecues are hosted by the neighborhood's residents.

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.^[26]

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%.^[27] The highest freshman ratio in the past few years (counting only Fall and Spring semesters)^[28] was Spring 2006, with a ratio of 70.5% to 29.5%.^[27]

[edit] Traditions

A closeup of Tech Tower

Main article: Georgia Tech traditions

See also: Stealing the T and Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate

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.^[29] 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. 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.^[30] 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.^[31] Georgia Tech's school colors would thenceforth be old gold and white.

[edit] Arts at Tech

The Robert Ferst Center for the Arts

• Founded in 1906, the Glee Club is the oldest student organization on campus, and 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."
• 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.
• 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.
• 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).
• 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.
• Under the Couch is a live music venue located beneath the Couch Building on West Campus. It is run by the Musician's Network.^[clarify]
• Georgia Tech also has a growing music scene, including the growing a cappella groups on campus: Nothin' but Treble, Sympathetic Vibrations, and Infinite Harmony.
• 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.

[edit] 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.
• 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 Technique's office is located in the Student Services Building.
• The Blueprint is Tech's yearbook.
• The North Avenue Review is Tech's "free-speech magazine."
• Erato is Tech's literary magazine.

[edit] 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.^[32]
• 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.^[33]

See also: ResNet

[edit] Campuses

Georgia Tech's East Campus and Central Campus as seen from an elevated point near Peachtree Street and North Avenue. Bobby Dodd Stadium is in the foreground, Tech Tower is in the background to the left, and the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center is in the background and to the right. The Varsity is directly behind the viewer.

A view of the Burger Bowl, facing south.

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 BellSouth 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.

[edit] West Campus

Eighth Street Apartments East Building

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, Fulmer, Caldwell, Hefner, Armstrong, Folk, 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.

[edit] 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. 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."^[34]

[edit] Central Campus

See also: Georgia Institute of Technology Historic District

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"), 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.^[35] Numerous clubs and organizations hold activities in Yellow Jacket Park.

[edit] Technology Square

A view of Technology Square, facing south

Main article: 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 (ATDC), VentureLab, and the Georgia Electronics Design Center research group (GEDC). 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.

[edit] Satellite campuses

Georgia Tech Lorraine

See also: Georgia Tech Lorraine

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, Armstrong Atlantic State University, and Savannah State University.

Georgia Tech also operated a campus in Metz, in northeastern France, known as Georgia Tech Lorraine. Opened in October 1990,^[36] 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 Ecole d'Architecture Paris La Vilette.

The university further collaborated with the National University of Singapore to set up The Logistics Institute - Asia Pacific in Singapore.

[edit] Athletics

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets logo

Main articles: Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets and 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-A, in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The school mascots are Buzz and the Ramblin' Wreck. The school's traditional football rival is UGA; 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 1986 book about the subject. Tech has seventeen varsity sports. In men's sports, in addition to football, basketball, and baseball, there's golf, tennis, swimming & diving, track & field, and cross country. For women, there's basketball, softball, volleyball, tennis, swimming & diving, track & field, and cross-country. Fourteen of these sports finished in the top 25 during the 2004-5 school year.

See also: 2006 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football team, 2006-07 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets men's basketball team, and 2007 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football team

[edit] Fight Song

Bobby Dodd Stadium at Historic Grant Field

Alexander Memorial Coliseum

Main article: Ramblin' Wreck from Georgia Tech

Tech's fight song "I'm a Ramblin' Wreck from Georgia Tech" is known worldwide. It was adapted from an old drinking song ("Son of a Gambolier"), and embellished with trumpet flourishes by Frank Roman.^[37] In 1959, then VP Richard Nixon and Nikita Khrushchev sang it together when they had their famous cold war confrontation in Moscow, to reduce the tension. Nixon did not know any Russian songs, but Khrushchev knew that one American one. It was sung on the Ed Sullivan show; it was played in space; Gregory Peck sang it while strumming a ukulele in The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit; John Wayne whistled it in The High and the Mighty. It is played after every Georgia Tech score in a football game.

[edit] 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 (advancing to districts on many occasions), skydiving, triathlon, ultimate, water polo, and 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.

[edit] Alumni

Main article: List of Georgia Institute of Technology alumni

Many distinguished individuals once called Georgia Tech home, including CEOs, astronauts, artists, and a president of the United States.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Georgia Institute of Technology

• Georgia Tech website
• Georgia Tech Directory
• Maps and aerial photos Coordinates: 33.776793° -84.398206°
  • Street map from Google Maps or Yahoo! Maps
  • Topographic map from TopoZone
  • Aerial image or topographic map from TerraServer-USA
  • Satellite image from Google Maps or Microsoft Virtual Earth
  • Official Campus Map