East Georgia College - History

History

In the 1960s, community leaders in Swainsboro and Emanuel County urged the state legislature to establish a community college in the area. In 1969, the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia underwent a study to determine the need for additional community colleges in the state. A year later, the Swainsboro-Emanuel County area was approved as a prospective site with the stipulation that the county provide land and funding to build the initial physical plant.

In September 1971, citizens of Emanuel County approved a $2.1 million bond issue and provided 207 acres (0.84 km2) of land within the city limits of Swainsboro for a new college. 190 acres (0.77 km2) of the site was donated by Mrs. Luck Flanders Gambrell, wife of then-U.S. Senator David Gambrell. In December of the same year, the Board of Regents granted final approval for Emanuel County Junior College. Then-Speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives and Emanuel County native George L. Smith II was instrumental in the college's inception. In June 1972, temporary offices were set up in downtown Swainsboro and the college's faculty was hired while construction of the college campus began in December of the same year.

The college hosted its charter class of 167 students in the fall quarter of 1973 at a temporary site, as the campus would not be ready for another year. The college changed its name to East Georgia College in 1988 when the University System mandated that the term "Junior" be removed from the names of its two-year institutions and to give the college its regional identity. In the Board of Regents' June 2011 meeting, East Georgia College was granted approval to move to four-year status, allowing the college to offer limited bachelor’s degree programs. With the change in its mission, the college was officially renamed East Georgia State College. The college admitted its first students into the Bachelor's program in Biology in fall 2012.