Georgia State University (GSU) is a public research university in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1913, it is one of the largest universities in the United States with more than 50,000 students enrolled. GSU offers degrees in more than 250 fields of study through its nine colleges and schools.
GSU is classified as a Research University by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education and is a member of the University System of Georgia. The university’s research spending totaled $404 million in 2017, ranking it 68th nationally out of 515 institutions surveyed by the National Science Foundation. In 2019, U.S. News & World Report ranked GSU tied for 121st among national universities and 39th among public universities.
The history of Georgia State University can be traced back to 1871 when an act was passed by the General Assembly that created “the Atlanta Medical College.” The college became affiliated with Emory University in 1915 and was renamed “Emory-at-Atlanta.” The school began offering graduate level coursework in 1925 and awarded its first PhD degrees three years later. In 1930, the institution was renamed “Atlanta-Southern Dental College,” after merging with Southern Dental College; it became part of Emory University two years later as “Emory at Atlanta School of Dentistry.” In 1943, during World War II, Emory at Atlanta joined forces with neighboring Georgia Institute of Technology to form “Georgia Tech–Emory Joint Engineering Program.” When the war ended four years later, both schools resumed their separate identities but remained under one administration until 1955 when they finally split into two autonomous institutions: Emory University and Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech).
In 1947, another merger took place between then-named “Atlanta Junior College” (establishes 1933) and “Georgia evening college” which resulted into formation “Atlanta divisional campus” from Board Of Regents Of The University System Of Georgia . This new unit eventually got separated from its mother organization –University Of Georiga-and started working on own as “Georgia State College” from 1951 onwards . After few name changes like “Georgia state university”(1969), “GaState”(1985), It finally got stabilized at present name i.e., “Georgia state university” only in 1997 . As per 2018 data , Total number employees are 4500 while student population reached upto 53294 . Notable Alumni include Andrew Young – former Mayor fo City f Atlanta & US ambassador to UN , Tyler Perry – actor , writer & producer , Juan Atkins – musician considered father if techno music etc some famous faculty members are Kelly Miller – American Sociologist& second president if NAACP ; Herman J Russell – Founder if HJ Russell & company; James W Williams – president & CEO OF Suntrust bank etc