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Emory University

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Emory University is a private, coeducational university located in Atlanta, Georgia. It was chartered as Emory College in 1836 under Methodist auspices and opened in Oxford in 1837. In 1915, Emory College was merged with a school of medicine and became Emory University. The university moved to Atlanta in 1919.

In 1929, Emory-at-Oxford opened its gates at the original site of Emory University as a two-year junior college. In 1964, it changed its name to Oxford College.

The university is named after John Emory, one of the Georgia Methodist Conference's most popular bishops.

General Information

Located in Atlanta, Georgia, Emory University stands on 631 acres of suburban land. Its motto is "Cor prudentis possidebit scientiam," translated as "The wise heart seeks knowledge." (Proverbs 18:15)

As of 2006, the private university had a total endowment of US$4.4 billion. It has 6,510 undergraduates and 5,624 post graduates. The university also has a total staff of 21,807, including 3,100 faculty.

The university's current president is James W. Wagner. Its official colors are blue and gold. Its mascot is the Emory Eagle.

History

The Georgia Methodist Conference first conceived of the idea for Emory College (later Emory University) in 1833. Their initial thought was to sponsor a school for manual labor which combined farm work with a curriculum that would prepare them for college. Initially, they were leaning towards lending their support to Randolph-Macon in Virginia.

In 1834, a preacher named Allen Turner suggested that the Georgia Methodists should instead establish their own college, and the suggestion caught on. Hence, on December 18 of that year, the Georgia Methodists Conference Manual Labor School was chartered.

The school opened in 1835 at Newton County. Alexander Mans, a physician and minister, became its first superintendent. Shortly thereafter, Ignatius Alphonso Few, a Princeton-educated lawyer, urged the Georgia Methodists Conference to expand into a college and, on December 10, 1836, the Conference received a charter from the Georgia General Assembly to do just that. It was agreed that the college would carry the name of John Emory, the popular bishop who died in a carriage accident in 1835 after successfully presiding over the conference in 1834. The first man elected as president of Emory College was Ignatius Few.

The college began admitting students in 1838.Its curriculum consisted of both classical and professional training. Students would study mathematics, Latin and Greek for four years as well as geography, astronomy, chemistry and the English Bible for four more years. The school's first laboratory-based studies began in 1875, the same year that its debate society gained significant prominence. Among the popular topics of debate at the time were war, slavery, women's suffrage and prohibition. One of the finest products of Emory College at this time was Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar II, a 1845 graduate who would later become the lone Mississippi native to serve on the United States Supreme Court.

During the American Civil War, Emory College closed its doors briefly and many of its students would participate in the armed conflict and the school itself would allocate buildings that served both as a Confederate hospital and Union headquarters. Like many of its students, the college's library and its archives did not survive the war. Emory College resumed its academic functions in 1865 but, at the time, its endowment was depleted and its campus was almost totally destroyed.

The school completely reopened its doors in autumn of 1866 with just 120 students. With the rest of the South, Emory College struggled with financial difficulties after the Civil War.

In the autumn of 1866, Emory College reopened its doors with a limited endowment and just 120 students. [5] The first postbellum commencement was held in 1867 and conferred degrees on the class of 1862, most of whom had fought in the war and with some already interred in military graves.

In the years following the Civil War, Emory, along with the rest of the South, struggled to overcome financial devastation. A watershed event occurred during Thanksgiving in 1880 when then president Atticus G. Haygood said in a sermon that slavery was evil and urged more focus on industrial growth. In response, New York banker George I. Seney, who was also a Methodist, donated $5,000 to Emory College to repay its debts, $50,000 for construction and $75,000 for a new endowment.

Emory College would remain small and continue to struggle financially in the next 30 years, with enrollment peaking at 400 students. However, the school would produce several noteworthy alumni: Kentucky representative and United States Vice-President Alben W. Barkley, premier virologist Thomas M. Rivers, Pulitzer Prize winner and head of Harvard University Press Dumas Malone.

In 1913, former Emory College president Warren A. Candler initiated the move to make Emory the nucleus of a new university. His brother, Asa Griggs Candler, was the owner of The Coca-Cola Company and would play a significant role in this move. Asa endowed Emory College with one million dollars and donated 75 acres in Dekalb County as the school's future site. This generosity prompted college officials to name its new campus library in Asa Candler's honor.

On January 25, 1915, Dekalb County would recharted Emory College as Emory University (which is why both the years 1836 and 1915 are both on the school's seal). Emory College would later move from Oxford to Atlanta in 1919.

Program and Facilities

Emory University's facilities include the Emory University Hospitals and Eye Clinic, the Carter Presidential Center, the Yerkes Regional Primate Research Center and Emory Healthcare, Georgia's largest and most comprehensive health care system.

The university has nine academic divisions, which include schools of arts and sciences, law, business, nursing, medicine, pubic health and theology. Specifically, Emory University's nine academic divisions are Emory Law School, Goizueta Business School, Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing, Emory University School of Medicine, Rollins School of Public Health and Candler School of Theology.

About half of the student population belong to the undergraduate program and half belong too one of the seven graduate programs.

Reputation

The U.S. News and World Report ranks Emory University as number 18 (2006) among national universities. Previously, Emory had ranked as high as number nine in the publication's annual rankings.

BusinessWeek ranked the undergraduate business program of Goizueta Business School as number five in 2006.

Languages

English

Contact

404.727.6123

Address

201 Dowman Drive
Atlanta, Georgia 30322

Additional Information

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