Georgia Institute of Technology

The Georgia Institute of Technology is a public research university in Atlanta, Georgia, in the United States. It is a part of the University System of Georgia and has satellite campuses in Savannah, Georgia; Mete France; Athlon, Ireland; Shanghai China; and Singapore.The educational institution was founded in 1885 as the Georgia School of Technology as part of Reconstruction plans to build an industrial economy in the post-Civil War Southern United States. Initially it offered only a degree in mechanical engineering. By 1901 its curriculum had expanded to include electrical civil and chemical engineering. In 1948 the school changed its name to reflect its evolution from a trade school to a larger and more capable technical institute and research university.Today Georgia Tech is organized into six colleges and contains about 31 departments/units, with emphasis on science and technology. It is well recognized for its degree programs in engineering, computing, business administration, the sciences, architecture, and liberal arts.Georgia Tech's main campus occupies part of Midtown Atlanta, bordered by 10th Street to the north and by North Avenue to the south, placing it well in sight of the Atlanta skyline. The campus was the site of the athletes' village and a venue for a number of athletic events for the 1996 Summer Olympics. The construction of the Olympic village-the idea of a technology school in Georgia was introduced in 1865 during the Reconstruction period. Two former Confederate officers, Major John Fletcher Hanson an industrialist and Nathaniel Edwin Harris a politician and eventually Governor of Georgia who had become prominent citizens in the town of Macon, Georgia after the Civil War, strongly believed that the South needed to improve its technology to compete with the industrial revolution that was occurring throughout the North. However, because the American South of that era was mainly populated by agricultural workers and few technical developments were occurring, a technology school was needed. along with subsequent gentrification of the surrounding areas, enhanced the campus.Student athletics both organized and intramural, are a part of student and alumni life. The school's intercollegiate competitive sports teams, the four-time football national champion Yellow Jackets and the nationally recognized fight song Rambling Wreck from Georgia Tech have helped keep Georgia Tech in the national spotlight. Georgia Tech fields eight men's and seven women's teams that compete in the NCAA Division I athletics and the Football Bowl Subdivision. Georgia Tech is a member of the Coastal Division in the Atlantic Coast Conference.