December 15, 2022
by Jere W. Morehead, President
As we conclude another semester at UGA, I am reminded of all we have achieved together this fall. The hard work and dedication of our faculty, staff, and students have brought numerous distinctions to our university. Here are just a few of them:
- UGA earned the C. Peter Magrath Community Engagement Scholarship Award, the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities’ highest award for public service, for our Archway Partnership program, which connects rural communities to UGA resources and expertise to address critical issues.
- Dr. Jenna Jambeck, the Georgia Athletic Association Distinguished Professor of Environmental Engineering, received a MacArthur Fellowship, commonly known as a “Genius Grant,” for her research on plastic pollution and efforts to reduce plastic waste.
- UGA was the only public institution to have two students selected for the prestigious Marshall Scholarship and one of only three public institutions to have a student selected for the Rhodes Scholarship.
- Demand for a UGA education reached new heights as enrollment eclipsed 40,600 for the first time; we welcomed our largest first-year class ever, with 6,200 students; and we received more than 26,000 applications for early action admission—a 21% increase over last year’s record.
- Our students are succeeding at record levels, with the four-year completion rate now at 75%—up 13 percentage points from ten years ago. The six-year completion rate is 88%, well above our peers.
- UGA was ranked among the top 20 public universities in the nation by U.S. News & World Report for the seventh consecutive year, reflecting sustained excellence throughout our learning environment.
I am proud of the UGA community for these and many more accomplishments this fall, and I am grateful to our alumni and friends for helping to make these achievements possible. My sincerest thanks to everyone for your commitment to the University of Georgia, and warmest wishes for relaxing and rejuvenating holidays as we look forward to an exciting new year ahead.