OGLETHORPE UNIVERSITY

Oglethorpe University was chartered in 1835 in Midway, just south of the city of Milledgeville, then the state capital. The school was built and, at that time, governed by the Presbyterian Church, making it one of the South’s earliest denominational institutions.
The college followed the relocation of the capital to Atlanta. In 1870, it began holding classes at the present site of Atlanta City Hall. Plagued by financial difficulties, the school closed its doors after only two years.

Oglethorpe College was re-chartered as a non-denominational institution in 1913. In 1915 the cornerstone to the new campus was laid at its present location on Peachtree Road in Brookhaven. The person behind rebuilding Oglethorpe was Dr. Thornwell Jacobs, whose grandfather Ferdinand Jacobs had served on the faculty of Old Oglethorpe. Jacobs would serve as president for nearly three decades.

In the early 1940s Oglethorpe University had a medical school. Under the direction of Dr. John Bernard, the university was given several elephants for research, who had been poisoned by the Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus. After the students had finished dissecting the animals they were buried under what is known today as the Philip Weltner Library.
Oglethorpe University became Oglethorpe College in 1965, and reclaimed the designation “university” in 1972. Many of Oglethorpe’s campus buildings were built in a Gothic revival architecture style. This area of the 100-acre (0.40 km2) campus is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
In December 2009, The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) fully reaffirmed the University’s accreditation.
The Oglethorpe University Museum of Art opened in 1984 and is located on the top floor of the Philip Weltner Library. The two galleries, the South and Skylight, and gift shop cover 7,000 square feet. Bringing in thousands of visitors each year, the museum has become an important point of interest in Atlanta’s art community.

In 1994, Lupton Hall, Phoebe Hearst Hall, Lowry Hall and Hermance Stadium were added to the National Register of Historic Places. In addition, a historic district including part or all of the 100-acre (0.40 km2) campus was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Other academic buildings include Goslin Hall, primarily used for science courses, and J. Mack Robinson Hall, primarily used for Communication and Art classes.

Oglethorpe University is home to the Crypt of Civilization, the first and most complete time capsule ever created, according to the Guinness Book of World Records. Scheduled to be opened in 8113 AD, it is located in the basement of Phoebe Hearst Hall.

Oglethorpe University is home to the International Time Capsule Society, a repository of time capsule projects worldwide.

The Turner Lynch Campus Center opened in the fall of 2013.
Oglethorpe University promotes the concept of international education and travel as an essential component of an academic education. Oglethorpe University Students Abroad sponsors trips for-credit, short-term, partnerships and agreements.
Oglethorpe University offers a selection of opportunities in four divisions: International Exchange Partnerships, Independent Study Abroad-Non Partnerships, Short Term Trips, and Associate Student Programs for Special Study Abroad.

For foreign students wishing to study in the United States, Education First, an International Study Abroad Organization, opened its Atlanta Language Center on the Oglethorpe University Campus in the fall 2012.