G eorgia College celebrates 30 years as the state’s designated public liberal arts university in 2026, an identity-shaping shift that led to its current period of unprecedent growth, all-time high student demand and record-setting national rankings. 

Georgia College & State University experienced the most successful year in its 136-year history in 2025, one marked by highest-ever student demand and, for the first time ever, being ranked among the top five public colleges and universities in the South by U.S. News & World Report. 

“But this peak didn’t happen by accident,” University President Cathy Cox said. “Rather, it was the culmination of 30 years of intentional actions that can traced back to 1996, when Georgia College became Georgia College & State University, the state’s designated public liberal arts institution.” 

This was no simple name change. 

“This transition altered our institution’s identity forever, serving as an inflection point that would shape who we are and provide a new, strategic focus for our programs from that day forward,” Cox added.

Leading Change 

Rosemary DePaolo, former president of GCSU who led the university’s strategic redirection, wasted no time in setting lofty goals for the institution following its new direction. 

“We’re going to focus on what we can do best and what our mission is all about,” she told The Union-Recorder newspaper in 1998. “It’s already transformed us in extraordinary ways. This is a different place.”  

DePaolo cited the university’s focus on developing student life initiatives, improving the student-to-faculty ratio, elevating the caliber of students admitted and becoming an academic leader within the Southeastern United States. 

Today, all of those goals have come to fruition:

• Student organizations on campus have jumped from 64 in 1996 to 166 today.
• The student-to-faculty ratio has improved from 20:1 in 1996 to 17:1 today.
• During the same timeframe, incoming student GPA has ballooned from 2.95 to 3.64, cementing GCSU’s place among the “Big Three” selective admissions institutions in the
• University System of Georgia (along with the University of Georgia and Georgia Tech).
• Finally, the university was named a Top 5 public institution in the South by U.S. News & World Report for the first time last year. 

“We used to bristle when people called us the 'best kept secret in Georgia,' but now it’s clear: The secret is out about Georgia College,” Cox said 

In the five years since Cox stepped in as president of GCSU, the university has risen to a new level of distinction within Georgia higher education, which she attributes to the institution’s focus on collaboration, exploration and learning by doing — building blocks of the liberal arts that help develop workforce-ready skills, such as communication, teamwork and critical thinking in students. 

The career benefits are proven, too. According to a recent study by the American Association of Colleges and Universities, employers are up to 81% more likely to hire graduates who have participated in experience-based learning activities — such as undergraduate research, internships, study abroad, leadership programs and community-engaged learning. 

“At GCSU, we guarantee every student meaningful access to opportunities like those, beginning in their first year,” Cox said. 

The approach is working: 93% of GCSU students report engaging in transformative learning experiences — starting in Year One. 

As demand for this type of higher educational experience has grown, so has Georgia College’s economic impact on the region. Since 20024, GCSU has doubled its economic impact — which is measured in number of jobs created and revenue generated in the region — from $155 million to $333 million.

Reflecting on the past three decades of growth, Cox sees even more opportunity ahead.  

Imagine what Georgia College could accomplish in the next 30 years if we all set our sights on the stars,” she said at her annual State of University address, earlier this year. “Our potential is limited only by our imaginations — and our willingness to make those dreams come true.” 

Header Image: Yash, Emily, Jackson and Janelle represent GCSU's four academic college: The J. Whitney Bunting College of Business & Technology, The College of Health Sciences, The John H. Lounsbury College of Education and The College of Arts & Sciences. (Photo: Anna Gay Leavitt)