Service mission

The service mission of the University of Georgia has its roots in the mid-nineteenth century, when the school reconfigured itself to meet the needs of a changing society and economy. The land-grant university tradition, anchored in the Morrill Act of 1862, strengthened that commitment and introduced the concept that state-supported higher education should be broadly accessible to all classes of Americans.

Outreach at UGA is defined as the extension of the university’s resources in the form of professional knowledge and expertise to help communities improve their quality of life. During more than a century of service to Georgia, UGA has expanded and diversified to keep pace with changes within the state. Our service units and public service faculty in the colleges and schools provide resources relating to economic development, K-12 education, leadership development, continuing professional education, and training and research for state agencies. Through faculty and staff placed in all of Georgia’s 159 counties, UGA’s public service and outreach programs have reached virtually every community in the state. Continuing professional education in fiscal year 2002 exceeded 1.5 million contact hours, and other programs and workshops have benefited many thousands of people across Georgia. International outreach programs continue to expand, with UGA faculty providing service activities in Europe, Africa, Asia, and Central and South America.

The vision of public service and outreach at UGA continues to be transformed by innovative technologies that enhance the delivery of services, from disease diagnosis to homeland security. The knowledge generated by faculty at UGA is translated by those in public service and outreach into a thousand practical uses, from introducing governments and businesses to new technologies to improving the nutritional practices of low-income citizens, that enhance the quality of life of the millions who now live in Georgia, plus many groups beyond the state’s borders.

A committment to serve since 1862

The service mission of the University of Georgia is rooted in the mid-nineteenth century, when the university reconfigured to address the needs of a changing society and economy. The land-grant tradition, anchored in the Morrill Act of 1862, strengthened that commitment and introduced the concept that state-supported higher education should be broadly accessible to the American people. Since that time UGA has steadily built a service program that embodies those historical ideals of outreach and broad access to the university’s resources.

In the late nineteenth century, outreach and university extension began to expand through lectures and agricultural demonstrations throughout the state. At the turn of the century, Chancellor Walter B. Hill stated that the University of Georgia had a duty to partner with the state to improve the quality of life throughout Georgia. The passage of the Smith-Lever Act in 1914 established a federal funding structure for an agricultural extension service (now the Cooperative Extension Service).

Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, the university introduced a number of new service activities, including radio and correspondence instruction. Also at that time, UGA developed an organization to provide business and social data to the state and began to provide technical services to state government agencies. By the end of the 1930s, a partnership had been forged between the state and the university that remains strong and active to this day.

Following World War II, UGA’s outreach activities continued to expand and diversify. Beginning in the 1950s, each of the colleges and schools has received encouragement and funding to provide public services. In addition to encouraging academic service, UGA now supports seven administrative units that have university outreach as their primary focus.

By the late 1960s, policies emerged that shaped UGA’s current public service and extension programs. In 1965 President O.C. Aderhold established the position of Vice President for Services in response to the growing demand for more diverse forms of outreach and a need for better internal management of the expanding institutional commitment to public service.

In the decades since establishing public service and outreach one of the three main administrative branches of UGA, the university’s outreach programming has become a model among American universities for the scope and diversity of the services provided to the people of the state. Public service and academic faculty and staff have developed programs that reach virtually every community in the state and are helping UGA and Georgia become active in the increasingly global society through outreach and applied research projects on five continents.