GHC History

Founded in 1970 as Floyd Junior College, Georgia Highlands College is two-year unit of the University System of Georgia located in Rome, Georgia, seventy miles northwest of Atlanta. The college was named for Floyd County which is named for General John Floyd who commanded Georgia's forces during the Creek War operations of the War of 1812. He established Fort Mitchell on the Chattahoochee River in present-day Alabama. He was later member of the state and U.S. House of Representatives.

Georgia Highlands College serves students who commute from throughout a large portion of northwest Georgia and northeast Alabama. Now enrolling almost 4,000 students in academic programs, Georgia Highlands College also offers a large and varied community-education program and operates extension centers in the cities of Cartersville, Acworth, Marietta, and Carrollton. Several divisions of the college, including Health Sciences and Continuing Education, are housed in the historic Heritage Hall site in downtown Rome.

In August 2005, Floyd College changed its name to Georgia Highlands College. This gives the campus a more regional name recognition.

Georgia Highlands College is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award the Associate of Arts, the Associate of Science and the Associate of Applied Science degrees.

Please see History of Georgia Highlands College for more information.

Compiled from:
- Archives of Floyd County see http://roadsidegeorgia.com/county/floyd.html
- Georgia Highlands College History see http://highlands.edu/about/history/index.htm
- New Georgia Encyclopedia see http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-616 and http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-2333&hl=y
- Previous AAUP webpage history posted by Laura Musselwhite, History Department