Through the Arch

Through the Arch captures UGA’s colourful past, dynamic present and promising future in a novel way: by surveying its buildings, structures and spaces. These physical features are the university’s most visible - and some of its most valuable - resources. Yet they are largely overlooked, or treated only passingly, in histories and standard publications about UGA.

Through text and photographs, this book places buildings and spaces in the context of UGA’s development over more than 225 years. After opening with a brief historical overview of the university, the book profiles over 140 buildings, landmarks and spaces, their history, appearance and past and current usage, as well as their namesake, beginning with the oldest structures on North Campus and progressing to the newest facilities on South and East Campus and the emerging Northwest Quadrant. Many profiles are supplemented with sidebars relating traditions, lore, facts or alumni recollections associated with buildings and spaces.

More than just landmarks or static elements of infrastructure, buildings and spaces embody the university’s values, cultural heritage and educational purpose. These facilities - many more than a century old - are where students learn, explore and grow and where faculty teach, research and create. They harbour the university’s history and traditions, protect its treasures and hold memories for alumni. The repository for books, documents, artifacts and tools that contain and convey much of the accumulated knowledge and wisdom of human existence, these structures are the legacy of generations. And they are tangible symbols of UGA’s commitment to improve our world through education.