Points of Pride

• The top-ranked Best Value School among Georgia public universities (U.S. News & World Report, 2022).
• Ranked #1 on the Best Colleges for Veterans list among public universities in Georgia (U.S. News & World Report, 2022).
• UNG was named the #2 public university in Georgia for Top Public Schools and Best Regional Universities in the South (U.S. News & World Report, 2022).
• Named to the Forbes Best Colleges list for the sixth consecutive year (2016 – 2021).
• Designated as a College of Distinction for 2021-2022.
• Ranked #17 in the 2021 Military Times Best for Vets: Colleges list.
• U.S. News and World Report recognized UNG among the Best Undergraduate Programs for Teaching, Nursing, Business, and Computer Science.
• UNG was ranked in the U.S. News & World Report 2022 Best Graduate Schools list, with recognition for the Doctor of Physical Therapy and part-time MBA program among the best for public universities in Georgia.

• In keeping with its mission to prepare leaders for a diverse and global society, UNG offers programs of study in 12 languages and holds a prestigious designation as one of only 13 Chinese Language Flagship Programs in the nation.
• The University has been designated a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense since 2016 – a program jointly sponsored by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the National Security Agency.
• Demonstrating its commitment to the highest standard of educational quality, the university is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC).
• The Mike Cottrell College of Business is accredited by AACSB, the hallmark of excellence among business schools worldwide.
• UNG’s computer science program is accredited by ABET, the most respected accrediting body for such programs.
• The Lewis F. Rogers Institute for Environmental and Spatial Analysis was designated as a National Center of Academic Excellence in 2017 and has received several state and national grants to expand educational opportunities for students.
• UNG decisively won both the 2019 and 2020 National Security Agency Codebreaker Challenge.

The University of North Georgia assists outstanding students in pursing some of the nation’s most prestigious, merit-based scholarships. Among the impressive list of these elite awards as of December 2020, UNG students have earned:

• One Pickering Fellowship
• 33 Fulbright Scholarships
• Three National Institutes of Health Scholarships
• 10 Critical Language Scholarships
• 23 Boren Scholarships
• 98 Benjamin A. Gilman Scholarships
• Three National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowships
• Two Jack Kent Cooke Undergraduate Transfer Scholarships
• Six Newman Civic Fellows Awards
• One Udall Scholarship
• 15 Freeman-ASIA Awards
• One American Council on Education Veteran of the Year
• Six Chinese Government Scholarships
• Two Charles B. Rangel International Affairs Program Scholarships
• Four Woodrow Wilson STEM Teaching Fellowships
• One Truman Scholarship
• One Fulbright Canada Youth in the World Seminar Participant
• One US-UK Summer Fulbright Institute Recipient
• Three Goldwater Scholars

The University of North Georgia is an acknowledged leader in teaching excellence and innovation in higher education. The University’s faculty is committed to the pursuit of interdisciplinary understanding of evidence-based teaching practices. Recent awards and recognition include:

• Four University System of Georgia Chancellor’s Learning Scholars, including four faculty in the 2021-2022 academic year.
• Two Governor’s Teaching Fellows recipients, one Summer Symposium, one Academic Year Symposia.
• One USG Felton Jenkins, Jr. Hall of Fame recipient.
• One USG Regents’ Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Award recipient.
• One USG Leadership Fellow recipient.

• The UNG Corps of Cadets had a record 34 cadets named Distinguished Military Graduates with nine ranked in the top 10% of the national Army ROTC class of nearly 7,000 cadets.
• UNG's acclaimed Boar's Head Brigade was honored twice in the past four years (2017 & 2019) with the General Douglas MacArthur Award as the top Army ROTC program among the nation’s six senior military colleges. Recognition is based on cadet performance, retention rate achievements and cadet standing on the national Order of Merit list.
• The Boar’s Head Brigade commissioned more than 425 cadets as second lieutenants into the Total Army during the past four years (2017-2020), far exceeding any other four-year period in university history.

• UNG offers 12 NCAA Division II sports (five men’s and seven women’s sports) that compete in the Peach Belt Conference. The nationally acclaimed rifle team (a mixed sport) competes in the Southern Conference.
• The UNG clinched the 2021 NCAA Division II Softball Southeast Regional Championship and advanced to the final four in the national Championship. The team won the national title in 2015.
• UNG claimed its second National Championship when track & field athlete Journey Gurley won the NCAA Division II Pole Vault National Championship in May 2021.
• Since 2010, Nighthawk Athletics has raised more than $205,000 for Make-A-Wish, having raised at least $10,000 in every year . The Nighthawk Nation has granted more than 20 wishes and hosted 10 on-campus Make-A-Wish reveals since 2013.
• UNG’s Haines and Carolyn Hill Stadium was named the Division II NFCA Field of the Year in 2020.
• UNG Athletics has been selected to host the 2022 NCAA Division II Women’s Golf Championship, the 2023 NCAA Division II Men’s and Women’s Cross Country Regional, and the 2026 NCAA Divisions I, II and III Women’s Rowing Championships. UNG Athletics also has been selected as co-host of the 2023 NCAA D-II Softball Championship, 2025 NCAA D-II Softball Championship and the 2026 NCAA D-II Softball Championship.

• The university has launched UNG Study Away programs that provide short-term, domestic study options outside of north Georgia to provide students opportunities to engage in experiential learning, build relationships with faculty and gain confidence to participate in other types of high impact practices later in their UNG career, such as serving in urban centers, conducting remote fieldwork or deepening understanding of diverse communities.
• UNG enjoys more than 50 partnerships across the globe that provide its students opportunities for a variety of international experiences, including study abroad, internships, service learning and faculty-led education programs.
• UNG is advancing toward its goal of forming partnerships with institutions in each major region of the world. In an effort to create meaningful connections to provide research opportunities, faculty exchange and student mobility. During the pandemic in 2020, UNG was able to maintain and create new partnerships with virtual exchange opportunities for students when they could not travel.
• UNG enrolled 193 international students and 54 students studied abroad during the 2019-2020 academic year. (Participation was impacted by the covid-19 Pandemic).

• UNG supports robust undergraduate research opportunities through its Center for Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (CURCA), enabling students to gain practical experience and strengthen problem-solving and critical thinking skills.
• UNG students have presented at local, state, regional and national undergraduate research conferences, including the National Conference on Undergraduate Research.
• UNG is one of the first public universities in Georgia to earn the prestigious Community Engagement Classification from The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, which promotes service-learning and community partnerships and the many ways they can enhance the educational experience.
• UNG is one of 119 U.S. colleges and universities to receive the 2020 Carnegie Community Engagement Classification, an elective designation that indicates institutional commitment to community engagement. Including this year’s designee, only 359 schools nationwide carry the voluntary classification; UNG is one of only six public universities in Georgia that have earned the designation.
• Now in its sixth year, the Blue Ridge Scholars Program is receiving national attention for its efforts to build student scholarship through academics, leadership and community engagement.
• UNG is part of the LEAP State Georgia Consortium, an AAC&U-designed program to provide higher education institutions with a practical framework for delivering an inclusive, broad education in a complex and diverse world.

• A $1.4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Labor to provide workforce development in six counties in northeast Georgia: Dawson, Fannin, Forsyth, Gilmer, Hall and Lumpkin. The project will allow UNG to develop training and support for entrepreneurs seeking to increase economic growth in the region.
• A $359,541 grant from the National Science Foundation’s Improving Undergraduate STEM education (IUSE): GEOPAths program to expose high school students to the geosciences. UNG faculty in IESA and the College of Education will develop geoscience content relevant to high school curriculum, conduct workshops and field trips for high school educators and special education teachers, and host high school students who will shadow UNG faculty as they conduct research.
• A five-year, $2.1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s College Assistance Migrant Program (CAMP). UNG CAMP provides academic support and financial assistance for students who are migratory or seasonal farmworkers (or children of such workers) enrolled in their first year at UNG.
• $1.2 million over four years was awarded from the Institute of International Education to continue the Chinese Language Flagship program, which allows both ROTC and civilian students to learn Chinese at UNG. Students then spend a capstone year abroad, which gives them language and cultural training through classes and an internship.
• $1.4 million was awarded from the National Security Agency to create a Cyber Institute program to increase the talent pipeline for the military and civilian Department of Defense cyber workforce.
• A $239,866 grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration will be used for the development of a Nurse Faculty Loan Program for Master of Science in Nursing and Doctor of Nursing Practice students who plan to work as nurse educators.