The C. Herman and Mary Virginia Terry College of Business is a constituent college of the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia, United States. The business college offers undergraduate programs, MBA programs, specialized master's programs and doctoral programs. It was founded as the first business school in the American South in 1912. The Terry College Bachelor of Business Administration degree is recognized as a top 30 undergraduate program with a large residential enrollment, and the MBA Program is considered a top 40 graduate business program and has a selectivity rate of approximately 35%.
The Terry MBA is offered as a full-time degree on campus in Athens, as a part-time degree or Executive MBA in the Buckhead district of Atlanta, and a fully online MBA option was added in 2023.
All of the college's programs are accredited by AACSB International – the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business.
History
"Next to farming, more men enter business than any other occupation; yet there is not an institution [in the] South...that offers a course for such students." - Joseph Stewart on the need of business education at the University of Georgia in his Annual Report to Chancellor Walter B. Hill (1904)
The Terry College was founded as the "School of Commerce" in 1912 by the state's Board of Regents. The early years of the school were "fragile" as the program struggled to acquire faculty and funding to serve the several students who had declared their intention to pursue the new Bachelor of Science in Commerce degree. The first such degree was awarded in 1915 to Willis Brazeal Sparks.
The school was known as the College of Business Administration from 1940 until 1991, when it was renamed the C. Herman and Mary Virginia Terry College of Business, honoring the late Herman Terry, and his wife, Mary Virginia, who as benefactors have endowed faculty chairs, research fellowships, scholarships, and funded facility upgrades.
Degrees offered
In Athens, the Terry College offers an undergraduate program, five master's degrees (the Full-Time MBA, the Master of Accountancy, the Master of Marketing Research, the Master of Science in Business Analytics, and the Master of Economics) and eight doctoral degree tracks. It offers two online degrees: an MBA and a Master of Business and Technology degree. The Terry College also offers Executive MBA and Professional MBA programs at the Terry Executive Education Center in Atlanta.
Full-time MBA
The Terry Full-Time MBA Program is currently only offered at the Athens campus. The full-time program is offered to any student regardless of previous bachelor's degree majors. The program is four semesters long, fall and spring semesters only. Students take core curriculum classes in their first year of the MBA Program, including leadership, ethics, accounting, economics, business law, MIS, and finance. They may take one elective course in the second semester of their first year. The second year is focused entirely upon elective courses to round out the business experience and fundamental business curriculum. MBA students are encouraged to complete an internship in their summer semester between their first and second year.
The MBA Career Management Center offers assistance with internships, job placement, career coaching and networking events.
Certificates
Leadership
The Institute for Leadership Advancement (ILA) in the Terry College of Business was established in 2001. ILA provides students with self-assessments, coaching/mentoring, action learning and feedback focused on the development of greater emotional competence. Two undergraduate leadership programs form the centerpiece of ILA programming: the Leonard Leadership Scholars Program (for Terry College majors) and the Leadership Fellows Program (for students in any UGA major). Completion of either program earns the student a certificate in Personal and Organizational Leadership.
ILA hosts the Terry Leadership Speaker Series, which brings well-known leaders from a variety of organizations to the Terry College of Business. In these student-oriented forums, leaders are asked to discuss their leadership styles and experiences.