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2004
  • U.S.News & World Report names KSU’s First-Year Experience as a “Program to Look For” in its “Best Colleges 2005” issue
  • Men’s basketball team wins NCAA Div. II national championship
  • Women’s soccer and men’s golf teams begin transition to NCAA Div. I
  • Bob Prillaman, chairman of the WellStar Health System board of trustees, receives KSU’s honorary doctorate
  • College of Science & Mathematics’ CyberTech program receives $50,000 grant from UPS Foundation and $1,000,000+ grant from the National Science Foundation
  • Fall 2004 student enrollment exceeds 18,000
  • KSU dedicates the Bobbie Bailey Athletic Complex, a new home for its NCAA Div. II softball and baseball teams

2003

  • Women’s soccer team wins NCAA Div. II national championship in its second season of existence
  • The “Anne Frank in the World” exhibit, sponsored by the Georgia Commission on the Holocaust and the KSU Foundation, opens at KSU Center
  • The American Council on Education selects KSU as one of eight institutions in the country for study, “Global Learning for All,” which focuses on best practices in promoting international student success
  • KSU is named one of 12 founding institutions in a project called “Foundations of Excellence in the First Year of College,” by Dr. John Gardner and the Policy Center on the First-Year College Experience
  • The College of Health and Human Services is renamed the WellStar College of Health and Human Services in honor of WellStar Health System, following its $3.1 million gift to the college
  • The Center for Leadership, Ethics & Character receives a $1 million endowment from RTM Restaurant Group and is renamed the RTM Institute for Leadership, Ethics & Character
  • The Department of History and Philosophy receives a $1 million gift from Shaw Industries for the endowment of the Shaw Industries Distinguished Chair in History
  • The athletic department hosts its inaugural Hall-of-Fame induction
    James C. Kennedy, CEO and chairman of Cox Enterprises, receives KSU’s annual honorary doctorate

2002

  • The Owls women's soccer program kicked off first season with an 18-game winning streak
  • State-of-the-art student housing opened with more than 1,000 students in residence
  • KSU named one of the top three most publicly engaged universities in the nation by the American Association of State Colleges and Universities
  • Fred Stillwell, longtime member of the KSU Foundation Board of Trustees, received the honorary doctorate (Stillwell Stadium and Theater are named in honor of his family)

2001

  • BusinessWeek magazine rated the Michael J. Coles College of Business among "The Best of the Bunch," for executive MBA programs; the college also ranked third in the nation in "Teamwork" and tenth in "eBusiness"
  • Time magazine highlighted KSU for success in helping freshmen make a successful transition to college life through the First Year Experience
  • Betty L. Siegel celebrated 20 years as president of KSU
  • John Clendenin, education advocate and donor for whom the Ann and John Clendenin Computer Science Building is named, received KSU's annual honorary doctorate

2000

  • KSU Owls baseball team named "Team of the Decade" by Baseball America magazine
  • Fred D. Bentley Sr., founder of KSU's Rare Book Library, received KSU's annual honorary doctorate

1999

  • KSU leased what would become KSU Center to house the Continuing Education Division and various other functions
  • Michael J. Coles, a member of the KSU Foundation Board of Trustees and benefactor for whom the Coles College of Business is named, received the honorary doctorate

1998

  • School of the Arts added as home to the departments of music, theatre & performance studies and visual arts
  • Bobbie Bailey, a member of the KSU Foundation Board of Trustees, received KSU's annual honorary doctorate

1997

  • The College of Education renamed the Leland H. and Clarice C. Bagwell College of Education in honor of longtime educators and university benefactors
  • KSU awarded its first honorary doctorate of humane letters to Clarice Bagwell

1996

  • Women's softball team won second NCAA Division II national championship
  • Men's baseball team won NCAA Division II national championship
  • KSC hosted finish-line festivities for America's premier cycling event, the Tour DuPont
  • Coles School of Business listed in Success magazine's report on "The 25 Best Business Schools for Entrepreneurship" as one of the nation's "Top 10 Up-and-Comers"
  • Kennesaw State attained university status; renamed Kennesaw State University
  • Four of five schools renamed colleges following change to university status

1995

  • Women's softball team won NCAA Division II national championship
  • Success magazine listed Coles School of Business among "25 Schools to Watch" because of its entrepreneurship programs

1994

  • School of Business Administration renamed after entrepreneur and philanthropist Michael J. Coles
  • School of Nursing created
  • Men's baseball team won NAIA national championship

1991

U.S. News and World Report again cites KSC as a "rising star," this time naming it No. 1 in the South

1990

  • Fall-quarter enrollment topped 10,000
  • KSC once again among the "rising stars of education" in U.S News & World Report's Guide to America's Best Colleges and Universities

1989

  • U.S. News & World Report listed KSC as an "up and comer" in its Guide to America's Best Colleges and Universities

1988

  • Kennesaw College renamed Kennesaw State College
  • College celebrated Silver Jubilee (25th anniversary of its founding)

1986

  • Kennesaw College and President Siegel spotlighted in the book "Searching for Academic Excellence: Twenty Colleges and Their Leaders"
  • Jon Hough wins NAIA golf championship, the first national title for KSU in any sport

1985

  • Kennesaw College's first graduate programs, master of business administration and master of education, added
  • Researchers at George Mason University recognize Kennesaw as "a college on the move"

1983

  • Academic divisions restructured into four schools: arts and humanities, business, education, and science and allied health

1982

  • Kennesaw begins competition in intercollegiate athletics

1981

  • Betty L. Siegel becomes the first female president in the University System of Georgia

1980

  • College awarded first four-year degrees
  • Founding President Horace W. Sturgis retired

1979

  • Senior-level courses added to curriculum

1978

  • Junior-level courses added to curriculum

1977

  • Kennesaw College dropped "junior" from its name

1976

  • Regents grant KJC senior-college (four-year) status effective fall 1978

1968

  • Two-year nursing program added to liberal arts programs

1967

  • College awarded first degrees to five transfer students

1966

  • College opened doors to 1,014 students

1963

  • Kennesaw Junior College founded by Board of Regents