Georgia Institute of Technology

The Georgia Institute of Technology, or Georgia Tech for short, is a public university in Atlanta, Georgia with over 16,000 students. Founded on October 13, 1885 as the Georgia School of

Technology, it is primarily an engineering school, though it also has

programs in the related disciplines of architecture, science, management, computer science, and liberal arts. The Institute's current president is Dr. G. Wayne Clough.

Georgia Tech's campus in midtown Atlanta was the site of the

athletes' village and a venue for a number of athletic events for the 1996 Summer Olympics. It was also the home of early radio station WGST AM from 1924 to 1930.

Georgia Tech was at one time often referred to as the North Avenue Trade School, although this was never its official

title. The name stems from the fact that the campus is bordered to the south by North Avenue, and that the school, in its earlier

years was operated much like a trade school, with students working part of

the day in a machine shop, and the other part of the day in classrooms.

An additional tradition which is a hold over from the days of the trade

school is what is referred to "The Whistle." The whistle blows every hour, at five til the hour from 6:55am to 5:55pm. It was

originally used to mark the end of a shift in the shops in the early years of the Institute; now it is used to mark the common

end of classes and as a ten minute warning to the common beginning of classes.