Located 60 miles northeast of Atlanta in Athens, Georgia, the University of Georgia was the first state-chartered university in the United States, making it the birthplace of the American system of public higher education. It was incorporated January 27, 1785 by the Georgia General Assembly which gave its trustees, the Senatus Academicus of the University of Georgia, 40,000 acres (160 km²) for the purposes of founding a “college or seminary of learning.” The university's motto is et docere et rerum exquirere causas ("to teach and to inquire into the nature of things").

The first meeting of its board of trustees installed its first president, Abraham Baldwin, a native of Connecticut and graduate of Yale University. This meeting also identified the 633 acres (2.6 km²) on the banks of the Oconee River on which the University was to be built.

The first classes were held in 1801, in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences—named in honor of Benjamin Franklin—under the direction of President Josiah Meigs. The university graduated its first class in 1804.

White and male most of its history, women were first admitted to the university in 1918. In 1961, UGA became racially integrated after notable tension with the Southern Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools.

UGA is home to the George Foster Peabody Awards, which are presented annually for excellence in television and radio news, entertainment and children’s programming. It also presents the annual Delta Prize for Global Understanding, which recognizes individuals or groups whose initiatives promote peace and cooperation among cultures and nations.

UGA has had long-running difficulties with its fundraising organization, the University of Georgia Foundation. In 2003, UGA officials neglected to renew the trademark to the name "University of Georgia", and the trademark was acquired by the University of Georgia Foundation. After UGA dissolved its relationship with the foundation on May 25, 2004, the foundation declared its intentions to assume control of commercial use of this name, including all campus logo products and even "education services, namely providing instruction at the college level." The ramifications of this action are unknown, and the ultimate resolution of the situation remains to be seen. However, the most probable outcomes are as follows: (a) either state officials will rule that the UGA name is the intellectual property of the university, or (b) the Foundation might be able to force the university to cease use of the name "University of Georgia."