Piedmont University

Stewart Hall, one of Piedmont's classroom buildings, houses labs and classroom space for the mathematics and sciences departments.

The Demorest campus is primarily a residential campus, with ten dormitories, including Getman-Babcock,[17] Purcell, Wallace, Swanson, Johnson, Mayflower, New Bedford, Plymouth and Ipswich[18] halls that together house about 600 students. The Piedmont Village (apartment-style living which opened in 2015) houses an additional 180 students.

The academic buildings include Daniel Hall, which houses the R.H. Daniel School of Nursing, the Humanities Department, and administrative offices. Stewart Hall houses the Science and Math Departments. The School of Education is located in the Arrendale Library. The Walker School of Business is located in Camp Hall, which is adjacent to the President's Home. The Music department is located in the Center for Worship and Music, which includes classroom and performance space, as well as the Sewell Pipe Organ, a 3,675-pipe organ built by the Casavant Frères company of Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec.

The Art Department is located in the Smith-Williams Studios and adjacent Martens Hall. The Mason-Scharfenstein Museum of Art is located in downtown Demorest. It features a large permanent collection and hosts numerous exhibits throughout the year.

The Mass Communications and Theatre Departments are located in the Swanson Center for Performing Arts and Communication, a $14-million building[19] which features two theaters and editing rooms for print, video and web productions. Next door is the Arrendale Amphitheater, a 500-seat outdoor venue.[20] WPCZ, the student-run radio station, is housed in the Swanson Center, along with the student-run TV station, PC60.

The campus also includes Walker Fields for softball, soccer and lacrosse, as well as Loudermilk Baseball Stadium for baseball. The Johnny Mize Athletic Center houses the O’Neal Cave Arena for basketball and volleyball. The Mize Center includes a museum featuring displays of Mize's baseball memorabilia collected during his career at Piedmont and as a Hall of Fame player in the major leagues with the St. Louis Cardinals, New York Giants and New York Yankees.

The pedestrian footbridge at Piedmont College connects to pieces of campus which are separated by Historic U.S. 441 Highway.

There are also a few general purpose buildings. Lane Hall, which faces the quad, is the remodeled old gym, which houses the Student Success Center. There is also the President's House, the Admissions building and the pedestrian bridge which crosses Historic U.S. 441.[21] The bridge was assembled off-site and lowered into place by crane,[22] and was modeled after the Vanderbilt University 21st Avenue Pedestrian Bridge. The installation of the bridge was a joint project of the Georgia Department of Transportation, Piedmont College and the city of Demorest.

Much of Piedmont's Demorest property is now wetlands. The wetlands area was once the site of Lake Demorest (from 1890–2008).[23] The lake was drained due to an irreparable dam, and the property was turned into a wetlands for students and faculty to use in their studies.

The heart of student life at Piedmont is the new Student Commons, which opened in the fall of 2015. The 58,000 square foot commons features the campus dining hall, fitness center (complete with a full-size basketball court with a walking track, a rock-climbing wall and a racquetball court), the official Piedmont College bookstore and a Starbucks cafe. The commons also is home to Student Services and has a state-of-the-art conference room and study rooms as well as staff offices.

The college opened a small outreach facility[24] in 1996 and now occupies seven buildings near the heart of downtown Athens on Prince Avenue.[25] The campus offers four-year undergraduate programs designed for both traditional and non-traditional students. For graduate students, there are programs in business (MBA), nursing (BSN), and education (MA, MAT, EDS, and EdD).

The Athens campus includes Commons Hall, which houses the majority of classrooms and faculty offices, as well as a large assembly room and dining hall. The School of Business is located in Rogers Hall, and there is a large recreation center for intramural and fitness activities. Lane Hall on North Milledge Avenue[26] houses the library and facilities for the School of Nursing and Health Sciences.

Piedmont University is composed of four colleges: the College of Arts & Sciences, the College of Education, the Harry W. Walker College of Business, and the R.H. Daniel College of Nursing & Health Sciences.[28]

Students can take courses in nine departments that comprise the College of Arts and Sciences. These departments include: Art, Humanities, Interdisciplinary Studies, Mass Communications, Mathematics & Physics, Music, Natural Sciences, Social Sciences, and Theatre. Through these departments, students can earn Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Fine Arts, and Bachelor of Science degrees.

The Harry W. Walker College of Business received accreditation in November 2007 from the Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP) for the undergraduate and graduate business programs at both Piedmont's Demorest and Athens Campuses.[29] Through the College of Business, students can earn a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in Business Administration or a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree. The BA program includes concentrations in accounting, finance, general business, management, and marketing. The MBA program is a lock-step 12-course program that offers the convenience of evening courses and can be completed in as little as 18 months.

The College of Education offers bachelor's degree programs in fields including Early Childhood, Middle Grades, Drama, Secondary, and Spanish education. Students can also earn Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) or Master of Arts (MA) degrees in a variety of areas. Beyond the master's degree, the college offers Education Specialist (EdS) and Doctor of Education (EdD) degree programs.[30][31]

Students from Piedmont College's Nursing Department participate in an annual disaster drill to practice their triage skills. The 2015 drill simulated a gas tank explosion.

The R.H. Daniel College of Nursing & Health Sciences offers the BSN degree for students preparing for initial licensure. Separate BSN tracks are also available for students who already hold RN or LPN degrees.[32]

The first publication for the college was The Mountain Lantern, which was named for a common firefly in the surrounding area. The Lantern started as a monthly magazine in 1912. In 1913, The Lantern became the college's yearbook. There would not be a magazine again until 2006, when a mass communications major published PC Magazine as her senior capstone project. In the fall of 2007, the magazine was renamed Pause, which came out twice each semester; two print and two online. Pause has since been out of production. In 2021 "The Roar" has begun production of a magazine version of the previous newspaper. Under the guidance of advisor Joseph Dennis, The Roar Magazine is expected to remain at Piedmont University for the foreseeable future.

The Mountain Lantern lasted for only a short period until 1915. A yearbook was again issued in 1920, and the name was changed to the Yonahian. The odd-sounding name was derived from nearby Mount Yonah. Since 1920, the Yonahian has been published every year and provides a general record of students and faculty.

The first newspaper of Piedmont was The Hustler, which lasted from 1908 to 1909. There was no newspaper until 1917, when a bi-weekly newspaper named The Padded Hammer appeared in September. Later in 1917, after a vote on the name of the paper, it was changed to The Piedmont Owl. The name was chosen as a reference to the concept of wisdom. This became the name of Piedmont's athletic teams as well, until 1921, when the Student Association adopted the name Mountain Lions, later shortened to Lions.[34]

The Piedmont Owl lasted for 67 years until the name was changed to match Piedmont's newer mascot. The paper became The Lion's Roar for 21 years until 2005, when it was changed to The Navigator. The name is a reference to the Mayflower ship of the Pilgrims, honoring Piedmont's relationship to American Congregationalism. In the fall of 2015, all the college's media outlets were consolidated under the umbrella name of The Roar.[35]

• Marvin Hudson (Class of 1986), baseball umpire of the 2004 All-Star Game and the 2005 National League Division Series as well as the 2016 World Series between the Cubs and Indians[36]
• Phillip M. Landrum (Class of 1938), U.S. Congressman[37]
• Soong Mei-ling, wife of President Chiang Kai-shek; played a prominent role in the politics of the Republic of China[38]
• Johnny "Big Cat" Mize,[39][40] baseball Hall of Famer; played for Piedmont in the 1930s; the athletic center and museum on Piedmont's campus are named for him[41]
• Diana Palmer (Class of 1995), author of many novels including Diamond Girl, which was made into a movie in 1998[42]
• Jonathan Clark Rogers (Class of 1906), President of North Georgia College, 1933–1949; president of the University of Georgia, 1949-1950[43]
• Brian Rickman (Class of 1998), American lawyer and Judge on the Georgia Court of Appeals.
• Lillian Smith, studied at Piedmont 1915–1916; wrote Strange Fruit[44]

• John C. Campbell, second president of Piedmont College, 1904–1907;[10][45] educator and reformer noted for his survey of social conditions in the southern Appalachian region; the John C. Campbell Folk School was established by his wife and named in his honor.
• Barbara Brown Taylor, Professor Emerita, and past holder of the Harry R. Butman Chair of Religion and Philosophy; author of 12 books on religion and spirituality.[46][47][48]
• Rick Austin (politician) and Mayor of Demorest, Georgia

• Richard Jewell, security guard accused of the 1996 Olympic bombing. He was fired for abuse of authority and sued the college for slander; the lawsuit was settled with his estate in 2011 for an undisclosed amount and an apology from the college.