The Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia was created in 1931 as a part of a reorganization of Georgia’s state government. With this act, public higher education in Georgia was unified for the first time under a single governing and management authority. The governor appoints members to the Board, who each serve seven years. Today the Board of Regents is composed of 18 members, five of whom are appointed from the state-at-large, and one from each of the 13 congressional districts. The Board elects a chancellor who serves as its chief executive officer and the chief administrative officer of the University System.
The Board oversees the 35 colleges and universities that comprise the University System of Georgia, Skidaway Institute of Oceanography and The Georgia Public Library System. These institutions enrolled approximately 311,442 students for the Fall of 2010 and employed 41,680 faculty and staff to provide teaching and related services to students and the communities in which they are located.