young women for teaching or industrial careers. In 1917, in keeping with economic and cultural changes in the state, Georgia Normal and Industrial College was authorized to grant 4-year degrees, the first of which was awarded in 1921. In 1922, the institution's name was changed to Georgia State College for Women.
The university has been a unit of the University System of Georgia since the system's founding in 1932. Mary "Flannery" O'Connor entered as a freshman in 1942. Active in student publications, she graduated three years later with a degree in social science and became one of the South's most noted writers. Some of her early short stories were published during this time, and her story, "A Late Encounter with the Enemy" is loosely based on an occurrence near campus. Also during World War II, Georgia State College for Women served as one of four colleges that trained WAVES for the U.S. Navy. Some of O'Connor's comics from this period depict the WAVES. After the war, enrollment declined as women preferred …
