Who We Are

In 1950, under the direction of Bill Row of West Georgia College, the Georgia Association of Colleges recognized the need for an organized program of high school visitations throughout the state. High schools were asking colleges to visit them on a haphazard basis, and college representatives were requesting entry into the high schools at different times during the year.

The original program schedule was established so that representatives could move throughout the state efficiently and without a great deal of overlapping and so that only one program would be held at a time.

Initially, programs were held during the school day, after school, or at night. Many of the day programs were held in the local churches. Some programs were fairs, where all the representatives were either in the gymnasium or cafeteria.

Other programs had a regular three-period schedule of thirty minutes each, while some had an assembly program that preceded the regular program. A few programs had luncheons or dinners in connection with them.

IN THE 1960s, the University of Georgia was asked to take over the administration of the College Day schedule. It did so, changing the coordination from the Georgia Association of Colleges to the Georgia Education Association. M.O. Phelps and the University Admissions office assumed the responsibility for making the schedule.

The Georgia Education Association distributed the schedule to high schools, colleges, vocational-technical schools, and hospital schools of nursing. The College Day Committee was composed of the college representatives from the Georgia Association of School Counselors. This Committee approved the program and handled the business concerning the programs.

BETWEEN 1960 AND 1965, programs were consolidated, and gradually, most of the programs were held at night. Attempts were made at various times during these years to have counselor’s conferences along with the programs, and several of these were held, some of which were more or less successful.

AROUND 1966, LaGrange College accepted the administration of the College Day schedule. The administration of these programs stayed at LaGrange College for two years.

It was moved back to the University of Georgia’s admissions office, where it took over program administration and organized the initial Articulation Committee, which was composed of representatives from various organizations interested in secondary and high education.

Attendance at the College Day Programs began falling off, so various experiments were conducted to try to improve participation. One attempt was made to have the schedule in the spring mainly aimed at high school juniors. This experiment met with limited success. Another attempt was made to hold the College Day Programs on college campuses with mixed results.

One of the Articulation Committee’s first projects was a workshop for high school counselors held at Rock Eagle. This workshop had excellent potential, but only about twenty counselors attended, so participation was limited.

IN 1969, the Articulation Committee asked the Georgia Education Improvement Council (GEIC) to sponsor its activities. Ed Martin, Executive Director, assumed the chairmanship of the now-established Georgia Education Articulation Committee (GEAC).

A project was introduced whereby assembly programs would be held in selected high schools in the general area of the host College Night program. This idea produced limited success.

IN 1971, the college day and night programs were renamed “Probe” to reflect the postsecondary exploration and search process.

GEAC sponsored a series of counselor luncheons throughout the state, which were reasonably well attended. The Committee also sponsored four thirty-minute educational television movies entitled “Colleges, Colleges, Colleges.” Fort Valley State, Oxford College, LaGrange College, and Georgia College participated in these television productions.

The college day and night programs were renamed “Probe.”

The Articulation Committee, through the GEIC, co-sponsored the Certificate of Merit Program with the University of Georgia for several years.

Under the leadership of GEIC, “PROBE: A Look into Postsecondary Education” became the official theme of the varied articulation activities involving secondary and postsecondary education. What had been a new version of College Day/Night programs in 1971 has now become a traditional approach to the articulation between high schools, colleges, and vocational-technical schools.

The Georgia State Government was reorganized, and the GEIC was transferred to the General Assembly, which consequently relinquished leadership to the GEAC IN 1972.

Lloyd Joyner, Georgia Southern College’s registrar and director of admissions, assumed the chairmanship of the Articulation Committee. Georgia Southern College also provided the necessary administrative and logistical support.

During Mr. Joyner’s chairmanship, GEAC’s work was conducted by an extensive committee structure involving many professional educators from throughout the state. These committee members were chosen from both secondary and postsecondary levels of education.

BETWEEN 1972 AND 1980, the number of fairs and “mini-fairs” offered throughout the state increased. Fairs were held in shopping malls and civic centers in the larger cities and metropolitan areas and reached large numbers of high school students and their parents.

Mini-fairs, conducted in high schools, continued to serve the less densely populated areas of the state during school hours. High school counselor workshops held around the state increased in popularity and provided counselors with the opportunity to interact with college representatives and attend formal informational sessions.

Mr. Joyner retired from Georgia Southern College in March of 1981. As a result of his retirement, the chairmanship of GEAC was changed. George Stanbury, Dean of Admissions of Georgia State University, who held office for two years with Erin O’Brien as treasurer, then assumed the chairmanship.

IN JANUARY 1983, Thomas McDonald, Vice Chancellor of the University System of Georgia, was elected President of the now-incorporated GEAC following Dr. Stanbury’s leaving the GSU Admissions Office. The Administrative support for GEAC remained at Georgia State University for four years. IN SEPTEMBER 1984, the GEAC office was moved back to the University of Georgia with Erin O’Brien as treasurer.

IN 1992, the administrative coordinator and support was transferred to North Georgia College, where Bill Smith was the treasurer.

IN 2001, Bill Smith retired from North Georgia and was made Executive Director of GEAC, a position he held for the next 17 years.

IN 2018, Bill Smith retired as Executive Director after growing the tour to host more than 250 colleges annually throughout the State of Georgia. During Bill’s long tenure, he piloted an early program for student fair attendance scanning. He created the Probe Partners Program, leveraging the prospect pools of participating colleges, schools, and universities to promote the tour.

The Board named Clinton Hobbs, who had served as the Assistant Director for the previous two years, Executive Director. In 2018, the GEAC home office was officially moved to Young Harris.

SINCE 2018, the Probe Tour has been expanded to fulfill its original mission of reaching more Georgia high school students. The annual tour includes more than 90 fairs between August and November, up from 70 fairs historically, and the Spring tour has grown from 10 fairs to more than 15.

IN 2023, Donna Webb, a college admissions veteran in Georgia, was hired to serve GEAC as Associate Executive Director. Donna has increased outreach to local fair hosts and, along with the executive director, provides a presence at each Probe event.