History of Tech’s Co-op Program

Since the Co-op Program started in 1912, thousands of companies have participated.  

By Jack Purdy, BA 22

The first company to hire a Tech co-op student was the Gibbs Gas Engine Company, which hired George Semmes, ME 1910, in 1910, as part of Tech President Kenneth Matheson’s early experiment into cooperative education.

Tech’s co-op students regularly worked at utility, rail, and power companies.

Early co-op companies including Georgia Railway & Power Company, Ford Motor Company, Fisher Body Plant, DuPont Rayon, Eagle and Phenix Mills, GE, Graybar Electric, Tennessee Eastman, U.S. Pipe and Foundry, Western Electric, and Atlanta Gas Light (later part of Southern Company), employed co-op students in many stages of its gas production process to power Atlanta.

Georgia Tech co-op students in 1912 testing boilers at the Atlanta Water Works station on Hemphill Avenue. 

Since 1980 (the earliest data available on the program), the co-op program regularly graduated between 300-400 students a year. In recent years, Delta Air Lines, Chick-Fil-A, Cox Enterprises, and The Coca-Cola Company have employed the most co-op students.

In 2024, 34% of students who had an internship or co-op position continued with their same employer after graduation, according to the Georgia Tech Career Center’s 2024 Career & Salary Employment Report. 

Georgia Tech Co-op Memories

“My first job was with the Mutual Foundry and Machine Company. It was in the tool room of this shop and I got paid a tremendous sum of $0.20 an hour. I got a chance to change to Davidson-Kennedy who made cotton seed oil. That paid $0.25 an hour. On my own, I got a job out at the Ford Factory on Ponce De Leon, it was not a very clever design for an assembly line operation. I can’t remember whether it was $1.00 or $5.00 a day, but it was big money and it went a long ways. I felt well off. It was a co-op job, but I found it on my own.

Most of the co-ops went with Georgia Power more than any other company. Most stayed with the same company the whole five years. For others, they would have co-ops for a while and then drop the plan, so it varied.”—Randolf Whitfield, ME 1932, 1995 Living History Interview

“I always started with a co-op quarter. I went to South Georgia and worked for Atlantic Coast Railroad in Fitzgerald, Georgia, and it suited me fine. I went to work for 29 cents an hour for one month. Then I got a raise to 30 cents when minimum wage went in. I went to work as an electrician's helper. My assignment was to keep light polished in front of the engines. They even let me wire a whole engine by myself because I could do it.”— William Bohannon, Jr, ME 47, 1998 Living History Interview

“I worked at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville under a contract with Brown Engineering, primarily doing drafting work. The big tower that serviced the Saturn rocket had seven arms that swung out to it. It’s the launch tower and service arms. I was working on just about everything all over that tower when I was a co-op.” —Terry Johnson, ME 65, from A Century of Progress: The History of Cooperative Education at Georgia Tech

From Lehigh to Cincinnati to Atlanta, the idea of cooperative education spread to Georgia Tech.

In 1912, 24 years after the Georgia School of Technology opened its doors, the Cooperative Education (Co-op) Program began at Tech. President Kenneth G. Matheson was facing an academic attrition problem with students. Seeking ideas, he visited the University of Cincinnati to see a new kind of program, then known as the “Cincinnati Plan.”

The concept came from Herman Schneider in 1902 who had noticed his engineering students at Lehigh University were struggling to grasp the material and came up with the idea of the co-op methodology to aid in their learning. Additionally, the graduating students who worked at the nearby steel mill often were put on probationary periods because they didn’t have enough hands-on experience to immediately step into their roles.

Schneider came up with a plan to have students alternate their time between taking classes and working real engineering jobs. While it slowed down progress in the classroom, the time away enabled graduates to be ready for the workforce.

                                           

Thoroughly impressed, Matheson returned to Tech and initiated a committee led by Professor Thomas Branch to study the feasibility of a co-op program at Tech. At a June 1909 Tech Board of Trustees meeting, the results of Branch’s findings were presented, showing that “it puts students in position to enter upon their work immediately on leaving college and with a certainty of employment.”

That same year, Matheson discreetly ran his own trial with a single student, George Semmes, ME 1910, who worked at the Gibbs Gas Engine Company during the 1909–10 school year.

The program was approved for a trial in fall 1912 and Branch became dean of the program.

The Georgia Railway & Power Company was one of the first employers with students working in gas power generation and streetcar maintenance in Atlanta. Rail companies were a popular option for students since they could ride the trains for free as employees and received insurance.

A Co-op Dorm

In 1932 Cloudman Dormitory was built and it became the residence hall for co-op students. The co-op director’s office was also located in the dorm so that staff and students were all under the same roof. The dorm featured two panels on the front tower representing the work and study components of the co-op program.

In 1939, Harrison Dorm was built and housed upperclassmen co-op students. Starting in the 1950s, Techwood Dorm was also used to house co-op students.

Largest Voluntary Co-op Program in the Country

As defense funding increased at Tech prior to the United States’ entry into World War II, the demand for Tech students increased as well. In 1941, a record 771 students were enrolled in the program. By the co-op program’s 75th anniversary celebration in 1987, it had become the largest voluntary co-op program in the country (it remains No. 1 today) and sixth largest overall.

A major change to the program came in 1998, when the Georgia Board of Regents voted to shift all University System of Georgia schools to the semester calendar. Previously, Georgia Tech had been on a quarter calendar. Starting in fall 1999, the co-op program transitioned to the semester program.

Between 2008 and 2016, the co-op program saw an increase in graduates every year, reaching as high as 523 graduates in 2016 (per Georgia Tech Factbooks). 

In 1932, Griffin created the Georgia Tech Placement Center with his own money, and it became the second of its kind in the country.

By Jack Purdy, BA 22

Like much of the United States, Geogia Tech was not immune to the effects of the Great Depression in the 1930s. Alumni and new graduates struggled to find work, a problem that then-Assistant Dean of Men George C. Griffin, CE 1922, MS IM 57, aimed to find a solution for. In 1932, Griffin created the Georgia Tech Placement Center with his own money, and it became the second of its kind in the country. Its role was simple: Find jobs for Georgia Tech students and alumni while serving as a one-stop shop for companies to come to Tech and recruit talent. 

After getting called into wartime service in September 1941, Griffin appointed Fred Ajax to take over operations of the Placement Center. After World War II ended, Ajax elevated the Placement Center to one of the most important resources for Geogia Tech students. 

In 1953 alone, the center arranged 25,000 interviews for students. Over 95% of Tech graduates used the Placement Center to find a job, according to statistics in Dress Her in White and Gold (Revised Edition).

In 1965, the Ajax Placement Center opened at the corner of Hemphill and Ferst Drive.