Workers at the Lockheed Martin plant in Marietta, pictured in 2003, paint a Lockheed C-130J. In 2000 the Intellectual Capital Partnership Program (or ICAPP), a program of the University System of Georgia, partnered with the plant to train eighty new Lockheed employees at Southern Polytechnic State University (later Kennesaw State University). The New Georgia Encyclopedia does not hold the copyright for this media resource and can neither grant nor deny permission to republish or reproduce the image online or in print.

Martin Luther, depicted in an 1882 painting by F. W. Wehle, reads from the pulpit. A German monk, Luther began the Protestant movement in 1517 by rebelling against the authority of the Catholic Church. He was excommunicated by the Catholic Church in 1521 and went on to found "the churches of the Augsburg confession," the precursor to the Lutheran Church. Courtesy of Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division The New Georgia Encyclopedia does not hold the copyright for this media resource and can neither grant nor deny permission to republish or reproduce the image online or in print.

Georgia ranks third in the United States in acreage of watermelons (Citrullus lanatus). Yearly production of watermelons in Georgia ranges from 24,000 to 36,000 acres. Other melons, primarily cantaloupe (Cucumis melo), account for an additional 3,500 to 6,800 acres. Melons collectively contribute $26-$57 million in farm gate value (the value of the commodity when it leaves the farm) to the state’s economy each year. Most melons are produced in the southern half of the state as a spring/summer crop and require 85 to 110 days to mature.

The Michael J. Coles College of Business at Kennesaw State University (KSU) provides a traditional business education with special emphasis on entrepreneurship, team building, and global business. Located in Kennesaw, the college has the nation’s second-largest accredited executive MBA (master of business administration) program. In addition to the executive MBA program, which meets one weekend a month, the college offers an undergraduate business administration curriculum, a master’s degree in accounting, and an MBA program with evening and weekend classes.

Middle Georgia State University, a member of the University System of Georgia, opened in January 2013 as a consolidation of Macon State College and Middle Georgia College. Known as Middle Georgia State College immediately after the merger, Middle Georgia State became a university on July 1, 2015. The institution operates campuses in Cochran (Bleckley County), Dublin, Eastman, Macon, and Warner Robins, and is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. By fall 2015 more than 3,000 students were enrolled at Middle Georgia State, and the university offered twenty-one four-year degree programs.