Founded in Smyrna, Asia Minor, in 1875, by missionaries from Boston, Massachusetts, The American College of Greece is the oldest and largest US-accredited college or university in Europe.
For over 150 years, ACG has been offering transformative education and cultivating a fertile intellectual and cultural collaboration between Greece and the United States.
ACG is an independent, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, co-educational academic institution.
- 1875: Maria West establishes a small day school in Smyrna, founding what would become The American College of Greece.
- 1879: Expansion into separate institutions for boys and girls.
- 1898: Reorganized as the American Collegiate Institute (ACI) with a formal college-preparatory structure.
- 1910: ACI grows into a multi-division institution serving over 300 students.
- 1922: Following the Asia Minor Catastrophe, the school relocates to Athens to continue its educational mission.
- 1923: The American Collegiate Institute officially reopens in Greece.
- 1932: The school moves to the Helleniko campus.
- 1936: Major Pierce donation secures the institution’s future which is renamed in honor of Orlinda Childs Pierce.
- 1940: Campus buildings serve as military hospitals during WWII.
- 1945: Greece’s first School of Social Welfare is established at the College.
- 1961: Incorporated in Colorado, USA, under an independent Board of Trustees.
- 1963: Recognized by the Greek state as equivalent to public schools.
- 1965: Classes begin at the Aghia Paraskevi campus.
- 1966: First Bachelor’s degrees awarded.
- 1973: Transformational donation from William S. Deree; undergraduate division renamed Deree College.
- 1975: 100 Years of The American College of Greece
- 1979: Pierce and Deree formally become divisions of The American College of Greece.
- 1981: Deree becomes the first international American college accredited by NEASC (now NECHE).
- 1984: Pierce becomes co-educational.
- 1992: Launch of the Kimon Friar Visiting Lectureship.
- 1993: Opening of the Downtown Campus.
- 2003: Deree Graduate School established.
- 2004: ACG serves as U.S. Olympic Committee training center during the Athens Olympics.
- 2011: UK degree validation agreement signed with the Open University and Frances Rich School of Fine and Performing Arts established.
- 2012: Strategic alliance with Alba Graduate Business School.
- 2015: Institute of Public Health established.
- 2016: Pierce International Baccalaureate Diploma Program launched.
- 2017: ACG 150 strategic plan introduced.
- 2018: Simulated Trading Room opens; refugee scholarship program launched.
- 2019: Deree Library renovation completed.
- 2021: Opening of Deree STEM Labs and renovated Pierce Physics Labs.
- 2022: Launch of Pierce East Campus (Pre-K–Elementary) and approval of The American University of Greece in Massachusetts.
- 2024: Launch of AUG Global Campus online programs.
- 2025: 150 Years of The American College of Greece