The college was founded as Dalton Junior College in July 1963 and opened in September 1967 offering programs designed to provide the first two years of college work for students preparing to transfer to four-year degree granting institutions. The addition of a technical division in 1976 enabled the school to serve students wishing to develop work skills at the certificate or associate degree level. In 1987, the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia removed the word "Junior" from the college's name and it became Dalton College. In 1998, the University System of Georgia upgraded Dalton College to four-year status under a new name, Dalton State College, and authorized it to offer bachelor's degrees. The first bachelor's programs began that year, in business and technology. In 2009, Dalton State opened an extended campus in Ellijay called the Dalton State Gilmer County Center and had over 200 students enrolled for the spring semester. Dalton State also opened its first on-campus residential housing, Dalton State at Wood Valley. Today, Dalton State College offers baccalaureate degrees in accounting, biology, chemistry, communication, criminal justice, early childhood education, English, history, interdisciplinary studies, management, management information systems, marketing systems, mathematics, operations management, psychology, social work, and technology management. The college also offers 22 associate degree and several certificate programs.
The almost 5,000 traditional and non-traditional students are from a 10-county service area of Northwest Georgia in addition to 38 foreign countries. The average student age is 24; females make up 62 percent of the student population. On-campus housing has been offered since fall 2009.
Nickname
The Dalton State mascot is the roadrunner. When the college became a four-year college, all students commuted to school due to the fact that Dalton State did not offer on campus housing. This led to the nickname of the Roadrunners.
Athletics
The Dalton State Athletics program, known as the Roadrunners, began in 2012 and is part of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics. It consists of men's and women's golf, women's cross country, men's and women's soccer, women's track and field, and men's basketball. The men's basketball team won the NAIA National Championship in 2015. The athletics program was reorganized in 2017 in order to bring the program into compliance with Title IX requirements and to reduce costs. As part of the reorganization, volleyball, men's cross country, and men's and women's tennis were dropped from the program and women's track and field was added.
Student life
The Campus Activities Board is a student-run organization that strives to enhance the Dalton State College student experience through quality entertainment, creative programming and community involvement. Its stated goal is to strengthen the missions of both the Office of Student Life and Dalton State College by providing a variety of social, recreational, cultural and educational programs. Through the expertise of an appointed student executive board, CAB works to ensure leadership development, networking with the college community, building campus traditions and school spirit. Alpha Kappa Lambda became the first men's fraternity on campus when it received its charter on 7 April 2014. Delta Chi began colonizing on campus in fall 2015, becoming the second IFC fraternity on campus. Alpha Omicron Pi, colonized in spring 2014, is the first National Panhellenic Conference sorority on campus. Alpha Sigma Tau was the second sorority on campus, chartered in spring 2016.
Student housing
In fall 2016, Dalton State opened new dormitories. Mashburn Hall holds 350 beds and replaced the Wood Valley complex, on-campus apartments that previously housed 60 students.
