mission of the university is reflected in the strong emphasis on the broad-based liberal arts education supporting its 50-plus areas of study. The college includes an interdisciplinary Women's Leadership Certificate Program designed to offer students academic and experiential opportunities to develop leadership skills informed by gender awareness. In addition to taking foundational courses in gender studies and leadership principles, students complete an internship related to women in leadership. Sidney O. Smith Jr. Graduate School At the beginning of the 21st century, following the first decade of operations as a master's level university, graduate programs at Brenau represented a small percentage of the student body. By 2010 it was clear the demand for graduate studies would increase and, by 2025, graduate students at Brenau would represent more than half the student population. Thus, the university created the Sidney O. Smith Jr. Graduate School to place focused attention on the needs of graduate students. Graduate studies at the university include programs based on campus, online programs, and a mix of online and on-campus classes. In November 2010 the institution's accreditor, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, approved Brenau University's application to become a Level V doctoral degree-granting institution, paving the way for Brenau to launch a Doctor of Nursing Practice program in August 2011. A year earlier Brenau launched its first terminal degree program, a Master of Fine Arts in Interior Design. The first cohort of the Doctor of Occupational Therapy program started in 2014 and a Doctor of Physical Therapy Program began in 2015. The graduate school also offers a wide array of master's-level programs as well as education specialist graduate degrees. Brenau Academy Brenau Academy was formed in 1928 when Pearce told his wife that some of the first-year college students were having trouble with their course work. She began a program to help prepare young women for college which evolved quickly into the Brenau Academy, which until 2012 remained the only female, college preparatory, residential school for grades 9–12 in the state of Georgia. The academy evolved in 2011 into an early college program of the women's college in which qualified young women could earn college credits during the time of their lives in which they normally would complete high school studies. Today, the historic academy space is utilized by the women's college. Legal issues In the late 2000s, two current or former employees were