 He graduated from Emory College in 1859, where he was a brother in the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity, and from Georgia Medical College in 1861.He returned to Emory to teach natural science, and then physics at Birmingham-Southern College (then known as Southern University), before returning to Emory and becoming vice president in 1882 and president in 1885.Hopkins' interest in technological development led him to be chosen as the president of the Georgia Institute of Technology, then called the Georgia School of Technology, in 1888.