Articles

Regents push college in Gwinnett

By KELLY SIMMONS The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Published on: 08/26/04
June 14, 2004

AUGUSTA — Georgia wants to tap into the explosive growth in and around Gwinnett County by opening a college in Lawrenceville in the next five years.

The state Board of Regents on Wednesday endorsed a plan to turn Gwinnett University Center — a satellite campus for two colleges — into Gwinnett State College, a stand-alone institution. The new state college could begin admitting students in 2009 and would immediately become one of the largest in the state.

Gwinnett University Center, currently a satellite campus in Lawrenceville for Georgia Perimeter College and the University of Georgia, has experienced tremendous enrollment growth since it opened in January 2002. About 8,000 students — twice as many as state officials expected at this time — are enrolled in day, evening and weekend courses.

Officials at the Gwinnett center predict that in two years the campus could have more than 10,000 students, which is about as many as attend Valdosta State University and State University of West Georgia.

"There is no end seen in the growth," Chancellor Thomas Meredith told regents Wednesday at their retreat.

The campus would become the first stand-alone state college in Gwinnett, which boasts Georgia's largest K-12 public school system. Galen Reavis, lead guidance counselor for the 130,000-student Gwinnett County school system, said she was "intrigued" by the idea of having a full-service university nearby.

"Being the largest county and having the largest school system in the state of Georgia, I think it just makes sense that we would have our own university right here," she said.

However, some faculty members at Gwinnett University Center are concerned that students seeking a two-year college will no longer have an option in the county.

"The general feeling among most faculty and administrators is that we serve an important purpose as a two-year school," said Michael Reeves, a part-time biology professor at Perimeter. "Students come here and learn at less expense. It is a more supportive environment. A lot of students who get out of high school are usually not ready for the level of work a four-year college requires."

Gwinnett University Center opened two years ago off Ga. 316 in Lawrenceville. Perimeter provides the first two years of college, while UGA offers two subsequent years of upper-level courses. Southern Polytechnic Institute and the Medical College of Georgia also have degree programs at the center.

UGA Associate Provost Robert Boehmer, who oversees UGA's programs at the center, said he was surprised the regents were considering changing the school's academic structure.

"GPC and UGA have made a significant investment in programs at the Gwinnett University Center," Boehmer said. "A lot of thought and effort have been put into finding how to have a two-year institution work with a four-year institution to create synergy."

The suggestion of turning the Gwinnett center into a new campus was put forth as the University System looks toward 2015, when Georgia's public colleges and universities are expected to have more than 400,000 students. There are nearly 250,000 students enrolled this fall in the public university system.

Accommodating 150,000 more students will require an additional 20 million square feet of classroom and office space andrenovation of 20 million square feet of existing university space.

Seven of the system's universities, including UGA, Kennesaw State and Georgia State, cannot enroll more students without additional space.

Two schools are seeking land in metro Atlanta to expand. Georgia Perimeter College is expected to ask for regents' approval to expand into Covington and is looking for property in south Fulton County, said Dan Papp, the University System's senior vice chancellor for academic affairs. Clayton College & State University hopes to add a site in Henry County.

Regent Elridge McMillan said he feared the expansions into south Atlanta would encroach on the applicant pool at Atlanta Metropolitan College. He also noted that Georgia State University President Carl Patton has expressed concern that a state college in Gwinnett might hurt Georgia State's recruitment efforts.

"We should not penalize one institution to build up another," McMillan said.

A Georgia State spokeswoman said the Atlanta university had no comment.

University system officials said a university in Gwinnett likely would not affect Georgia State, because only about 3,500 of GSU's 28,000 students are from Gwinnett.

Officials will explore two options in moving to create a new state college in Gwinnett. One option would be to offer students a mix of degree programs that would attract students from the fast-growing northeast sector of metro Atlanta. The other option would be to narrowly focus programs in areas of need, such as teaching and Internet technology.

Rob Watts, interim director of Gwinnett University Center, said officials have an opportunity to be creative in establishing the fundamental structure of the new college. While the school would need a president and academic staff, it could outsource many duties now performed in-house at other Georgia colleges, he said. Billing, maintenance and landscaping could be done by private companies, which would save money in personnel costs — the biggest recurring expense for a public college or university.

The first construction phase at the 177-acre Gwinnett University Center included classroom space to accommodate 4,078 people, an electronic library and faculty offices. Another classroom building has been approved by the regents and is awaiting funding. To deal with crowding at the center, more classes are being offered at night, early in the morning and on the weekends.

Christina McCorkle wishes Georgia's proposed newest university already were open.

"I think it would be great to have a school out here, close to home," she said. "I am going to Georgia State next semester to study pre-med."

— Staff writers Bridget Gutierrez, Aileen Dodd, Rebecca McCarthy and Paul Donsky contributed to this article.

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