University purchases class space in Macon

Thanks to a $1.8 million purchase by the Georgia College & State University Foundation, graduate students in Macon will finally have a permanent home.   
Classes will begin Maymester 2007 at GCSU’s new Center for Graduate and Professional Learning, located in the Thomas Jefferson Building in downtown Macon, said Anne Gormly, vice president for academic affairs.
The purchase includes the third, fourth and fifth floors of the building, as well as administrative offices on the first floor. An additional $1.2 million will go toward renovating the 30,000 square feet space, Gormly said.
Amy Nitsche, vice president for university advancement, said the foundation borrowed the $3 million and plans on raising funds to pay off the loan over the next several years. The Peyton Anderson Foundation out of Macon has already donated $500,000 for the project, Nitsche said.
GCSU previously offered graduate courses in Macon at a variety of locations, including on Macon State College’s campus.   
“What we are looking to do is to expand our outreach and potentially add other programs, though that takes a little bit longer,” Gormly said. “But mostly we want to make it easier for people to find us. It is very hard right now for us to have an identity at Macon State College. So the programs that we house there are the ones that we currently offer in the Macon area.”
The Thomas Jefferson Building is located at 433 Cherry St. in the heart of downtown Macon.
“Downtown Macon is the perfect site for our new Center for Graduate and Professional Learning,” President Dorothy Leland said in a news release. “The Thomas Jefferson Building offers ample space for classrooms, offices and student support, as well as amenities that include cultural attractions, convenient shopping and restaurants.”
The building is within walking distance of restaurants, art galleries, a movie theater, a museum and the Georgia Music Hall of Fame.
“Downtown Macon is very eager to identify additional services that our students may want,” Gormly said. “Whatever the traffic is, they are willing to be entrepreneurial about it.”
Graduate programs offered in Macon currently include education, nursing, business, criminal justice, public administration and kinesiology. Gormly said additional degrees could be added based on demand and each department’s wishes. 
Nitsche said the foundation had been in the process of finding the graduate program a new home for over two years.
“We believe that there is a real need for more graduate programs in the central Georgia area, and our ability to expand what we were doing was limited by the space we could find in institutions in town,” Nitsche said. “This will allow us not only to consolidate them, but also to expand and meet the needs of the work force in Middle Georgia.” 
Both Nitsche and Gormly agreed the new building would have very little impact on undergraduate students located on the Milledgeville campus.
“I think in terms of the impact (the move) will have on graduate students, is that it will be able to offer a lot more services and opportunities for engagement with the university,” Gormly said. “It’s not just sit in the classroom and take your classes and go.”

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Dec 1 2006. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry