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Clayton College celebrating 35th anniversary

An enrollment milestone, the opening of the largest building in the University’s 35-year history, and five new academic programs promise to make the fall 2004 semester a memorable one at Clayton College & State University.

Since its doors opened as Clayton Junior College on September 30, 1969, the school has grown to university status, and from 942 students to a projected 6,000+ students, at least when the new term officially starts Aug. 23.

According to Associate Provost Dr. James Mackin, enrollment stood at 5445 Aug. 10, leading to a projection in the range of 6,000 to 6,250 for the fall 2004 semester.

Diane Burns, the university’s interim assistant vice president for enrollment management, agrees with Mackin’s projection, noting that it is based on a 22 percent increase in new student applications and pre-registrations of continuing students.

In addition to the main campus in Morrow, Clayton State also offers academic courses at the Fayette County Higher Education Center in Peachtree City.

The Fayette Center also houses Clayton State Continuing Education courses, as does the University’s Roswell Center in north Fulton County.

One of the challenges that goes along with increased enrollment is finding a place for all those new students.

The Clayton State University Center will open for classes on Aug. 23, and will provide the University with a centerpiece building for the first time.

A combination student center, classroom building and administration building, the University Center will also house technical support for the students’ and faculty’s 6,000-plus notebook computers, an information desk, faculty offices, the College of Information and Mathematical Sciences, meeting rooms and student organization offices as well as the offices of Campus Life.

And, while the students and faculty will certainly appreciate the 17 new classrooms that are wired for Internet connections and range in size from a 165-seat Lecture Hall to 35-seat classrooms, they will also appreciate having a central focus for Campus Life, including the University Bookstore and Dining Services, as well as numerous study and eating areas... which are “wired” as well.

Three years in construction, the 131,000 square-foot University Center is a four-story steel frame structure with masonry exterior walls, and features more than 2,000 data drops and state-of-the-art audio-visual technology in the classrooms, keeping with the university’s reputation for expertise in the use of technology in education, and its pioneering Information Technology Project, wherein all students and faculty must have access to a notebook computer.

One of the main reasons for the university’s growth has been the addition of new baccalaureate programs.

The five new programs officially starting this month include a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice, a Bachelor of Science degree in Political Science, the University System of Georgia’s first fully on-line undergraduate degree in information technology -- the WebBSIT, or Bachelor of Science in Information Technology, a Bachelor of Arts in English, and a Bachelor’s of Science in Mathematics.

The Criminal Justice, Political Science and English degrees will be housed in the School of Arts and Sciences, while the WebBSIT and the Mathematics degree will be in the College of Information and Mathematical Sciences.