Georgia Military College announced April 11 it intends to locate a new campus in Fayetteville, Ga., in anticipation of population growth in that area.
Fayette’s first full-scale college campus will serve as home to all of the junior college’s regular courses, plus classes “tailoring our curriculum to offer relevant entertainment, healthcare and other coursework, as needed,” a school official said.
The new GMC campus will be located at the intersection of South Sandy Creek Road and Veterans Parkway in the western part of Fayetteville. Group VI Development and Promaker Development Group of Fayette County, Ga., will be the developer for the project.
Pending City Council approval, construction is expected to begin this summer, with completion by late spring 2015 and classes commencing in August 2015. Initial enrollment is expected to be approximately 1,000 students.
The Fayetteville campus will be GMC’s third location in metro Atlanta, including campuses in Fairburn and Stone Mountain, and the school’s 10th location in Georgia.
“We’re continuously evaluating areas of the state where there’s a need for the educational benefits we offer—open enrollment, small class sizes, affordability and relevant curriculum programs,” said Lieutenant General William B. Caldwell, IV, GMC president. “We saw such an opportunity in West Fayetteville, so we conducted our due diligence and formulated a project plan accordingly.”
GMC officials met April 10 with Mayor Greg Clifton, as well as a member of the city council and the city planner, to share those plans.
“I’m pleased to say our meeting was highly productive and I’m more convinced than ever that opening a new GMC campus in Fayetteville will be a ‘win’ for all involved,” said Lt. General Caldwell. “I’m also greatly looking forward to working in close partnership with Fayetteville leaders to bring this project to fruition.”
GMC’s Fayetteville location will add a strong educational component an already-established business market in the area, which includes Piedmont Fayetteville Hospital, with more than 1,000 employees.
Additionally, Pinewood Atlanta Studios, a multimillion-dollar, full service film and entertainment studio poised to create thousands of jobs and boost the area’s population significantly, arrived in Fayetteville in early 2014.
GMC Fayetteville will offer all of the coursework and online programs offered at its other campuses, taught by full-time and adjunct faculty. “In addition, at each of our GMC locations, we work with the community to identify the needs of their particular workforce,” said Mike Holmes, Ph.D., GMC vice president for academic affairs. “We plan to do the same in Fayetteville, tailoring our curriculum to offer relevant entertainment, healthcare and other coursework, as needed.”
GMC is the state’s second largest, two-year, public junior college with campuses in Milledgeville, Augusta, Fairburn, Warner Robins, Valdosta and Columbus, extension centers in Madison, Sandersville, and Stone Mountain, and an online campus program. Its enrollment includes more than 8,000 civilian students at these locations, plus 250 junior college cadets and 500 prep school students at the main Milledgeville campus.
For information about GMC, visit https://www.gmc.cc.ga.us.
