Groundbreaking for the construction of Fayette County’s first college campus was held on Oct. 16. When open next summer, Ga. Military College (GMC) will kick off its presence in Fayette in the first of two 26,000 sq. ft. classroom buildings.
“GMC Fayetteville will be a major milestone toward accomplishing ‘Vision 2029,’ our 15-year strategic plan. Our aim is to give Fayette County a connection to GMC that will allow them to plug in, charge up, embrace the vision and equip for service,” said Brigadier General (Ret.) Scott F. “Rock” Donahue, executive director of GMC Fayetteville. “We’ll work tirelessly to support students from Fayetteville and the region through our open enrollment program, articulation agreements with four-year schools across the state, dual enrollment programs and now our proposed four-year Bachelor of Applied Science (BAS) degree.”
With a planned opening in August 2015, the campus will serve as home to all of the junior college’s regular courses, while providing an emphasis for the healthcare and entertainment industries.
Though a two-year college, GMC has been approved for a new four-year degree in applied science. That new degree program is expected to be offered at the Fayetteville campus.
“It’s with great pleasure that I have the honor of welcoming GMC’s newest campus to our town,” said Fayetteville Mayor Greg Clifton. “We all know that the wheels of government can grind slowly, but as a government official, it has been delightful to see how quickly GMC has moved form the initial decision to open a campus here to actually putting ‘boots on the ground,’ as it were, including standing up two entirely new courses of study: allied health care and computer classes for film.”
GMC’s Fayetteville location will add a strong educational component to an already-established business market in the area, which includes Piedmont Fayetteville Hospital. 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 said in a previous press release.
The Fayetteville campus will be GMC’s third location in metro Atlanta, along with campuses in Fairburn and Stone Mountain.
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, 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.
