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Gwinnett
University Center new campus
to be full when classes begin in January
By
Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher
Gwinnett
Forum.com
SEPT. 25, 2001 - - Last Thursday was a bright, sunny day, perfect
for a visit to the soon-to-be-open future campus of Gwinnett University
Center in Lawrenceville. Come January this campus will officially
open with 5,000 students, who now enrolled at the location at Sugarloaf
and Lakes Parkways.
With this media tour coming as it did nine days after the terrorist
attack in New York and Washington, this back-to-normalcy activity
for the media was welcomed, a sign of the country continuing a positive
path.
Dr. Jim Muyskens, CEO of Gwinnett University Center; Dr. Jacqueline
Belcher, president of Perimeter College' Sue Henderson, interim
provost of the Lawrenceville campus of Perimeter College' and Gwinnett
Board of Regents member Glenn White, officially led the tour, as
about a dozen media people and construction officials walked through
the 120,000 square foot classroom building. Seen from Highway 316
(near Collins Hill Drive, behind the Fitness International facility),
the one-story structure looks much like an warehouse-distribution
center.
This handsome red-brick, super-high-tech structure will be the
"front door," for the four-year college, a place students
will come to get their initial information about the college. It's
scheduled to be finished about November 1, with some offices moving
to the new campus beginning November 19.
Classes will continue through the semester at the current GUC location
at the corner of Sugarloaf and Lakes Parkways. However, come January,
the entire GUC operation will be at the new campus site. It's first
classroom building is 40,000 square feet larger than the present
GUC facilities, "It'll be completely utilized when we open
the doors," Dr. Muyskens told us.
Meanwhile, the media also toured the futuristic signature building
of GUC, the three-story round-shaped administration building and
library. Erection of steel is being finalized on the third floor
for this building, set to be completed in October, 2002.
There will be about 5,000 students enrolled at GUC when they begin
classes at the new building in January. About 4,000 of the students
will be from Perimeter College, enrolled in the first two years
of college study. Another 1,000 students will be enrolled in the
Lawrenceville campus of the University of Georgia, both in undergraduate
(junior and senior years) and in graduate programs.
Though the Gwinnett University Center is just that, a center offering
courses from both a two-year school (Perimeter College) and full
university (University of Georgia), it is not officially designated
as a stand-alone college. However, if it were, it would be 13th
in size in public colleges in Georgia, with more enrollment than
22 of the 34 units of public higher learning facilities.
All this progress in higher education comes through great cooperation
between Gwinnett and state officials. Gwinnett County contributed
the 160 acre site, and did much of the infrastructure roadwork,
together valued at $11 million. The initial classroom building funded
by the Board of Regents cost $10 million, while the Signature building
on the campus has a $22 million price tag.
With its vision of "learning by all means," Gwinnett
University Center stands poised to be a centerpiece of Gwinnett
higher education, and a springboard to the future. It's good to
see the long-awaited opening of this new campus just around the
corner.
FEEDBACK:
9/25: Use
purpose ribbons to remember
firefighters, medics and police
Editor, The Forum:
This isn't original with me, but I pass it on. A movement has been
started like that from Desert Storm. During Desert Storm, we tied
yellow ribbons anywhere we could. Well, now the movement is to tie
purple ribbons the same way.
This is for two reasons.
1. In remembrance of not only the firefighters, police officers,
paramedics who have died, but also for all who have died in this
terrible
tragedy.
2. Just as in the military, when a serviceman get injured, he is
given the
Purple Heart. Well, our country has been injured to its core.
Please pass this on to everyone you know, and let's see purple
ribbons
everywhere.
- - Lloyd Stovall, Atlanta
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
"The real test of our belief in freedom of expression is we
stand back and say, 'As much as we disagree (with) and despise every
word you are saying, you have a right as an Americana to say it.'
This is a core principle of this democracy."
- - Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), 2000.
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