2004 marks the 15th year that Altamaha Technical College has held the Summer Enrichment Camp for students from 4th through 8th grade. Approximately 1,800 students have attended.

In January 2002, Altamaha Technical College opened the Polytech Center. This center serves as a broker for training throughout the entire southeast region, serving approximately 3,500 people each month. Six students from Appalachian Technical College were awarded scholarships by the Georgia Mining Foundation and were invited to the Capitol for an awards luncheon and photo with Governor Sonny Perdue. Pickens County is now a Certified Literate Community, classes are expanding at the new Epworth Campus, and the first phase of construction for the Technology Annex on the Jasper Campus is underway.

Six students from Appalachian Technical College were awarded scholarships by the Georgia Mining Foundation and were invited to the Capitol for an awards luncheon and photo with Governor Sonny Perdue. Pickens County is now a Certified Literate Community, classes are expanding at the new Epworth Campus, and the first phase of construction for the Technology Annex on the Jasper Campus is underway.

Athens Technical College, with campuses in Athens and Elberton and centers in Greensboro and Monroe, opens its new Business/Information Building next year, a 41,800 square-foot facility that will accommodate 3,500 students. A partnership with The Classic Center and Holiday Inn supports a new two-year Hotel, Tourism and Restaurant Management program.

Atlanta Technical College launched an international exchange program with Felix Fechenbach, a college located outside Frankfurt, Germany. BMW of North America selected Atlanta Tech as the prototype for its MetroSTEP initiative. The $6.1 million Cleveland L. Dennard Building and Conference Center is open; Coretta Scott King attended the ceremony.

Augusta Technical College has opened a new office at Fort Gordon. Two new buildings on the Augusta campus provide space for student services, classroom space, computer labs, and business and personal-services program offerings as well as space for the Pharmacy Technician and Occupational Therapy programs. Augusta Tech opened a new campus in Waynesboro/Burke County in July 2000.

During its 15 years in the state system, Central Georgia Technical College grew from one site to two campuses and four centers; credit enrollment increased from 1,000 to 5,700. Construction underway includes The Center for Student Enrichment and Community Development - to house the School of
Arts and Sciences, library, Economic Center, bookstore, and food court with cyber café - and an adult education training center (both in Macon), and the Crawford County Center in Roberta.

CGTC is proud of its contributions to the state’s Information Technology curriculum, particularly in training and establishing local CISCO academies. CGTC is a regional academy for CCNA and sponsored curriculum, with a 94% pass rate on the CCNA certification exam. Since its inception, the Medical Assisting Program has had a 100% pass rate on the national Medical Assisting Certification Test; CGTC has the only online Metrology program in the world.

Chattahoochee Technical College has four new buildings scheduled to be dedicated in October 2004. The buildings are to house student services, classrooms, an economic development/continuing education center, and administration. This project covers 100,000 square feet at a cost just under 20 million dollars.

Columbus Technical College has been involved in a wide array of projects, partnering with many organizations devoted to enhancing the quality of life in the community. In workforce and economic development, Columbus Tech has built and maintained strong relationships with area healthcare organizations – including Columbus Regional Healthcare System, Doctors Hospital, and St. Francis Hospital – as well as important international companies like AFLAC.

Coosa Valley Technical College has benefited from over 46 million dollars in new construction, land acquisition and facility renovation in the ten-year period 1994 – 2004, including campuses in Gordon and Polk Counties and the Allied Health Building on the Floyd County campus.

By June 30th, it is predicted that DeKalb Technical College will have served more than 34,000 students in Adult Literacy at 43 locations throughout its four-county service area. At least 1,000 students per day are served at the college’s Buford Highway Center in Doraville with more than 1,600 students completing the GED program in the past year. In addition, DeKalb Technical College currently has a record enrollment of nearly 5,000 students in degree, diploma, and certificate programs. This represents a 60% increase over the past four years.

East Central Technical College has opened its long-awaited Child Development Center. ECTC has announced the addition of a new RV Service Technology program. ECTC will be only one of four schools in the nation to be certified to teach this program. A new planning grant has paved the way for a Center for Health and Safety on the Coffee Campus. Now under construction on the Ben Hill-Irwin Campus is a $10 million technology building.

Flint River Technical College has experienced extraordinary growth over the past two years, marked by a 62% increase in full-time enrollment and reaching a milestone by enrolling over 1,000 credit students in one quarter. New programs, increased community demand and the college’s new customer-service orientation have all contributed to this growth.

Georgia Aviation Technical College in Eastman is about to complete its Phase III expansion which will add 82,000 square feet of additional classrooms, aircraft hangars, a media center, a computer lab, a corporate flight training department, business offices, and a terminal educational facility. When completed in August, it will be one of the finest aviation training facilities in the southeast.

The Griffin Technical College Technology Center, a 70,000 square-foot technology building, is providing much-needed space for growth and expansion. It houses several state-of-the-art classrooms and laboratories, including a Printing/Graphics Technology program and a regional Plastics Technology Training Center. Other notable features in the building include an expanded library,
a student center, a larger bookstore, and a café and grill.

Gwinnett Technical College opened the George Busbee International Center for Workforce Development. The college has converted to state governance, completing the truly statewide system Dr. Breeden envisioned.

Heart of Georgia Technical College, site of the DuBose Porter Regional Business & Industry Conference & Training Center, has signed an agreement with Pearson VUE, an electronic testing business of Pearson Education, to provide Information Technology certification test delivery using the Pearson VUE™ Testing System. The system administers exams for leading IT certification programs such as Microsoft, Cisco® Systems, and others.

Lanier Technical College has expanded and opened several new campuses: Forsyth County, Winder-Barrow and Jackson County.

New programs include surgical technology, motor vehicle technology, the first criminal justice degree program available completely online, and the development of the healthcare management program. In addition, a major new program in the economic development area, ammonia refrigeration, is one of only two in the country.

Middle Georgia Technical College reports 11-3/4 years of record-breaking enrollment. Middle Georgia Tech was granted candidacy status by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools’ Commission on Colleges.

Moultrie Technical College has opened a new 110,000 square-foot campus in Moultrie and opened a 60,000 square-foot addition to an existing campus in Tifton.

North Georgia Technical College just celebrated its eighth year of Community Christmas at the Clarkesville campus and its fourth year of Christmas at the College at the Blairsville campus. North Georgia Tech’s Hispanic Outreach Project recognizes the importance of this growing population with several projects that help establish and strengthen relationships for the college.

North Metro Technical College has purchased 9.487 acres that will allow for expansion of the campus to meet the college’s expected growth and also provide direct access to the campus through an enhanced entrance and provide greater visibility of the campus.

For Northwestern Technical College, the last few years have brought annual double-digit enrollment increases and the addition of new facilities and programs to better serve students. In 2002, Northwestern began its Registered Nursing program. Demand for this and other allied health programs has led to the construction of the 41,500 square-foot Center for Allied Health and Information Technology, to be completed in May 2005.

Ogeechee Technical College is now operating its new $6 million, 55,000 square-foot Occupational Studies building, which houses new programs in Agribusiness, Geographic Information Systems, Wildlife Management and others. At the ribbon cutting, Governor Sonny Perdue pointed out that institutions like Ogeechee Tech will “help people get up-to-the-minute skills they will need” to compete in the global economy.

Okefenokee Technical College has established a Freight Conductor Program that provides classroom instruction and field training at a local railroad training facility. Since its beginning in 2000, 353 individuals have completed the program and CSX Transportation has hired 345 of them (98% placement rate).

Okefenokee Tech students built the school’s Cisco lab. Designed to accommodate almost any network topology design, it contains all currently popular technologies. The lab has more than a quarter of a million dollars worth of equipment.

Sandersville Technical College opened its Hancock County Center. This is a new facility for the college and was previously a National Guard armory. The renovation will allow Sandersville Tech to offer courses for this underserved community.

Savannah Technical College has dedicated its first named building in its history, Gwen Goodman Hall. Named for the late State Board of Technical and Adult Education board member, the building houses a number of the school’s programs. Savannah Tech celebrates its 75th anniversary this year, launching new programs, and dedicating two new state-of-the-art buildings on the Savannah campus, the Industrial Technology Center and the Automotive Technology Center; opens the Liberty campus in Hinesville; and expands the Workforce Readiness Academy.

South Georgia Technical College completed its John M. Pope Industrial Technology Center in 2001. Since it opened, the school has served over 20,000 people there, through community conferencing activities, economic development, and continuing education.

A renovated World War II airplane hangar on the campus now houses the Heavy Equipment College of Technology and the Caterpillar program, part of the agreement between Caterpillar, Inc. and South Georgia Tech, which designates the school as the Southeastern Caterpillar Dealers College of Technology.

Southeastern Technical College has opened the Hugh M. Gillis, Sr. Regional Medical Technology Center – a 45,000 square-foot facility with state-of-the-art labs – that will serve new programs such as Medical Laboratory Technology, Pharmacy Technology, Radiologic Technology, and Surgical Technology. The Southeastern Technical College Foundation secured over $200,000 in donations for medical equipment for hands-on training.

Southwest Georgia Technical College, with record enrollments over the last eleven years, is preparing to move into its new multi-million dollar teaching facility. Associate Degree programs in Nursing and Criminal Justice are among many new programs added this year.

In April 2004, Swainsboro Technical College dedicated the new Larry J. (Butch) Parrish Technology Center. Georgia’s Speaker of the House, the Honorable Terry Coleman, joined Dr. Breeden at the dedication.

Valdosta Technical College has major outreach efforts underway; it has opened its Cook County Workforce Development Center, and has begun teaching classes in Brooks County at the Brooks County Middle School and in Berrien County at Berrien County High School.

Valdosta Tech held its Second Annual HarvestEd Festival, attended by over 7,000 people, and celebrated its 40th anniversary in May.

West Central Technical College now includes the 180,000 square-foot Thomas B. Murphy campus in Waco. Dual enrollment programs have been established in high schools in each county in West Central Tech’s service area. New partnerships have been established with Tanner Medical Center, with a heavy equipment company, and with the Coweta County Regional Library.

West Georgia Technical College received national accreditation for the Center for Child Development and opened the Student Success Center, which houses the College Life course and tutoring labs. Classes are now offered at the new West Point Technology and Training Center, and West Georgia Tech partnered with United Way of West Georgia to build a Habitat home during the 2003 Jimmy Carter Work Project.