The University of North Georgia cut the ribbon on its Cumming Campus expansion on July 30.
UNG officials said the new 27,300-square-foot expansion will allow for the future enrollment of 2,200 students.
The Cumming campus will feature in-demand health care and technology-centric programs including pathways in elementary and special education, nursing, computer science and Bachelor of Business Administration in management and international affairs.
University System of Georgia Chancellor Sonny Perdue thanked state legislators for their support of the Cumming Campus.
"We want to respond to communities who come and say, 'We need these kinds of graduates here for our economy,'" Perdue said. "I learned from Zell Miller the confluence of higher education and economic development is like a flywheel. One feeds the other. And that's what's happening here."
The $15.5 million expansion to the previous 36,000-square-foot Cumming campus building adds a 75% increase in floor space that will allow for the addition of 11 new instructional areas.
UNG President Michael Shannon said he is excited that students ranging from dual enrollment to graduate school will share the same hallways and be able to inspire each other.
"The expansion of this campus is an ongoing commitment to provide accessible, high-quality education to this community," Shannon said. "Our communities, our state and our nation need people who dare boldly enough to make a difference. The expansion of the Cumming Campus marks a pivotal step forward, providing an environment that will prepare agile-minded leaders equipped to lead and tackle whatever is next."
Rebecca Mann, a second-year Master of Science in counseling student on the clinical mental health counseling track, described the expansion as a game-changer as the counseling program moves onto the Cumming Campus from Cumming City Hall.
"This space will offer a welcoming environment for students. It will allow us to shape a vibrant campus community," Mann said. "This building is an investment in our future. Thank you for taking concrete steps to improve the student experience."
State Sen. Greg Dolezal tied his comments to the Greek proverb that "a society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they shall never sit."
"We are planting trees, and the trees we are planting aren't the trees of buildings," Dolezal said. "They're the trees of the first-generation college students who will get their degree here and change the trajectory of their family. They're the trees of business owners, men and women who will leave this campus and walk out and become the future leaders of America. They are the trees of lives saved by both the physical and mental health work that will come about because of the investment today."
UNG currently has nearly 1,000 students at the Cumming Campus, which opened in 2012.
