Profile
"The challenges of living in a global community require men and women of character who can anticipate and respond effectively to an uncertain and changing world.”
– President Daniel J. Kaufman, Georgia Gwinnett College
The College
Georgia Gwinnett College is a premier 21st century liberal arts college where learning takes place continuously and beyond the confines of the traditional classroom. The College is built on the cornerstones of the innovative use of educational technology and the commitment to an integrated experience that develops the whole person. GGC's focus is on a face-to-face classroom experience with portable technology solutions allowing students to learn, study and work both on and off campus.
Georgia Gwinnett College is the first public, four-year liberal arts college to be founded in the United States in the 21st century according to the American Council on Education. It is also the first four-year college to be founded in Georgia in more than 100 years.
For more than 15 years prior to the formation of GGC, community leaders pressed for a four-year college in Gwinnett. As the county grew rapidly, it was evident that the expanding business community needed a source of qualified candidates for its workforce and it desired to enjoy the benefits involved with a community-based institution of higher education. A resolution was passed by the Board of Regents in October of 2004, and the College was established by the Georgia General Assembly in March of 2005. It serves as the USG’s model campus for innovative approaches to highly-efficient student, facility and administrative services.
"GGC will be a campus that students will flock to as a means of taking advantage of its high tech learning environment; and that educators from around the nation will examine and embrace for its unique and important advanced learning methodology.”
– Chancellor Erroll Davis, University of Georgia System
A Place to Call Home
The College is located in Lawrenceville, Georgia, in the heart of Gwinnett County. Gwinnett is a vibrant community 30 miles northeast of downtown Atlanta where a mixture of quiet postcard neighborhoods and bustling commercial districts blend the past with the present. Here, progress and quality of life connect so that everyone enjoys the small town ambience with all the amenities of a big city. Businesses and residents alike enjoy safe neighborhoods, good schools, modern infrastructure and a thriving economy.
Gwinnett County remains one of the most dynamic regions in the South to live and work with a current population of 776,347, and a population of 1.2 million projected by the year 2025.
Degree Programs
The College currently offers 12 degree programs, including business, biology, criminal justice, information technology, early childhood education, English, history and psychology. For a full list, visit our Academics page. In following years, nursing and radiology will be created as a part of the curriculum.
Engaging the Student
GGC’s degree programs emphasize traditional classroom teaching and learning, supported by innovative and state-of-the-art technology that makes learning enjoyable and transferable between classroom, home and work – wherever a laptop or cell phone can go.
Technology-based teaching methods engage students more actively in their own learning experience. Teachers can control a variety of tools while lecturing – the Internet, DVD players, overhead digital projectors combine with textbooks for an exceptional learning experience. A built-in recorder can capture the lecture and save it to a website or email. This gives students more options for acquiring, reviewing and retaining lecture content.
The Campus of Tomorrow
The Gwinnett campus currently sits on more than 200 wooded acres alongside University Parkway (Georgia Highway 316). The College’s facilities, all built within the 21st century, were designed and constructed with an infrastructure that supports GGC’s educational technology requirements. Each classroom has the same level of technology available, allowing any class to be taught in any classroom with maximum efficiency.
Because GGC is the newest college in the state, all of its current and future buildings have been designed to include and accommodate the latest technologies. The College’s signature building, Building B, was designed by Atlanta architect John Portman, of the world renowned architectural firm John Portman and Associates. This structure was designed to establish a new benchmark for learning for the University System of Georgia.
The integrated, technologically enhanced learning center contains all of the critical functions necessary for students, faculty and staff to accomplish their daily agendas within a single, open environment. Classrooms, computer labs and offices form the outer ring, while the library computer commons and research areas are contained within the core. An open, three-story ring separates the first two elements while providing a variety of formal and informal study areas for interactive learning along with a café, dining atrium and facilities for social functions.
Building A houses the College's bookstore and a food court in addition to classrooms, laboratories, testing center, GGC’s technology department and faculty and staff offices. The institution's 300-seat Cisco Auditorium is located in Building C along with classrooms, computer labs and faculty offices, while the GGC admissions, registrar, financial aid, student affairs, student activities, disability services, career development and maintenance and facilities offices occupy Building D.
The College opened a fitness center in 2008 complete with a large gymnasium/basketball court, swimming pool, game room, running track, a training area with treadmills, stationary bikes, Nautilus equipment, free-weights and three racquetball courts.
A new 86,000 square-foot library that will hold more than 180,000 volumes opened in 2010. During the spring semester of 2010, Phase I of student housing opened to more than 200 students, and by 2011 approximately 2,000 students will be living on the campus. A new parking garage currently is in the plans as is a student center, which will house a full-service cafeteria. A new academic building and an allied health and science building are planned within the next five years.
View the Campus Master Plan for a glimpse at how GGC will grow in the future.
Building for Tomorrow
Working in tandem with the College, the non-profit Georgia Gwinnett College Foundation has been established to develop private funding for the student center, bookstore and athletic facilities. The Foundation also plans to develop partnerships with area businesses and a collaborative center where companies can share their projected workforce needs and see firsthand the advantages of the College's commitment to technology.
Financial Aid
GGC became eligible for federal financial aid from the U.S. Department of Education in 2008 when the College was granted candidacy status toward its accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). Students can qualify for the Pell Grant, Stafford Loan, the Academic Competitiveness Grant and the Science and Mathematics Access to Retain Talent Grant in addition to PLUS. GGC students are also eligible for the state's HOPE Scholarship.
Mission
Georgia Gwinnett College provides access to targeted baccalaureate level degrees that meet the economic development needs of the growing and diverse population of the northeast Atlanta metropolitan region. It emphasizes the innovative use of technology and active-learning environments to provide its students enhanced learning experiences, practical opportunities to apply knowledge, increased scheduling flexibility and a variety of course delivery options.
Georgia Gwinnett's outstanding faculty and staff actively engage students in various learning environments, serve as mentors and advisors and assist students through programs designed to enhance their academic, social and personal development.
GGC produces contributing citizens and future leaders for Georgia and the nation. Its graduates are inspired to contribute to the local, state, national and international communities, and are prepared to anticipate and respond effectively to an uncertain and changing world.
“The opportunity for students here is unlike any other. Our graduates will become the trendsetters and leaders of the next several generations. Students attending GGC will be making history.”
– President Daniel J. Kaufman, Georgia Gwinnett College
