Chattahoochee Technical College

Chattahoochee Technical College
Type Public
Established 1963
President Ron Newcomb, Ed.D.
Students 17,000+
Postgraduates 0
Location Marietta, Georgia, United States
Campus 8
Nickname Chattahoochee Tech
Website chattahoocheetech.edu

Chattahoochee Technical College (commonly Chattahoochee Tech or sometimes CTC or Chat Tech ) is a two-year state technical college located in the U.S. state of Georgia. It is governed by the Technical College System of Georgia. Chattahoochee Technical College has seven campuses in the north-northwest metro Atlanta area, and another just outside the region. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACS) to award technical certificates of credit, diplomas, and associate degrees.

Facts and figures

Chattahoochee Technical College was founded in 1961,.[1] On July 1, 2009, Chattahoochee Technical College came into being from the merger of three previously independent units of the Technical College System of Georgia – Appalachian Technical College, Chattahoochee Technical College, and North Metro Technical College.

Appalachian Technical College, established in 1967 as Pickens Area Vocational Technical School in Jasper, GA, served Cherokee, Fannin, Gilmer, and Pickens counties. In 1988, the school changed its name to Pickens Technical Institute as Georgia established the Department of Technical and Adult Education, which gathered all the vocational-technical schools under one governing board for the state.

North Metro Technical College was established in 1989 as one of the first institutions created under the direction of the new Department of Technical and Adult Education. Originally named North Metro Technical Institute, the college was located in Acworth, GA, and officially served Bartow and north Cobb counties, but was also positioned to serve the populations in Cherokee and Paulding counties.

Chattahoochee Technical College, established in 1961 as Marietta/Cobb Area Vocational Technical School, served Cobb and Paulding counties with its main campus in Marietta, GA. In 1988, with the formation of the Department of Technical and Adult Education, the school adopted the name of Chattahoochee Technical Institute, and through legislation in 2000, all technical institutes were renamed to technical colleges.

In 2008, the Department of Technical and Adult Education officially adopted a new name – the Technical College System of Georgia (TCSG) - to reflect a coordinated system, integrating the educational efforts of the public technical colleges throughout the state. At this same time, the TCSG analyzed the feasibility and advantages of merging a number of its then 33 technical colleges – as an organizational and economic decision. The proximity of the three colleges in northern central Georgia led to a decision to merge. Thus, representatives from the Boards of Directors of the three colleges decided to adopt Chattahoochee Technical College as the name for the new entity. Through the naming of campuses, the former college names are also retained as a reminder of the robust history and melding of these three established institutions.

Now, with a combined service area of six counties (Bartow, Cherokee, Cobb, Gilmer, Paulding, and Pickens) and with eight campuses and online offerings, Chattahoochee Technical College serves approximately 20,000 credit students annually.

Locations

Chattahoochee Technical College campus in Jasper

There are now eight total campus locations north and northwest of Atlanta. The original and main campus is located immediately adjacent to Marietta, between South Cobb Drive (Georgia 280) and Sandtown Road (33°55′44″N 84°33′18″W / 33.929°N 84.555°W / 33.929; -84.555 (Chattahoochee Technical College, Marietta main campus)Coordinates: 33°55′44″N 84°33′18″W / 33.929°N 84.555°W / 33.929; -84.555 (Chattahoochee Technical College, Marietta main campus)). Actually within the Fair Oaks census-designated place, this is now known as East Campus. During the early 2000s, three buildings were added on the other side of Sandtown Road, within the Marietta city limits, and known as West Campus.

Its three original satellite campuses are: Mountain View (northeast Cobb; 34°02′03″N 84°28′04″W / 34.0343°N 84.4677°W / 34.0343; -84.4677 (Chattahoochee Technical College, Mountain View satellite campus)), South Cobb (Mableton/Austell; 33°48′56″N 84°36′00″W / 33.8156°N 84.6°W / 33.8156; -84.6 (Chattahoochee Technical College, South Cobb satellite campus)), and Paulding (Dallas; 33°54′39″N 84°49′35″W / 33.9107°N 84.8263°W / 33.9107; -84.8263 (Chattahoochee Technical College, Paulding satellite campus)).

The Paulding campus was dedicated in November 1996. A second building was constructed in 2009, and dedicated on October 13, with keynote speaker Glenn Richardson.[2]

The Mountain View campus was donated to Cobb County by the family of the late Frank Gordy, proprietor of the famous restaurant The Varsity in Atlanta. Specified for educational use, the county supplied the land and most of the construction money for the building, which was dedicated to the county commission in 2000 and opened for class that October, and was transferred to the state in 2009 after having been leased for a dollar a year. It shares a parking lot with the adjacent Mountain View Aquatics Center, an indoor public swimming pool run by the county. The school's address is on Frank Gordy Parkway, a loop which allows access to these developments, but whose street name signs all indicate only "Gordy Parkway".

The South Cobb campus was renamed the Austell campus in spring 2010. It consists of two one-story buildings on Tech Center Drive, and its address is on Veterans Memorial Drive (U.S. 78/278 & Georgia 8), which was originally the historic Bankhead Highway.

The Woodstock campus is located in the former Woodstock Elementary School (historically the all-grades Woodstock School, the town's first public school), and was the second campus of Appalachian Tech. It is closed for renovation from August 2013 until 2015, for approximately 18 months.[3]

A new campus in Canton is now open at Bluffs Technology Park (approximately 34°16′25″N 84°28′15″W / 34.2735°N 84.4707°W / 34.2735; -84.4707 (Bluffs Technology Park)) and opened for winter quarter 2011. Gilmer (north of Pickens) is the only county within the school's official service area that does not have a campus of its own.

Through June 2009, graduation ceremonies were held only in June and September, and were at the Mable House amphitheatre in Mableton. The December 2009, due to the growth of the graduating class, the graduation ceremony was held at the Cobb Galleria Centre; in June 2010 it was held nearby at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre where it has remained since.

Enrollment by campus for FY13, 17,238.

References

  1. http://www.chattahoocheetech.edu/about-us/history-of-the-college/
  2. "Georgia State Financing & Investment Commission - Ribbon Cutting at Chattahoochee Tech". Gsfic.georgia.gov. October 13, 2009. Retrieved 2012-08-13.

External links

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