Georgia Highlands College

GHC's full-time faculty is 57% female and 87% white.[18] 73.2% of the GHC faculty are full-time and ranked Assistant, Associate, or full Professor, while 26.8% have the rank of Instructor. As of Fall 2016, 51% of the full-time faculty had tenure, 22% were on track for tenure, and 26.8% were not on the tenure track. All full-time faculty had a master's degree as required by SACS, and 30% additionally had a terminal degree such as a doctorate[18] The full-time faculty to student ratio at GHC is 21:1.[5]

Students can earn an associate degree at Georgia Highlands College for less than $8,000 and a bachelor's degree for $16,000.[19] An initiative begun in 2015 to expand Open Educational Resources (OER) and provide free or low cost textbooks has led to saving GHC students more than $6 million on course resources.[20]

GHC was founded as Floyd Junior College in 1970 in Rome, Georgia. The campus includes Bishop Observatory, a library, the Lakeview Auditorium building, the McCorkle and Walraven academic buildings, a tennis court, and fields for soccer, softball, and baseball. This site includes Paris Lake and has access to a 20-acre tract behind the campus that has been set aside as a protected natural wetland ecosystem, which includes a 1,200-foot boardwalk and two observation platforms.[21] In 2015, the Floyd campus began housing a new Georgia Public Safety Training Center (GPSTC), offering training for law enforcement officers.[22]

GHC began offering classes in a small space in downtown Cartersville, Georgia in the 1980s. The current Cartersville location was opened in 2005. The site includes a 55,000-square-foot student center designed with a mountain lodge feel that matches the original classroom building and has a two-story stone fireplace in the open-air student lounge as its centerpiece. Along with the campus bookstore, the center houses a small café, a game room, a weight and cardio room, two volleyball/basketball courts, and a suspended indoor running track.[23]

In 2017, the University System of Georgia approved $17.7 million in funds to construct a new STEAM building at the Cartersville site.[24][25] The building, which features new classrooms and lab rooms, opened to students in Spring 2019.[26]

The James D. Maddox Heritage Hall Instructional Site, in downtown Rome, Georgia, has been in operation by GHC since 1994 and houses the college's Division of Health Sciences nursing and dental hygiene programs. Heritage Hall also houses digital media services and GHTV, GHC's local cable television station.[27] The Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) program is also housed at the site.[28]

Marietta Site of GHC on the KSU Marietta campus

The Marietta site opened in 2005. This location became GHC's third site, opening for classes on the campus of Southern Polytechnic State University (SPSU), now Kennesaw State University (KSU). GHC students at the Marietta site have access to KSU dorms, student clubs, intramurals, and collegiate sporting events.[29] GHC administrative and faculty offices are housed in Norton Hall on the KSU Marietta campus. GHC courses are regularly offered in the Atrium building, Engineering Lab Building, and Mathematics building. GHC students at the Marietta site have access privileges at the KSU Lawrence Johnson library.[30]

The Douglasville location began using space donated by Chapel Hill High school while the renovation of the Stewart Parkway building was underway. The building, in partnership with The University of West Georgia, opened to students in 2010. It includes classrooms, an auditorium, science labs, a student lounge, and offices. A branch library was added to the site in 2015. In 2018, UWG and GHC announced a new partnership program in Mass Communications with a focus on Public Relations, with future program partnerships in development.[31] In 2020, GHC entered into a partnership with the Douglas County Board of Education and moved the Douglasville operations to a new site at the Murray Education Center. [32]

GHC Paulding Site at the Historic Douglas Country Courthouse

The Paulding location in Dallas was opened in 2009. Administrative offices, classrooms, and the library are located in the Bagby building and the Winn building in the Dallas Town Square.[33] Kennesaw State University and GHC have several active partnership programs available at the Paulding site, including degrees in Psychology, Elementary & Early Childhood Education, and Integrative Studies.[34]

In 2018, the University System of Georgia approved $4.1 million in funds to renovate the buildings at the Paulding site.[35][36] The renovations will provide space for further course offerings, allowing more complete degrees at the Paulding site.[37]

The student body at Georgia Highlands College is relatively diverse. Over 60% of students are female, and 24% are non-traditional age students (24–65 years old). The median student age is 23.[5] 69% of students are white/Caucasian, 17% are black/African American, and 8% are Hispanic/Latino.[38] GHC has an active veteran cohort of students, and was ranked a “Top School for Veterans” by Military Advanced Education in 2012, and from 2014-2018.[39]

The largest club at the college, Brother 2 Brother (B2B), encourages excellence among minority male students. B2B began as part of the Georgia Highlands African-American & Minority Male Excellence program (GHAME) in 2008.[40] GHC B2B won outstanding chapter of the year several times at the 300+ member national Student African American Brotherhood Conference.[41] GHC's chapter of the national academic organization Phi Theta Kappa (PTK) was recognized as Regional Top Distinguished Chapter Overall in 2016, 2017, and 2018.[42]

The Six Mile Post, GHC's student newspaper, consistently wins awards for student articles, artwork, editing, photography, and advertising at the Southern Regional Press Institute and the Georgia College Press Association.[43] For four decades, the college has published Old Red Kimono, an annual book of student artwork, poetry, and short stories.[44] Since 2010, students at GHC can compete in a public speaking competition funded in part by the Rome Area Council for the Arts.[45]

GHC also offers students business focused clubs such as Business Leaders of Tomorrow and Logistics and Supply Chain Management Association. These business clubs focus on developing relationships between students and local industry leaders as well as developing workforce related skills. The club membership is mainly filled with bachelor level students, but are open to all GHC students on all campuses regardless of major.

Student clubs and GHC Student Support Services began offering food panty services in partnership with the Atlanta Food Bank in 2017 to students that are food insecure.[46] Since 2005, the college has hosted Foundation Summer Camp, a free service for boys that includes STEAM and athletic activities.[47]

Since 1997, GHC has offered geology field credit for summer trips to Wyoming.[48] GHC partners with KSU to offer semester abroad trips with credit courses in Montepulciano, Italy.[49] GHC regularly offers biology credit trips to Costa Rica and culture/business credit trips to European countries.[50]