Cathy Carlisle, dean of enrollment services at the college, told West Point City Council on Tuesday that she’s been put in charge of creating partnerships with Chambers County, Ala., and Troup and Harris county governments and school officials, as well as local businesses.
“We have no desire to come in alone,” she said. “Right now we’re getting to know people.”
Even potential classes and programs could be geared to local needs.
“We want to position ourselves to be part of your economy,” Carlisle said. “We want to help build your intellectual capital.”
Carlisle said the college’s president, Tim Mescon, who took over the helm of the college in August, came up with the idea of creating new campuses in West Point and at Fort Benning.
“Between the base realignment and closure program (expected to double Fort Benning’s population) and Kia, Columbus State is in the middle of a lot of expected growth,” she said. “We don’t want to wait until 2010 or 2011 and say ‘This is what we should do.’ I know this comes at a bad time because no one has deep pockets anywhere, but we believe we need to be on the ground with you.”
Carlisle said the college is looking for a site for the campus, to either build a new building or move into an existing one. Once a site is chosen, plans will be “full speed,” she said.
“We appreciate the college’s view of our community,” Mayor Drew Ferguson IV told Carlisle.
Potential students will come not only from West Point but neighboring counties, although Carlisle said over time, West Point students likely will sustain the campus population. The college has been granted permission from Georgia’s Board of Regents to grant in-state tuition to Chambers County students.
“That was a big hurdle,” she said.
The college would like to start with about 300 students and at least four programs, from core education classes to specialized degrees. A number of the college’s master’s in teaching students live near West Point, so holding those classes at the new campus would be a natural fit, Carlisle said. Classes would not be for “workforce development” like what’s offered at a technical college, but professional programs like communications, hu-man resources, information technology and business.
“We want to educate your professionals,” she said.
The West Point campus would experiment with hours not traditional for a four-year college: evening and weekend classes, combination weekend and online classes, and classes that start any time, such as October or November instead of the normal fall and spring terms.
Carlisle began her talk with a brief video and information about the campus, including a study abroad program in Oxford, England, and its recent fundraising efforts. She said students at the West Point campus would have access to all the college’s current services and partnerships.
“We have a pre-engineering program and about 95 percent of our students are accepted by Georgia Tech,” she said. “We have a very good partnership with Georgia Tech and eventually they could have a presence down here.”
Jennifer Shrader can be reached at jshrader@ lagrangenews.com or (706) 884-7311, Ext. 236.
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