Introduction

Letter from the President | Introduction | Purpose

Dr. Carl V. Patton, President Georgia State University

Letter from the President

The Georgia State University campus today is dramatically different than that of a decade ago. In 1996, the university was experiencing increasing enrollment without the modern teaching and research space needed to serve our students. The Main Street Master Plan was still in the final planning stages before its 1997 official introduction. Campus success stories such as the Rialto Center for the Performing Arts and the Student Center gave us a glimpse of what the future would hold.

The Georgia State campus is now a lively community connected with the city and a place where students live, learn and work. *Increasing numbers of students come to us from every county in Georgia, every state in the nation and 150 countries because they want to pursue their education at one of the nation’s leading urban research universities.

Our Main Street Master Plan, a far reaching vision for a greatly expanded and vibrant campus that would address the growing needs of our students and faculty, has been put into place. Every concept envisioned in the 1997 Main Street Master Plan has been implemented or is in process. The Student Recreation Center, Helen M. Aderhold Learning Center, North Metro Center, University Lofts, Andrew Young School Of Policy Studies are just a few highlights of what we’ve accomplished in a decade. We look forward to the University Science Park, University Library transformation, Humanities Building, a new central plaza and streetscape improvements along Decatur Street and Piedmont Avenue.

Throughout these pages, you will see our vision for the next decade. We’ll continue with the themes of the Main Street Master Plan to serve the 10,000 additional students whom we plan to welcome to campus next decade. With this $1 billion plan, we’ll expand the campus to include housing for 20 percent of our students, main streets that are pedestrian friendly and new facilities to help our university community reach farther and dream bigger. I’m pleased to invite you to join us as we grow to become the nation’s leading urban research university.