The University of North Georgia (UNG) cut the ribbon on its Cumming Campus expansion July 30 with an array of state and local leaders on hand to celebrate the occasion.

Rebecca Mann, a second-year Master of Science in counseling student on the clinical mental health counseling track, said the expansion is a game-changer as the counseling program moves onto the Cumming Campus from Cumming City Hall.

"This space will offer a welcoming environment for students. It will allow us to shape a vibrant campus community," Mann said. "This building is an investment in our future. Thank you for taking concrete steps to improve the student experience."

The 27,300-square-foot expansion allows UNG to add bachelor's degrees in Cumming as the new space provides a capacity for future enrollment of 2,200 students, particularly in health care and technology-centric programs in demand along the growing Ga. 400 corridor. The bachelor's degrees available in Cumming are elementary and special education, nursing, computer science, Bachelor of Business Administration in management, and international affairs.

The addition of these programs demonstrates UNG's commitment to addressing regional needs by offering tailored programs for the communities surrounding each of its five campuses, aligning with UNG's strategic big bet to supercharge workforce development.

University System of Georgia (USG) Chancellor Sonny Perdue thanked state legislators for their support of UNG's Cumming Campus.

"We want to respond to communities who come and say, 'We need these kinds of graduates here for our economy,'" Perdue said. "I learned from Zell Miller the confluence of higher education and economic development is like a flywheel. One feeds the other. And that's what's happening here."

The $15.5 million expansion enhances the previous 36,000-square-foot Cumming Campus building after the project received funds in the Fiscal Year 2022, Fiscal Year 2023 and Fiscal Year 2024 state budgets. The 75% increase in floor space provided by the expanded facility will allow for the addition of 11 new instructional areas. State Sen. Steve Gooch, the Senate majority leader and UNG alumnus, was instrumental in securing funding for the project. Gooch, state Sen. Greg Dolezal, state Sen. Shawn Still, state Rep. Carter Barrett, state Rep. Brent Cox, and state Rep. Lauren McDonald attended the ribbon-cutting.

UNG President Michael Shannon pointed to the vision of alumna Mary Helen McGruder and her husband, Dr. John McGruder, in originally opening the Cumming Campus. He is excited that students ranging from dual enrollment to graduate school will share the same hallways and be able to inspire each other.

"The expansion of this campus is an ongoing commitment to provide accessible, high-quality education to this community," Shannon said. "Our communities, our state and our nation need people who dare boldly enough to make a difference. The expansion of the Cumming Campus marks a pivotal step forward, providing an environment that will prepare agile-minded leaders equipped to lead and tackle whatever is next."

Dolezal tied his remarks into the Greek proverb that "a society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they shall never sit."

"We are planting trees, and the trees we are planting aren't the trees of buildings," Dolezal said. "They're the trees of the first-generation college students who will get their degree here and change the trajectory of their family. They're the trees of business owners, men and women who will leave this campus and walk out and become the future leaders of America. They are the trees of lives saved by both the physical and mental health work that will come about because of the investment today."

Dr. Jeff Bearden, who retired this summer after 10 years as Forsyth County Schools superintendent, expressed gratitude for UNG's partnership with the school system, particularly in preparing future teachers in the College of Education.

"The hallmark of any successful school system is its partnerships," Bearden said. "And our partnership with the University of North Georgia has been critical to the success of Forsyth County Schools."

Multiple Forsyth County Board of Education members also attended the ribbon-cutting.

UNG currently has about 1,000 students at the Cumming Campus, which opened in 2012.