Macon State College
Macon, Georgia
1968-2013
E-Travel
As a recently merged school, Macon State College still has a strong internet presence, outlining its history and programs and its new identity as Middle Georgia State University. In addition both the Atlanta Constitution and the Macon Telegraph covered campus news. The 2008 logo (right) is from Wikimedia, attributed to Bweaver.
History
In 1965 Georgia Regents approved a resolution for a two-year public college serving the Macon-Warner Robins area. In 1968 Macon Junior College opened with an enrollment of 1,110, the largest opening enrollment for a new college in Georgia history. Two years later its mission was expanded to include serving civilian and military employees at Robins Air Force Base. In 1987 the word “Junior” was removed from the name. In 1996 the school’s mission was enlarged to include four-year programs in information technology, health services administration and health information management. A year later the school name was changed to Macon State College. It awarded its first Bachelor’s degrees in 1999.
Macon State College was then allowed to add programs regularly, ultimately reaching 18 majors by 2012. In 2007 with a projected enrollment of 10,000 by 2020, Macon State College saw its programs elevated to Schools—of Arts and Science, Education, Information Technology, Nursing and Health Science, and Business, with a division of Learning Services. And as the school became a residential campus, activities for students increased. The Macon Telegraph began to note dramatic and musical performances in addition to symposiums and lectures.
In 2012 The Georgia Regents approved a merger of Macon State College with Cochran-based Middle Georgia College, creating Middle Georgia State University. This merger went into effect in January 2013.
Bricks and Mortar
Classes opened in 1968 on a new 167-acre campus located between Eisenhower Parkway, College Station Drive, Columbus Road, and Ivey Drive. The campus includes a scenic lake. An original planting of 1,600 trees, 2,500 shrubs, and 12,000 ground cover plants became in 2003 the Waddell Barnes Botanical Garden with 16 distinct gardens.
From an initial seven buildings, the campus grew to more than a dozen by the time of the merger. More than half of the buildings were added after 2000, giving the campus a modern, state-of-the-art appearance. One of the most striking additions was the Charles H. Jones Science Building, home to health science, history and political science, human resources and natural science. Designed by Portman Architects and dedicated in 2004, it was the first three-story building on campus. An even larger Teacher Education complex was added in 2010, replacing three original buildings, which were razed.
Until 2010 Macon State was a commuter campus. At that time the school purchased a 300-unit apartment complex on adjacent property and opened it for student housing under the name “College Station.”
Jones Hall. Image courtesy of Portman Archives.
Sports
Team name: Blue Storm(adopted in 2010). Junior college teams were called Mustangs.
School Colors: Blue and Gold
In its first forty years of existence, Macon Junior College, Macon College, or Macon State College, offered little in intercollegiate athletics. I find only a newspaper notice of a golf team in 1973. In fall 2009 Macon fielded a successful club-level baseball program, with plans to add club-level teams in basketball, tennis, soccer and rugby in 2010.
College Football Data Warehouse lists one season of football for Macon State. In 2012 the school fielded a club team as a member of the Intercollegiate Club Football Federation. The Blue Storm played a seven-game schedule against mixed competition including Atlanta Sports Academy, Florida Christian Preparatory School, the University of South Carolina club team, Orangeburg (SC) Preparatory School, Kennesaw State College club team, and Columbus State College club team (twice), compiling a 5-2 record. In November the team was selected to play for the ICFF championship in Canton, Ohio. There they defeated Southwestern Connecticut Preparatory School 27-8.
After the merger, teams continued under the Middle Georgia State University aegis in the ICFF.
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