Fall 2002

Volume 6 Number 1
A publication of Macon State College

A New Era

The Promise of Expanded Educational Opportunities and Partnerships with Houston County & RAFB Soon to be Fullfilled with Completion of MSC's Permanent Warner Robins Campus

By Sheron Smith

This is an architect's rendering of what the new WRC's addition, to be built adjacent to the Thomas School, might look like.

With renovation and construction well underway at the site of Macon State College’s new Warner Robins Campus, anticipation is building among community leaders who helped make the project a reality.

“I’m very excited about it,” said state Rep. Larry Walker of Perry, who led the effort to secure $5 million in funding for the WRC from the Georgia General Assembly. “Like the Museum of Aviation and the Georgia Agricenter, it’s going to be a tremendous plus for Houston County.”

Scheduled for completion next summer, just in time to offer classes beginning fall 2003, the new WRC is located on Watson Boulevard at the site of the Thomas School, one of the few buildings in Warner Robins that is more than half a century old. Mindful of the historical significance, project managers are taking care to modernize the building in a way that preserves many of the original characteristics.

“We appreciate what the Thomas School means to the community,” said David Sims, Macon State’s plant operations director. “People are going to be very pleased to see how we retain the historical integrity of the original building while developing the site into a college campus.”

Creating Synergy

State Rep. Larry Walker of Perry, left, who was instrumental in securing funding for the WRC, holds a drawing of the new addition with state Sen. Michael Moore of Warner Robins, center, who also supported funding for the project, and MSC President David A. Bell. Photo by Ken Hill

A college campus is exactly what Mayor Donald Walker and the Warner Robins City Council were hoping for when they invested $762,000 in the Thomas School last year and donated it to the University System of Georgia’s Board of Regents. Earlier this year, Rep. Walker and other members of the Central Georgia legislative delegation secured the $5 million state appropriation to modernize the Thomas School and build an additional facility on the same site for a high-tech, full-service campus.

Making the project a true community collaboration, the Robins Federal Credit Union, adjacent to the Thomas School, donated additional property for WRC parking, while Macon State partnered with neighboring Nola Brantley Library to expand services for students.

Rep. Walker said during the legislative session that funding for the WRC was his top priority. He noted that Houston County is the most populated area in Georgia without a permanent college campus.

“And that’s OK, as long as somebody serves us,” he said. The new WRC “will serve us quite well, and it will enhance our ability to keep Robins Air Force Base open.”

Mayor Walker said he considers the new WRC to be the most important thing to happen to Houston County since the Base, which came along during World War II and transformed the tiny community of Wellston into Warner Robins.

“Warner Robins has been considered a ‘temporary’ city since its inception,” Mayor Walker said. “A permanent college campus, especially one the caliber of Macon State, is going to give this community the credibility it needs. It will take Warner Robins to the next level.”

Mayor Walker also believes the new WRC will be the catalyst for more commercial and residential development along the northern section of Watson Boulevard, creating something Warner Robins has always lacked — an identifiable downtown area.

“Warner Robins grew in spurts, and nobody except people like me who have lived here forever even know where downtown is,” Walker said. “The new Warner Robins Campus is going to give synergy to this part of town and provide stability and support for the Base.”

WRC Features

The WRC’s 24,250-square-foot new addition, to serve as the facility’s main entrance, will contain classrooms, a multimedia auditorium, a conference room, administrative offices and a student lounge/study area.

Warner Robins Mayor Donald Walker, left, looks over Thomas School renovations with Mike Hale, Macon State's chief technology officer. The windows on the left are the Thomas School's original windows, which are among the historical features to be retained. Photo by Ken Hill

The new structure’s roof and brick accent will be designed to blend in with the 22,440-square-foot Thomas School, which will house classrooms, science and technology labs and some faculty offices. Larry Pope of SP Design Group, the project architect, said historical features to be retained include the school’s corridor breeze sashes, door frames and transoms. Workers are removing the aluminum windows that years ago replaced the originals. In their place will go reproductions of the original clad wood windows. Inside, workers are removing the acoustical ceiling and installing a gypsum board smooth ceiling, raising it back to its original height.

The outside trim is being replaced or repaired with redwood molding to match the original.

Landscaping plans for the new WRC include the possibility of a botanical garden. Mayor Walker has approached Dr. Waddell Barnes, chair of the MSC Foundation and leader of the ongoing botanical gardens project at the Macon campus, about expanding those efforts to Warner Robins. Sims said the buildings and landscaping are being designed to create a traditional campus environment, in contrast with the office complex atmosphere of the current Warner Robins Campus, which Macon State has operated out of leased space off Houston Lake Road since 1991.

The new WRC will more than triple the space of the current facility, where enrollment has grown rapidly in the past few years. The number of students at the current WRC, which has only eight classrooms, now tops 1,200, and Macon State ran out of expansion room long ago.

That’s why Dr. David A. Bell, Macon State’s president, said the opening of the permanent WRC will kick off a new era of educational opportunities and partnerships with Houston County and Robins Air Force Base, the single most important element in Central Georgia’s economy.

“Houston County has supported Macon State College since its inception,” Bell said. “They need and deserve a permanent college campus. The new Warner Robins Campus is one of the most important things to take place since I became Macon State president.”

Evolving Project

Macon State introduced the bachelor of science in information technology at the current WRC in 2000 and will continue to offer that program at the new campus, as well as the University System’s core curriculum. In fall 2003, Bell said, the College plans to add a bachelor of science degree in business.

“I expect an enrollment of at least 1,500 students when the new Warner Robins Campus opens,” he said. “I’m sure we’ll able to keep the place pretty full.”

The new WRC will also serve as headquarters for the Institute for Information Management, Macon State’s economic development arm. Mike Hale, the Institute’s director, will focus much of his attention on developing projects that serve the Base.

Macon State’s presence in Houston County dates back more than three decades, beginning with the Robins Resident Center, a program of the University System of Georgia that was established at Robins at the request of Maj. Gen. A.J. Beck, ALC commander.

Today, Houston County residents make up more than 26 percent of Macon State’s current enrollment, while military personnel and out-of-state students, virtually all of whom are connected to Robins, make up another 14 percent.

Bell said the new WRC will add other degrees and workforce development programs over time, based on Houston County and RAFB’s economic needs.

“When we open the new campus, it won’t simply be an event,” Bell said. “This is an evolving project that is going to pay dividends for years to come. Macon State is going to become a part of the Warner Robins-Houston County community in a way we couldn’t before.”