Georgia Piedmont Technical College (GPTC) is a

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

community college A community college is a type of educational institution. The term can have different meanings in different countries: many community colleges have an "open enrollment" for students who have graduated from high school (also known as senior sec ...

based in

Clarkston, Georgia Clarkston is a city in DeKalb County, Georgia, United States. The population was 7,554 as of the 2010 census. The city is noted for its ethnic diversity, and is often referred to as "the most diverse square mile in America" and "the Ellis Islan ...

. It is part of the

Technical College System of Georgia The Technical College System of Georgia (TCSG), formerly known as the Department of Technical and Adult Education (DTAE), is the State of Georgia Government Agency which supervises the U.S. state of Georgia's 22 technical colleges, while also su ...

(TCSG) and provides education for a three-county service area, mostly in the

metro Atlanta Metro Atlanta, designated by the United States Office of Management and Budget as the Atlanta–Sandy Springs–Alpharetta, GA Metropolitan Statistical Area, is the most populous metropolitan statistical area in the U.S. state of Georgia and the ...

area. The school's service area includes

Dekalb DeKalb or De Kalb may refer to: People * Baron Johann de Kalb (1721–1780), major general in the American Revolutionary War Places Municipalities in the United States * DeKalb, Illinois, the largest city in the United States named DeKalb **DeKal ...

, Rockdale, and

Newton Newton most commonly refers to: * Isaac Newton (1642–1726/1727), English scientist * Newton (unit), SI unit of force named after Isaac Newton Newton may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Newton'' (film), a 2017 Indian film * Newton ( ...

counties. GPTC is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) to award associate degrees, diplomas, and technical certificates of credit. Many of the school's individual technical programs are also accredited by their respective accreditation organizations. The College also offers free Adult Education courses for GED and HiSet test preparation and English as Second Language programming. Its Economic Development and Continuing Education division provides customized business and industry training to strengthen the workforce pipeline in Metro Atlanta. Accreditations section
of official GPTC website

History

GPTC was first established in 1961 as DeKalb Area Vocational School. The college was initially organized in cooperation with the Vocational Division of the State Department of Education and operated by the DeKalb County Board of Education. DeKalb Technical College operated as a division and campus of

Georgia Perimeter College Perimeter College at Georgia State University is a college of Georgia State University in Atlanta, Georgia. Georgia Perimeter College was originally a public community college founded by an Atlanta area county board of education before merging ...

(known then as Dekalb College) from 1972 to 1986, and as the post secondary unit of

DeKalb County School System The DeKalb County School District (DCSD) is a school district headquartered at 1701 Mountain Industrial Boulevard in unincorporated DeKalb County, Georgia, United States, near Stone Mountain and in the Atlanta metropolitan area. DCSD operates ...

until June 30, 1996. On July 1, 1996, DeKalb Tech began operating as a unit of the

. In 2000, DeKalb Technical Institute's name was officially changed to DeKalb Technical College.Our Heritage and History
section of official GPTC website. Last accessed 2012-01-14. The college enrolled its first class of 18 students in Electronics Technology in 1961. At that time, the college was in temporary quarters while the DeKalb Campus facility was under construction. The facility on North Indian Creek Drive in Clarkston opened in October 1963 and consists of five buildings, totaling 275,000 square feet of floor space. In 2018, the

U.S. Department of Education The United States Department of Education is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government. It began operating on May 4, 1980, having been created after the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare was split into the Department ...

placed the college on ''

heightened cash monitoring Higher education in the United States is an optional stage of formal learning following secondary education. Higher education is also referred as post-secondary education, third-stage, third-level, or tertiary education. It covers stages 5 to 8 ...

'' status, a status that places additional financial demands on the college as related to federal financial aid. Shortly thereafter, the college's began investigating finances at the college. As a result, the college's president,

Jabari Simama Jabari Simama (born on March 6) is a retired educator and public official. Simama served as President of Georgia Piedmont Technical College for 6 years. He also served as Deputy Chief Operating Officer of Development and Chief of Staff in DeKalb C ...

, was fired and four other administrators were placed on leave.

Locations and programs

GPTC's primary campus is located in Clarkston, though the college also has a campus in Covington and nine centers of learning in DeKalb, Newton, and Rockdale counties. The school currently has more than 6,000 students enrolled in credit programs and more than 7,000 in adult education and continuing education classes. Academic and technical programs at GPTC cover more than 120 different occupations. There are more than 260 full-time members of the faculty and staff, and part-time faculty and staff number approximately 660.

References

{{authority control Technical College System of Georgia Universities and colleges accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Buildings and structures in DeKalb County, Georgia Education in DeKalb County, Georgia Education in Newton County, Georgia Education in Rockdale County, Georgia 1961 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state) Educational institutions established in 1961