The school name won’t be retained, but the Southern Polytechnic State University label will likely maintain prominence on the engineering college of a new merged university.
SPSU, in Marietta, is in the midst of a planned consolidation with Kennesaw State University. If approved by an accrediting agency, the first class of students would enter the consolidated college in fall 2015.
A 46-member consolidation committee of faculty, staff, students and administrators from both colleges is working on implementation plans about how the new university will be organized. A preliminary list of 13 academic colleges for the new institution includes a Southern Polytechnic College of Engineering and Engineering Technology. The engineering college name is a nod to SPSU’s signature programs and could be some concession for students.
SPSU students have claimed that the polytechnic college would lose its identity with the merger. Thousands of people signed an online petition to stop the merger, and a separate petition is still requesting the state's Board of Regents to reconsider the new institution's name. Regents have already named the new institution Kennesaw State University and decided to keep that school's mascot and colors for the consolidated institution.
The KSU and SPSU consolidation is the fifth merger of schools in the University System of Georgia. Eight other colleges were merged into four and approved by the regents last year.
More information about the KSU/SPSU consolidation is available at www.ksuspsuconsolidation.com.
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