Gwinnett’s county seat and one of Georgia’s oldest cities, Lawrenceville has long been a hub for commerce and activity. The 1885 Gwinnett County Courthouse building stands at the center of a bustling downtown grid filled with busy restaurants, galleries, churches and the Aurora Theatre.
In 2006, the area got another boost, with the opening of Georgia Gwinnett College. The liberal arts college sits on 200 acres about 2 miles from downtown and offers 12 degree programs where technology is a major tool in the curriculum. Pop quizzes are sent via texts on smart phones, and in-class recordings allow students to review lectures.
“One of the defining aspects of the college is that they are forward-thinking and innovative in that area,” said Lawrenceville Mayor Judy Jordan Johnson. “Students have their professors’ cell phone numbers. We didn’t have anything like that when I was in school!” she said.
Johnson has forged a tight bond with the college, showing up to serve late-night breakfast to students cramming for finals and volunteering her services as a tutor. As a native Lawrencevillian, a second-generation Lawrenceville mayor and a former math teacher, she has a vested interested in making the school an intimate part of the city’s identity.
“I went to first through seventh grade at Academy Hill, our old school house,” she said. “I lived a mile from school and my friends and I would walk to Mumford Drug Store, which is now McCray’s Tavern, and get ice cream and talk about our day. It was such a great experience. I see a correlation between memories like those and the college. I hope these students have similar memories and connections with our city.”
Town and gown inroads are being forged on numerous fronts around Lawrenceville. The college has partnered with Aurora Theatre in a lab series that gets students onstage as well as in the audience to see and talk about theater. And October’s Rock'n Ribs Festival, a food and music street festival, is thrown to promote the college, including a hamburger-eating contest supplied by McCray’s, which offers an off-menu Grizzly burger, named for the school’s mascot.
The college opened with 118 students. It currently serves more than 5,700 students and anticipates 8,000 in fall 2011.
“The number of students we have clearly will have an economic impact on the city of Lawrenceville," said Jennifer Stephens, GGC director of public affairs. “There’s no way you can have 8,000 students in the city and not have a tremendous impact."
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