University History

Clayton State University’s history can be traced to 1965 when the University System of Georgia’s Board of Regents authorized three new junior colleges, one of which was designated for south metropolitan Atlanta.

The Board selected the campus’ current Morrow, GA, location because of its unique combination of natural beauty and proximity to Interstate 75. The construction, initially subsidized by Clayton County’s citizens through a nearly $5 million bond issue, began in 1968 and Clayton Junior College opened to 942 students on September 30, 1969 with Dr. Harry S. Downs as the founding president.

In 1981, Clayton State, though cooperation with the Georgia Department of Technical and Adult Education, began offering applied associate degrees and certificates. Five years later, the Board elevated the institution to baccalaureate status as Clayton State College, with four-year programs in nursing and business. Later, the establishment of the Bachelor of Applied Science degree made Clayton State a national leader in bridging the gap between applied associate programs to bachelor’s degrees, which offered students little, in any, loss of credit.

Founding president Downs retired in January 1994 and was succeeded by Dr. Richard A. Skinner. Under Skinner’s leadership, Clayton State was elevated to university status as Clayton College & State University in 1996 and became the first public university in the Southeast, and one of the first in the nation, to issue notebook computers to all students at all levels in all majors. This transformed the campus and made Clayton State a national pioneer in “ubiquitous computing.”

Following Skinner, Michael F. Vollmer served as interim president for one year, until Dr. Thomas K. Harden, the university’s current president, took office in 2000. In fall 2001, the University maintained the requirement for ubiquitous mobile computing, while giving students the opportunity to purchase their own computer and internet service provider.

The Clayton State campus began to enter into a phase of rapid infrastructural growth in 2004 with the completion of the James M. Baker University Center, officially named in honor of alumnus James M. “Jim” Baker in a naming ceremony the following year. A true “Center” for student life, the building contains the Lakeside Café and student dining area, state-of-the-art visual technology classrooms, offices, enhanced learning facilities including wireless capabilities and more than 2,000 data drops.

Not only did Clayton State name a new building in 2005, the university as a whole underwent its fourth name change, becoming Clayton State University on May 18, 2005. Later that same year, the Board approved Clayton State’s first graduate degree program, the Master of Arts in Liberal Studies (MALS).

Infrastructural growth reached its highest point since the initial construction of campus when, in 2008, the University opened three new buildings: the Student Activities Center, the School of Business Building and Laker Hall, Clayton State’s first on-campus housing facility. The open-air Judge Eugene Lawson Amphitheatre and the L. Jerry Eskew Stage were also dedicated in 2008.

Clayton State now enrolls more than 6,000 students in degree credit programs. The University currently offers four graduate degree programs, and recognized its first master’s degree program graduate, MALS student Anna Cox, in fall 2008. Two additional master’s degree programs are approved to begin in fall 2009.

In recent years, Clayton State has continued to develop its relationship with the State of Georgia’s archives facility and the National Archives and Records Administration’s (NARA) Southeastern Archives facility, located adjacent to the Morrow campus. The university has also broadened its reach into Fayette County, offering baccalaureate courses at Clayton State University–Fayette in Peachtree City, GA, and MBA courses in Peachtree City’s Dolce Conference Center.