University History

June 1965 Board of Regents authorizes three new junior colleges, one to serve south metropolitan Atlanta.

Clayton State University opened in 1969 as Clayton Junior College, with Dr. Harry S. Downs as the founding president. The Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia elevated the institution to baccalaureate status (as Clayton State College) in 1986, to university status (as Clayton College & State University) in 1996 and approved the present name on May 18, 2005.

In April 2000, Dr. Stephen R. Portch, Chancellor of the University System of Georgia, announced that the Board of Regents had selected Dr. Thomas K. Harden as the new president for Clayton College & State University, effective in June of that year.

The beginning of the University can be traced to 1965 when the Board of Regents authorized three new junior colleges for the University System, one of which was designated for south metropolitan Atlanta. The Board considered several locations in the region, and chose the present site in Clayton County because of the unique combination of natural beauty and easy access to the then recently completed Interstate 75. The citizens of Clayton County subsidized the initial construction of the state institution by passing a bond issue for nearly $5 million. Construction of the new campus began in fall 1968, and the doors opened to 942 students less than a year later on September 30, 1969.

In 1981, the University added a technical division offering applied associate degrees and certificates in cooperation with the Georgia Department of Technical and Adult Education. Five years later Clayton State began its baccalaureate mission with programs in business administration and nursing. The institution has continued to add majors at the bachelor’s level while maintaining several technical associate degree and certificate programs. Through the establishment of the Bachelor of Applied Science degree, Clayton State emerged as a national leader in promoting opportunities for graduates from applied associate degree programs to “bridge” to bachelor’s degrees with little, if any, loss of credit.

Five years after initiating its baccalaureate programs in 1986, Clayton State opened the doors to the finest small performance facility in the southeastern United States, Spivey Hall. Now starting its 16th year, Spivey Hall retains its local, national and international reputation by presenting the best in jazz and classical music and an education outreach program that serves thousands of school children from throughout metro Atlanta annually.

Upon the retirement of Harry Downs in January 1994, Dr. Richard A. Skinner became the University’s second president. In June 1999, Skinner left Clayton State to head the University System of Georgia’s new distance learning initiative – Georgia GLOBE. Michael F. Vollmer, Clayton State’s acting Vice President for Fiscal Affairs and former Interim President of Middle Georgia College, served as Interim President for one year until President Harden took office in June 2000.

Clayton State now enrolls 6,000 students in degree credit programs that, in the words of the University’s mission, provide “career-oriented education with a solid liberal arts foundation.” Current bachelor’s degree majors include Biology (B.S.), Middle-level Teacher Education (B.A.), Nursing (B.S.N.), Health Care Management/Administration (B.S., B.A.S.), Dental Hygiene (B.S., B.A.S.), Psychology and Human Services (B.S.), Music (B.A., B.M.), Technology Management (B.A.S.), Administrative Management (B.A.S.), Integrative Studies (B.A., B.S.), four fields of business administration (B.B.A.), Communication and Media Studies (B.A.), Theater (B.A.), History (B.A.), Criminal Justice (B.A.), Political Science (B.S.), English (B.A.), Mathematics (B.S.), Health & Fitness Management (B.S.) and the WebBSIT. Several other baccalaureate programs are currently under development.

On November 16, 2005, Clayton State University’s first graduate level program, the Master of Arts in Liberal Studies, was approved by the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia, opening the door to a whole new world of meeting the educational needs of students and citizens in metro Atlanta. The Master of Arts in Liberal Studies is the only degree of its kind in the state, and is designed to give students with highly focused undergraduate degrees the opportunity to explore a more multidisciplinary approach. A second graduate program, the Master of Science in Nursing, was approved by the Board of Regents in June 2006, a third, the Master of Health Administration, was approved in August 2006, and a fourth, a Master of Business Administration, in January 2007. Proposals for additional graduate programs are under development by the University.

Clayton State’s mission commits it to “placing a major emphasis on technologically advanced access to information and to ensuring that all students acquire a working familiarity with the uses, limitations, and ethical implications of modern information technology.” To that end, in January 1998 Clayton State 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 “Information Technology Project” (ITP) has transformed the campus and made Clayton State a national pioneer in “ubiquitous computing.” Starting fall 2001, the University entered a new phase called “ITP-Choice,” which maintains the requirement for ubiquitous mobile computing, while giving students the opportunity to purchase notebook computers rather than having the institution supply them.

The James M. Baker University Center, Clayton State’s signature building, was completed in August 2004 and named in honor of Clayton State alumnus James M. “Jim” Baker in November 2005, and provides the University with a true “Center” for student life. The building contains a food service area, bookstore, state-of-the-art visual technology classrooms, offices and enhanced learning facilities including wireless capabilities and more than 2,000 data drops. Three additional new buildings are also currently under construction – the University’s first student housing, a Student Activities Center and a new building for the AACSB-accredited School of Business.

The past three years at Clayton State have also been highlighted by the establishment of the first joint state and federal archives facilities adjacent to campus, the institution of a comprehensive strategic planning process, and the reaffirmation of the University’s accreditation by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS).