Middle Georgia State University hosts a town hall meeting to look ahead on their next 10 years

WARNER ROBINS – Middle Georgia State University hosted a Town Hall meeting on its Warner Robins campus on Tuesday, Aug. 26. President Christopher Blake highlighted the university’s growth and their vision for the future, including the Warner Robins campus. 

The university is celebrating its 10 year anniversary of becoming a four-year institution. During the town hall meeting, Blake shared an update on the university and their initiatives for the Warner Robins campus. He said they are thrilled to look back at the past 10 years and now ask themselves how they can serve communities like Houston County. 

The university has five campuses throughout middle Georgia, including Cochran, Macon, Dublin, Eastman and Warner Robins. According to Blake, approximately 70% of students are living and working in those areas.

“We want to be your public university. We want to hear from our communities on what the workforce needs, what are the degrees that are necessary for building careers [and] how we can play into that,” he said.

According to Blake, MGA is the most affordable university in the state. Before financial aid, the price for a four year degree is $26,000, which he believes is a considerable value compared to the cost of higher education across the nation. 

The degrees that are most sought after on the Warner Robins campus are Nursing, Health Science and Computer Science. Approximately 130 students are in the nursing program, 70 students are in the Health Science program and 58 students are Computer Science majors, according to Blake. 

The university has expanded their nursing program due to its popularity. It not only offers an associate degree but now students are encouraged to do their bachelor’s degree. They also have a RN to BSN bridge program. 

Blake said there is a national shortage in nursing but the university has a plan. He shared Warner Robins is at the heart of the nursing program’s expansion. 

Computer Science is also a sought after program and is now offered at the Warner Robins campus. Blake said this is an opportunity for the college to offer a new baccalaureate degree in computer science.

The university is also in conversation with Robins Air Force Base about building a stronger partnership and physically working closer together. They also hope to continue having a relationship with Emory Healthcare. Blake said they are committed to offering STEM opportunities.

He talked more specifically about the Warner Robins campus. He shared the campus was underperforming until the last couple of years. However, now the campus is continuously improving. Blake said that does not mean it is completely fixed, but they now know how to make progress with the community’s help. 

According to Blake, approximately 400 students are enrolled in the Warner Robins campus. There are also approximately 1,670 Houston County students enrolled at MGA as a whole. Some of the students are either at the Eastman campus studying aviation or on the Macon and Cochran campuses taking classes. Blake shared 20% of MGA students are from Houston County. He hopes to continue building on those statistics. 

“Let’s bring more. Let’s start to build the pipeline,” he said. 

The majority of students are in the university’s dual enrollment program, but Blake hopes once they are done, they chose to stay at MGA. 

He wants the university’s mission to be about lifting up opportunities for graduates to make a difference in themselves and in the places where they work, live and raise families. He hopes the university will continue helping individuals to work with communities and equip them with the tools they need for a successful life. 

Blake then shared the university’s strategic plan, which he said they are midway through. The four elements of the plan start with the students. He said the plan is about student success but also how they can connect it to economic development. Blake shared he is very interested in the culture and identity of MGA and wants to hear from the community on how they can be better. 

Blake also wants to make sure the university stays affordable. He hopes to avoid students being in an endless debt. 

Recently, the university shared its Fiscal Year 2024 economic impact report which showed the university contributed more than $312 million to the regional economy. It also supported 3,000 jobs across the middle Georgia region. 

Blake wants to make sure they communicate the university’s academic momentum and reputation. He hopes that communication is spread to the new Emory Healthcare in Warner Robins and Perry, the Houston County school system and Robins Air Force Base. He believes MGA has a strong academic tradition and it needs to make sure they keep building by prioritizing its students.  

Blake said their mission is to be the public’s university and believes people have a say in how they understand the institution. He shared they want to stay engaged, find and provide employment opportunities, and get the resources they need from the General Assembly, which he said local legislators have done a great job at providing. 

“We need those resources in order to continue to be relevant, excellent and affordable. I believe we’ve done that very well in the last few years particularly in the fields of aviation and in nursing and health,” he said. 

Blake said there is a new spirit and an awareness on how they can better serve their customers. He believes in engaging with the public and students, who are “thirsty for the opportunity to grow,” he said. Blake also said MGA has the calling to help them excel. The university is committed and believes their second decade will be about fulfilling their mission.

Blake believes each community knows its pulse better than anyone. He said the university needs to learn about their communities. 

He hopes in the next 10 years, they continue asking their stakeholders to help them learn better. He wants to learn what they are doing wrong and know what the university can do better. He hopes stakeholders will help their mission become stronger.

“A university is a place of learning. Learning is our fourth and core value. It’s the main value of this university…We have to learn and that learning goes on until the last breath we have in life, or it should, and that’s what we’re about. That’s what we’re trying to do,” he said.