Georgia Perimeter College

Perimeter College

New college logo 2016 to reflect name change and merger states with Georgia State
Former name	DeKalb College DeKalb Community College Georgia Perimeter College
Type	Public
Active	1964 (1964)–2016 (2016)
Parent institution	Georgia State University (2016–present)
Affiliation	University System of Georgia
Provost / Dean	Dr. Peter Lyons
Academic staff	510
Students	21,000
Undergraduates	Freshman: 10,955 (Fall 2014) Sophomore: 8,295 (Fall 2014)
Location	Suburban Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Campus	Urban, 50 acres (0.20 km2)
Mascot	Jaguars
Website	perimeter.gsu.edu
The University System of Georgia Board of Regents announces plans to consolidate with Georgia State University 2015. Merged with Georgia State University and name changed to Perimeter College at Georgia State University January 2016.

Georgia Perimeter College (now known as Perimeter College at Georgia State University) was a two-year associate degree-granting unit of the University System of Georgia. On January 6, 2016, it became a part of Georgia State University, becoming one of the largest universities in the United States, with over fifty thousand students. The GPC campuses became components of Georgia State University, still maintaining their own mission, degrees, and admittance requirements, separate from those of the main campus. Before merging with GSU, GPC served metro Atlanta with multiple campus locations and offered more than 40 programs of study, including Nursing, Business Administration, Education, Dental Hygiene, Criminal Justice, and Sign Language Interpreting.

Georgia Perimeter College was founded by the DeKalb County Board of Education as DeKalb College in 1958 and offered its first classes in Clarkston, Georgia, in 1964. Its service area grew as new campuses opened and students came to the college from throughout the metro area. In 1997, DeKalb College was renamed Georgia Perimeter College.

The Georgia Perimeter College Botanical Gardens include a Native Plant Garden and the Ferns of the World Garden, which contains more species of ferns than any other garden in the United States. Discussions about plants, garden walks and special sales are open to the public.

Georgia Perimeter College was the largest two-year college and the fourth-largest institution in the University System of Georgia, with about 21,371 students enrolled. GPC’s online program was the largest in the state university system, serving over 9,000 students. Georgia Perimeter transferred almost 3,000 students annually to bachelor's degree programs within the University System of Georgia, accounting for one-fifth of transfers within the system. To allow students to transfer to four-year institutions of their choice, Georgia Perimeter pioneered a Transfer Admission Guarantee (TAG) program, signing more than 40 TAG agreements with in-state, out-of-state, public and private four-year colleges and universities.

More than one-third of Georgia Perimeter College’s faculty members earned their doctorate; this statistic did not include numerous part-time instructors. GPC had more Governor's Teaching Fellows than any other institution in Georgia: 40 since 1996. More than 46 GPC faculty members received National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development Teaching Excellence Awards since 2003.