In a historic vote, the State Board of Regents officially merged eight colleges into four and selected presidents for the new schools.
Tuesday’s vote culminated what has been more than a year of work for the University System of Georgia. The new colleges are:
Georgia Regents University. A merger of Augusta State and Georgia Health Sciences universities. Ricardo Azziz is president.
Middle Georgia State College. A merger of Macon State and Middle Georgia colleges. John Black is interim president.
South Georgia State College. A merger of Waycross and South Georgia colleges. Virginia Carson is president.
University of North Georgia. A merger of Gainesville State College and North Georgia College & State University. Bonita Jacobs is president.
None of the merged colleges are closing. The affected schools teach more than 36,500 students — nearly 12 percent of the system’s total enrollment.
By Laura Diamond
