With enrollment declining and concerns about student life on campus, task force works to 'ensure future success' of Georgia Southern Armstrong
Zoe NicholsonSavannah Morning News
Three days into the spring semester, Georgia Southern University’s southside Savannah campus is quiet. Cars filled about half of the available parking spaces, students sparsely populated sidewalks and moms with strollers power-walked the campus’ trails.
The school used to be Armstrong State University, but was consolidated into the GSU institution in 2018, along with a third campus in Liberty County. Advocates for the merger cited the need to create an “economic powerhouse” and bring more educational opportunities to Savannah.
Falling enrollment, half-empty dorms:Georgia Southern Armstrong five years after the merger
Five years since the merger, Armstrong’s campus has added 30 more academic programs, graduation rates have increased, more than $10 million in capital projects have been improved, and students and employees have gotten a Chick-Fil-A. And a Starbucks.
The consolidation of GSU and Armstrong State was part of a larger effort from the University System of Georgia to create an economic engine in the Savannah area, but initial critics of the merger said Armstrong would wind up "playing second fiddle" to the much larger Statesboro campus. Five years post-merger, many of the promises touted by the Board of Regents -- more funding, better resources, a stronger market position -- have not turned the Armstrong campus from a quasi-commuter school into a thriving satellite of a research institution.
Faced with a declining student population — enrollment is off 20% since the merger, which directly impacts state funding levels — Georgia Southern's leaders are addressing the issue from a myriad of vantage points. The university will soon introduce a new academic department, English with a focus on writing, language and linguistics, and has formed a task force to “ensure the future success” of the Savannah campus, all in an effort to breathe life back into the Hostess City’s once-bustling campus.
“What I would like to see is a clear vision for the campus,” said Jack Simmons, a Georgia Southern philosophy professor, “And an actualization of that vision.”
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Leaders at GSU have a plan to formulate that vision, and the steps to make it a reality.
And while Provost Carl Reiber touts the merger as a success, administrators are embarking on a mission to increase enrollment and “ensure the long-term success” of the Savannah campus.
The Armstrong Task Force was formed last year as a way to produce short- and long-term strategies that will increase enrollment and cement Armstrong’s success as an institution of higher education for the Savannah region.
Headed by Reiber and staffed with employees and one student representative, GSU Student Body President Alexis Belvin, the task force identified eight degree programs to immediately begin promoting and offering more frequently: computer science, criminal justice, economics, information technology, logistics, management, marketing, and psychology.
The programs will be offered in-person and online, and as either a four-year bachelor’s degree or a two-year associate’s degree. Considerable resources will be devoted to marketing and highlighting these programs, according to the task force’s website.
“These programs have capacity for growth, are in demand, could be adapted to new delivery modes, and are not contingent upon external approvals to move forward,” GSU President Kyle Marrero said in a campus update about the task force.
The task force also decided to expand the nursing program as well as grow its dual enrollment partnership with Savannah-Chatham County Public School System, which allows high school students to take classes for college credit.
A health-related degree will also be offered at Armstrong, but its creation will take time.
The programmatic highlights indicate a shift toward workforce-related needs and providing niche education programs tailored to the needs of the Savannah regional economy.
Apart from the task force, other changes are coming to the university that will impact all campuses.
In an effort to create more efficient class offerings and reduce administrative overhead, GSU is merging the writing and language and linguistics departments to create an English Department. It’s the first time in more than five years that Armstrong will have an English department. GSU’s Statesboro campus has never had one.
The department offers three concentrations — literature, creative writing and professional writing — and is aimed at providing students with the option of a liberal arts degree, particularly in an age where higher education is becoming increasingly workforce-focused, according to Beth Howells, interim director of the English Department and a long-time Armstrong employee.
“It may seem outdated to be thinking about English majors; people are talking about the death of the humanities and this and that and the other,” Howells said. “And there's all this pressure on students to declare a major and declare a career so early. In part that makes sense, they want to have careers. But at the same time, when you're 17 and 18, do you really know what you want to do? I’m not sure.”
Howells said the department will share staff and faculty across all three campuses and expand online offerings. The pooling of resources will allow for more in-person events for students and the public.
“We've got a lot of stuff going on and we think it's really exciting,” Howells said. “The nice thing about this major is that students — whether it's the Armstrong campus, the Statesboro campus, online or in Liberty — they all have a home in this campus. They all have access to this degree.”
Like five years ago, Simmons said the changes happening — and to come — on Armstrong’s campus offer an exciting glimpse into the future, but he’s viewing it with an apprehensive eye.
“There's a certain amount of optimism, but again, there is apprehension; especially given what's happened over the last five years.”
What challenges has Armstrong faces since the merger?
Armstrong hemorrhaged students once the consolidation plans became public.
In 2010, enrollment at Armstrong reached more than 7,600 students, less than 300 of whom were completely online. By the time the merger was completed in January 2018, the student population had plummeted to 5,610 students, according to university enrollment data. Today, Armstrong has 4,621 students, not including those studying online, representing about 18% of GSU's total student body.
There are no athletics, except recreational leagues open to all students, and the study abroad office was moved to Statesboro. On-campus housing had a 40% occupancy rate last semester, and 416 students — about 10% of the student body — had meal plans.
Despite outright criticism to abandon the consolidation from local alumni, many faculty viewed the merger with “cautious optimism,” according to Simmons. “I felt apprehensive, but also optimistic, because the merger was presented as an opportunity to increase resources and programming to the Armstrong campus,” he said.Simmons said the creation of a philosophy degree, his area of teaching, was a major boon for his cohort at Armstrong.
An increase to 142 academic programs were offered on the campus. The merger also allowed students to travel to GSU’s Statesboro campus for classes, programs and extracurriculars.
The university is actively promoting student life activities on the Armstrong campus. Belvin, the student body president, attends classes in Savannah and cited that 370 events were held in the fall 2022 semester. According to her, 13,116 students attended those activities, for an average of 35 students per event.
She said GSU’s Student Government Association (SGA) continuously strives to ensure that students at the university’s three campuses are included at the same levels.
“We are actively recruiting for more representation from the Armstrong campus to serve within SGA,” she said. “Additionally, the SGA office suite on the Armstrong campus is currently being renovated to create a more welcoming space for Armstrong students to come together.”
But the 60-mile divide between Statesboro and Savannah has put strains on faculty connectivity and scheduling, and has presented safety issues for students traveling Interstate 16 — especially in the wake of the 2015 collision that claimed the lives of five GSU nursing students, who were driving to Savannah one morning for clinical training.
Programs like study abroad and NCAA athletics are only offered in Statesboro, meaning students in Liberty and Savannah must travel more than an hour to access the resources.
Simmons, the professor, said the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic may be to blame for some of Armstrong's woes, but he has not seen the promises of the merger — including increased resources — happen in Savannah.
"The most notable impact would be a reduction in enrollment," Simmons said. "Bu an additional impact is a reduction in optimism."
Zoe is the Savannah Morning News' Investigative Reporter.Find her at znicholson@gannett.com, @zoenicholson_ on Twitter, and @zoenicholsonreporter on Instagram.
