VTC Board of Directors

Our Mission
The mission of Valdosta Technical College, a unit of the Georgia Department of Technical and Adult Education, is to provide accessible quality education, support economic growth, and promote lifelong learning for residents in its six-county service area. Our commitment is to provide technical instruction, enabling students to develop knowledge, skills, and work ethics resulting in entry-level employment and career advancement. The College fulfills its mission through credit courses leading to associate of applied science degrees, diplomas, and technical certificates of credit in business, computer, health, industrial, natural resources, and personal services fields; workforce training for new and existing industries; professional and personal-development continuing education; and programs and services designed to assist adults in reaching literacy and GED goals.

History of the College
Valdosta Technical College opened its doors at 4089 Val Tech Road in Valdosta, Georgia in September 1963 to 37 students enrolled in four programs: Automotive Mechanics, Business Education, Practical Nursing, and Electronics. The school, first known as the Valdosta Area Vocational Technical School, began operation as the result of a cooperative agreement between the Valdosta City and Lowndes County School Boards. In July 1958 the Georgia legislature approved construction of 16 technical schools in the state. Enrollment increased, programs were added, and the Commission on Occupational Education accredited the school in 1975. The vigorous economic growth of the area, sustained by a workforce that included an increasing number of technically trained Valdosta Tech graduates, initiated a need for an additional expansion completed in 1985 that almost doubled the size of the facility.

Governance of the vocational-technical institute transferred to the newly created Georgia Department of Technical and Adult Education in 1988. The school named a nine-member local board of directors and changed the name of the school to Valdosta Technical Institute to serve a six-county service area in extreme south central Georgia. A donation enabled the expansion of the school including three new buildings opening in 1997. When the accrediting agency approved the institute to offer degrees in 2000, the school changed names becoming Valdosta Technical College. The Cook County Workforce Development Center at 1676 N. Elm Street, Sparks, Georgia opened its doors as a branch campus of Valdosta Tech in June 2002. Valdosta Tech opened an office at Moody Air Force Base in February 2004. A new classroom and lab facility, with approximately 90,000 square feet of space, is near completion and will open in late 2008.

In December 2007 Valdosta Technical College was accredited and approved for unconditional membership with the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). Accreditation by the Commission is retroactive to January 1, 2007.

Although the college has modified its mission statement through the years, the essential mission is to provide accessible quality education, support economic growth, and promote lifelong learning for residents in its six-county service area. The college commits itself to provide technical instruction, enabling students to develop knowledge, skills, and work ethics resulting in entry-level employment and career advancement. The 2007 student body of 4,189 credit-enrolled students was made up of 1,484 males and 2,705 females. Valdosta Tech awarded 787 degrees, diplomas, and certificates to 705 students in 2007. An open enrollment college, Valdosta Technical College is one of 34 units in the Technical College System of Georgia.

Enrollment
Valdosta Tech's enrollment has increased dramatically from a total of 2,297 credit students in 1997 to a total of 4,370 at the end of the 2006 school year.

In addition to the 4,370 diploma, degree, and certificate students served during 2006, the college also served another 3,579 students in non-credit continuing education and contract training courses.

At present, VTC offers over 135 programs during the day, in the evening, and online, that lead to awards at the degree, diploma, and certificate levels. Many other continuing education courses are offered through the Office of Economic Development..

General Information
Valdosta Tech currently operates facilities that total over 178,000 square feet on the main campus. The main campus occupies 123 acres of land in north Lowndes county. The Cook County Center, as a satellite center of VTC, is housed in a new 14,000 square foot building on five acres between Adel and Sparks, Georgia.

Faculty and Staff
Full-time faculty and staff: 144
Part-time faculty and staff: 159

Placement
The overall placement rate of Valdosta Tech graduates has averaged more than 98% over the past several years. The placement rate of 2007 graduates was 98.8%. A number of programs each year consistently place 100% of graduates in fields related to their fields of training.

HOPE Impact/Financial Aid
A total of $3,986,132 was disbursed through HOPE Grants and Scholarships for tuition, fees, and books for students enrolled in degree, diploma, and certificate programs during the 2006 school year.

Growth
The Cook County Center was completed and opened in 2002. The branch campus is housed in a modern 14,000 square foot building on five acres. The center was constructed at a cost of $2,000,000.

Valdosta Tech purchased 16 acres adjacent to the main campus for a planned expansion of 90,000 square feet in classroom space. Construction began on the project in 2006 and expects to be complete in the summer of 2008. The planned expansion will allow for the introduction of new programs as well as expansion of a number of existing programs and a new library complex.

Guarantee
In an increasingly competitive global marketplace, one of the most important challenges facing Georgia today is the education and training of a technologically advanced, highly skilled workforce - the lifeblood for continued economic growth and development.

The Georgia Department of Technical and Adult Education and Valdosta Tech are proud to offer their business and industry partners the following guarantee:

"If one of our graduates who was educated under a standard program and his or her employer agree that the employee is deficient in one or more competencies as defined in the standards, the technical colleges will retrain that employee at no instructional cost to the employee or the employer."

This guarantee applies to any graduate of a standard program who is employed in the field for which he/she was trained. It is in effect for a period of two years after graduation.

To inquire about this warranty, please call the Placement Coordinator, 333-2120 or 333-2100.