Government officials, representatives from UWG and Newnan Hospital and community members joined together on Monday, September 9, 2013, to celebrate a “brickbreaking,” rather than a “groundbreaking,” to officially begin the renovations and construction to transform Newnan Hospital into the new UWG-Newnan Center.
Newnan Mayor Keith Brady welcomed everyone to the event saying, “This is something that we’ve been waiting on for a long time, and a lot of people have put a lot of hard work into this project.”
Mayor Brady also touched on the impact that the Newnan Center will have on future generations. “The most important thing to think of, as we think of this project and as it moves forward, is the investment that we are making for the future generations that will grow up here in Newnan and the people who will come to our city who might not have found us otherwise.”
Representatives from Newnan Hospital and CPS-Atlanta, the firm managing the project, as well as Dr. Kyle Marrero, president of UWG, joined Mayor Brady in offering remarks at the ceremony.
“To have a project with city, county, Board of Regents and all the people involved that made this happen, it is truly extraordinary, and you all deserve a round of applause,” says Dr. Marrero.
He also offered his appreciation to Dr. Beheruz N. Sethna, president emeritus and professor at UWG, for his work on the project. “Without his leadership, the University of West Georgia would not have 12,000 students with a record enrollment this fall, and this project would not have come through in the way that it did, and so it is his leadership in fact that is the reason we are here today.”
UWG currently serves approximately 500 students in Newnan. Once construction is complete, UWG-Newnan is projected to have 1,200 students enrolled at in the new Newnan Center. Dr. Marrero reiterated his commitment to the center and its growth.
“In five years, fall of 2018, we want 3,000 non-duplicated head count to be enrolled in programs here all the way through the breadth of study,” he says. “I know nursing will be a major component here, but it will also be education, it will be business, it will be other appropriate related degree programs that are relevant to this region.”
Dr. Marrero finished his remarks with a promise to the Newnan community. “We want to be a presence here,” he adds. “You are part of our wolf pack. You are part of the Wolves, and part of the University of West Georgia.”
To complete the ceremony, representatives from all parties involved donned hard hats before using sledgehammers to break down a brick wall, signifying the official start to the building’s transformation. Construction is expected to be complete and classes in session in the Newnan Center by January 2015.
