Southern Polytechnic State University

Southern Polytechnic State University was a public, co-educational, state university in Marietta, Georgia, United States approximately northwest of downtown Atlanta. Until 2015, it was an independent part of the University System of Georgia and called itself "Georgia's Technology University."Southern Tech was established in 1948 as The Technical Institute in Chamblee, Georgia. The first classes were held with 116 students. It was renamed the Southern Technical Institute in 1949 and moved to its present campus in Marietta, Georgia in 1962. It went through another name change in 1987 and became the Southern College of Technology. In the summer of 1996, the university adopted its polytechnic name. It was one among a small group of polytechnic universities in the United States that tend to be primarily devoted to the instruction of technical arts and applied sciences.On November 1, 2013, plans were unexpectedly announced by the Georgia Board of Regents for Southern Polytechnic and Kennesaw State University to be consolidated into one university. On January 6, 2015, the Georgia Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia approved the consolidation of Southern Poly and Kennesaw State, over the continued strong objections of students and faculty. On July 1, 2015, the new combined institution Kennesaw State University established the Southern Polytechnic College of Engineering and Engineering Technology in honor of the former SPSU.