Main Street Master Plan
Dr. Patton launched a university-wide planning effort that produced the Main Street Master Plan, an innovative strategy introduced in 1997 to increase the university's footprint in the downtown community and shape a decade of growth for the university. Several years before the 10-year scope of the plan was to end, all of the projects envisioned in the plan were either completed or in process. An updated plan is now in place to continue the themes of the original plan, guiding the university’s future growth through 2015. Key components include:
- Establishing a campus identity based on a central campus plaza and several campus corridors
- Investing in key research areas to advance knowledge and discovery
- Increasing the university's involvement with the downtown community
- Securing private funding sources to supplement state allocations for building projects
- Creating a university endowment
Innovative Programs
Over the past several years, Patton has:
- Increased academic quality
- Initiated Georgia State's first-ever capital and comprehensive fundraising campaigns
- Directed a focus on research that resulted in the university's classification as a Research Extensive University by the Carnegie Foundation
- Overseen the construction of nine major new university facilities
- Solidified the university's ability to continue innovative scientific teaching and research by developing a funding plan for a new University Science Park