The Andrew Young School of Policy Studies (AYSPS) has experienced tremendous growth in academic programs, research, faculty and students.
The school started with two departments—economics and public management and policy—in 1996. Then, in 2011, it doubled in size when the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology and the School of Social Work and their research centers came on board. Currently spread out between three buildings, AYSPS is gradually moving under one roof at 55 Park Place, the old Georgia-Pacific Plaza site.
The Georgia State University Foundation purchased 55 Park Place for $33.5 million in 2013. After the purchase, the Andrew Young School and the J. Mack Robinson School of Business were given the green light by Georgia State President Mark Becker to begin plans to move their respective schools.
“We are pleased to consolidate all units in one building to allow them to build and expand on the interdisciplinary, collaborative and entrepreneurial nature in which the Andrew Young School is strong,” said College Administrative Officer Avani Raval, co-project director for the renovations and move. “Being in one space provides lots of opportunities for faculty and researchers to flourish and to complement one another. There will also be enough room to allow the AYS the ability grow and expand.”
The Andrew Young School has been allocated six floors (floors 4 through 9), which amounts to 130,000 square feet. Units will move in phases.
To date, the Georgia Health Policy Center, the Georgia International Leadership Executive Education program and the School of Social Work’s Professional Excellence program occupy the building’s 8th floor. Design work is being done now for the 5th and 6th floors, which will house the School of Social Work, the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology, some economics faculty and the Experimental Economics Center.
Raval and co-project director Robert Moore, associate professor of economics, work on design elements for each floor in consultation with representatives from those units who will be occupying them.
Features in the new space will include:
- A lot of natural light filtering, making the space more inviting
- More training spaces for research centers to complement research training
- Mini policy hubs on every floor, available to students 24-7, with tables that will allow work in groups or individually
- More graduate research areas closer to faculty to foster and expand collaboration
- More conference rooms and seminar spaces for research centers, Ph.D. dissertation presentations and other academic seminars
- Short-term spaces for visitors who collaborate on research with AYS faculty
Check the web for updates on future progress.