President Mike Hobbs announced recently that campus hours will change in the spring 2023 semester, starting Jan. 7. GHC limited some of the campus hours during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, but it will soon be resuming “normal” hours: Monday through Thursday 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and Friday 8 a.m. to noon.

The Floyd and Cartersville campuses have already been open with a smaller staff on Fridays during the fall 2022 semester, but certain campus services—including IT and exercise facilities—have remained unavailable. Starting Jan. 2023, all campuses will be fully staffed on Fridays, and all student services and on-campus resources such as the food pantry will be accessible to students.

“I believe that a return to full operations is in the best interest of our students, and we hope the students will take advantage of Fridays as a great day to hold study groups, attend club meetings and also enjoy the wonderful campus study areas,” Leslie Johnson, Cartersville campus dean, said.

The campus libraries will be available for Friday hours as well. 

“Students will now have full access to library material, space and assistance in-person on Fridays in the spring semester,” Julius Fleschner, dean of libraries and college testing, said. “My hope is that being open on Fridays will allow more students to be successful because they have more access to resources.”

Fleschner believes this will have an impact on recruiting new students, who will be able to visit the campuses and interact with GHC faculty and staff on Fridays.

There are also plans to hold Friday classes on some campuses. Cartersville and Floyd will offer a hybrid film course and Floyd will have an English composition course. Students may sign up for them through SCORE on the GHC website.

“I’m excited to have the opportunity to teach a Friday class,” Cindy Wheeler, English professor at the Floyd campus, said. “I am hopeful that we can continue to schedule and offer courses in ways that are convenient for students.”

“I think it would be good to have everything running at the campus again on Fridays,” Cameron Brown, graphic design major at the Cartersville campus, said. “I do wonder, though, how that would affect the workload of teachers and other staff. I know they go through a lot and I’m sure having to go in an extra day would make it harder on them.”

Both students and faculty will be impacted by this change. For those who find themselves in need of a helping hand, visit Student Support Services on the GHC website for support.