Speaking at Georgia Southern University’s Liberty campus, university president Dr. Kyle Marrero said he wants to enlighten the community about the facility.

Dr. Marrero addressed members of the Rotary Club of Hinesville on Tuesday on a wide range of topics, from the university’s partnership with Hyundai to the expected opening this May of the indoor practice facility.

Enrollment at the Liberty campus was close to 500 and the corresponding wobble of two years ago brought it down to around 475 total, for both in-person and online classes. Dr. Marrero said he wanted to make more people aware that there is a path to Georgia Southern in the heart of Hinesville.

“We struggle with awareness,” he said. “I know we can do better with dual enrollment. Savannah Tech is here and they do some of the same things and they do a great job. Where you can launch from here is critically important.”

Dr. Marrero said the Liberty campus is a place where people can start and earn associates degrees and perhaps a few bachelor’s degrees. But he said it won’t be a fullfledged satellite campus.

“It’s a place where people can start,” he said. “It will be a place where everyone in this county knows they can come to take those classes to serve those needs. It’s been a challenge. We want to see this campus grow.”

Dr. Marrero, who will mark his fourth year as GSU president on April 1, said they are tailoring their offerings to also help meet the needs of military spouses.

He also said residents can count GSU as one of the many entities getting ready for the Hyundai metaplant.

The school and the automaker already are working together to help build the massive workforce the plant is expected to need when it opens in two years.

Dr. Marrero said the university has been working with the Joint Development Authority, along with area technical colleges and school systems, on building a workforce development pipeline for the Hyundai plant.

The company already has held two job fairs on Georgia Southern’s campus and has made offers to 16 graduates or soon-to- be graduates from GSU’s engineering programs.

“Hyundai has been fantastic,” Dr. Marrero said.

GSU and Hyundai also are working on internships for building construction majors and full internships for students once the plant is up and running, Dr. Marrero added.

“That’s a great boon for us,” he said. “For us, it’s already been a gamechanger in our ability to align (instruction).”

Georgia Southern also offers one of the few doctorate- level logistics and supply chain programs, and it also boasts the only advanced manufacturing engineering program in within a 500-mile radius. The advanced manufacturing program is delving into the realm of artificial intelligence and robotics to augment the workforce.

“Do we have enough skilled labor for all the growth that is going to happen in manufacturing in the next 10 years? We don’t,” Marrero said.

Other disciplines at the university are taking part in setting the stage for Hyundai. One of GSU’s impact areas for research is coastal resilience and sustainability, which looks at such topics as water usage, water quality and even how many wells can be dug an area.

Dr. Marrero acknowledged that a lack of water can block economic development in the region, and of the counties that formed the JDA to bring in Hyundai, only Bulloch County is not in the state Environmental Protection Division’s red zone. That could lead to millions of gallons per day pumped from Bulloch and piped into Bryan County for the plant.

The Coastal Resilience and Sustainability effort also will look at ways to prevent further saltwater intrusion into fresh water aquifers.

“Water becomes the essence of how we go forward,” he said.

Those initiatives, and others such as the soldier wellness program that aims to get ailing soldiers back into active training, show the university’s commitment to research that has a public impact, Dr. Marrero noted.

While Southern’s enrollment rocketed from 26,500 when he first became president to 27,093 two years later in 2021, it has dipped. But Dr. Marrero has seen an increase in the number of applications to enter school, along with a rising number of applications for housing.

The university also has had record numbers of degrees conferred and in graduation rates. It also has had a record number of research awards and expenditures, along with record fundraising.

“I’m proud of the team and what we’ve been through,” he said.

A college degree remains important, and its return on investment is still extensive.

“Is a college degree worth the time and money at the end of the day? And the answer is yes,” he said. “The data shows it.”

A person with a bachelor’s degree will earn $1 million more in a lifetime than someone without one, Dr. Marrero pointed out. A person with a graduate degree, such as a masters or a doctorate, will earn from $2 million to $2.5 million more in a lifetime.

Dr. Marrero said of the 250,000 jobs open in the state right now, 60% require a degree.

“That is not going away,” he said, and he added that does not include the jobs that are expected to come.

And growth in southeast Georgia is coming, Dr. Marrero said.

“The footprint of Georgia Southern in that diameter will be the largest growth area of Georgia in the next five to 10 years and that’s what is so exciting,” he said.

Dr. Marrero also praised first-year football coach Clay Helton for leading the Eagles to a 6-6 regular season and a Camellia Bowl appearance — thanks to an overtime win over longtime rival Appalachian State.

“Yes, I ran onto the field. And yes, it was awesome,” he said of the postgame celebration.