KSU President to Speak at Cobb Chamber Breakfast

Kennesaw State University president Daniel Papp is one of the featured speakers at the Cobb Chamber of Commerce's First Monday breakfast, and he'll have a lot to say about some big news involving higher education in Cobb County. 

On Friday a proposed merger between KSU and Marietta's Southern Polytechnic State University was announced, with the move likely to be completed by 2015.

Papp, an East Cobb resident, would be the head of the consolidated university, which would enroll more than 31,000 students.  

Georgia Tech president Bud Peterson also will address the chamber breakfast, which begins Monday at 7:30 a.m. at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre.

At-the-door tickets for Cobb Chamber members cost $40 and are $60 for general admission.

The proposed KSU-Southern Poly merger continues a wave of financially-driven consolidation in Georgia's public university systems begun two years ago by chancellor Hank Huckaby. He's expected to formalize the proposal to the Georgia Board of Regents this month. 

But students and staff at Southern Poly -- including president Lisa Rossbacher -- were taken totally by surprise, and many were angry, according to a story in The Marietta Daily Journal.

Some said they felt the value of their degree would diminish carrying the KSU name.