Enrollment at the recently merged Chattahoochee Technical College is booming, especially at the Woodstock campus.

Officials are reporting an enrollment of 11,365 students for the winter quarter that began this month. This is a 27.3-percent increase from the winter quarter of 2009.

Individual campus enrollment numbers also continue to climb, with the Woodstock campus (73 percent) and Appalachian campus in Jasper (59.4 percent) experiencing the greatest percentage increases.

"While the downturn in the economy continues to play a part in college enrollment increases, we also believe that the continual high numbers also reflect the fact that we are offering a program mix that our students want and need and that is enabling them to find jobs upon graduation," said Ron Newcomb, acting president of the college.

Newcomb is provost and executive vice president of the college. He is serving in the acting president role as President Dr. Sanford Chandler has been temporarily assigned to the Technical College System of Georgia state offices as interim deputy commissioner.

Chandler soon will be able to return to his normal duties at Chattahoochee.

Technical College System of Georgia Commissioner Ron Jackson has appointed Dr. Josephine Reed-Taylor as deputy commissioner for the system. The appointment will relieve Chandler of duties as interim deputy commissioner, which he has been fulfilling since December. Dr. Reed-Taylor will begin serving her term on Feb. 1.

Appalachian Technical College, North Metro Technical College and Chattahoochee Technical College merged on July 1, making the college the largest technical college in the state of Georgia and the ninth-largest post-secondary school in the state.