The legacy of former Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Tommy Irvin and his wife Bernice is again impacting area students.
The foundation named in honor of the two is donating $240,000 to help build a new home for Piedmont College’s School of Education.
The $2.5 million project is underway. It includes the complete renovation of Nielsen Hall which is a long-standing 17,000-square-foot building located on the college’s historic quad. The new school will include eight classrooms, four seminar rooms, a technology classroom, and administrative offices, according to a news release.
The college will name an architectural centerpiece of the building in honor of the Irvins. The Tommy and Bernice Irvin Atrium will be located in the center of the building.
A legacy of service
Tommy Irvin was a native of Hall County and a long-time resident of Habersham County. He served in the State House of Representatives in the early ’60s and was Georgia’s Commissioner of Agriculture from 1969 to 2011. He passed away in 2017 at the age of 88.
To this day, Tommy Irvin holds the record as the longest-serving Commissioner of Agriculture in the United States and the longest-serving statewide official in Georgia. Throughout his life, he served as a trustee for several colleges, including Piedmont.
Bernice Irvin passed away in 2014.
The couple established the Thomas T. and Bernice F. Irvin Foundation in 1997 to support their charitable causes.
“Both of my parents were advocates of education, and they had a lot of affection for Piedmont College,” says the couple’s oldest son James Irvin, a Toccoa attorney, and foundation trustee. “This gift aligns perfectly with their values.”
Shortly after his father’s death, James Irvin presented a half-million-dollar check from the foundation to North Georgia Technical College. They designated the money to establish the Tommy and Bernice Irvin School of Agriculture on NGTC’s Clarkesville campus.
A history of teaching teachers
Piedmont’s School of Education is the private college’s largest school. It’s currently housed in the college library on the Demorest campus. The school offers nearly 1,400 majors. It produces the second-highest number of new teachers in Georgia annually among all colleges and universities in the state. It also offers the largest graduate program for teacher education in Georgia, according to Piedmont spokesperson John Roberts.
Not all of the education students attend class on the Demorest campus. Piedmont offers graduate courses through co-ops across the state.
“Since our founding in 1897, Piedmont has been known for training teachers,” says Piedmont College President James Mellichamp. “Education is our signature program, and now it will have a home that reflects its prestige and history. We offer our enduring thanks to the Irvin Family for helping with this important project.”
The new education building is expected to be completed this fall. It will be dedicated as the Charles and Catherine Sewell Center for Teacher Education.
