The Technical Institute (which later because the Southern Technical Institute or STI) opened in 1948 in DeKalb County, Georgia. STI grew for ten years in its DeKalb location. In the early 1960s, STI reached one of the largest milestones in its history - the transition to a permanent campus in Cobb County, Georgia. Most considered the move from DeKalb to Cobb to be a sensible one, considering DeKalb County was primarily known for other institutions of higher learning (such as Emory University) and Cobb County had a need for a technical institute to support its largest employer at the time - Lockheed Aircraft Corporation. STI officially moved to Cobb County in 1961 and later became known as Southern Polytechnic State University (SPSU). SPSU consolidated with Kennesaw State University in 2015.