Mercer University

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Mercer University

Established	1833
School type	Private
President	Kirby Godsey
Location	Macon, GA, USA
Enrollment	4,580 undergraduate 2300 graduate
Faculty	570
Campus	Urban
Sports team	Mercer Bears
Website	www.mercer.edu

Mercer University is a private Baptist-affiliated university located in Macon, Georgia and Atlanta, Georgia. Each year, the university enrolls more than 2500 undergraduate students, with 75% of them from the U.S. state of Georgia. In addition, it also enrolls 2300 graduate students and 2500 extended education students.

The University runs on a semester system and has a student-to-faculty ratio of 15:1. Mercer is known for its excellent academic curriculum and ranks high in many publications. Tuition for the undergraduate program is $22,000 a year.

1 History
2 Presidents
3 Schools
4 Noted alumni
5 Sports
6 Comparable schools
7 Links

History

Mercer University was founded in 1833 in Penfield, Georgia, under the leadership of prominent Georgia Baptist leader Jesse Mercer. The University moved to Macon in 1871. The second-largest Baptist-affiliated educational institution in the world, Mercer is the only independent university of its size in the country that combines programs in liberal arts, business, engineering, education, medicine, nursing, pharmacy, theology, law, and continuing and professional studies.

Presidents

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Billington McCarthy Sanders (1833–1840)
Otis Smith (1840–1844)
John Leadley Dagg (1844–1854)
Nathaniel Macon Crawford (1854–1856)
Shelton Palmer Sanford (acting President; 1856–1858)
Nathaniel Macon Crawford (1858–1866)
Henry Holcombe Tucker (1866–1871)
Archibald John Battle (1872–1889)
Gustavus Alonzo Nunnally (1889–1893)
Joseph Edgerton Willet (acting President; 1893)
James Bruton Gambrell (1893–1896)
Pinckney Daniel Pollock (1896–1903)
Matthew Quinn Wetherington (acting President; 1903–1905)
Charles Lee Smith (1905–1906)
Samuel Young Jameson (1906–1913)
James Freeman Sellers (acting President; 1913–1914)
William Lowndes Pickard (1914–1918)
Rufus Washington Weaver (1918–1927)
Andrew Phillip Montague (acting President; 1927–1928)
Spright Dowell (1928–1953)
George Boyce Connell (1953–1959)
Spright Dowell (interim President; 1959–1960)
Rufus Carrollton Harris (1960–1979)
Raleigh Kirby Godsey (1979– )

Schools

The main campus in Macon consists of the College of Liberal Arts, School of Medicine, School of Engineering, Eugene W. Stetson School of Business and Economics, Tift College of Education and programs of the College of Continuing and Professional Studies. The Walter F. George School of Law is located one mile away.

The Cecil B. Day Graduate and Professional Campus in Atlanta consists of the Southern School of Pharmacy, the James and Carolyn McAfee School of Theology, the Georgia Baptist College of Nursing, the College of Continuing and Professional Studies and programs of the Tift College of Education and Stetson School of Business and Economics.

Mercer operates Regional Academic Centers in Henry County, Douglas County and Eastman.

The School of Medicine only accepts onto the Doctor of Medicine program students who are legal residents of Georgia at the time of application. The School of Medicine also offers graduate programs in a number of areas including public health, family therapy and family services.

The Tift College of Education is named for the former Tift College of Forsyth, Ga., which Mercer acquired and subsequently closed in the 1980s.

Mercer's Atlanta campus was formerly known as Atlanta Baptist College. The university in 2004 acquired the headquarters building of the Georgia Baptist Convention, located adjacent to campus.

The McAfee School of Theology is affiliated with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship; while the university receives funding from the Georgia Baptist Convention, McAfee's curriculum is not directed by the Georgia Baptist Convention or Southern Baptist Convention.

Mercer runs the Grand Opera House in downtown Macon, through a lease agreement with the city of Macon and Bibb County.

Mercer owns an engineering research center in Warner Robins. The center has research agreements with Robins Air Force Base.

University President Kirby Godsey has announced his plans to retire in June 2006. A search is currently underway to select his successor.

Noted alumni

Judge Griffin B. Bell - the 72nd Attorney General of the United States.
Mylo Carbia - film and television writer, political commentator
Cathy Cox - Georgia's Secretary of State and the first woman elected to this position.
Nancy Grace - An anchor for Court TV, legal commentator, and guest host for Larry King Live. Grace now host her on show "Nancy Grace Live" on the CNN network.
Reg Murphy - former president of the National Geographic Society, publisher of the Baltimore Sun, editor and publisher of the San Francisco Examiner and editor of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Carl Vinson - who served in the U.S. House of Representatives for 50 years, has been called the "patriarch of the armed services" and the "father of the two-ocean navy."
Sam Mitchell - head coach of the NBA's Toronto Raptors.
Evett Simmons - president of the National Bar Association.
Jay Sekulow - Chief counsel of the American Center for Law and Justice
Ten Mercerians served as governors of the states of Alabama, Georgia, New Hampshire, Texas and the Commonwealth Puerto Rico.

Sports

The Mercer University Bears are part of NCAA Division I. Its intercollegiate sports teams participate in the Atlantic Sun Conference. Men's sports include air rifle (co-ed), baseball, basketball, cross-country, golf, soccer and tennis. Women's sports include basketball, cross-country, golf, soccer, softball, tennis and volleyball.

Mercer recently built the University Center, housing a basketball arena, an indoor pool, work out facilities, intramural basketball courts, and an air rifle range. The University also re-built the baseball field and plans to re-build the current intramural fields.