Mercer University is a private research university in Macon, Georgia, United States. Founded in 1833 as Mercer Institute and gaining university status in 1837, it is the oldest private university in the state and enrolls more than 9,000 students in 12 colleges and schools. Mercer is a member of the Georgia Research Alliance. It is classified as "R2: Doctoral Universities — High research activity".
Mercer has four major campuses: the historic (main) campus in Macon, a graduate and professional campus in Atlanta, and four-year campuses of the School of Medicine in Savannah and Columbus. Mercer also has regional academic centers in Henry County and Douglas County; the Mercer University School of Law on its own campus in Macon; teaching hospitals in Macon, Savannah, and Columbus; a university press and a performing arts center, the Grand Opera House, in Macon; and the Mercer Engineering Research Center in Warner Robins. The Mercer University Health Sciences Center encompasses Mercer's medical, pharmacy, nursing, and health professions programs in Macon, Atlanta, Savannah, and Columbus.
Mercer has an NCAA Division I athletic program and fields teams in eight men's and ten women's sports; all university-sponsored sports compete in the Southern Conference except women's sand volleyball, which is not sponsored by the SoCon, and thus competes in the ASUN Conference. __TOC__ History
Founding and early years (1833–1959)
Mercer University was founded in Penfield, Georgia, as a boys' preparatory school under Billington McCarter Sanders, a professor who served as the first president, and Adiel Sherwood, a Baptist minister who previously founded a boys' manual labor school that served as a model. The school opened as Mercer Institute with 39 students on January 14, 1833. The school was named for Jesse Mercer,The University of Texas at Austin dissertation entitled Jesse Mercer: A Study in Frontier Religion was completed in 1950 by the historian Robert W. Mondy. a prominent Baptist leader who, along with Josiah Penfield, provided a founding endowment and who served as the first chairman of the board of trustees. The Georgia General Assembly granted a university charter in December 1837. Mercer adopted its present name in 1838 and graduated its first university class, of three students, in 1841. In 1871, Mercer moved to Macon, a center of transportation and commerce in Georgia.
The School of Law was established in 1873 and was named the Walter F. George School of Law in 1947 in honor of Mercer alumnus Walter F. George, class of 1901, who served as a United States senator from Georgia and as President pro tempore of the United States Senate.
During World War II, Mercer was one of 131 colleges and universities in the V-12 Navy College Training Program, which offered military training that prepared students for a commission in the United States Navy.
Expansion (1959–2013) Mercer expanded to Atlanta in 1959 when the university absorbed the independent Southern School of Pharmacy. The College of Liberal Arts, the School of Law, and the Southern School of Pharmacy comprised the university until 1972 when Mercer merged with Atlanta Baptist College, which became Mercer's Atlanta campus.
Atlanta Baptist College was founded in 1968 under the leadership of Dr. Monroe F. Swilley, a prominent Baptist educator. The college merged with Mercer in 1972 and became the College of Arts and Sciences, and in 1984 was named the Cecil B. Day College of Arts and Sciences. Mercer offered undergraduate liberal arts education in Atlanta until 1990 when the college closed. Faculty and students tried to prevent the closure, but were not successful. The mission of the Atlanta campus changed to graduate and professional education. The Southern School of Pharmacy moved in 1992 from its downtown location to the Cecil B. Day Graduate and Professional Campus.
Between 1982 and 2013, Mercer established nine additional colleges and schools: the School of Medicine in 1982, the Eugene W. Stetson School of Business and Economics in 1984, the School of Engineering in 1985, the James and Carolyn McAfee School of Theology in 1994, the Tift College of Education in 1995, the Georgia Baptist College of Nursing in 2001, the College of Continuing and Professional Studies in 2003 (renamed Penfield College of Mercer University in 2014), the Townsend School of Music in 2006, and the College of Health Professions in 2013. Mercer opened its second four-year medical school in Savannah in 2008 and the multi-campus Mercer University Health Sciences Center in 2012.
Mercer received a $5 million grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation in 2009 to support continued revitalization of the College Hill Corridor between campus and downtown Macon. The Mercer On Mission service-learning program, launched in 2007, has been recognized by the Clinton Global Initiative as "an exemplary approach to addressing a specific global challenge." It helps students combine research, study abroad and service-learning under faculty direction.
The multi-campus Mercer University Health Sciences Center, which incorporates programs offered by the School of Medicine, the College of Pharmacy, the Georgia Baptist College of Nursing, and the new College of Health Professions, opened in 2013. The College of Health Professions, authorized by the board of trustees in 2012, is Mercer's twelfth academic unit. Mercer purchased the former Georgia Music Hall of Fame building in downtown Macon in 2012; the extensively renovated building reopened in 2014 as the home of Mercer Medicine, a multi-specialty physician clinic and a division of the School of Medicine.
Mercer opened a large retail-residential center on the Macon campus in 2011. The center, called Mercer Lofts, houses the Barnes & Noble operated university bookstore, other shops, and student apartments. Mercer Lofts II, a mixed-use development adjacent to Phase I, opened in 2012; the facility houses Mercer's Center for Collaborative Journalism, which consists of the university's journalism department and the editorial-professional staffs of the Macon Telegraph and Georgia Public Broadcasting (on the first floor) along with student apartments (on upper floors). Also in 2012, the university opened a new admissions and welcome center on the Macon campus; the center is named for Emily Parker Myers, a long-time university administrator, and is the university's first LEED certified building. In 2013, Mercer completed Cruz Plaza, a major landscaping project for the Macon campus central quadrangle linking the University Center (Hawkins Arena), Tarver Library, and Connell Student Center.
Desegregation
Mercer University was the first college or university in Georgia to fully desegregate. On April 18, 1963, the board of trustees voted 13 to 5, with 3 abstentions, to ratify the policy that "Mercer University considers all applications based on qualification, without consideration of race, color of skin, creed, or origin." This policy change allowed Sam Oni, a twenty-two-year-old student from Ghana, to become the first Black student to attend Mercer University. Sam Oni, knowingly and intentionally, in part applied to Mercer for the purpose of helping to end racial segregation in the United States. As Sam Oni phrased it, "My role, as we conceived it was by breaking the color bar at Mercer, I would be challenging our Southern Baptist brothers and sisters in America to confront gross contradictions in the Christian witness at home and abroad." Sam Oni succeeded despite pressure from segregationists in both the South and the Southern Baptist Convention to keep Mercer racially segregated, including an airplane flying a banner that read "Keep Mercer Segregated" as the Board of Trustees successfully voted to fully integrate.
Religious affiliation In 2006, the Georgia Baptist Convention (Southern Baptist Convention) ended its affiliation with Mercer, after 173 years. Before the affiliation ended, Mercer had an independent board of trustees; the convention provided financial support but did not control the university. The lack of control caused friction, with Mercer resisting restraints on social issues while the Convention saw Mercer as becoming secularized and not conforming to its values. The Convention reportedly complained about the presence of a "pro-gay student group" at Mercer, and the university's "support for non-Southern Baptist organizations."
Mercer is currently affiliated with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, a more liberal group of Baptists. The denomination's official records are stored at Mercer University, and the university is partnered with the denomination.
2014–present
On October 31, 2014, Mercer announced an effort to raise $400 million, including $207 million for its endowment, $109 million for capital projects, and $84 million for operations.Mercer University announces launch of $400 million capital campaign . Macon.com. Retrieved November 12, 2014. By its public launch, $90 million in gifts and pledges had been collected. The campaign aims to fund a $15 million medical education facility in Savannah, ground was broken on October 14, 2014;Memorial, Mercer break ground on medical school expansion. Businessinsavannah.com. Retrieved November 12, 2014. a $25 million undergraduate sciences facility in Macon; a $20 million health sciences building in Atlanta; a $3 million baseball stadium in Macon; additional endowment for faculty positions, academic programs and student scholarships; funding for programs and initiatives such as Mercer On Mission; and additional support throughout the university's 12 schools and colleges, Mercer University Press, the university libraries, athletic department, and other administrative units.
In athletics, Mercer has added programs in men's lacrosse, sand volleyball, and football; constructed a new football and lacrosse complex, named Five Star Stadium (10,200 seats); and changed affiliation to the Southern Conference. In 2014, Mercer set an enrollment record in the fall of 2014 with a university-wide population of 8,557 students. The larger student body reflects expanded academic programs including five new doctoral degrees: Doctor of Philosophy in Curriculum and Instruction, Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing, Doctor of Nursing Practice, Doctor of Physical Therapy, and Doctor of Philosophy in Clinical Medical Psychology. Mercer opened its second four-year medical school, in Savannah, in 2008.
Mercer opened Mercer Lofts III in 2014; the facility is a large student-housing complex on College Street next to Tattnall Square Park and the university's historic north quadrangle.http://www.macon.com/2013/03/11/2391381/mercer-lofts-third-phase-approved.hml Also in 2014, Mercer completed an extensive renovation of the historic Amanda Bell House, listed on the National Register of Historic Places; the building houses the Robert McDuffie Center for Strings of the Townsend School of Music and is one of the finest conservatory facilities in the nation. Mercer's television station, WMUB (Mercer University Broadcasting), opened a new studio in Mercer Village in 2014 as a part of the university's Center for Collaborative Journalism.
The M. Diane Owens Garden, named for the first female chair of Mercer's board of trustees, a large environmentally friendly fountain and garden area near Five Star Stadium, was dedicated in 2014. The garden complements Cruz Plaza, completed in 2013, as a major landscaping project beautifying the Macon campus.