School of Medicine Begins Preparations for New Four-Year Program in Savannah
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| President Underwood and Bob Colvin, president and CEO of Memorial Health, shake hands at Memorial Health University Medical Center in Savannah. | In June, Mercer and Memorial Health announced plans for the University to expand its existing two-year clinical program at Memorial Health University Medical Center in Savannah into a full four-year doctor of medicine program of the Mercer School of Medicine. The initiative has created a whirlwind of activity at the school as it prepares to admit the first class of students into the Savannah program in fall 2008.
The Mercer School of Medicine at Memorial Health in Savannah will begin by admitting 30 students per year and will grow to 60 students as facilities become available. With the initial class of medical students expected in just 12 months, the medical school plans to have the faculty on board in January. A new academic building for the medical school will be constructed on the Memorial Health University Medical Center campus in Savannah over the next several years through major fundraising initiatives.
With the development of the expanded program in Savannah and the new academic year, Dean Martin Dalton has reorganized the dean’s office and the administrative structure of the school.
- Robert Hash, M.D., will assume full-time responsibility for developing the Savannah campus as the senior associate dean of the Savannah campus.
- William Bina, M.D., M.P.H., has been appointed as the executive associate dean. His areas of responsibility will include Mercer Health Systems and daily operations of the school. He will retain his appointment and responsibilities as chair of Community Medicine.
- Robert Donner, M.D., has assumed the position of associate dean of academic affairs of the Macon campus, with responsibility for the academic programs. Dr. Donner will retain his appointment and responsibilities as the chair of the Pathology Department.
- Wayne Glasgow, Ph.D., assumed the position of chair of the new Department of Biomedical Sciences in Savannah. He will retain his position as interim chair of the Division of Basic Medical Sciences in Macon, while the school initiates a nation-wide search for a new chair.
- Tina Thompson, Ph.D., has assumed the role of associate dean of Academic Affairs of the Savannah campus. Dr. Thompson will also retain her responsibilities as BMP director this academic year.
Mercer’s medical involvement in Savannah began in 1996 when the University established a clinical relationship with Memorial Health, which provided instruction for third- and fourth-year medical students at the Mercer School of Medicine. The expanded four-year program in Savannah will confer the M.D. degree and will employ the same curriculum and teaching methods as the Macon campus. Read More
Medical School Marks 25th Year with Flag Ceremony
 The Mercer School of Medicine accepted its first class of students in August 1982. Several events will be held throughout the academic year to commemorate this silver anniversary.
The first event will be at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 5, when the Medical School will hold a flag ceremony on its front lawn. The program will include hoisting the flags of the school and its two teaching hospitals, the Medical Center of Central Georgia in Macon and Memorial Health University Medical Center in Savannah, on newly installed flag poles.
“We want everyone who visits the medical school to know of our extensive relationship with these two premier medical centers,” said Dr. Martin L. Dalton, dean of the School of Medicine. “Just as these three flags will stand beside each other on our campus, these three institutions work side-by-side together to prepare physicians to meet the health care needs of the citizens of Georgia.”
Both of the medical centers have been teaching hospitals for the Medical School for several years. In June, the University and Memorial Health University Medical Center announced the two-year program in Savannah will expand to a four-year medical program in 2008.
After the flag ceremony, ice cream and desserts will be served to the Mercer family and guests. Other events will be announced as plans are finalized.
To R.S.V.P. for the event, please contact Gloria Marshall at (478) 301-2173 or marshall_go@mercer.edu.
Mercer Ranks Among the Best for 18 Consecutive Years
Mercer did it again!
Academic excellence at a great price continues to place Mercer among America’s best institutions of higher education in the latest U.S. News & World Report college guide.
The 2008 edition of U.S. News & World Report America’s Best Colleges, ranks Mercer 7th in the South in the “Best Universities-Master’s” category. Mercer, which has made the best college list for 18 consecutive years, is the highest ranked Georgia institution in the South category.
The U.S. News ranking wasn’t the only honor Mercer garnered in August. For the fifth year in a row, The Princeton Review named Mercer to its list of America’s best colleges in the 2008 edition of the book, “Best 366 Colleges.” Only about 15 percent of the four-year colleges in America and two Canadian colleges were chosen for the book.
The U.S. News guide also ranks Mercer in the top 5 in the South among “Best Universities-Master’s” in the category of “Great Schools, Great Prices.” The ranking reflects the magazine’s selection of institutions based on the formula of “the higher the quality of the program and the lower the cost, the better the deal.”
Under “Best Undergraduate Engineering Programs,” Mercer School of Engineering placed 38th nationally, tied with eight other engineering schools. Mercer is one of only four engineering schools in the South in the ranking. Since its establishment in 1986, Mercer School of Engineering has developed a strong reputation among employers in the state and is the single largest source of engineers for Robins Air Force Base in Warner Robins. The school also expanded its classes and research initiatives to the new $14 million Science and Engineering building on the Macon campus this month.
The “Best Universities – Master’s” category is for institutions that provide a full range of undergraduate and master’s programs, and a few, if any, doctoral programs. A total of 574 universities are ranked within four geographic areas – North, South, Midwest and West. Mercer has ranked among the top 15 in the South since 1989 and among the top 10 institutions in its category for the past nine years.
Mercer has also been recognized in previous years by U.S. News and World Report in its America’s Best Graduate Schools guides. Schools that have been ranked include Mercer’s Walter F. George School of Law, among the top 100 law schools in the country and with the number one legal writing program, and the Mercer School of Medicine.
To read more:
Princeton Review story
U.S. News story
Mercer Launches New Recruitment Campaign for Regional Centers
 The University kicked off in July a new marketing campaign targeted to working adults. The campaign, which was developed in coordination with a consulting firm, features the phrase “The Next Chapter in Your Story Begins Now” and testimonials of students and alumni.
The catchphrase appears on print advertising in the Atlanta area, mostly in Douglas and Henry counties, as well as Internet advertising. Several metro-Atlanta billboards are displaying the Next Chapter logo through the month of August. The campaign also included direct mail marketing, including both brochure and postcard mailings.
The study also resulted in locating two undergraduate programs on the Atlanta campus: Organization Leadership and Criminal Justice.
At a pre-launch event in June of the campaign, President William D. Underwood told the gathering of faculty and staff that the some of the University’s greatest success stories are those of adults whose lives have been transformed by their experience at Mercer. Research studies have indicated that the largest growth in the higher education market will occur in the non-traditional student sector.
The campaign has also seen the launch of a new website devoted to the campaign, http://nextchapter.mercer.edu/. The site features student and alumni testimonials and details of the available degree programs, as well as application and financial aid information.
For more information: http://nextchapter.mercer.edu/
Gushee Appointed University’s Second Distinguished University Professor
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Dr. David P. Gushee | Prominent ethicist Dr. David P. Gushee has been named Distinguished University Professor of Christian Ethics. He is the University’s second Distinguished University Professor, with the other being internationally acclaimed violinist Robert McDuffie.
Prior to his appointment, Gushee was a University Fellow, Graves Professor of Moral Philosophy, and Senior Fellow of the Carl F.H. Henry Center for Christian Leadership at Union University in Jackson, Tenn. At Mercer, he will be based in the James and Carolyn McAfee School of Theology on the Atlanta campus, yet will teach interdisciplinary ethics courses throughout the University.
A columnist for Christianity Today, Gushee has written or edited nine books and has published scores of articles, book chapters and reviews. His career began with his groundbreaking work on Christian behavior in Europe during the Holocaust. His first book, The Righteous Gentiles of the Holocaust, is based on his doctoral dissertation at Union Theological Seminary, New York. The book was translated into German in the mid-90s.
Besides his continuing work on the Holocaust, Jewish-Christian dialogue, and related issues, he has written and lectured widely on a variety of subjects, especially in the areas of social ethics, Christian political engagement and Christian higher education. His 2003 book, entitled Kingdom Ethics: Following Jesus in Contemporary Context, with Glen Stassen, was named Theology/Ethics Book of the Year by Christianity Today. It has sold over 15,000 copies and has been used as a textbook at such schools as Yale, Princeton and Cal-Berkeley. The book has been translated into Japanese, Bulgarian and Spanish with other translations pending.
Click here for full story.
Mercer On Mission Allows Students to Serve Others in Need
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| Mercer student Robert Marinkoski in Guatemala with Mercer on Mission program this summer |
Nearly 50 undergraduate students spent part of their summer participating in a unique service-learning, study-abroad initiative, which involved them studying for two weeks in Macon, one week before and after the trip, and serving three weeks in one of three “Mercer on Mission” programs in Guatemala, Brazil and Kenya. In its first year, the program was overwhelmingly successful for both students and professors.
“I thought it went extremely well, and the students thought so, too, based on what they’ve told me and on the surveys I’ve gotten back,” said Assistant Professor Randall Harshbarger, who helped to lead the trip to Kenya. “It was such a new experience for them, and it was so far from what they had ever encountered before. Not only were they dealing with the food being different, the sleeping arrangements being different, the culture being different, but they also had to be conscious of hippos and crocodiles invading their campsite.”
The service-learning project also had a big impact on students, Harshbarger said. As part of the project, students worked alongside missionaries to distribute mosquito nets to help prevent malaria and spent time constructing buildings, planting trees and vegetables, and forging bonds with local schoolchildren. In addition, the students studied and attended the two classes that were a part of the experience. Students kept a journal and had several writing assignments, which lead to some grumbling about workload, Harshbarger said.
“It wasn’t a picnic, it wasn’t a vacation, it was very rigorous,” he noted.
Students agreed that the experience was rigorous, but that it also enabled them to change their perspectives and attitudes, and pulled them out of their comfort zones and challenged them.
“It was challenging. Not only were you dealing with new people and a new place with new food, but you were also surrounded by poverty. It was there every day, and it was everywhere, you couldn’t escape it,” said junior Jessica Cavin, a biology and sociology major who traveled to areas of urban poverty in Brazil, where the group worked with children. “But at the same time, the experience opened your eyes to the fact that you can do something about it. It was empowering.”
For more information: http://www.mercer.edu/mom/ |