Upcoming Events
August 3-7, 2009 |
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During the week of August 3-7, Mercer Commons will sponsor its Seventh Annual Summer Faculty Workshop on Faith & Learning. The event will help faculty explore the notion of calling or vocation in the context of a Baptist university. It will be led by John Marson Dunaway, Professor of French & Interdisciplinary Studies & Director of Mercer Commons.
Workshop Objectives:
- To challenge participants to re-think their roles on this campus in terms or calling or vocation.
- To help participants explore ways of fulfilling our special institutional identity in light of our affiliation with the Baptist theological tradition.
- To enable participants to develop their course designs, pedagogies, and research in light of their personal faith commitments & our Baptist tradition.
- To encourage participants to take an active part in ongoing Commons projects.
Workshop Topics:
- The Vocation of the Christian University
- The Vocation of the Christian Teacher/Scholar
- The Historical Baptist Identity & How It Affects Mercer’s Mission & Character
- Sharing an Understanding of Vocation With Students
Reading List:
- Robert Benne, Quality with Soul: How Six Premier Colleges & Universities Keep Faith with Their Religious Traditions
- Richard Hughes, The Vocation of a Christian Scholar: How Christian Faith Can Sustain the Life of the Mind
- Chapters 4, 8, 9, & 11 of Dunaway (ed.), Gladly Learn, Gladly Teach: Living Out One’s Vocation in the Twenty-First-Century Academy
- Dunaway, “The Ultimate Why: My Calling as a Christian Professor” (Photocopied essay)
- R. Kirby Godsey, “The Meaning of a Baptist University” (pamphlet)
- Richard Hughes, “Baptists & the Life of the Mind: Reflections on the Baptist Theme of Soul Competency” (Photocopied essay)
- Walter Shurden, The Baptist Identity: Four Fragile Freedoms
- William Hull, "The Meaning of the Baptist Experience" (pamphlet)
- The Baptist Summit at Mercer University
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Past Events
April 4, 2007 |
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The Mercer Commons co-sponsored (with Mercer's Quality Enhancement Plan [QEP] and the Mercer Center for Baptist Studies) a lecture visit of Dr. Francis S. Collins on Wednesday, April 4 at 3:00 p.m. in Willingham Auditorium on the Macon Campus.
A world-class scientist, Collins was the leader of the U.S. government's Human Genome Project. He has been featured in Time Magazine in a cover story in which he was interviewed in a kind of debate setting with the renowned atheistic scientist, Richard Dawkins.
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Collins, a longtime atheist, is a devout convert to Christianity and presents in his book not only evidence for the plausibility of religious beliefs as a scientist, but also as a vision for harmonizing science and religion.
Approximately forty students and faculty were involved in a Student-Faculty Reading Discussion Group in preparation for the lecture event. They read Dr. Collin's best-selling book, The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief. Two sessions were scheduled leading up to the lecture and one follow-up session occurred after Dr. Collin's visit.
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March 29, 2007 |
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The Mercer Commons Fellows held the final meeting of the academic year on Thursday, March 29, at 1:45 p.m. in the Penfield Conference Room on the Macon Campus.
The group discussed a booklet by Professor Lane Craig entitled On Being A Christian Academic. |
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September 21, 2006 |
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A Seminar on Professionalism and Vocation occurred Thursday, September 21, 2006 at Mercer's College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences in Atlanta, from 1:00PM - 2:50PM in the Day Auditorium
All first-year pharmacy students enrolled in the Introduction to Pharmacy Course attended. The program included: |
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- Welcome (from the University Administration)
- Professionalism (Dr. Laurel Ashworth)
- Vocation
- Dr. Charnelda Gray (Kaiser Permanente)
- Dr. Dee Fanning (Solvay Pharmaceuticals)
- Pharmaceutical Care from the Patient's Perspective (Dr. Gourtney is bringing a patient from deKalb Medical Center
- Pharmaceutical Care from the Caregiver's Perspective (Dr. Kissack)
- Diversity and Religious Training (Rev. Julie Cannon)
- Wrap-up and Dismissal (Dr. Ashworth) Dr. Ashworth, who organized this event, is a Mercer Commons Fellow, and this is her individual Commons Fellows project. She states that entering pharmacy students will gain a broader understanding of the many career options open to pharmacists and what it means to be a professional serving a diverse population.
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Fall Semester 2006 |
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Dr. Michael M. Cass, Pollock Professor of English and Interdisciplinary Studies, led a Faculty-Student Discussion Group during fall semester. The group read and discussed Will D. Campbell's book, The Stem of Jesse: The Costs of Community at a 1960s Southern School, which tells the story of Mercer's racial desegregation. This is the latest in a series of reading groups sponsored by the Commons and designed to strengthen our connection to our Baptist heritage. |
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