ATLANTA – University graduate Carey D. Matthews of Villa Rica received the Davison-McKie-Newton Award and the Pi Gamma Award for the December 2001 graduating class at Mercer's Georgia Baptist College of Nursing commencement ceremony May 3 on the Cecil B. Day campus.

The Davison-McKie-Newton Award is the highest award given by the College of Nursing.

            While enrolled, Matthews was inducted into the Pi Gamma Chapter of Sigma Theta Tau International. She was active in the Baptist Student Union and was the recipient of the Christian Caring Award. She participated as a member of the Southern Cross Nursing Mission Team during the summers of 2000 and 2001 where she assisted in providing nursing clinics, dental clinics, vision clinics, evangelism, Vacation Bible School and church construction for villagers living along the Amazon River in Brazil.

        Founded in 1833, Mercer is a 7,300-student, comprehensive, Baptist-affiliated university offering undergraduate and graduate degrees through the College of Liberal Arts, the Eugene W. Stetson School of Business and Economics, the Tift College of

Education, the School of Engineering, the Walter F. George School of Law, the School of Medicine, Georgia Baptist College of Nursing, the Southern School of Pharmacy and the James and Carolyn McAfee School of Theology.

            Mercer University has campuses in Macon and Atlanta, as well as four extended education centers located in Douglas County, Covington, Griffin and Eastman. The University also operates the Mercer Engineering Research Center in Warner Robins and the Mercer University Press in Macon. For the past 12 years, Mercer has been ranked among the leading universities in the South by U.S. News & World Report.

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