October 2010

Homecoming 2010 Just Around the Corner

For Homecoming 2010, the Mercer men’s basketball team will match up against Harvard University on Nov. 21 and the women will face off against Furman on Nov. 20. But beating the Crimson and Paladins will only be one of the many highlights of this year’s Homecoming celebration, whose theme is “Spirit Between the Spires.” [more]

Hispanic Pastor, Advocate First Lecturer for Center for Theology and Public Life

The first speaker hosted by Mercer’s new Center for Theology and Public Life will focus on themes related to Hispanic Protestant Christianity and its public engagement in the United States. The Rev. Gabriel Salguero, noted author and thinker on these issues, will deliver several addresses in Atlanta and Macon, Oct. 11-12. The events are co-sponsored by the McAfee School of Theology and are free and open to the public. [more]

Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Scholar Chooses Mercer

Steven Hussung has had an interest in service from a young age. In addition to being an active member of his church’s outreach programs, Hussung and his family work with a nonprofit called Canine Companions for Independence to raise service dogs. The Hussungs keep the dogs for 18 months before they are sent for advanced training. A particularly moving experience for Hussung was the opportunity to hand over the leash of a trained dog to an autistic boy his age. On that day, Hussung said that he felt extreme pride making such an impact in someone’s life. It is that commitment to service that brought Hussung to Mercer. Hussung is one of only 39 students chosen from across the country to receive the Jack Kent Cook Scholarship, a scholarship funded by the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation to assist extraordinary high school students with college tuition. [more]

McAfee School of Theology to Hold Landmark Conference on the Johannine Epistles

The James and Carolyn McAfee School of Theology will host a landmark conference on the Johannine Epistles, Nov. 17-19, on the University’s Atlanta campus. The symposium is part of the 2010 Peter Rhea and Ellen Jones Lectures in New Testament, an endowed lectureship in New Testament studies. Dr. R. Alan Culpepper, dean of McAfee and a leading Johannine scholar, said it promises to be a groundbreaking event. [more]

College Basketball Television Analyst Jay Bilas to Help Tip-Off Basketball Season

ollege basketball television analyst Jay Bilas, one of the sport’s most recognizable media personalities, will speak at the annual Tip-Off Banquet. Bilas’ visit at Mercer will follow-up last year’s appearance by the “voice of college basketball,” Dick Vitale. Bilas will be the keynote speaker Tuesday, Oct. 12, at 6:30 p.m. at the University Center. His visit is presented by the Mercer Athletic Foundation and The Executive Forum, presented by BB&T. [more]

Macon Campus Holds ‘Year of India’ Event Series

The College of Liberal Arts’ Asian Initiative Committee is presenting a series of events, titled “Year of India,” including a faculty workshop Saturday on the country’s history, culture and rise as an international power. The series is co-sponsored by the Office of International Programs, Townsend School of Music, Campus Ministries and the Columbus Roberts Department of Christianity. Among the events are films, lectures and cultural events. [more]

Physician Assistant Students Bring Awareness of Profession during PA Week, Oct. 6-12

With the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act, physician assistants are poised to help address the primary care provider shortage and deliver quality health care to the approximately 32 million new patients with access to health care services. Mercer University physician assistant students are raising awareness of their profession to highlight its impact as part of National PA Week, Oct. 6-12. The week is dedicated to helping recognize the contributions of PAs locally and nationally in providing quality patient care. [more]

Southern Studies Program to Hold Yearlong Series on Civil Rights

The Southern Studies Program will hold a year of special events, titled “Remembering the Civil Rights Movement,” which will include the department’s long-running Lamar Lecture Series. The Lamar Lecturer for 2010 is Dr. Minrose Gwin, eminent professor of English at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. She will present three lectures titled “Remembering Medgar Evers: Aesthetics, Justice, and the Long Civil Rights Movement,” as well as a reading from her novel, The Queen of Palmyra. [more]

Mercer Strengthens Efforts in Debate

Mercer’s debate program is arguably the University’s first intercollegiate sport, evolving from a group of debate societies that began just months after the University was founded. It developed into a traveling debate squad that matched up with, and won, contests against the University of Georgia in the late 1890s. Though today’s debates are a far cry from those “oratorical contests,” today’s team hopes to become a greater force in intercollegiate debate. [more]

Business School to Launch Virtual Professional MBA Program in January

The Eugene W. Stetson School of Business and Economics will launch a virtual Professional MBA program in January 2011. By combining the current PMBA’s cohort model with the latest in virtual classroom technology, the new program will allow students from the Macon, Atlanta and Savannah areas to study as one group at the Mercer campus in their area. Faculty will rotate between the three campuses, while utilizing the technology to keep all three groups connected. [more]

Alumnus Stack to Deliver Engineering Alumni Seminar

Dr. Jason Stack, ENG ’96, an expert in unmanned vehicles, will deliver the School of Engineering’s fall Engineering Alumni Seminar Oct. 28 at 10 a.m. in the Peyton Anderson Auditorium in Mercer’s Science and Engineering Building. [more]