The story
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, 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.
Read the full text
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. 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; 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. 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.
Mercer Lofts IV, known as the Lofts at College Hill, opened in 2015; the housing-retail complex is designed for graduate and professional students and is located adjacent to Macon's main post office between College Street and Interstate 75, near the Walter F. George School of Law. Mercer's Tattnall Square Center for the Arts also opened in 2015; the center is the former Tattnall Square Presbyterian Church, near the historic north quadrangle, and now houses the university theater department and is a community performing arts center.
Mercer Lofts V, known as the Lofts at Mercer Landing, opened in 2016 adjacent to Five Star Stadium near the Mercer University Drive exit from Interstate 75; a new campus entrance and a pedestrian bridge connecting the campus and the complex are also complete. The facility provides student housing, university offices, and a large parking garage; retail-food facilities and a second on-campus hotel, operated by Marriott TownePlace Suites, are a part of the complex as well, located directly across Mercer University Drive from the university's Hilton Garden Inn.
Mercer's other construction projects in recent years include renovation and expansion of the School of Medicine facility in Savannah (completed 2016), a new undergraduate residence hall in Macon named Legacy Hall (completed 2016), and a renovated and enlarged baseball facility named OrthoGeorgia Park at Claude Smith Field (completed 2017).
Mercer's Board of Trustees on April 20, 2018, approved a new strategic plan that succeeds the 2008 plan, which saw the institution reclassified as a national research university, admitted to the Georgia Research Alliance, granted a Phi Beta Kappa chapter, growth of 41 percent in undergraduate enrollment, a near doubling of research expenditures, investment of more than $200 million in new facilities, and an increase of endowment to more than $300 million. The 2018 strategic plan, titled Inspire: Mercer's Vision for the Decade Ahead, has seven imperatives: be an intimate and diverse community of gifted scholars committed to changing the world; be a place of discovery and innovation; be a global university; be relevant; achieve meaningful outcomes; compete with the best, and be true to its heritage.
Mercer has launched second and third medical school campuses (in Savannah and Columbus), started a master's-level physician assistant program and a doctoral-level program in physical therapy, and added doctoral programs in clinical psychology, nursing, counseling, educational leadership, and curriculum and instruction. Reflecting an increased emphasis on research, Mercer meets criteria established by the Carnegie Foundation for classification as a research-doctoral university; the number of doctoral students has increased from fewer than 35 to more than 250. In addition, annual externally funded research expenditures now exceed $36 million due to increased funding from the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and the Georgia Research Alliance; plus new funding as eminent cancer scientists by the Georgia Cancer Coalition.
Mercer students have earned national recognition and prestigious Fulbright, Goldwater, Teach For America and Peace Corps scholarships and appointments; as of 2012, two of the last three recipients of the Gulf South Summit Award for Outstanding Student Contributions to Service-Learning have been Mercer students and Mercer ranks among the top three institutions in the Southeast for placement of Peace Corps volunteers among colleges and universities with fewer than 5,000 undergraduate students.
The university dedicated in April 2018 the new $44 million Godsey Science Center. The largest academic facility project in the university's history, the science center includes 60 teaching and research labs, three medium classrooms (75 to 100 students each), four small classrooms (32 students each) and 46 offices for Mercer's biology, chemistry, biochemistry, and neuroscience programs.
Mercer began construction on Phase II of the Mercer Landing development in early 2018. The project, located adjacent to the residential loft complex completed in 2016, will provide more student housing and more parking for the complex and for Five Star Stadium, which is located across Mercer University Drive.
Presidents
Billington McCarter Sanders (1833–1840)
Otis Smith (1840–1844)
John Leadley Dagg (1844–1854)
Nathaniel Macon Crawford (1854–1856)
Shelton Palmer Sanford (acting President; 1856–1858)
Nathaniel Macon Crawford (1858–1866)
Henry Holcombe Tucker (1866–1871)
Archibald John Battle (1872–1889)
Gustavus Alonzo Nunnally (1889–1893)
Joseph Edgerton Willet (acting President; 1893)
James Bruton Gambrell (1893–1896)
Pinckney Daniel Pollock (1896–1903)
William Heard Kilpatrick (acting President; 1903–1905)
Charles Lee Smith (1905–1906)
Samuel Young Jameson (1906–1913)
James Freeman Sellers (acting President; 1913–1914)
William Lowndes Pickard (1914–1918)
Rufus Washington Weaver (1918–1927)
Andrew Phillip Montague (acting President; 1927–1928)
Spright Dowell (1928–1953)
George Boyce Connell (1953–1959)
Spright Dowell (interim President; 1959–1960)
Rufus Carrollton Harris (1960–1979)
Raleigh Kirby Godsey (1979–2006)
William D. Underwood (2006–2026)
Penny L. Elkins (2026-)
From Wikipedia’s article on Mercer University, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5