2006-2007 Regional Centers Catalog - Mercer University

The UniversityFounded in 1833 in Penfield, Georgia, Mercer University has grown into oneof the South’s premier universities. Mercer has more than 7,300 students and1,250 faculty members on campuses in Macon and Atlanta, Mercer is one ofthe largest Baptist-affiliated institutions in the world. It is the only independentuniversity of its size in the nation to offer programs in liberal arts, business,engineering, education, medicine, pharmacy, law, theology, nursing, continuingand professional studies, and music. Mercer has been ranked among the leadingregional colleges and universities in the South by U.S. News & World Reportfor sixteen consecutive years.In an educational environment where practical wisdom and compassion prevail,Mercer is motivated by the best in the Baptist tradition – exploring the relationshipbetween faith and learning, and embracing the principles of intellectualand religious freedom. For more than 173 years, young men and womenhave left Mercer to become influential leaders and doers of great deeds.Students benefit from Mercer’s welcoming atmosphere and small-class learningenvironment. They learn from a prestigious, yet caring, faculty – not teachingassistants, as found at many universities. Mercer’s faculty members, whose credentialscome from some of the world’s finest academic institutions, are distinguishedfor both teaching and research. More than ninety percent of the facultyhold doctorates or the highest attainable degrees in their respective fields.Mercer’s reputation is built on its rigorous academic programs, outstandingfaculty, and state-of-the-art facilities. Yet tradition plays a key role in theUniversity’s unique identity as an institution committed to Judeo-Christian principles.University Mission StatementMercer University is an institution of higher learning that seeks to achieveexcellence and scholarly discipline in the fields of liberal learning and professionalknowledge. The University is guided by the historic principles of religiousand intellectual freedom, while affirming religious and moral values that arisefrom the Judeo-Christian understanding of the world.University Goals• To offer undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs basedupon a strong liberal arts foundation• To support a highly qualified faculty that is student- and teaching-orientedand is engaged in scholarly research and professional activities• To foster independent and critical thinking and a continuing interest inlearning• To foster intellectual and spiritual freedom in an environment thatencourages tolerance, compassion, understanding, and responsibility• To offer a variety of intellectual, cultural, recreational, and spiritual activitiesdesigned to enlarge capacity for improved judgment and moral, ethical,and spiritual growthTHE UNIVERSITY / 7