Georgia Attorney General To Address Mercer Leadership Academy

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ATLANTA — The Attorney General of Georgia will address aspiring school leaders at Mercer University’s E.L.I.T.E. Leadership Academy at 9 a.m. on Saturday, March 3, in the Administration and Conference Center on Mercer’s Cecil B. Day Campus in Atlanta, 2930 Flowers Road South. Thurbert E. Baker will deliver the keynote address about school-related legal issues.

Baker served in the Georgia House of Representatives before being appointed Assistant Administration House Floor Leader by then-governor Zell Miller. He was quickly promoted to Administration House Floor Leader, where he was instrumental in the development of innovative legislation, including the HOPE scholarship program. He has served as Attorney General of Georgia since 1997.

The program, entitled “Legal Issues in the New Era of Educational Accountability: What School Leaders Should Know,” will also feature panel sessions with Suzann Wilcox, attorney, Brock, Clay, Calhoun & Rogers, P.C., Marietta; Dr. Melissa A. Hughes, director, Georgia State Improvement Grant for Special Education; Dr. Judith Jones, assistant superintendent, Cobb County School District; Beth Arnow, director of ESOL and the International Newcomer Center, Gwinnett County Public Schools, and Dr. Mary Jacobs, principal, Henderson Middle School, Butts County. Also presenting lectures will be Daisy Hurst Floyd, dean of the Walter F. George School of Law, and Dr. Oren R. Griffin, visiting associate professor at the Walter F. George School of Law.

The Equipping Leaders to Impact and Transform Education (E.L.I.T.E.) Leadership Academy is part of the curriculum of Mercer’s Educational Leadership program. The candidates, who are all certified practicing teachers and school leaders, are working toward either a master’s or doctoral degree that will provide them with the background and the initial certification to be school building and school system leaders. The E.L.I.T.E. Academy provides information on issues that will affect candidates as school leaders, while giving them an opportunity to network with education practitioners. Candidates in the Master of Educational Leadership Program are grouped in cohorts at Mercer’s Henry County Regional Academic Center, Mercer’s Macon and Atlanta campuses, and Gwinnett County.  The Ph.D. candidates are grouped in cohorts at Mercer’s Macon and Atlanta campuses only. 

About Mercer University:
Founded in 1833, Mercer University is a dynamic and comprehensive center of undergraduate, graduate and professional education. The University has 7,300 students; 11 schools and colleges – liberal arts, law, pharmacy, medicine, business, engineering, education, theology, music, nursing and continuing and professional studies; major campuses in Macon and Atlanta; four regional academic centers across the state; a university press; two teaching hospitals — Memorial Health University Medical Center and the Medical Center of Central Georgia; educational partnerships with Warner Robins Air Logistics Center in Warner Robins and Piedmont Healthcare in Atlanta; an engineering research center in Warner Robins; a performing arts center in Macon; and a NCAA Division I athletic program. For more information, visit www.mercer.edu.

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