ATLANTA/MACON — Mercer University will hold two panel discussions on its Atlanta and Macon campuses on Oct. 2, titled “Election 2012: Why Should I Care?” The two events are part of the Mercer Lyceum, a University-wide conversation and learning experience built around the theme “Rebuilding Democracy.” The Atlanta panel will be held in the Trustees Dining Room on the Atlanta campus at noon. The Macon panel will be held at 7 p.m. in the Presidents Dining Room of the University Center on the Macon Campus.
These interdisciplinary, nonpartisan election forums will feature faculty speakers from different schools, each of whom will speak briefly about the major issues they believe are at stake in the November elections from their professional perspectives. Speakers will then field questions and comments from audience members. The events aim to enlighten, inform and spark deeper commitment to citizenship responsibility among all who attend.
Atlanta Campus Forum:
Noon, Trustees Dining Room
Co-sponsored by Mercer Lyceum, the Center for Theology and Public Life and the Office of Student Affairs
Panelists:
Dr. Julie Petherbridge, assistant professor of accounting, Eugene W. Stetson School of Business and Economics
Dr. Anthony Harris, professor of educational leadership, Tift College of Education
Timothy Floyd, professor of law and director of the Law and Public Service Program, Walter F. George School of Law
Dr. Hewitt W. (Ted) Matthews, dean of the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences and senior vice president for health sciences
Dr. David Gushee, Distinguished University Professor of Christian Ethics and director of the Center for Theology and Public Life
Macon Campus Forum
7 p.m., Presidents Dining Room, University Center
Co-sponsors: Mercer Lyceum, Center for Theology and Public Life, Office of Student Affairs, Office of Religious Life
Panelists:
William D. Underwood, president of Mercer University
Dr. David Gushee, Distinguished University Professor of Christian Ethics and director of the Center for Theology and Public Life
Dr. Nanette Turner, associate professor and director of the Master of Public Health program, Mercer School of Medicine
Dr. Lori Johnson, associate professor of political science, College of Liberal Arts
Moderator: Dr. Craig McMahan, university minister and dean of the Chapel
About the Mercer Lyceum
The Mercer Lyceum is an effort to help coordinate existing University lectures and events, as well as new ones, around a single theme. The Lyceum will allow for more in-depth discussions, and, organizers hope, more in-depth learning, while helping to create new partnerships among the many disciplines at Mercer’s campuses. The Lyceum has been approved for four years, with two biennial cycles focusing on a single theme. The first theme is “Rebuilding Democracy” and will run from fall 2011 to spring 2013. The theme is built in part to help educate students about the challenges facing American democracy – hyper partisanship, governmental gridlock, low voter turnout and weak understanding of constitutional democracy, as well as outside threats, such as the growing gap between rich and poor, a shrinking middle class and the decline of America’s influence in the world. The Lyceum will help to inform students about these issues, but also help to train them to become better citizens themselves by examining possible solutions to those issues. The organizers hope the conversations help them find ways to address those challenges both as citizens and as professionals in their chosen careers.
About Mercer University
Founded in 1833, Mercer University is a dynamic and comprehensive center of undergraduate, graduate and professional education. The University enrolls more than 8,300 students in 11 schools and colleges – liberal arts, law, pharmacy, medicine, business, engineering, education, theology, music, nursing and continuing and professional studies – on campuses in Macon, Atlanta and Savannah – and four regional academic centers across the state. The Mercer Health Sciences Center launched July 1, 2012, and includes the University’s medical, nursing and pharmacy schools and will add a fourth college – the College of Health Professions – on July 1, 2013. Mercer is affiliated with four teaching hospitals — Memorial University Medical Center in Savannah, the Medical Center of Central Georgia in Macon, and The Medical Center and St. Francis Hospital in Columbus. The University also has educational partnerships with Warner Robins Air Logistics Complex in Warner Robins and Piedmont Healthcare in Atlanta. It operates an academic press and a performing arts center in Macon and an engineering research center in Warner Robins. Mercer is the only private university in Georgia to field an NCAA Division I athletic program. www.mercer.edu
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