Kyle Sears Named Director of Media Relations

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MACON, Ga. – Kyle Sears, former editor of the Lake Oconee News and a 2009 graduate of Mercer University's College of Liberal Arts, has been named director of media relations in the Office of Marketing Communications.

“We are very fortunate to add Kyle to our staff,” said Rick Cameron, senior vice president for marketing communications. “He has journalism in his blood from his high school days, when he worked at the Jones County News, and, combined with the quality education he received at Mercer, has positioned himself to do an outstanding job of working with the news media and other constituents on behalf of the University.”

Sears will serve as marketing communications liaison for the University's College of Continuing and Professional Studies, College of Liberal Arts, Mercer Engineering Research Center (MERC), School of Engineering, Stetson School of Business and Economics, Tift College of Education, The Executive Forum and Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC). He will also serve as coordinator of hometown news and University news, as well as managing editor of News@Mercer, the e-newsletter for faculty and staff, and News@Mercer Alumni Edition, the e-newsletter for alumni and friends.

“I am thrilled at the opportunity to come back home to Mercer,” Sears said. “The mission of Mercer is something I have held close to my heart since I studied here as an undergraduate, and I look forward to using my skills, many of which were cultivated on this campus, to contribute what I can to the continued excellence of Mercer and the fulfillment of its mission.”

In addition to serving as editor of the Lake Oconee News, a weekly newspaper with circulation in Greene, Morgan and Putnam counties in Georgia, he has also contributed to DAWGTIME Magazine, covering University of Georgia football, and served as a staff writer and photographer at the Jones County News. He has won multiple awards for writing and photography from the Georgia Press Association. Sears has volunteered with the Atlanta Press Club, interned in the Georgia Institute of Technology's Sports Information Department and served as a graduate assistant in Georgia State University's Department of Communication.

Sears earned his Bachelor of Arts with a double major in journalism and Christianity from Mercer where he graduated summa cum laude and helped found the University's chapter of the Society for Collegiate Journalists. He went on to earn his Master of Arts in communication from Georgia State University in 2011.

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 12 schools and colleges – liberal arts, law, pharmacy, medicine, business, engineering, education, theology, music, nursing, health professions, 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, includes the University's medical, nursing, health sciences and pharmacy schools. 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 Center 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

Rick Cameron is senior associate athletic director for communications, overseeing athletic media relations, including management of mercerbears.com, the official website of Mercer Athletics, while also maintaining his broadcasting responsibilities as Voice of the Bears.