MACON/ATLANTA – Mercer University will confer bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees to more than 2,600 students participating in four commencements during May in Macon and Atlanta. The total number of students meeting the requirements for graduation exceeds 3,000.
Commencement speakers include State Senator John F. Kennedy, B.A. ’87, J.D. ’90, for the School of Medicine; Managing Partner with Strickland Debrow LLP Vernon M. Strickland, J.D. ’06, for Mercer Law School; Board of Trustees Chairman Thomas P. (Tom) Bishop, B.A. ’82, J.D. ’85, in Atlanta and Macon; and graduating senior Shannon Dougherty in Macon.
The University will confer an honorary Doctor of Laws degree to Sen. Kennedy during the Medical School ceremony, and an honorary Doctor of Humanities degree to Zelma Redding, founder and president of the Otis Redding Foundation, during the Macon ceremony.
The Atlanta and Macon ceremonies are ticketed events. Livestream coverage of all ceremonies will be available at mercer.edu/commencement.
School of Medicine
The School of Medicine will hold its ceremony on Saturday, May 3, at 2 p.m., in Hawkins Arena inside the University Center. Sen. Kennedy, who represents Georgia’s 18th Senate District, will deliver his address to 210 candidates for degrees from School of Medicine campuses in Macon, Savannah and Columbus.
Sen. Kennedy has served in the Georgia State Senate since 2015. He is the current Senate President Pro Tempore, and he serves as the chair of the Senate Committee on Administrative Affairs, secretary of the Senate Committee on Banking and Financial Institutions, secretary of the Senate Committee on Regulated Industries and Utilities and secretary of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary. He is also a member of the Appropriations, Ethics, and Reapportionment and Redistricting committees and an ex officio member of the Senate committees on Finance, Health and Human Services, and Rules.
Kennedy, a partner at the Macon-based law firm of James-Bates-Brannan-Groover LLP, earned a degree in economics from Mercer in 1987 and completed his law degree at Mercer School of Law in 1990.
School of Law
The School of Law will hold its ceremony on Friday, May 9, at 10 a.m., in Hawkins Arena. The commencement speaker will be Vernon M. Strickland, managing partner with Strickland Debrow LLP, a firm he co-founded in 2022. He will deliver his address to 141 candidates for degrees.
A native of Newnan, Strickland is a distinguished attorney, accomplished engineer and former professional football player. A 2006 graduate of Mercer School of Law, he earned his bachelor’s degree in textile engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology.
Following his years with the New York Giants, San Francisco 49ers and Berlin Thunder of NFL Europe, Strickland became a mechanical engineer with Panasonic Automotive before earning his law degree and joining the prestigious international law firm Holland & Knight LLP.
Strickland has been an adjunct professor in the School of Public Policy at Georgia Tech since 2018, and he serves on the Mercer Law School Board of Visitors and the Newnan-Coweta Chamber of Commerce Executive Committee.
Atlanta
The University will hold a ceremony for Atlanta campus graduates on Saturday, May 10, at Gas South Arena in Duluth. Board Chair Thomas P. (Tom) Bishop, who is serving his third five-year term on the Board of Trustees and is current chair, will bring greetings from the trustees to 1,385 candidates for degrees from the College of Pharmacy, School of Business, College of Education, School of Theology, College of Nursing, College of Professional Advancement and College of Health Professions.
A Double Bear, Bishop earned his undergraduate degree from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences in 1982 and his J.D. from Mercer Law School in 1985. He is a retired chief compliance officer and deputy general counsel for Southern Company Services, and for more than 20 years served in senior executive positions with the Southern Company and its subsidiaries, including Georgia Power.
He previously served on the Executive Committee of the State Bar of Georgia Corporate Law Section, as a member of the Board of Governors of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, as a member of Gov. Nathan Deal’s Judicial Nominating Commission, and currently serves as a trustee of the Georgia Legal History Foundation. Bishop has been a member of the Mercer Law School Alumni Board, and he and his wife, Darla, have a son, Tyler, who also holds undergraduate and law degrees from Mercer, and a daughter, Darian, who has an undergraduate degree from Mercer and is currently enrolled in Mercer’s Doctor of Public Health program.
Macon
The University will hold a ceremony for Macon campus graduates at Five Star Stadium on Monday, May 12, at 8 a.m. Board Chair Thomas P. (Tom) Bishop will also bring greetings from the trustees to 908 candidates for degrees from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, School of Business, School of Engineering, College of Education, College of Professional Advancement, School of Music and College of Health Professions.
Student Commencement Speaker Shannon Dougherty will be graduating from the School of Business with her double-major in finance and accounting and a minor in economics.
Doughtery, who was accepted into 19 undergraduate business programs nationwide, is a Stamps Scholar, has served on the Mercer Business School Student Advisory Board, and was chief financial officer for the Student Managed Investment Fund Executive Board, overseeing a $1 million endowment. She also participated in Mercer On Mission programs in Rwanda and South Korea.
After graduation, Dougherty will join Bank of America’s headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina, as part of the Financial Management Analyst Program, and she plans to earn her CPA licensure within two years.
