It takes a lot of people to make Mercer University the institution that it is. The students have and always will be the lifeblood of our University, but Mercer wouldn’t be Mercer without expert faculty members to pass on their knowledge and highly skilled staff members to manage day-to-day operations. Our “Worker Bears” series highlights the Mercer employees who work tirelessly, often behind the scenes, to care for our University and our students.
Meet Scott Mahone
Title: Director of Center Operations
How long he’s worked at Mercer: Mahone, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel who served for 26 years, joined the Mercer team in 2005 as an adjunct center coordinator and professor for the School of Business and College of Professional Advancement. He became assistant director of operations in 2012 and director of center operations in 2018.
What he does: Mahone oversees the staff and operations of Mercer’s regional academic centers in Douglas and Henry counties and evening student support centers on the Atlanta and Macon campuses. Student success is the focus of these centers, and Mahone helps ensure students’ needs are met and facilities are run and maintained in an outstanding manner.
He also leads the Military Veterans Student Success Team, which assists military-affiliated individuals with the enrollment process and military educational benefits and develops strategies for recruitment and retention. In addition, Mahone is in charge of military-connected service initiatives. Under his leadership, Mercer became Georgia’s first Purple Heart University in 2015 and earned recognition as a Top 10 Gold Military Friendly School in 2020, which he called his proudest accomplishments. Mercer also received the “Best for Vets” designation from both U.S. News & World Report and Military Times. Mahone was named one of 19 inaugural Veteran Champions of the Year in Higher Education by G.I. Jobs magazine in 2021.
What he loves most about his work: “One of the things that I really enjoy the most is watching students be successful in their personal academic journeys. One of the best days of the year for me is to be able to travel to commencements and see students who had lots of anxiety as they started with us, who were maintaining jobs and family while stepping into Mercer,” he said.
“Our centers are really all about student success. We thrive when our students thrive. We are just thankful that we have this opportunity to be in these communities, helping people to be better. I am so humbled by this opportunity to work with colleagues like Jamie Brown and all the other coordinators. They add a whole new level to our work because they do such a great job. I watch them in awe.”
