Mercer University

About Mercer
Mercer University is one of America oldest and most distinctive institutions of higher learning, offering rigorous programs that span the undergraduate liberal arts to doctoral-level degrees. Founded by early 19th century Baptists, Mercer while no longer formally affiliated with the Baptist denomination remains committed to an educational environment that embraces intellectual and religious freedom while affirming values that arise from a Judeo-Christian understanding of the world.

With more than 8,200 students enrolled in 11 schools and colleges on campuses in Macon, Atlanta and Savannah, and at four Regional Academic Centers around the state, Mercer is consistently ranked among the nation's leading institutions by such publications as U.S. News & World Report and the Princeton Review. Our more than 65,000 alumni are making important contributions to their professions and communities throughout Georgia, the Southeast and the world.

While offering a breadth of programs found at much larger universities, Mercer maintains an intimate, student-focused culture more characteristic of smaller liberal arts colleges. Mercer uniqueness is found in the way the University integrates five defining components of its mission:

Liberal Learning
The foundation of a Mercer education since 1833 has been liberal learning. By studying the best that has been created and discovered in the sciences, the arts, and the humanities, liberally educated women and men learn to think for themselves and to seek excellence. Liberal learning at Mercer engages undergraduate students in research and scholarship, emphasizes leadership and service locally and internationally, offers students cutting-edge interdisciplinary programs of study, and provides intensive preparation for the professions. Liberal learning at Mercer is hands-on education for future leadership in the professions, in business, in public service, and in our communities.

Professional Knowledge
Mercer is a leader in equipping students with the professional knowledge they need for rewarding and successful vocations. Whether it is preparing undergraduate liberal arts students for advanced study or for careers in a variety of fields, or educating future teachers and school administrators, ministers, performing artists, attorneys, entrepreneurs, engineers, physicians, nurses and pharmacists through its professional schools and colleges, Mercer offers a comprehensive set of well-regarded educational options.

Discovery
Great universities generate new discoveries that add to the world body of knowledge. Mercer's rapidly expanding investments in this arena range from groundbreaking work in new drug delivery protocols to cutting-edge translational cancer research. A Mercer distinctive is the interdisciplinary nature of research that promotes collaboration across schools and colleges. Faculty and students from the School of Engineering work with faculty and students from the School of Medicine to develop new biomedical devices.

Undergraduate biology students work alongside faculty in the College of Liberal Arts and the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences to devise new cancer treatments. This kind of integrative research is critical to solving the world most pressing challenges. Because of Mercer array of academic programs and an institutional culture that promotes collaboration, the University is well positioned to generate important new discoveries that make a difference in people's lives.

Service to Humankind
A Mercer hallmark since its founding has been service to others, which is rooted in our faith-based mission. The University was a pioneer in service-learning, integrating volunteerism and curricula long before the term came into vogue and was embraced by many other institutions. Mercer was one of the first institutions in the country to participate in the AmeriCorps program in the 1990s and the Upward Bound program in the 1960s.

Service to humankind is ingrained in the Mercer culture. It is found in its academic units medical school dedicated entirely to preparing primary care physicians for rural and other medically underserved areas of Georgia and a law school widely recognized for its contributions in the arena of public service to signature programs like Mercer On Mission that deploy students and faculty across the world to alleviate human suffering.

It is found in programs like Mercer Service Scholars, which engages diverse undergraduate students in substantive service to local and international communities, while preparing them to become leaders on campus, in their professions, and in their communities. It is found in the more than 100,000 hours of volunteer service that students in Macon and Atlanta contribute to their communities each year. This commitment to service led Princeton Review in 2005 to name Mercer as one of its Colleges with a Conscience.

Community
Community has meaning on two levels at Mercer internal and external and in both the University excels. At Mercer, students, faculty and staff relate to one another in an environment that inspires collaboration, support and respect. Strong bonds are formed between faculty and students and between colleagues. This kind of community promotes active mentoring and a work and study environment where people flourish.

The external community cities and neighborhoods where students, faculty and staff live and serve is also important at Mercer. Whether it is investing in the revitalization of historic neighborhoods surrounding the Macon campus or fueling economic development in cities through Georgia Mercer contributions to communities are significant. Over the past decade, the University has earned numerous awards and national recognition for community engagement.

Mercer is the only college in Georgia, and one of just 119 in the United States, to be selected by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching for its 2008 Community Engagement Classification. The University also was one of only 141 colleges in the nation to be recognized in 2006 for distinguished community service on the first President Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll. The University also made the honor roll in 2007 and 2008.

Campuses & Centers
Mercer University offers programs on three major campuses in Macon, Atlanta and Savannah, and at four Regional Academic Centers in suburban Atlanta and in Eastman, Georgia. In addition, the University operates the Mercer Engineering Research Center in Warner Robins.
Macon Campus

Macon CampusMacon has served as Mercer home since 1871, when the institution moved from its original campus in Penfield, Georgia. The beautiful, historic Macon campus houses the College of Liberal Arts, School of Medicine, School of Engineering, Stetson School of Business and Economics, Tift College of Education and Townsend School of Music, along with programs for working adults through the College of Continuing and Professional Studies. The Walter F. George School of Law is located one mile away on Coleman Hill overlooking downtown Macon. The city of 90,000 serves as the educational, medical, cultural and commercial hub of Central Georgia.

Mercer University reputation is built on its rigorous academic programs, outstanding faculty, and state-of-the-art facilities. Yet, tradition plays an important role in the University unique identity as a faith-based institution committed to religious and intellectual freedom and respect for religious diversity. Students across Mercer 11 schools and colleges benefit from a welcoming atmosphere and small-class learning environment. They learn from a prestigious, yet caring, faculty not from teaching assistants, as found at many universities. Mercer faculty members, whose credentials come from some of the world finest academic institutions, are distinguished for both teaching and research. More than 90 percent of the faculty hold doctorates or the highest attainable degrees in their respective fields.

About the School
Welcome to Mercer University School of Medicine (MUSM). The Mission of the school is to educate physicians and health professionals to meet the primary care and health care needs of rural and medically underserved areas of Georgia. Mercer has been extremely successful fulfilling our Mission. As of October 2010, 1064 students have graduated from MUSM of those 288 are still in residency training programs.

Currently there are 776 graduates in practice and 489 or 63% are practicing in the State of Georgia which is the best retention rate of any Georgia medical school. Greater than 70% of our graduates entered into primary care residencies. Based on data from the American Association of Family Physicians Robert Graham Center for Policy Studies in Family Medicine and Primary Care (2010) Mercer ranks 2nd in the nation for graduates practicing in low-income areas of the school home state; it ranks 3rd in the nation for graduates practicing in rural areas of home state and entering primary care in home state.

Mercer University School of Medicine has two medical school campuses. The Macon campus was founded in 1982 and is on the campus of Mercer University. The Savannah campus opened as a full four year campus in 2008 and is on the campus of Memorial University Medical Center. Students enrolled in the Doctor of Medicine program on both campuses experience the same curriculum.

Preclinically, Mercer offers an integrated, clinically relevant problem-based medical education program that includes a longitudinal clinical skills curriculum a strong community medicine program and early patient care experiences. Such an academic environment fosters the early development of clinical problem-solving and instills in each student an appreciation of the importance of basic medical sciences in medical practice. Following their second year, students participate in core clinical clerkships at the School's primary teaching hospitals: Medical Center of Central Georgia in Macon, Memorial University Medical Center in Savannah, and The Medical Center and St. Francis Hospital in Columbus.

Clinically, the curriculum is delivered in traditional clerkships utilizing both hospital and ambulatory settings. Students participate in a primary care preceptorship in communities throughout the state as part of the community medicine curriculum. In addition there is ample opportunity for students to participate in primary care and subspecialty clinical electives to broaden their educational experience. The small class size makes possible a close and collegial student/faculty relationship, individualized attention, and supportive atmosphere that enables every student to realize their potential for learning.

In addition to offering the Doctor of Medicine degree, Mercer also offers a Master of Family Therapy, Master of Public Health, Master of Science in Biomedical Sciences, Master of Science in Preclinical Sciences and Ph.D. in Clinical Medical Psychology. Together these programs help fulfill the mission of the school by providing outstanding health care practitioners for the state of Georgia.

Welcome Message
TWilliam F. Bina, III, M.D., M.P.H., Dean of the School of Medicinehe School of Medicine continues to build upon its 30 year history of excellence in education of tomorrow doctors and health care professionals.

Our school was founded as a public-private partnership in 1982 in order to respond to a critical shortage of primary care physicians in rural Georgia. The school was founded on the key integrating concepts of small group problem-based learning for the basic sciences in the first two years, a commitment to early and recurrent exposure of students to community and rural practice settings, and a strong focus on primary care specialties during the clinical years. We remain committed to these concepts that uniquely prepare students for a lifetime of service and caring.

The educational program for the M.D. degree has grown to a matriculating class size of 100, and a total enrollment of approximately 400 students annually located on campuses in Macon, Savannah, Columbus and across the State of Georgia and guided by the principle of one school, one dean, and one curriculum delivered at each of our campuses.

The school attracts highly talented students who have the ability to succeed academically and professionally in our rigorous educational and experiential based curricula in medicine, medical clinical psychology, public health, pre-clinical and basic medical sciences, plus marriage and family therapy. We actively seek students who best personify our core values of collaboration, compassion, competence, excellence, integrity, respect, honesty, and service.

I urge you to get to know us better by reading our bulletin. Additional information is available on our School of Medicine website, by phone or personal visit.

Mercer University Degree Programs :

Medicine

Nursing

Video Presentation

Mercer University Admissions Video

A Silver ADDY Award goes to SS Productions for Mercer University Admissions Video done for
Mercer University Admissions
Tabitha Lynne Walker, Producer/ Camera
Stephanie Shadden, Director of Photography/ Editor