Mercer University

Mercer University is the oldest private university in Georgia; its main campus is in Macon, Georgia, United States.Mercer enrolls more than 8,500 students in 12 colleges and schools: liberal arts, business, engineering, education, music, continuing and professional studies, law, theology, medicine, pharmacy, nursing, and health professions.Mercer undergraduates enjoy small classes (average class size is 20) made possible by the 12:1 student/faculty ratio.

Mercer has three campuses: the main campus in Macon, a graduate and professional education campus in Atlanta, and a four-year campus of the School of Medicine in Savannah. Mercer also has regional academic centers in Henry County, Douglas County, Eastman, and Newnan; the Walter F. George School of Law on its own campus in Macon; teaching hospitals in Macon, Savannah, and Columbus; a university press and a performing arts center, the Grand Opera House, in Macon; and the Mercer Engineering Research Center in Warner Robins.

The Mercer University Health Sciences Center encompasses Mercer's medical, pharmacy, nursing, and health professions programs in Macon, Atlanta, Savannah, and Columbus.Mercer is ranked as the number one master's-level university in the southern United States by U.S. News and World Report in terms of education and value.U.S. News and World Report has ranked Mercer among the top ten universities in the South for 18 consecutive years.

Mercer outranks all private colleges in Georgia in every criteria currently measured by the University System of Georgia including: average SAT scores for entering freshmen, average GPA's for entering freshman, six-year graduation rates, and first time freshman retention rates.

Princeton Review consistently ranks Mercer in the top 10% of colleges and universities in North America, and in 2005, rated Mercer has having one of the top five most beautiful college campuses in North America. Mercer was cited by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching for its community engagement, and was among the 113 institutions listed on the 2013 President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction.

Mercer has an NCAA Division I athletic program and fields teams in eight men's and ten women's sports; all university-sponsored sports compete in the Southern Conference except women's lacrosse and women's sand volleyball, which are not sponsored by the SoCon, and thus compete in the Atlantic Sun Conference.

Mercer expanded to Atlanta in 1959 when the university absorbed the independent Southern School of Pharmacy. The College of Liberal Arts, the Walter F. George School of Law, and the Southern School of Pharmacy comprised the university until 1972 when Mercer merged with Atlanta Baptist College, which became Mercer's Atlanta campus.

Atlanta Baptist College was founded in 1968 under the leadership of Dr. Monroe F. Swilley, a prominent Baptist educator. The college merged with Mercer in 1972 and became the College of Arts and Sciences, and in 1984 was named the Cecil B. Day College of Arts and Sciences. Mercer offered undergraduate liberal arts education in Atlanta until 1990 when the college closed. Faculty and students tried to prevent the closure, but were not successful. The mission of the Atlanta campus changed to graduate and professional education.The Southern School of Pharmacy moved in 1992 from its downtown location to the Cecil B. Day Graduate and Professional Campus.