Knight Foundation Gives $5 Million Grant to Help Revitalize College Hill Corridor

Macon will take a major step toward revitalizing College Hill with a new $5 million grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. The grant includes $3 million to the Community Foundation of Central Georgia to fund residents’ best ideas for transforming the neighborhood, and $2 million to Mercer University to form the College Hill Alliance. Both programs are designed to reshape the city’s first neighborhoods into a vibrant college town connected by leafy roads and bike paths to the city’s downtown.

Mercer President William D. Underwood made the announcement Monday at Mercer Village, the first retail district to be restored in the College Hill Corridor. Underwood spoke nearly a year to the day after the Miami-based foundation awarded the university a planning grant for College Hill, which produced a community-driven master plan for the neighborhoods.

“For many years Knight Foundation has been a strong partner in efforts to revitalize some of Macon’s first neighborhoods,” President Underwood said. “This substantial grant – the foundation’s largest single grant to date in Macon – will be a major catalyst for implementing the master plan, for funding creative, transformational ideas from residents and organizations in the Corridor and for attracting private and public financing that will allow realization of the College Hill vision. Knight Foundation’s investment will leverage additional capital and will advance a physical and social resurgence in the historic and cultural heart of one of the South’s great cities.”

“Knight Foundation partners with our communities to create lasting transformational change,” said Beverly Blake, Knight program director for Macon, Columbus and Milledgeville. “We believe the College Hill initiative will serve as the catalyst for Macon’s renaissance.”

The Knight Neighborhood Challenge will invest in residents’ own ideas on ways to restore College Hill. A broad-based, competitive grant program, the challenge will fund the best ideas – small and large – that give College Hill a sense of place, spruce up its parks and public spaces or enhance the arts and entertainment scene, among several other priorities residents identified in town hall meetings. The effort also aims to get residents involved in College Hill through an array of civic and cultural projects.

Individuals or organizations can apply to the challenge, which will be administered by the Community Foundation of Central Georgia in cooperation with the College Hill Corridor Commission.

“With these grants Knight Foundation has once again proven its commitment to our community,” said Kathryn Dennis, president of the Community Foundation of Central Georgia. “We are appreciative of Knight Foundation’s generosity and look forward to working with Mercer and the College Hill Corridor Commission to ensure that this grant identifies and funds visionary ideas from the grassroots level.”

The College Hill Alliance, with offices in Mercer Village, will focus on accelerating neighborhood revitalization. Specifically, the alliance will implement the master plan that will beautify the area, create a business case to attract private investment to College Hill and seek additional funding for the neighborhood.

The alliance also will fund a new round of grants for the highly successful Mercer-Knight Foundation Down Payment Assistance Program, which helps Mercer faculty and staff purchase homes in the Beall’s Hill, Huguenin Heights, Tattnall Place and Intown Macon historic districts.

“I’m delighted that Knight Foundation has provided this extremely generous grant to the College Hill Corridor initiative,” said Macon Mayor Robert A.B. Reichert. “The size of the grant is matched only by the enthusiasm of the College Hill Corridor Commission, and I’m confident that this will prompt additional investments of time, energy, and money that will transform this area.”

“Since we began our work two years ago, we’ve been so fortunate in our collaborations with all our neighbors — from longtime residents who saved these historic homes to the students who volunteer in the community and are just discovering its beauty,” said Sarah Gerwig-Moore, co-chair of the College Hill Corridor Commission and associate professor at Mercer’s Walter F. George School of Law. “Our public meetings were lively and engaged and it was truly remarkable to participate in such a collaborative and open process. But of course it is even more exciting to take this step toward implementing the plans we’ve been dreaming about, and none of this would have been possible without Knight Foundation’s support.”

The basic elements of the College Hill Corridor initiative were conceived in a Mercer Senior Capstone class taught by Dr. Peter Brown, senior vice provost and professor of philosophy and interdisciplinary studies, in the fall of 2006. A Community Foundation of Central Georgia grant, from its Knight Fund, allowed the students to travel to Washington, D.C., to meet with Richard Florida of the Creative Class Group to learn how they could help spur economic development in the College Hill area. Florida’s work focuses on diversity and creativity as basic drivers of innovation and regional and national growth. The students concluded that Macon was well positioned to recruit and grow creative service industries, such as graphic design, marketing and the arts, by retaining talented young people graduating from the city’s academic institutions.

Inspired by this visit, the Mercer students proposed a plan to make Macon more attractive to young professionals by connecting Mercer and the downtown area to create a “college town” atmosphere. In response, President Underwood and then Macon Mayor C. Jack Ellis formed the College Hill Corridor Commission in the spring of 2007 to make the idea a reality.

-----
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page
www.artsacrossgeorgia.com
Arts Acrosss Georgia

National Conference at Mercer on March 19-20 to Call for End to 21st Century Slavery

Mercer University will host a national conference on human trafficking, titled “STOP Sex Trafficking: A Call to End 21st Century Slavery,” on March 19-20 in Willingham Auditorium on Mercer’s Macon campus. The conference is organized by Mercer students in STOP, the Sex Trafficking Opposition Project, to counter the growing worldwide crisis. According to the U.S. State Department, more than a million women and children are trafficked into sex slavery each year. Nearly 20,000 are trafficked annually into the United States and many of these victims are trafficked into the Southeast.

The conference will feature rescued trafficking victims Kika Cerpa and Joana Santos, who will share their stories. In addition the conference will include presentations from prominent national figures in the anti-trafficking movement, including rock musician and filmmaker Justin Dillon, who will also screen his anti-sex trafficking film, Call+Response, at the conference; Patricia McCormick, the best-selling author of Sold, the story of a Nepalese child trafficked into sex slavery; and Lauran Bethell, founder of a Thailand trafficking refuge center and recipient of the Baptist World Alliance Human Rights Award.

“The students’ aspiration is, first, to make sure Macon is not a home for trafficking and, second, to combat sex trafficking wherever it is occurring,” said Dr. Mary Alice Morgan, senior vice provost for service-learning and an adviser to the conference. “The students are fired by idealism but they also have a very informed, practical sense of how to carry that idealism into effective activism.”

The goals of the conference include: raising awareness about sex trafficking, encouraging faith-based mission work overseas and support groups to help survivors here at home, aiding service providers, law enforcement and local government in fighting sex trafficking and supplying care for survivors, and providing a forum for student groups to join together to end sex slavery.

The STOP organization was founded by Mercer students to take on the issue of prostitution-related trafficking in the Middle Georgia area. The conference will build on STOP’s efforts, student organizers say.

“We’re all passionate about the issue of sex trafficking,” said Hannah Vann, a senior and conference organizer. “The idea that there are sex slaves within miles of where we live is sickening, and we won’t stand for it anymore. We've been working hard to raise awareness about the issue, but the conference will take awareness and activism in Macon, in Georgia and in the region to another level. We want to see Mercerians, Maconites, Georgians and all Americans stand up and call to end slavery, and we hope this conference will help to make that happen.”

The conference has been designed to be welcoming to all: faith leaders, students, scholars, service providers, the legal community and anyone interested in learning how communities can join together to rescue women and children and protect thousands more from sex slavery.

The Sex Trafficking Opposition Project began in a First Year Seminar course called “Engaging the World,” in the spring of 2008. While writing their research essays on contemporary ethics and justice, students started asking questions about the many spas and spa billboards dotting Macon’s landscape. They soon joined ranks with members of Baptist Collegiate Ministries and Women’s and Gender Studies students enrolled in a course devoted to violence against women. At the end of spring semester 2008, this diverse coalition of students formed STOP: Middle Georgia’s first anti-trafficking group.

This conference is being organized under the direction of Dr. Morgan, who also directs the Women’s and Gender Studies Program, and Dr. Andrew Silver, the Paige Morton Hunter Associate Professor of English. Co-sponsors for the event include: Mercer University, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of Georgia, Baptist Collegiate Ministries, Evangelicals for Human Rights, and the Mercer Women’s and Gender Studies Program.

“Every year, the traffickers rob millions of innocent victims of their normal lives,” Dr. Silver said. “We’re asking people to spend a few hours with us to help stop them.”

For more information or to register for the conference, visit www.mercer.edu/stop.

-----
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page

Former U.S. Solicitor General to Deliver 2009 Mercer Law Day address

Paul D. Clement, former United States Solicitor General and current partner in the Washington, D.C., office of King & Spalding law firm, is scheduled to deliver the keynote address at the annual Law Day luncheon at Mercer University’s Walter F. George School of Law on March 6. During the visit, Clement will also give a lecture during a class of first-year Mercer law students.

A graduate of Harvard Law School, Clement was nominated as solicitor general by President George W. Bush on March 14, 2005. He served as the 43rd U.S. Solicitor General from June 2005 until June 2008. Prior to his confirmation as solicitor general, he served as acting solicitor general for nearly a year and as principal deputy solicitor general for over three years. He has argued 49 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, including McConnell v. FEC, Tennessee v. Lane, Rumsfield v. Padilla, and the United States v. Booker.

Clement received a bachelor’s degree summa cum laude from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service and a master’s degree in economics from Cambridge University. Following graduation from Harvard Law School, where he was the Supreme Court editor of the Harvard Law Review, Clement clerked for Associate Justice Antonin Scalia of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Clement will deliver the keynote address during the Friday Law Day luncheon at 12:30 p.m. in the Mercer University Center, during which time Mercer Law School alumni Gerald Edenfield (1970) and Judge W. Louis Sands (1974) and will receive the Outstanding Alumnus Award and Meritorious Service Award, respectively. His class lecture begins at 9:40 a.m. during a “Constitutional Law” class.

“We are very excited to have Paul Clement as our Law Day speaker,” Mercer Law School Dean Daisy Hurst Floyd said. “His extraordinary career as a lawyer at the highest levels of government gives him a unique insight from which we all can learn. Our students, in particular, will benefit tremendously from his breadth of knowledge.”

Established in 1958 by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, Law Day is designed to strengthen the public’s understanding of the American justice system. Though the national observance of Law Day is generally May 1, many law schools, including Mercer Law School, publicly recognize it earlier in the Spring semester due to the heavy academic demands in May. In recognition of the bicentennial of the birth of Abraham Lincoln, the Law Day 2009 theme is “A Legacy of Liberty.”

-----
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page

Alumna Miller Makes History in State of Georgia as Appeals Court Chief

In the chamber of the Georgia House of Representatives on January 6 – amid a sea of state dignitaries, family, friends and media – Mercer University undergraduate and law school alumna, M. Yvette Miller, was sworn in as the state’s first African-American woman chief judge of the Georgia Court of Appeals.

As chief judge of one of the busiest appellate courts in the United States, Judge Miller will be responsible for the administration on the court and will act as the head of the court for ceremonial purposes and for all communications. She will serve a two-year term.

“Yvette, your way has been made easier by those who came before you,” said former Gov. Roy Barnes, who first appointed Judge Miller to the state Court of Appeals in 1999. “It’s been a long journey, but you, Madam Chief Judge, are up to the task.”

In accepting the oath as chief judge, Judge Miller said she will focus her efforts on three areas: strengthening relationships between the three branches of state government and within the appellate court itself; maintaining the functional viability of the court amid tough economic times; and establishing an electric filing system for the state Court of Appeals.

“These are challenging times, and I plan to rise to the occasion,” Judge Miller said.

The state Court of Appeals has statewide appellate jurisdiction of all cases except those involving constitutional questions, land title disputes, the construction of wills, murder, election contests, habeas corpus, extraordinary remedies, divorce and alimony, and cases where original appellate jurisdiction lies with the superior courts. The state Court of Appeals may certify legal questions to the state Supreme Court.

“This is an absolutely wonderful day,” Georgia Attorney General Thurbert Baker said during his remarks. “This is a historical moment.”

Judge Miller has been re-elected statewide, without opposition, for two six-year terms. Before her appointment to the state court, Gov. Zell Miller appointed her to the state court of Fulton County, and she was re-elected as a trial judge on the state court without opposition. Previously, Judge Miller served as director and judge of the Appellate Division of the State Board of Workers’ Compensation, where she was the first woman, first African American, and youngest person ever to hold that position.

Judge Miller was born and raised in Macon. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree, cum laude, from Mercer University in 1977 and her law degree from Mercer’s Walter F. George School of Law in 1980. Judge Miller also earned an LL.M. degree in litigation from Emory University School of Law and an LL.M. degree in judicial process from the University of Virginia School of Law.

-----
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page

Distinguished Mercer Alumnus And Former U.S. Attorney General Griffin B. Bell Dies At 90

Griffin Boyette Bell, one of Mercer University's most distinguished graduates and the 72nd Attorney General of the United States, died January 5 in Atlanta. He was 90. A graveside service will be held at 11 a.m. Wednesday at Oak Grove Cemetery in Americus. Judge Bell's memorial service will be held at Atlanta's Second Ponce de Leon Baptist Church on Friday at 11 a.m.

A trusted counselor to U.S. presidents, members of Congress and governors of both parties, and to major corporations and jurists across the country, Judge Bell earned his law degree, cum laude, from Mercer's Walter F. George School of Law in 1948. Appointed U.S. Attorney General by fellow Georgian Jimmy Carter in 1977, Judge Bell is credited by many with restoring integrity and transparency to the U.S. Department of Justice following the Watergate scandal.

Throughout his distinguished career as an attorney, federal judge and attorney general, Judge Bell steadfastly supported his alma mater, offering strong leadership as a trustee and helping raise more than half a billion dollars in gifts to Mercer. He served six terms on the University's Board of Trustees, dating back to 1967, and was chair of the board from 1991 to 1995.

In 1999, the Association of Governing Boards awarded its Distinguished Service Award in Trusteeship to Judge Bell in recognition of his significant contributions to Mercer and to higher education in general. From the $10,000 the University was awarded in Judge Bell's honor, the Board of Trustees voted to initiate the Griffin B. Bell Award for Community Service. The award recognizes a graduating student who has exemplified the true meaning of community service during their studies, improving the lives of others through their dedication and commitment. The Bell Award is the only University honor presented to students across all 11 of Mercer's schools and colleges.

Judge Bell was elected a Life Trustee in 2007 – only the sixth person at that time to be named to the office in Mercer's 175-year history. In 1983, he was named Mercer's first Distinguished University Professor and was a frequent lecturer and panelist at Mercer's law school over the years. Friends and colleagues raised $1 million in 1986 to establish the Griffin Boyette Bell Chair of Law at Mercer.

"Griffin Bell committed his life to service — service to his country, service to the cause of justice, service to his clients, and service to his alma mater, Mercer University. Over the past four decades, no one has been more committed to Mercer than Judge Bell, and no one has done more to advance the University," said Mercer President William D. Underwood. "I will miss his friendship. I will miss his sense of humor. I will miss his wise counsel. He was truly a great man."

Chancellor R. Kirby Godsey, who preceded Underwood as Mercer's president and worked closely with Judge Bell for 27 years, said his presidency was guided and enriched by the former board chairman's extraordinary leadership and by their "profound friendship."

"For countless hours over the years, I sat with him, seeking his sage advice, learning from his wisdom, treasuring his friendship. His thinking was always clear and precise, his voice articulate, his will resolute. Judge Bell combined a high sense of integrity with a strong measure of grace," Dr. Godsey said. "With his awe-inspiring wisdom and a rare quotient of insight, he made complex issues transparent, and he characteristically brought light and clarity amidst shadows of confusion. Griffin Bell was more than an outstanding statesman or a great American; he stood as a first citizen of the world whose voice and insights will shape human history for decades to come."

As a trustee, Judge Bell made the motion to establish the Mercer School of Medicine, which recently celebrated its 25th anniversary of preparing primary care physicians for rural and underserved areas of Georgia. In the late 1980s, he helped steer the University through financial difficulties, and over the years staunchly defended the institution when Georgia Baptists – with whom the University was affiliated for 173 years – sought to infringe upon Mercer's academic freedom.

As the chair of two Mercer capital campaigns, Judge Bell brought prominence and visibility, engaged major donors, and helped recruit volunteers for fund-raising efforts, in addition to sharing generously from his own financial resources. The recently completed "Advancing the Vision Campaign" – which Judge Bell chaired – raised $350 million in gifts and pledges.

At the December 2008 Board of Trustees meeting, where a bust of Judge Bell was unveiled, he reflected on his life and his long association with Mercer.

"I've had a great life — great opportunities to serve. I don't regret anything I've done. I'm well-satisfied that the Lord has given me a square deal. I've lived now to be 90 years old, and I revere all the years I've been associated with Mercer," Judge Bell said. "And also, all the years of public service I've had. And, all the years of law practice that I've had. I don't think there is any greater calling than being a lawyer and being willing to serve. There are lots of lawyers, but we don't have too many who are willing to take these public jobs. I've been able to do both, and for that I am very thankful."

A longtime senior partner at the influential, Atlanta-based King & Spalding law firm, Judge Bell on several occasions stepped away from private practice to serve his state and country.

In 1959, Judge Bell was appointed chief of staff by Gov. Ernest Vandiver and is credited with creating the General Assembly Commission on Schools, which recommended to the governor and the Georgia General Assembly that the public school system be preserved at all costs rather than close in the face of court-ordered desegregation.

In 1960, he was named co-chairman of John F. Kennedy's Georgia campaign for the presidency, and in 1961 President Kennedy appointed Judge Bell to the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. While sitting as a Fifth Circuit judge, he provided steady and principled judicial leadership during the height of the American civil rights movement. After 15 years on the bench, he returned to King & Spalding in 1976. He resigned from the firm to become the 72nd Attorney General of the United States on Jan. 26, 1977. He served as attorney general until Aug. 16, 1979, when he returned to King & Spalding, serving as chair of its Policy Committee.

President Carter in 1980 asked Judge Bell to serve as head of the American delegation to the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, held in Madrid. In 1981, he served as co-chairman of the Attorney General's National Task Force on Violent Crime. In 1982, William Morrow and Company published Judge Bell's political memoir, Taking Care of the Law. In 2008, Mercer University Press published a compilation of Judge Bell's speeches, titled Footnotes to History: A Primer on the American Political Character, edited by John P. Cole.

His other public and professional service included serving as president of the American College of Trial Lawyers in 1985-86; serving on the U.S. Secretary of State's Advisory Committee on South Africa from 1985-87; and serving on the Board of Trustees of the Foundation for the Commemoration of the United States Constitution from 1986-89.

In 1988, Judge Bell became a director of the National Science Center Foundation and was a director of the American Enterprise Institute. In 1989, President George H.W. Bush appointed Judge Bell to serve as vice chairman of the President's Commission on Federal Ethics Law Reform.

Other honors include receiving the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation Award for Excellence in Law in 1984; the Georgia Freedom Award from the Georgia Public Policy Foundation in 1995; and the John Marshall Medal from the John Marshall Foundation in 2008. He served on numerous corporate boards, including Martin Marietta Corp., The Hardaway Co. and Total Systems Services Inc.

Judge Bell is survived by his wife, Nancy; his son, Griffin B. Bell Jr.; daughter-in-law, Glenda Bell; and grandchildren, Griffin B. Bell III and Katherine P. Bell. He was preceded in death by his first wife, Mary.

-----
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page

Alumna to Become First African-American Woman to Head Georgia Court of Appeals

Mercer University undergraduate and law school alumna, Judge M. Yvette Miller, will become the first African-American woman to hold the position of chief judge of the Georgia Court of Appeals when she is officially sworn in Jan. 6, 2009, at the Georgia State Capitol.

In October, Judge Gary Blaylock Andrews, senior judge of the Georgia Court of Appeals, made the motion that unanimously selected Judge Miller, by acclamation, as chief judge of one of the busiest appellate courts in the United States. Elected by her peers to serve a two-year term, Judge Miller will be responsible for the administration on the court and will act as the head of the court for ceremonial purposes and for all communications.

“Judge Miller stands in a long line of Mercer graduates who have distinguished themselves and their alma mater through dedicated public service to our state and nation,” said Mercer President William D. Underwood. “We are very proud of Judge Yvette Miller and her accomplishments and wish her the very best as she leads the Georgia Court of Appeals.”

First appointed to the state Court of Appeals in 1999 by Gov. Roy Barnes, Judge Miller has been re-elected statewide, without opposition, for two six-year terms. Before that appointment, Gov. Zell Miller appointed her to the state court of Fulton County, and she was re-elected as a trial judge on the state court without opposition. Previously, she served as director and judge of the Appellate Division of the State Board of Workers’ Compensation, where she was the first woman, first African American, and youngest person ever to hold that position.

“Judge Miller personifies the Mercer Lawyer in her skills as a lawyer and judge, her commitment to justice and the public good, and her dedication to her alma maters,” said Mercer Law School Dean Daisy Hurst Floyd.

“She continues to shatter glass ceilings for women and African Americans across the country. The entire Mercer University School of Law family salutes her and this extraordinary historical feat in becoming the first African-America woman chief justice of the George Court of Appeals.”

Judge Miller was born and raised in Macon. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree, cum laude, from Mercer University in 1977 and her law degree from Mercer’s Walter F. George School of Law in 1980. Judge Miller also earned an LL.M. degree in litigation from Emory University School of Law and an LL.M. degree in judicial process from the University of Virginia School of Law.

-----
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page

Mercer Men's Basketball Ranked No. 1 Nationally in RPI

After downing Southeastern Conference opponents Alabama and Auburn in a four-day span and starting the 2008-09 campaign with an unblemished 3-0 record for the first time since 1984, the Mercer men’s basketball team has been rewarded with the top spot in CollegeRPI.com’s rankings.

The College RPI takes into account a team's winning percentage (25%), its opponents' winning percentage (50%), and the winning percentage of those opponents' opponents (25%) when ranking every team in the nation. The Bears check in ahead of every traditional Division I roundball powerhouse in the country for the first time since the inception of the Ratings Percentage Index in 1981.

-----
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page

Neal Boortz to Address Executive Forum in Macon, Atlanta on Nov. 3

Nationally syndicated radio host Neal Boortz will be the featured speaker at Mercer University's Executive Forum Presented by BB&T on Monday, Nov. 3. Boortz will give a lunch presentation at noon in Atlanta at the Four Seasons Hotel, 75 Fourteenth Street, and a dinner presentation at 6:30 p.m. at The University Center on Mercer’s Macon campus.

A 39-year veteran of talk radio and a confirmed Libertarian, Boortz is also an accomplished writer whose books include: The Fair Tax Book, The Terrible Truth About Liberals and The Commencement Speech You Need to Hear. He is currently working on a new book, Somebody Has to Say It.

For the third consecutive year, Boortz has been nominated “NewsTalk Personality of the Year” by the readers of Radio and Records magazine. Boortz was also a finalist for a 2002 Marconi Award as “network syndicated personality of the year.”

Boortz attended Texas A&M University from 1963 to 1967 before moving to Atlanta and making it his permanent home. Boortz graduated from John Marshall Law School in Atlanta in 1977. He passed the bar before graduation and started a practice immediately afterwards. Boortz continued to practice law and work in talk radio until he signed a contract with WSB in Atlanta in 1992.

-----
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page

Historian and Author to Speak at China Research Center Event in Atlanta

The China Research Center at Mercer’s Eugene W. Stetson School of Business and Economics will inaugurate a new event series with a lecture by noted historian and author Kenneth Pomeranz, Ph.D., at 7 p.m., Oct. 15, in the Rich Auditorium at the High Museum in downtown Atlanta. He will discuss his recent work on China’s state, society and economy in a presentation titled “Chinese Development and World History: Putting the East Asian Model in Perspective.”

The High Museum of Art is hosting the event in conjunction with its fall exhibition, The First Emperor: China's Terracotta Army. No registration is required for this event. The lecture is free and open to the public.

In his lecture, Dr. Pomeranz will examine how the levels of economic performance in core regions of Europe and East Asia were surprisingly similar until almost 1800. Despite the enormous setbacks and turmoil of the 19th and 20th centuries, certain basic elements of the high Qing (i.e., China’s last dynasty) political economy remained intact and ultimately proved quite compatible with new waves of growth, at least for coastal China; those patterns resemble some aspects of a distinctive pattern of industrialization previously seen in Japan and Taiwan. In the Chinese case, however, the “East Asian” features of development along the coast must be seen in the context of relations between the coast and the Chinese interior. Today, the government’s “develop the West” program — set against a backdrop both of looming resource shortages in East China industries, unusually large regional differences in living standards, unprecedented rates of migration directed towards the coast and urbanization — may represent both the outcome and the end of social, economic and environmental patterns that have characterized China’s political economy for centuries.

Dr. Pomeranz has been recognized as a leading historian of China who moves beyond the study of a self-contained "China" or “East Asia” by attempting to understand the origins of a world economy as the outcome of mutual influences among various regions, rather than the simple imposition by a more "advanced" Europe on the rest of the world.

His book, “The Great Divergence: China, Europe, and the Making of the Modern World Economy” (Princeton University Press, 2000), makes groundbreaking arguments on issues concerning global history and challenges the conventional notion of China’s backwardness in the modern era. It won the 2000 John K. Fairbank prize, making Dr. Pomeranz the only historian who has won this prestigious prize twice. “Great Divergence” also won the 2001 World History Association Book Prize and was chosen as one of Choice’s Outstanding Academic Books of 2000.

He is also the author of “The World that Trade Created” (with Steven Topik). He is currently working on a variety of projects, including a general history of Chinese political economy, from the 17th century to the present for Cambridge University Press, two edited volumes that will come out in 2009. Dr. Pomeranz was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2006.

Dr. Pomeranz is Chancellor's Professor of History at the University of California, Irvine, and founding director of the University of California’s Multi-Campus Research Program in World History.

The event is co-sponsored by the School of History, Technology and Science and The Sam Nunn School of International Affairs at the Georgia Institute of Technology; The Program in World History and Cultures, Department of History, Georgia State University; The Stetson School of Business and Economics, Mercer University; and The Confucius Institute of Atlanta.

-----
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page
www.artsacrossgeorgia.com
Arts Across Georgia

News to Use in Fayetteville, Atlanta, Macon, Peachtree City and all of Georgia

Bolton to Speak at Executive Forum in Macon and Atlanta on Oct. 7

Former U. S. Ambassador to United Nations John Bolton will be the featured speaker at Mercer University's Executive Forum, presented by BB&T, on Tuesday, Oct. 7. Bolton will give a lunch presentation in Atlanta at The Capital City Club, 7 Harris Street, and a dinner presentation at 6:30 p.m. at The University Center on Mercer’s Macon campus.

Bolton served as United States permanent representative to the United Nations from August 2005 to December 2006. At the U.N., Bolton was an outspoken advocate of U.S. efforts to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, push Syria out of Lebanon and bring African peacekeepers into Somalia. Bolton helped shepherd a major sanction resolution against North Korea through the U.N. Security Council within days of Pyongyang's Oct. 9, 2006, nuclear test. Bolton and France's ambassador led the Security Council to approve a unanimous resolution to end the summer 2006 Hezbollah war on Israel. During his tenure at the United Nations, Bolton was an advocate for human rights. He arranged the Security Council's first deliberations on Burma's human rights abuses. Bolton invited actor George Clooney and Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel to brief the Security Council in September 2006 on Arab mass-murder of non-Arabs in Darfur, Sudan. He engineered the Security Council's approval of 22,500 U.N. peacekeepers in Darfur. Bolton pressured Sudan's government to accept these personnel atop the 7,000 African Union soldiers already on site.

Bolton is the author of “Surrender is Not an Option: Defending America at the U.N. and Abroad,” published in 2007.

Prior to his appointment at the U.N., Bolton served as under secretary of state for Arms Control and International Security from May 2001 to May 2005. Previously, Bolton was senior vice president of the American Enterprise Institute, a nonprofit public policy center. Bolton has spent many years of his career in public service. His previous positions in government include: assistant secretary for International Organization Affairs at the Department of State; assistant attorney general, Department of Justice; assistant administrator for Program and Policy Coordination, U.S. Agency for International Development; and general counsel, U.S. Agency for International Development. Bolton is also an attorney. Currently, he is a senior advisor for Kirkland & Ellis LLC with a focus on counseling clients on domestic and international issues in complex corporate litigation.

-----
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page

News to Use in Fayetteville, Atlanta, Macon, Peachtree City and all of Georgia

Seminars Offered to Low Income Women During Breast Cancer Awareness Month

• Oct. 3, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m., English, Mercer University Life Religious Center, 1550 College St., Macon
• Oct. 10, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m., English, Middle Georgia Technical College, 80 Cohen Walker Dr., Warner Robins
• Oct. 17, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m., English, Southside Community Church, 4162 Roy Ave., Macon
• Oct. 24, 10:30 a.m.-1 p.m., English, Middle Georgia Technical Institute Adult Education Center, 700 Spruce St., Fort Valley
• Oct. 31, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m., English, Mercer University, Religious Life Center, 1550 College St., Macon

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month and in order to help women become aware and find breast cancer in its early stages, the Mercer University School of Medicine’s will provide several breast health awareness seminars to women living in Central Georgia. Breast cancer has been increasing at an alarming rate with current estimates indicating that 1-in-8 women will develop breast cancer during their lifetimes. It is the leading cause of death of American women between the ages of 40 and 55.

The seminars, sponsored by the School’s Department of Community Medicine, will teach women why and how to perform breast self-exam, and what should prompt them to make an appointment with their personal physician for confirmation.

A free luncheon will be provided to women participants, and a door prize will be offered. Moreover, some of the women participants will be offered a coupon for a free mammogram examination.

“Getting diagnosed at an early stage is very important because early detection is crucial not only to the ‘survivorship’ of a patient, but to her quality of life while treating the cancer, and thereafter,” according to Fan Chen, M.D., in the Department of Community Medicine. “For many patients, early detection could mean not having to lose a breast through mastectomy or not having to experience aggressive chemotherapy.”

Earlier this year, Mercer offered two seminars for Spanish speaking women. All the seminars are sponsored by Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation.

The schedule of the seminars is listed below, with the language offered and location. More seminars in Chinese may be given in October to December. For more information about the seminars, call Mercer University Department of Community Medicine at (478) 301-4053.

-----
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page
www.artsacrossgeorgia.com
Arts Across Georgia

News to Use in Fayetteville, Macon, Atlanta, Peachtree City, and all of Georgia

On Anniversary of 9/11, Interfaith Summit Calls For Action to End Torture

By: Bob Perkins

Speakers on the first day of the inaugural National Summit on Torture at Mercer University’s Atlanta campus Thursday told the more than 200 participants that “this summit affirms our values as Americans.”

Organized by Dr. David P. Gushee, Distinguished University Professor of Christian Ethics at Mercer, the summit is titled “Religious Faith, Torture, and Our National Soul.” The event is cosponsored by Evangelicals for Human Rights, Mercer and 13 other organizations represented by three major faith groups.

“This is an interfaith gathering,” said Gushee, who also serves as president of Evangelicals for Human Rights. “It began as a Baptist and evangelical event and I’m really happy to say it evolved. I think that’s profound. I think it’s terribly exciting. We do share this country. We need to learn each other’s name. I’m excited about the interfaith aspect of this gathering and I believe that only religious belief provides the grounding that we need to pull us out of our worst self.”

Dr. Karen Greenburg, executive director for the Center on Law and Security at New York University, told those attending the morning session that the seeds of the U.S. torture policy were planted in the days following Sept. 11, 2001, but public awareness wasn’t raised until photos of abuse surfaced from Abu Ghraib prison.

“Those photos alerted us to the fact that there was some sort of abuse and torture going on,” Greenberg said. “Those photographs raised the following questions: were the people conducting the acts rogue elements or was it policy? The answer is it was both.”

Greenberg said since the photos were released, at least 12 reports were commissioned by various government organizations that outlined in detail the methods used in secret prisons established after Sept. 11.

“Reading these reports was like being transported to Mars,” Greenberg said. “It was an unbelievable document, but it was what the government telling us what happened in these places.”

Greenberg reminded attendees that Sen. John McCain was himself a prisoner of war, and endured torture as best as he could.

“John McCain said he went to Viet Nam with a love of his family, a love of his church and a love of his country,” Greenberg said. “When he returned home, he said he learned under torture that he loved his country more, his family more and his religion more. When you’re talking about victims of torture who are not John McCain, do you really want them to become more impassioned about their universe?”

For this reason, Greenberg said, she does not believe that torture makes our country safer.

Dr. Ron Mahurin, vice president for academic affairs at Houghton College, said no one should doubt what happened at Abu Ghraib actually happened.

“What strained moral argument will we use to justify the use of torture?” Mahurin asked. “The facts are no longer in dispute. We should never equivocate. Torture is wrong. It is undeniably, morally wrong. If our nation is not haunted by the question, ‘is torture never wrong?,’ then we bear the same responsibility of those people who carried out those acts on behalf of our government.”

Steve Xenakis, retired U.S. Army brigadier general and adviser to Physicians for Human Rights, said nothing claimed in the name of defending our country can justify the cruel and degrading treatment of another man or woman.

“The indefinite incarceration of prisoners from Afghanistan barely drew the level of discontent from Americans,” Xenakis said. “Our country was paralyzed with fear from seeing the World Trade Center vaporize. Most Americans didn’t blink an eye when our officials argued ‘roughing up a few prisoners could save American lives.’”

Xenakis said sometimes decent people get caught up in indecent acts. “This summit affirms our values as Americans,” Xenakis said. “Much has improved since the dark days of 2002 in the minds of many. But our nation’s image around the world has diminished. I fear our image of the Statue of Liberty has been replaced by that poor prisoner in a hood with his arms out-stretched. It is time to right these wrongs, and we all have a collective duty to do so.”

Another perspective on the torture issue is its effects on survivors. Douglas Johnson, executive director of the Center for Victims of Torture, said besides healing from the physical wounds of being tortured, victims often battle the rest of their lives with the mental wounds from torture.

“One survivor stated, ‘I didn’t mind the physical pain so much as I did listening to the cries of other prisoners being tortured,” Johnson said. “Some forms of torture include forcing a parent to watch a child being tortured. This not only brings about the feeling of the pain of the child for the parent, but the feeling the pain of failing as a parent.”

Johnson said the body is merely a weapon against the mind, because the ultimate goal of torture is to break the soul. “Just because we don’t see our actions through those lenses, doesn’t mean the rest of the world doesn’t view us that way.”

Johnson said the death of Jesus has been so sanitized that people don’t always remember that he was tortured until death.

In an afternoon session titled “What the Torture Debate Reveals About American Christianity,” Gushee said white evangelicals have proven susceptible to being blinded on the matter of torture because of a strict interpretation of Romans 13:1-7, “Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established (NIV).”

“This is related to a broader evangelical authoritarianism, especially in our most conservative quarters, that elevates the role of the man over his family, the male pastor over his church, the president over his nation and our nation over the rest of the world,” Gushee said. “The kinds of checks and balances provided by democratic constitutionalism, the wisdom of other nations, and international law are devalued.”

Gushee said because the George W. Bush administration has altered longstanding American policies on torture, there is reluctance among white evangelical to criticize a Republican administration, especially when Bush himself is a white evangelical.

“Government has incredible power and must be watched vigilantly and resisted forcefully when it strays, and evangelicals are not very good at that,” Gushee said. “We must recognize that the gracious Savior whose forgiveness we claim is also the sovereign Lord who demands our entire lives, our setting aside of all ideologies, loyalties and fears that hinder our faithfulness to his will, and our embodied love for the enemy, the alien and the abandoned of the earth.”

At the evening session, Gita Gutierrez, an attorney with the Centre for Constitutional Rights, shared stories about the abuse and ill treatment for detainees being held by the U.S. in Guantanamo prison. Gutierrez was one of the first lawyers to meet with prisoners there, and she said it is important for people to know the stories of detainees.

“The system in Guantanamo has been set up for us to fail,” Gutierrez said. “Professionally, we have to recognize as lawyers that we play a very small role. But it’s time that more people learn about what is going on down there.”

Gutierrez represents detainee Mohammed Al-Qatani, who has been featured in TIME magazine and by other news organizations as one of the first detainees to undergo the “first special interrogation plan,” a regime of torture and inhumane treatment authorized by the Secretary of Defense.

“Everyone is someone’s child,” Gutierrez said. “Mohammed’s elderly, sick father went to meet with lawyers from the Centre for Constitutional Rights and filled out papers so his son could get legal representation.”

Gutierrez said Al-Qatani has been imprisoned at Guantanamo since 2002 and his torture so extreme that he wouldn’t even agree to meet with her on her first visit. She went back to her hotel that night and called her home church to ask for prayers for her and Al-Qatani that he might open up and allow her to meet him.

“The next day, he was tricked into meeting me in a very tiny cell,” Gutierrez said. “He was curled up in a corner and he was so terrified that the interpreter in the room kept having to ask him to pull his arms away from his mouth so they could understand what he was saying.”

Gutierrez said in many ways, she’d have the same meeting over and over for years with Al-Qatani until she finally gained his trust.

Gutierrez said in her view, we have moved backwards has a nation. “We have two threats. One is the threat of our democracy and lost freedom,” she said. “The other is we have learned to dehumanize people based on race, religion or beliefs. We have developed the capacity to see other human beings as less than human.”

Mark Denbeaux, professor of law at Seton Hall Law School, compiled profiles on all of the detainees housed at Guantanamo and discovered some fascinating statistics.

“We found that 55 percent of all of those detained at Guantanamo are never alleged to committed a hostile act,” Denbeaux said. “My students call them enemy civilians. One student found that the only reason one detainee was there was he was listed as an assistant cook for al-Qaida.

“How could this happen,” Denbeaux said. “Guantanamo is the equivalent of the perp walk. It’s a public relations gesture. If you don’t believe me, look at the evidence that the government has collected.”

Earlier in the day, Rich Killmer, executive director of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture said he hopes this historic meeting will have a positive outcome. He hopes one day to be able to tell his grandson good news. “Our task moving forward is to be able to say that, yes, we once used torture techniques, but we don’t do that anymore.”

_____
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page

National Summit on Torture September 11-12 Sold Out at Mercer University Atlanta

An impressive lineup of speakers including prominent scholars, leaders from the faith community, former military officers and a victim of torture are on the program for a sold-out National Summit on Torture at Mercer University’s Atlanta campus September 11-12. Titled “Religious Faith, Torture, and Our National Soul” and scheduled for Thursday and Friday, the conference is being organized by Dr. David P. Gushee, Distinguished University Professor of Christian Ethics at Mercer.

Gushee, who also serves as president of Evangelicals for Human Rights, a conference co-sponsor, said the program is designed to “go to the source of the problem, to diagnose how we got here, and to chart a way forward to a better American future.”

On Thursday at 10:45 a.m., results from a new poll commissioned by Mercer University and Faith in Public Life and conducted by Public Religion Research will be released. Among the findings are evidence that white evangelical Christians in the South are significantly more likely to oppose torture if they rely on Christian teachings or beliefs to form their views and that a majority agree with the Golden Rule argument against torture — that the U.S. government should not use methods against our enemies that we would not want used on American soldiers.

Among the more than 50 speakers, presenters and moderators scheduled to participate in the conference are academics from institutions such as Yale University, the University of Notre Dame, New York University, Seton Hall Law School, Morehouse College, Georgetown University, Vanderbilt University, Princeton Theological Seminary and Mercer. Presenters will also include retired senior military officers, leaders from Christian, Jewish and Islamic organizations, and a Catholic nun who was tortured while serving as a missionary in Guatemala.

Among the other co-sponsors of the conference are the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, the Center for Victims of Torture, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, Evangelicals for Social Action, Faith and the City, the Islamic Society of North America, Morehouse College, the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, No2Torture, Rabbis for Human Rights, Sojourners and Third Way.

_____
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page

Mercer to Offer Free GMAT Course For Applicants to Two of Its Programs

Mercer University’s Eugene W. Stetson School of Business and Economics will offer free GMAT prep courses for up to 40 qualified applicants to two of its most popular programs - the Master of Business Administration and its new Master of Accountancy program.

The course will run from 2 to 6 p.m. for four Saturdays, Sept. 6, 13, 20, and 27, in the Business and Education Building on Mercer’s Cecil B. Day Graduate and Professional Campus in Atlanta. The course will be held for applicants in time for second session of the fall semester, as well those seeking admission to the spring semester. The apply to the programs, contact Tracey M. Wofford, associate director of admissions, at (678) 547-6422 or wofford_tm@mercer.edu. For information about the GMAT prep course, or to register once application has been made to the graduate programs, contact Kaitlin David in the School of Business at david_kr@mercer.edu or (678) 547-6161.

Prospective students can visit the School’s Web site, www.mercer.edu/business and click the prep course link for registration information and to check future prep courses and dates.

The Stetson School of Business and Economics holds the highest level of accreditation available for business schools from AACSB International – The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. Long a leader in business education in Atlanta with its evening MBA program, the School of Business launched this fall the Master of Accountancy. Both the MBA and MAcc are evening programs targeted toward the growing group of professionals in the Atlanta area in need of career-focused programs to help them succeed.

The Master of Accountancy degree will be offered over one calendar year. The degree is a 30-semester program comprised of 10 courses. The degree is intended to provide students with the knowledge and skills consistent with a professional graduate degree. The program is designed to prepare students for careers in public or private accounting and enable them to achieve career advancement in the accounting profession. While providing an in-depth study in basic areas of accounting, through its electives, it permits specialization in one of two emphases: public accounting (including tax and financial accounting) and international accounting (relevant to public and private accounting).

The Flexible MBA is a self-paced program that provides adults with the flexibility to attain an advanced business degree without interrupting their careers. Classes are held one evening per week in eight-week sessions, allowing students to complete their degrees along a timeline they design.

The course and materials will be available free of charge to the first 40 qualified individuals who register with the Atlanta Office of Admissions. To qualify, individuals must make application to the University’s Atlanta MBA or MAcc program and provide transcripts showing that they have previously earned a four-year degree from a regionally accredited institution with a minimum 2.5 GPA. International applicants must also have achieved the minimum required TOEFL score for admission and provide an evaluation of any international transcripts showing equivalency to a U.S. four year degree.

For more information, visit the degree programs section of the Stetson School of Business Web page at www.mercer.edu/business. Additionally, online applications for all degree programs are available on the Web site through the “Application” link within each degree program's information page. To contact the Atlanta Office of Admissions for the School of Business, call Tracey M. Wofford, associate director of admissions, at (678) 547-6422 or e-mail wofford_tm@mercer.edu.

-----
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page

Mercer Featured in Latest Edition of “Best 368 Colleges” by The Princeton Review

For the sixth consecutive year, The Princeton Review has named Mercer University to its list of America’s best colleges in the 2009 edition of the book, “Best 368 Colleges.” Only about 15 percent of the four-year colleges in America and two Canadian colleges were chosen for the book.

In its profile on Mercer, Princeton Review says: “‘Good scholarships,’ ‘challenging courses,’ an appealing ‘professor-to-student ratio, small class sizes,’ and ‘a great campus” initially convince many students to attend Mercer University in Macon—but it’s the ‘very good professors who actually care about the students’ who keep them here.” The profile goes on to quote extensively from Mercer students Princeton Review surveyed for the book. Among their candid comments on the University: “professors are very friendly and love to interact with the students” and “even the introductory courses in the School of Engineering are taught only by professors with Ph.D.s. I’ve never been taught by a (teaching assistant).”

“We chose schools for this book primarily for their outstanding academics,” said Robert Franek, Princeton Review’s vice president of publishing. “We evaluated them based on institutional data we collect about the schools, feedback from students attending them, and our visits to schools over the years. We also consider the opinions of independent college counselors, students, and parents we hear from year-long. Finally, we work to have a wide representation of colleges in the book by region, size, selectivity and character.”

The ranking lists in “The Best 368 Colleges” are based on The Princeton Review’s survey of 120,000 students (about 325 per campus on average) attending the 368 colleges in the book. A college’s appearance on these lists is attributable to a high consensus among its surveyed students about the subject. The 80-question survey asked students to rate their schools on several topics and report on their campus experiences at them. Ranking lists report the top 20 schools in categories that range from best professors, administration, and campus food to lists based on student body political leanings, race/class relations, sports interests, and other aspects of campus life. The Princeton Review does not rank the colleges in the book 1 to 368 in any category, nor do the rankings reflect The Princeton Review’s opinion of the schools.

The school profiles in “The Best 368 Colleges” also have school ratings in eight categories. The ratings are numerical scores on a scale of 60 to 99 based largely on school-reported data collected during the 2007-08 academic year. Rating categories include Admissions Selectivity, Financial Aid, Fire Safety, and a new Green rating that The Princeton Review developed in partnership with ecoAmerica, a Washington, D.C.-based environmental organization. The Green rating is based on several criteria concerning environmental policies and practices reported by the colleges to The Princeton Review.

In a “Survey Says...” sidebar in the book’s profile on Mercer, Princeton Review lists topics that Mercer students surveyed for the book were in most agreement about. The list includes: “small classes,” “great computer facilities,” “great library” and “athletic facilities are great.”

The Princeton Review (www.PrincetonReview.com) is a New York-based company known for its test preparation, education, and college admission services. It is not affiliated with Princeton University and it is not a magazine.