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(04/05/12 6:52pm)
Student Government Association Parliamentarian, Gene Mitchell, was asked to resign from his appointed position by SGA president Jordan Locke on April 2. The resignation was a result of Mitchell’s recent opinion article published in The Cluster on March 28.
Mitchell’s article expressed his frustration for the lack of involvement in upcoming SGA elections. Currently, the SGA positions of junior class senator and senator-at-large have only five candidates to fill five availabilities. Therefore, those candidates will be running unopposed.
He explains in his article, “While I applaud those who are running as they, at least, demonstrate the courage to put their name in public view and invite criticism. I must say that some of the candidates who are running lack the competency to give an oral presentation in a one hundred level general education class; it is even more frightening that these same candidates will automatically have the platform to speak whatever is on their mind in front of the Dean of Students and the rest of the student body. These ill-fitted candidates will represent Mercer and will do so because they
will have had no democratic process to vet them.”
In explanation of his article Mitchell explained that, “You need opposition so fruitful debate and passionate ideas can come about. If you look at the campaigns that actually have competition you see a flourish of campaigning all over campus. If you look at the upcoming senior elections with the likes of Sharpe Sablon, and several others, they are campaigning everywhere. If you look at the senator-at large elections and you look at the junior senator election you don’t see any campaigning because they don’t have to.”
Mitchell’s words have stirred up members of SGA and various students resulting in more than 40 comments on The Cluster’s website, many of which have been anonymous. According to Mitchell, “The intent of my article was to say we need more competition because we need more qualified people.”
President Locke explained, “I’m not opposed to students sharing their opinions in The Cluster, in fact I encourage it. The problem I had was not necessarily what he said as a student, if he were just a student than that would have been completely fine, but his main responsibility on SGA is to aid to me, as the president, and my administration in our goals. We have a goal of fostering an environment on SGA that is open to debate and is not destructive personally to anyone who is on the body.”
Locke announced at the SGA meeting on April 2 his reasoning for asking Mitchell for his resignation. In his announcement he stated, “As a fellow member of this body, appointed by myself and confirmed by Senate, it is my opinion that [Mitchell] had a professional obligation to refrain from such an article in The Cluster… My administration does not support explicit name-calling. We do not support what could be perceived as an attack on fellow members of this body. We certainly do not endorse the comments made in the article.”
According to Mitchell, “Those opinions I said about those individuals are not alone. They’re shared in fact, by the same people who asked me to resign.”
Mitchell feels the reasoning behind Locke’s actions consist of contributing factors such as fear and perception. “The end of Jordan’s term is coming up and there was a fear in Jordan’s perception that this could derail what he wanted to accomplish in the last two senates, which was to focus on student achievement. He and I agreed on that.”
Locke was clear that his decision to ask for Mitchell’s resignation had a great deal to do with the amount of legislation that needed to be discussed in the following two senate meetings of the semester.
“We only had two senates left at the time and because of that, I wanted to focus on the legislation rather than any bickering that may have been between senators that may have gotten their feelings hurt,” said Locke.
“The intent of my article was to inspire people to become a part of the government, not to criticize Bentley [Hudgins] or any of them. That was my way of saying, ‘I’m going to give you a specific example,’ because people always say we need
transparency,” said Mitchell.
“[Locke’s] fear was, come time for senate, there would be a crowd of students in the Connell student center and they would be chanting for my impeachment,” said Mitchell. “There were, from my account, seven students present; two were there for legislation to be discussed that night and the other five were there to speak on my behalf. The only backlash was a rush to support my position and my right to speak.”
“I had every inference that if he had not resigned, impeachment charges would be brought against him that evening in senate and without sharing names or motives, I think that with 90 percent certainty, that would have happened which really would have really taken away from the important piece of legislations we were focusing on that night,” said Locke.
Mitchell, however, explained that although he believed there would have been impeachment proceedings, that he would not have been impeached. According to Mitchell, in order to impeach someone from the SGA executive branch, the judicial council must oversee the impeachment process and two thirds of the senate must vote in favor of such impeachment. Mitchell has had no contact with the judicial council.
Mitchell explained that he would have only needed eight votes to prevent an impeachment and he believes he would have had at least 13.
Mitchell believes a factor in Locke's decision was the influence of those closest to Locke. “From what I understand, Secretary [Matt] Townsend was very upset about my article and probably gave a very negative perception to President Locke about what was happening…the second person I understand felt this way was Senator [Trenton] White. So probably from those two individuals, there was talk of them moving to impeach me,” explained Mitchell.
Both Townsend and White declined to comment on the issue of Mitchell's resignation.
Locke explained that he felt the article left students with the idea that SGA is a divisive group and not cohesive in representing student interest. “I do think that it sort of spread some dissension among the senate body and among student perception of SGA,” said Locke.
“I’ve gotten a lot of support for asking for his resignation and those students are just as quick to note how much Gene has accomplished this year and how great a parliamentarian he was,” said Locke. “I don’t want this resignation to squelch
his reputation at all because he was a fantastic member of senate, a fantastic parliamentarian and has done so much for the student body this year. I know that there were a few people who were upset with my decision, but overall senators
understand and agree with my actions.”
“We take an oath to speak frankly and candidly in representing student interest and so I think that it is definitely arguable that the article was completely fine, and in fact, his duty to write,” said Locke. “The second part is to bring honor and merit to our organization and the university and that is the part that most senators felt he did not fulfill.”
“There seems to be this idea that SGA has to present itself with a united front. That’s not what respect is. Respect is understanding each others ideals and being able to listen to the other person and even if you disagree, you have the right to say what you say,” said Mitchell.
Mitchell expressed that he had been given permission by Locke to speak his opinion in both the television show, Young Puns; which discusses Mercer politics, and also his articles for The Cluster about the SGA presidential campaign.
“He made a tough decision and I respect Jordan for that but I think that it was too rash,” said Mitchell. “If he had waited a week he would have realized that although people may disagree with my candor and they may not agree with that I said, most people believe I have a right to say it without the fear of being impeached or fear of being asked to resign.”
Locke explained that the decision to ask Mitchell to resign as parliamentarian was the hardest he has made throughout his presidency.
“I tried to focus on whether or not [Mitchell’s article] broke the oath of office and the repercussions it would have in senate. I think I made the right decision,” said Locke.
“Something that is very important to Gene is the student body and the work of SGA. I think he realized that perhaps, with him [at senate], the focus would very likely not be on the issues at hand. It would be on an article which was debatably,
inappropriate for an executive member to write,” said Locke.
“I have a great deal of personal respect for Mr. Mitchell and I personally think that he saw that [the article] wasn’t received the way he intended it to be and that partially played into the reason why he accepted my request for his resignation.”
The final SGA meeting of the year will take place on Monday, April 9 with elections for next year’s office taking place April 9-13.
(03/14/12 10:24pm)
Maconites have gathered to celebrate what they love about the city they live in through the new campaign titled “I Love Macon.” The people’s campaign is geared towards focusing on the positive aspects of Macon and celebrating what each person loves most.
The campaign was created by Macon Magazine’s 2011 Five Under 40 Young Leaders to boost civic pride and a positive attitude about Macon. The “I Love Macon” founding Five Under 40 Young Leaders include Heather Bowman Cutway, Wesley Griffith, Josh Rogers, Pilar Wilder and Julia Wood. The campaign’s funding partners include The Knight Fund for Macon, The Peyton Anderson Foundation and the Community Foundation of Central Georgia.
The idea of the pledge was created around the same time that the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation published its “Soul of the Community” report. The report is a survey about how the residents of Macon feel about the community and town as a whole.
“The report contained mostly negative views of life in Macon, which seemed at odds with our experience here. We wondered what we could do better highlight what makes Macon a great place to live and the “I Love Macon” campaign was born,” said Dr. Bowman Cutway.
By the end of the year, the creators of the pledge hope to have 10,000 people pledge their love for Macon. In doing so, one promises to be an advocate for the community, focus on the positive things that Macon has to offer and respond to negativity by speaking positively about the city we live in.
“Sometimes we need to be reminded why we love Macon. It is easy to get bogged down in the things that are wrong. However, if we want to make it better, we have to remember why it is worth fighting for,” said Dr. Bowman Cutway.
Local businesses and community members have been supporting the cause by displaying the “I Love Macon” symbol throughout town. The symbol is basic, consisting of a white letter “m” on a black background with a small read heart.
“We simply hope to remind people that there is a lot to love about this town. Maybe you love the beautiful architecture. Maybe you love Macon because it is where your friends and family live. Maybe you love the events like the Cherry Blossom Festival or Bragg Jam. Either way, we should take pride in what Macon has to offer,” said Dr. Bowman Cutway.
For more information about the campaign and how to sign the pledge visit ilovemacon.org or facebook.com/ilovemacom.
(02/08/12 9:05pm)
Toby Bear will be competing at the National Cheerleading Association’s Mascot Competition April 14 in Daytona Beach, Fla. Toby was ranked number one among all of the mascots who submitted a qualification video.
Some mascots received a bid to the competition through auditioning at the National Cheerleading Association’s College Cheer Camp. Those who did not audition at a camp were able to submit qualification videos. Ten mascots were selected from the videos; five finalists who will be given the opportunity to perform on stage and five who will compete if the first ranked five are unable.
At the 2011 competition, Sammy the Bearkat from Sam Houston State University took first place. Toby hopes to beat the reigning champion as he was ranked higher than the Bearkat from just the first round of video judging.
In April, Toby will perform on stage a routine that will be judged on three components. The first component is prop utilization, which will judge Toby’s use of props that could include flags, poms or signs. Originally, Toby was planning on throwing out t-shirts to the crowd, but decided against it to avoid point deductions for liability reasons.
The second component that Toby’s routine will be judged on is crowd interaction.
“I get to interact with the crowd at Mercer’s basketball games and what better way to practice pumping up a crowd than at our home arena,” said Toby.
Lastly, Toby’s routine will be judged on dance. Cheerleading skills can be included in the dance component as long as they adhere to all the rules and standards that the collegiate cheerleading teams are required to follow.
“It felt awesome to be ranked number one video qualifier especially since this is the first year I have competed in the National Cheerleading Association’s Mascot Competition,” said Toby.
Mercer Cheerleading will be competing the same weekend, April 11-14, at the National Cheerleading Association 2012 Collegiate Cheer and Dance Championship.
“Last year, Mercer Cheerleading placed third in the nation in the small co-ed division. This year our goal is to finish in first place,” said Toby.
Toby will accompany the Mercer Cheerleaders to the national competition as they
(01/26/12 12:00am)
Mercer University’s School of Medicine is one of 105 of the nation’s top medical schools that have recently pledged to improve health care for military personnel and veterans by participating in First Lady Michelle Obama’s Joining Forces Initiative. The initiative is in conjunction with the Association of American Medical Colleges and the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine.
By participating in the initiative, Mercer pledged to focus on education, research and clinical to train physicians to meet veterans’ and their families unique health care needs such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Traumatic Brain Injury. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, 400,000 of the 2 million troops who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan have experience Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or Traumatic Brain Injury. The schools involved with the initiative have committed to providing courses, fund research and expand care for combat-related injuries.
“We are honored to participate in the White House Joining Forces Initiative to address improvements in the health care of military service members, veterans and their families,” said Dr. Bina, in a recent Mercer press release.
Dr. William Bina, dean of the School of Medicine, is a graduate of the United States Naval Academy and served aboard nuclear submarines before entering the medical field as a family physician.
The initiative will advance the current School of Medicine’s curriculum by teaching about the unique clinical challenges associated with military service personnel and veterans, focusing on the psychological health conditions as well as working to improve the overall health care and wellness.
“I’m inspired to see our nation’s medical schools step up to address this pressing need for our veterans and military families,” said Obama in an address at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. “By directing some of our brightest minds, our most cutting-edge research and our finest teaching institutions toward our military families, they’re ensuring those who have served our country receive the first-rate care they have earned.”
Joining Forces Initiative was created by Obama and Dr. Jill Biden to bring Americans together to recognize, honor and take action to support veterans and military families. It focuses on key areas such as employment, education and wellness while raising awareness about the service and sacrifice. For more information visit www.joiningforces.gov.
(12/07/11 10:59pm)
Mercer University’s Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity hosted a blood drive with the American Red Cross Nov. 16-17 in Penfield Hall. Sigma Alpha Epsilon hosts four blood drives throughout each year, two each semester, as the fraternity’s biggest philanthropy event.
For this specific blood drive, the brothers of Sigma Alpha Epsilon recruited approximately 90 students to donate more than 70 pints of blood to benefit the American Red Cross. Students and faculty members were given the opportunity to give blood both days of the event between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m.
“You don’t need a special reason to give blood,” said Sigma Alpha Epsilon brother and Philanthropy Chair, Andrew Werkeiser. “You just need your own reason. Some of us give blood because we were asked by a friend, some know that a family member or a friend might need blood some day and some believe it is the right thing to do. Whatever the reason, the need is constant and your contribution is important for a healthy and reliable blood supply. You’ll feel good knowing you’ve helped change a life. I believe that more people should give blood because it is a relatively easy way to save not only one life, but three.”
Sigma Alpha Epsilon will hold two more blood drives next semester to be announced at a later date. The blood drives are separated enough to ensure that those who donated blood before are eligible to donate at the next blood drive hosted by Sigma Alpha Epsilon.
“We are considering making [the blood drive] later in the day so we can have more student and hopefully even athlete participation,” said Werkheiser.
The fraternity hopes to increase the number of donors with each blood drive they host. According to the American Red Cross website, ww.redcrossblood.org, “currently only three out of every 100 people in American donate blood.”
Sigma Alpha Epsilon is also involved in various other philanthropy events throughout the academic year. They participate in Movember, a mustache-growing charity event throughout the month of November, to raise money and awareness for prostate cancer.
The brothers of Sigma Alpha Epsilon are also hoping to participate in a new philanthropy event to raise money and awareness for Myocarditis, a heart condition that Werkheiser has experienced twice in his life. Myocarditis is a condition in which there is inflammation of the heart muscle, with symptoms that may include chest pain similar to a heart attack. The fraternity is planning a concert that will take place next semester that will benefit the heart disease in addition to the two blood drives they will host with the American Red Cross.
(10/19/11 11:35pm)
Two Greek organizations on Mercer’s campus were pleased to receive national recognition this past summer. The Alpha Zeta chapter of Alpha Tau Omega and the Beta Sigma chapter of Alpha Delta Pi were awarded for their excellence in and out of the classroom. Alpha Zeta of Alpha Tau Omega was recognized as a True Merit Chapter and Beta Sigma of Alpha Delta Pi received the Maxine Blake Golden Lion Award.
According to a recent Mercer press release, Cindy Drury, assistant director of campus life, said “Two of our Greek chapters exemplified the greatness of Mercer’s student body when they were awarded recognition from their national organizations for their outstanding performance.”
The True Merit Chapter award is a prestigious award given to Alpha Tau Omega chapters who demonstrate overall excellence in four major categories: focus, fundamentals, finances and friendship. Alpha Zeta has been recognized as a True Merit Chapter 7 times in the last ten years. They were also recognized as one of the top ten Alpha Tau Omega chapters in the nation. Alpha Tau Omega has over 120 chapters nationwide.
“There are no set number of chapters that receive True Merit each year, but ten exemplary chapters are recognized as candidates for the Top Chapter Award. Alpha Zeta at Mercer was recognized as one of those Top Ten Chapters,” said Christopher Drive, Alpha Zeta president.
In addition, Alpha Zeta was recognized for excellence in the following categories: pledge education, ritual, finance management, campus involvement and leadership development, recruitment and scholarship.
The Beta Sigma chapter of Alpha Delta Pi received the Maxine Blake Golden Lion award this summer while attending their national convention. The Maxine Blake Golden Lion award is the highest honor an Alpha Delta Pi chapter can receive. Chapters must meet requirements consecutively for a minimum of six years in order to be eligible to win the award. Criteria cover all aspects of chapter performance such as: operations and administration, philanthropy, programming, recruitment and campus involvement. There are 138 Alpha Delta Pi chapters in the United States and Canada and of those, only 14 chapters were awarded the Maxine Blake Golden Lion Award.
Both Alpha Delta Pi and Alpha Tau Omega have their awards displayed inside their on-campus Greek houses.
“Nationally, these are two very large organizations and they were competing with chapters from universities across the country,” said Drury. “These awards are significant because it brings recognition to Mercer from around the country. Their efforts have shown what truly separates Mercer students from others; what it really means to ‘Be the Bear’”
(09/21/11 10:14pm)
Mercer hosted a Study Abroad Fair in Connell Student Center Sept. 13 throughout the lunch hours to give current students information on upcoming study abroad opportunities.
Mercer offers a wide variety of international educational experiences at many destinations, many of which were represented at the fair.
Students who are interested in studying abroad were able to gather information about various destinations, discuss opportunities and ask questions to students who have traveled through the specific program. Besides study abroad, other international organizations were present such as Mercer on Mission.
In the 2010-2011 school year, Mercer had 175 students travel abroad to a variety of destinations and 138 students came from the Macon camps program. Currently, there are 94 international students from six continents attending Mercer as a study abroad student. Before undergraduates finish their education at Mercer, nearly 25 percent participate in study abroad or Mercer on Mission.
For more information on the study abroad programs available and how to apply, visit http://international.mercer.edu/study-abroad/.
For more information on Mercer on Mission and how to apply visit http://www.mercer.edu/mom/.
(09/08/11 12:47am)
Mercer University’s Townsend School of Music recently announced a new season of concerts for 2011-2012. One event was the annual Robert McDuffie and Friends Labor Day Festival for Strings that was held Sept. 1 and Sept. 5 in Neva Langley Ficking Hall of the McCorkle Music Building. The calendar of events, which is available at music.mercer.edu and also featured in the August-September issue of Macon Magazine, consists of over 65 concerts throughout the year.
The Fabian Strings Series consists of 10 concerts featuring world-renowned strings players. It includes the sold-out Labor Day Festival for Strings that drew musicians and music lovers from across America for concerts, master classes and workshops. The Labor Day Festival for Strings featured McDuffie Center for Strings faculty members David Halen and Kurt Muroki as well as distinguished artist, Steve Moretti. Student musicians Erin Dennis, Jecoliah Wang and Yoomin Lee performed “Libertango” by Astorpiazzolla to a standing-room only audience on Sept. 1.
The ten concerts of the Fabian String Series performances include the upcoming event featuring the Orion String Quartet that will be performing on Sept. 29 in Fickling Hall at 7:30 p.m. for $10 general admission or free with a Mercer ID. Following will be Distinguished Artists in Concert on Oct. 18 at 7:30 p.m.
One event, Masterworks at Noon, is returning to the Townsend calendar of events with performances under an hour with jazz, choral, string, piano and brass delicacies. This Friday NOON series includes Class Brass with the Mercer Faculty Brass Quintet Sept. 9, Piano Politics with Greg Pepetone Jan. 20, Twelve O’Clock Jazz with Sammy K Feb. 24, The Blue and the Grey…Music of the Civil War Soldier with the Mercer Singers March 23 and String Classics with Trio RPM April 13. All performances are held on Friday at noon.
In celebration of McCorkle Music Building’s 10th Anniversary, Grammy-winning performance Celebrate with Chanticleer will be Oct. 4 at 7:30 p.m. It has been called “the world’s reigning male chorus” by the New Yorker magazine and was named 2008 Ensemble of the Year by Musical America. A birthday party for McCorkle Music Building will immediately follow in the gallery. Tickets are $25 general admission and free with Mercer ID.
Townsend Faculty Recitals are held throughout the year in Fickling Hall, typically free of charge, and include a variety of performances. University Ensembles, including Mercer Singers, Mercer Orchestra, Mercer Women’s Choir, Mercer Wind Ensemble, Mercer Opera, Mercer Percussion, Mercer Jazz and Mercer Flute Choir will also be performing in Fickling Hall. For concert information call (478) 301-5751.
(04/26/11 12:48pm)
Macon’s Main Street Program, Community Health Works and Macon Roots have recently collaborated on a new farmers’ market in downtown Macon called Mulberry Street Market.
The producer-only farmers’ market will supply local organic meats, produce and eggs in Mulberry Street Park from April through September. All the products in the market are locally grown, giving customers the ability to buy the freshest products while creating relationships with the farmers who grew them and to ask the farmers questions directly.
The farmer’s market has been in business for four weeks and is open every Wednesday from 4:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. selling a variety of fresh goods from fruits and vegetables to a variety of meats.
“The whole idea is to support local farmers so the people that you see at the Mulberry Street Market are the actual producers of the food,” said Tripp Eldridge, the Food Access Coordinator for Community Health Works.
The Mulberry Street Market was created as a response to consumer demands. Alex Morrison, Director of Macon’s Main Street Program, conducted an informal survey to determine the customers’ preferences.
“This Wednesday market is a result of responding to those consumer demands for a consistent weekly market that’s producer-only and conveniently accessible to the central business district downtown. We found that the Saturday markets were hard to get consumer participation in because they were perceived as being inconvenient. People didn’t want to come downtown in the weekend as much,” Eldridge said.
Mulberry Street Market is hoping to increase their selection while keeping the focus on fresh, local food. Currently, there are 16 farmers participating who frequently have been selling out at each market.
“My favorite part about the market is seeing the farmers go home with an empty truck. There are a lot of measures of success for farmers’ markets but the market only survives if the farmers go home empty-handed,” Eldridge said.
“Farmers’ markets are known for being this intersection of so many positive things, such as community development and sustaining your local farmers. It’s an environmental choice and it’s a health choice,” Eldridge said.
Macon has experienced farmers’ markets in the past, but none quite like Mulberry Street Market. The Mulberry Street Market, located between First and Second Street, is in the heart of downtown Macon.
“We’ve had this history, this food culture, but it was so quickly eroded by the convenience of everything so [Mulberry Street Market] is reclaiming that food culture before it’s totally lost and just falling in love with what real food is again,” Eldridge said.
(03/30/11 11:15pm)
Approximately 90 students gathered in the Religious Life Center Saturday, March 26 to participate in Dance Marathon and raise money for The Children’s Hospital in downtown Macon.
Dance Marathon is a nationwide organization in which more than 100 colleges participate to raise money for The Children’s Miracle Network hospital in their community. The yearlong process of raising money culminates at one end-of-the-year event to celebrate the money raised.
Participants of Dance Marathon stay on their feet the entire event while playing games, dancing and making crafts. The first Children’s Miracle Network Dance Marathon mission statement was “We dance for those who can’t.”
“We work all year long [planning] smaller fundraisers and getting people to sign up to participate in the event. The ultimate goal is to raise as much money as possible for the Children’s Hospital in downtown Macon,” said Kathryn Owen, the Director of Dance Marathon.
The smaller fundraisers include events in the Week of Hope, which is the week before the actual Dance Marathon event.
“Normally the Week of Hope is our last fundraising push and is a way to get people excited for the actual day of the event. It’s a way to build awareness leading up to the event,” Owens said.
The Week of Hope typically consists of restaurant nights where a portion of the sale goes towards the Children’s Hospital. This year, Moe’s Southwest Grill and Francar’s Buffalo Wings held restaurant nights.
Students interested in participating in Dance Marathon were able to register as individuals or as a team and were required to raise $50 per person. To raise money, participants could fill out addresses to send letters to friends and family asking for donations or ask for donations through the Donor Drive website.
“All of the money that we raise goes directly back to the hospital and this year our money is going to fund the chapel that they are building [in the Children’s Hospital],” Owens said.
Mary Dee Beal, Vice President of Event Management, planned the events for the actual day of Dance Marathon. The theme of this year’s Dance Marathon was a circus, filled with events, snacks and decorations.
Participants learned a dance choreographed by Shaynna Rodrigues, painted ceiling tiles to be put in The Children’s Hospital and participated in various circus-themed games and skits. Clowns were also present making balloon animals.
In addition to the games, children and their families, known as Miracle Families, spoke to participants about their experience while in The Children’s Hospital.
“Usually [the Miracle Families] talk about the time they were in the Children’s Hospital, and it varies from things like a car accident to children that have actually had cancer or some sort of illness.They share their story about how the hospital helped them and it shows us the importance of what our donations do for them,” Owens said.
Many participants in Dance Marathon have gone on hospital tours of The Children’s Hospital and have been able to see what their donations have actually gone to in past years.
“We can look concretely at the event that we planned and decorated for and then, more importantly, the money we raised. We can go to the hospital and see what [our donations] have gone to,” Beal said.
This year at Dance Marathon, participants raised over $11,653 to put towards the building of a chapel within The Children’s Hospital in downtown Macon. “My favorite part is just being able to do something for someone else and giving back to the Macon community, especially this Children’s Hospital that serves over 48,000 kids every single year,” Owens said.
If you are interested in being a member of the Dance Marathon Executive Committee next year, contact Kathryn Owens.
Applications are due to the board by April 8.
(03/16/11 8:01pm)
The new administration system called CampusVue, which replaced SIS (Mercer’s former Student Information System), went live the week of March 7. MyMercer is the new student self-service website that has replaced BearPort.
The new system supports the functions of the offices of the administration, financial planning, registrar and bursar while allowing students and faculty to have better access to these offices.
Caren Kimenker, Project Manager of Mercer University Bear 2.0 Project, said, “All of the data is stored in a centralized database that produces a better workflow among these offices.”
The difference between MyMercer and BearPort is that MyMercer allows students the opportunity to personalize their home pages and also to select and personalize links by choosing sources such as CNN.com, Weather.com or Google. Students will have all-around better access to student services than BearPort originally offered.
“The MyMercer home page is much more flexible than the former portal. Once they log in, students will have the ability to customize their home page. They will have access to ‘portlets’ that contain feeds from different sources. Some of these feeds will be university news, services and notifications,” Kimenker said.
Similar to BearPort, students using MyMercer are still able to access their course schedules, register for classes, find their GPAs, make payments, view their attendance and academic holds, and receive messages from their instructors, advisers and campus offices.
The new system will simply be easier to use for students and faculty, along with adding perks of individualism.
“Both CampusVue and MyMercer are built on Microsoft technologies that can integrate more easily with other Mercer and external systems. Many of the services that were available through BearPort will be available through MyMercer. In the future, we plan to utilize the portal to introduce other new features as well,” Kimenker said.
For faculty, MyMercer will be accessed for viewing course schedules and posting grades, attendance and assignments as well as accessing basic student information, much like Blackboard.
“CampusVue will be integrated with Blackboard so course registration, grades and other information will be passed [to and from] Blackboard. Within the MyMercer portal, there are also links to services like MercerLive e-mail, course evaluations and Blackboard so that students will have a single place to connect to other Mercer services,” Kimenker said.
For more information on the new system, CampusVue or MyMercer, visit www.mercer.edu/vue.
(03/16/11 5:04pm)
[caption id="attachment_2313" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="This year's leadership conference sought to inform Mercer students of how they can help lead social change and reform in their own communities. Kaleigh Manson/Cluster Staff"]
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The Leadership MU Conference is organized by a group of Mercer’s student leaders to help other students learn about leaders within the community and on campus through a series of breakout sessions. This year’s conference was titled “Community Leadership: Empowering Social Change”.
Students had the opportunity to register and choose which breakout sessions and speakers they wanted to hear. The breakout sessions included a variety of topics such as “Downtown Revitalization,” “Business Ownership in a Community,” “Mercer Students and the Macon Community,” “Youth and Education,” “Public Service and Community” and numerous others. Each session covered a specific area of community leadership.
The conference, which is held annually in the spring, included a variety of speakers from the community as well as Mercer students and faculty.
Co-chair of the Leadership MU committee Nikki Lunceford said, “Since we had a variety of presenters from all areas of the community it was a great opportunity for networking. In addition, from what I’ve heard from other students, the conference was inspiring and re-energizing since it promoted the idea that everyone can be a part of making a difference in the community.”
The conference had over 50 students in attendance and although all breakout sessions had student interest, the most popular breakout session was “Local Government Involvement” with the mayor of Macon, Robert Reichert, speaking. Other popular sessions were “Mercer Students and Macon Community” with student presidents of various organizations speaking, and “Youth and Education”.
Jenn Vo, co-chair with Lunceford on the Leadership MU committee, said, “[The conference] was basically trying to get as many students and faculty involved as possible as well as people in the community, and trying to help students see that there is a tie between community service and leadership.”
The goal of the conference was “to provide an opportunity for current and aspiring student leaders to strengthen their leadership skills. We [hoped] to focus on issues that are most commonly affecting student leaders,” Lunceford said.
Students were able to interact with several different community and peer leaders in order to gain a better understanding on the variety of leadership roles throughout Macon and how they all relate to empowering people to make social change.
“Students realized that it’s not just about your individual passion; there are ways to connect with other people who share your passion and from there you can make an even bigger impact,” Lunceford said.
This year, Leadership MU contained a variety of breakout session speakers as opposed to one major keynote speaker as done in years past. This way, students were given a larger variety of topics to choose from and more opportunities to attend those sessions that interested them.
“We wanted students to connect with local community leaders and learn more about how they can lead social change in their own communities, both in Macon and beyond,” Lunceford said.
Leadership MU was planned by a committee of people including Director of Campus Life Carrie Ingoldsby, Coordinator of New Student Programs Ted Goshorn, Graduate Assistant for the Center for Leadership and Volunteerism Holly Brown, Jenn Vo, Nikki Lunceford, Anu Goel and Caitlin Payne.
If you are interested in serving on the committee next year and getting involved with Leadership MU, contact Carrie Ingoldsby at the Office of Campus Life.
(02/23/11 9:40pm)
[caption id="attachment_1315" align="aligncenter" width="340" caption="Kelsey Fowler, freshman, helps serve drinks at Alpha Delta Pi’s pancake breakfast. The philanthropy event raised $2,140. "]
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The sisters of Alpha Delta Pi hosted a pancake breakfast at Centenary United Methodist Church Saturday, Feb. 12 with proceeds going to the Ronald McDonald House.
The event, known as ADPiHop, ran from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. and had members of the community as well as Mercer students in attendance.
Philanthropy Chair Kelsey Jones said, “This was the first year we did ADPiHop under the name ADPiHop. We’ve done Pancakes with the Pis before, which is kind of the same idea of having a pancake meal.”
Last year, the event was a pancake dinner. This year the event took place in the morning and attendees were given two pancakes, two pieces of sausage and a hash brown. Juice and coffee were also available to those who purchased a ticket.
The proceeds benefit the Ronald McDonald House of Central Georgia, which is located in Macon off Forsyth Street.
“Ronald McDonald House was made for families who have children who are [seriously ill or injured], so that those families have somewhere to stay [while their children are in the hospital],” said Jones.
The Ronald McDonald House provides meals for the families who stay there and the sisters of Alpha Delta Pi occasionally cook dinner for the families staying at the Macon location.
Those who attended ADPiHop enjoyed breakfast while learning more about what the Ronald McDonald House does to help and support families.
“We had over a hundred people, and most of them were actually from the community because we tried to really reach out to the community this time and promote [the Ronald McDonald House] so people know what it’s about,” Jones said.
Alpha Delta Pi also hosts other events throughout the school year that benefit Ronald McDonald House. “In the fall, we had ADPi week and we had different businesses and nights where percentages of the proceeds went to the Ronald McDonald House,” said Alpha Delta Pi president Christina Kivi.
One of those events was a trivia night including teams and raffle prizes. Teams paid a fee to enter and part of the proceeds went to benefit the philanthropy. Trivia night will continue next year, as well as ADPiHop.
“One of my favorite parts is that [the Ronald McDonald House] is so close, so you can actually go there and see the people you help. It makes a big difference,” Kivi said.
The leftover breakfast foods from ADPiHop were given to the local Ronald McDonald House along with the total proceeds of about $2,140.
“My goal is to raise at least $2,500 at ADPiHop,” Kivi said in regards to next year’s event.