Mercer Honors Lilburn's Diane Owens with Meritorious Service Award

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Mercer University President William D. Underwood (right) presents Lilburn’s Diane Owens with its Meritorious Service Award on Nov. 12 at the University's Homecoming celebration.

MACON, GA (11/22/2011)(readMedia)-- Mercer University honored Diane Owens, of Lilburn, with its Meritorious Service Award on Nov. 12 at the University's Homecoming celebration. Owens recently completed a five-year term on the Mercer Board of Trustees, spending her last year as chair of the board, the first woman in Mercer's history to hold that role.

The Meritorious Service Award is given to an alumnus or alumna of Mercer University who has demonstrated his or her support of the Alumni Association and the University through their contribution of time, talents and financial resources.

Owens is a partner with Swift, Currie, McGhee & Hiers LLP, where she serves as the regional trial counsel for several large companies including Otis Elevator Co. and Aventis Pasteur Inc. She is a member of the State Bar of Georgia, American and Atlanta Bar Association, Product Liability Advisory Council and International Association of Defense Counsel. Owens has published articles in professional journals and has appeared as a speaker at Defense Lawyers Associations, University of Georgia and Georgia State University.

Owens was a 2006 recipient of the Walter F. Georgia School of Law Meritorious Service Award and, in 2005, she was recognized as a Georgia Super Lawyer in Atlanta Magazine. Owens has served as a member of the Law School's Board of Visitors and is also a member of Mercer's Executive Forum, a life member of the President's Club and member and past chair of the Mercer Athletic Foundation.

Owens graduated summa cum laude in 1977 from the College of Liberal Arts and magna cum laude in 1980 from the Walter F. Georgia School of Law. While at Mercer, Owens was a member of Phi Delta Phi, Sigma Mu and the Brainerd Currie Honor Society. She also served as the associate editor of the Mercer Law Review.

About Mercer University:

Founded in 1833, Mercer University is a dynamic and comprehensive center of undergraduate, graduate and professional education. The University enrolls more than 8,200 students in 11 schools and colleges – liberal arts, law, pharmacy, medicine, business, engineering, education, theology, music, nursing and continuing and professional studies – on major campuses in Macon, Atlanta and Savannah and at three regional academic centers across the state. Mercer is affiliated with two teaching hospitals - Memorial University Medical Center in Savannah and the Medical Center of Central Georgia in Macon, and has educational partnerships with Warner Robins Air Logistics Center in Warner Robins and Piedmont Healthcare in Atlanta. The University operates an academic press and a performing arts center in Macon and an engineering research center in Warner Robins. Mercer is the only private university in Georgia to field an NCAA Division I athletic program. For more information, visit www.mercer.edu.