Mercer University Alumni Association Names Rogers the Thomas Sewell Plunkett Young Alumnus for 2012

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Mercer University President William D. Underwood (right) presented Macon's Josh Rogers with the Alumni Association's Thomas Sewell Plunkett Young Alumnus Award at halftime of Mercer's Homecoming game.

MACON, GA (11/21/2012)(readMedia)-- Mercer University's Alumni Association recognized Josh Rogers, executive director of the Historic Macon Foundation, as this year's Thomas Sewell Plunkett Young Alumnus Award recipient. The award given to an alumnus or alumna of Mercer who has graduated within the last 10 years and has demonstrated continued support of the Alumni Association and the University through his or her contribution of time, talents and financial resources.

Rogers, a 2005 College of Liberal Arts graduate, is the executive director of the Historic Macon Foundation, a position he has held since 2009. In this role, Rogers has contracted, managed and sold nearly $7 million in historic rehabilitation and new construction projects, restoring dozens of endangered historic buildings to economic usefulness. The programs also catalyzed private investment of millions of dollars into real estate and businesses in Macon's historic districts. Under Rogers' leadership, Historic Macon Foundation's revenues nearly tripled and the number of individual donors doubled in just three years.

Rogers earned his Bachelor of Arts in Southern studies from Mercer and he was then accepted to the Gilbert-Tharpe Rotary International Ambassadorial Scholarship. The scholarship sponsored his studies at the Institute of Advanced Architectural Studies at the King's Manor at the University of York in England, where Rogers received his Master of Arts in historic preservation.

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 8,300 students in 11 schools and colleges – liberal arts, law, pharmacy, medicine, business, engineering, education, theology, music, nursing and continuing and professional studies – on campuses in Macon, Atlanta and Savannah – and four regional academic centers across the state. The Mercer Health Sciences Center launched July 1, 2012, and includes the University's medical, nursing and pharmacy schools and will add a fourth college – the College of Health Professions – on July 1, 2013. Mercer is affiliated with four teaching hospitals - Memorial University Medical Center in Savannah, the Medical Center of Central Georgia in Macon, and The Medical Center and St. Francis Hospital in Columbus. The University also has educational partnerships with Warner Robins Air Logistics Complex in Warner Robins and Piedmont Healthcare in Atlanta. It 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. www.mercer.edu

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