Mercer University Names Two Northern Virginia Residents as Trustees

MACON, GA. (11/21/2012)(readMedia)-- Mercer University's Board of Trustees named two northern Virginia residents to serve five-year terms on the Board. The new Mercer trustees are Dr. Neville Callam of Falls Church and Claude M. (Mick) Kicklighter of McLean. The board met on Nov. 9 for its annual meeting at the University Center on the University's Macon campus.

Dr. Callam is general secretary of the Baptist World Alliance, a global body representing more than 110 million Baptists worldwide. He was born in Jamaica and is the Alliance's first non-white leader and first leader from outside the United States and Europe. He is a pastor and academic specializing in Christian ethics and theology. Dr. Callam has taught at the United College of the West Indies, the Jamaica Theological Seminary and at Barbados Baptist College. He has also served on the University Council of Jamaica, the accrediting body for colleges and universities in Jamaica. The author of five books, he was a founding director of the National Religious Media Company of Jamaica and has also served as chairman of the board of Public Broadcasting Corporation of Jamaica. Dr. Callam attended the University of the West Indies and Harvard Divinity School.

A retired lieutenant general, Kicklighter was appointed as director and principal investigator of the Critical Infrastructure Protection Program at the George Mason University School of Law in 2008, following a 50-year career in military and government. He was a a highly decorated Army officer for 35 years and then held a number of senior leadership positions in the Departments of Defense, State and Veterans Affairs for 15 years, including serving as inspector general of the Department of Defense. In October 2005, he was selected by the Secretaries of State and Defense to establish and direct the Iraq/Afghanistan Joint Transition Planning Group, a joint Department of State and Department of Defense team that provided analysis and recommendations for coordinating efforts to address transition challenges in Iraq and Afghanistan. He also has served on the Habitat for Humanity International board of directors, including three years as chairman.

Kicklighter is a native of Glennville, Ga. He earned his Bachelor of Arts from Mercer in 1955 and a master's degree from George Washington University. In 2011, he received Mercer's Distinguished Alumnus Award.

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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