Young Harris' Miller Named to Mercer University Trustees

MACON, GA (11/22/2013)(readMedia)-- Mercer University's Board of Trustees at its annual meeting on Nov. 22 elected former United States senator and Georgia Gov. Zell Miller, of Young Harris, to serve a five-year term on the governing body. Miller served as a U.S. senator from 2000-2005, governor from 1991-1999 and as the longest-serving lieutenant governor in Georgia's history, from 1975-1991. As an author, he has penned six books, three of which were published by Mercer University Press. His grandson, Bryan, is a student at Mercer's Walter F. George School of Law.

As governor, Miller helped found the HOPE Scholarship Program. Upon leaving the governor's office in 1999, he accepted teaching positions at Young Harris College, Emory University and the University of Georgia. He was a visiting professor at all three institutions when he was appointed to the U.S. Senate. In 2005, President Georgia W. Bush appointed him to the American Battle Monuments Commission. That same year, he was elected to the board of directors of the National Rifle Association. After leaving the Senate, Miller joined the law firm of McKenna, Long & Aldridge. He was also a FOX News contributor.

Miller earned his Bachelor of Arts and Master of Business Administration from the University of Georgia. He served three years in the U.S. Marine Corps, before serving as mayor of Young Harris from 1959-1960, and being elected to two terms as a state senator in the 1960s.

Also joining the board for new five-year terms were Heather Darden, corporate counsel at RaceTrac Petroleum, from Atlanta; A.V. Elliott, founder of Elliott Machine Shop, from Macon; O. Gene Gabbard, businessman, from Cary, N.C.; William J. (Bill) Ireland Jr., senior pastor of First Baptist Church, Dalton; Spencer B. King III, physician, professor of medicine and director of the Andreas Gruentzig Cardiovascular Center at Emory University, from Atlanta; James W. Thomas Jr., partner with Arnold & Porter LLP, from Arlington, Va.; the Honorable Hugh P. Thompson, chief justice of the Georgia Supreme Court, from Milledgeville; and the Honorable Marc Treadwell, judge, U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia, from Forsyth.

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 12 schools and colleges – liberal arts, law, pharmacy, medicine, business, engineering, education, theology, music, nursing, health professions, 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, includes the University's medical, nursing, health sciences and pharmacy schools. 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 Center 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