Milledgeville's Thompson Elected to Mercer University Board of Trustees

MACON, GA (11/22/2013)(readMedia)-- Mercer University's Board of Trustees at its annual meeting on Nov. 22 elected the Honorable Hugh P. Thompson, of Milledgeville, to serve a five-year term on the institution's governing body. Thompson is currently chief justice of the Georgia Supreme Court. He is a former member of the board from 2006-2011 and earned his Juris Doctor from Mercer's Walter F. George School of Law in 1969.

Thompson previously served as chief judge and superior court judge for the Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit; judge for Baldwin County Court and Milledgeville City Court; and associate with Gardner and Peugh. He is a former president of the Statewide Council of Superior Court Judges. He is a member of the State Bar of Georgia, Georgia Bar Foundation, American Bar Association, Ocmulgee Circuit Bar Association, Lawyers Club of Atlanta, Old War Horse Lawyers Club and Charles Weltner Family Law Inn of Court. He is a past member of the Milledgeville Jaycees and the Rotary Club.

Thompson earned his Bachelor of Arts from Emory University. He has received the Outstanding Alumnus Award from the Walter F. George School of Law; the Distinguished Achievement Award from Georgia College and State University; the Distinguished Achievement Award from the Baldwin County Bar Association; the Outstanding Public Service Award from the Kiwanis Club; and the Distinguished Service Award from the Milledgeville Jaycees. He is also an Eagle Scout.

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; Zell Miller, former U.S. senator and Georgia governor, from Young Harris; James W. Thomas Jr., partner with Arnold & Porter LLP, from Arlington, Va.; 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