Welcome

I'm pleased to welcome you to my blog on Mercer University, started in 1833 in a log cabin at Penfield and now a full-fledged university on campuses in Macon, Atlanta, and Savannah.. During its first 37 years Mercer was essentially owned and operated by Georgia Baptist Association.

William T. Johnson

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Mercer University and its President W.L. Pickard


William Lowndes Pickard 1914-1918

William Lowndes Pickard
  • Clergyman, educator, author (1861-1935); A.B., A.M., D.D., LL.D. degrees; married to Florence Martha Willingham (1886)
  • Called to the presidency during a most trying period of world war and an unsteady market
  • Broadened the curriculum, enlarged student enrollment from 357 to approximately 1,000, and increased the endowment
  • Worked toward strengthening the law course, making it a three-year program
  • Improved the offerings of summer school and recommended co-education
  • Benefited from the acquisition of the fifty-acre Dempsey tract, which provided room for future expansion and settled the agitation for moving the university from Macon
  • Expanded communication with the university alumni association, requesting an annual report to the trustees
  • Provided leadership as president of the Georgia Baptist Convention's board of education, encouraging the active participation of churches and associations in Baptist education in the state
  • Persevered despite a fire in the Administration building and the damage caused by water and the collapse of the steeple

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