Mercer University will confer more than 2,300 degrees across five commencement ceremonies throughout the first half of May between the Macon and Atlanta campus ceremonies.
Georgia Legal Services Program Deputy Director Tomieka R. Daniel will speak at Mercer's law school commencement, Chairman of Mercer's board of trustees Thad Warren III will speak at both the Atlanta and Macon campus commencements and graduating senior Abdulraheem Kaimari who will speak at the Macon commencement.
Macon Campus
The Macon campus will hold its undergraduate commencement ceremony on May 15, from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. at Five Star Stadium. During this event, graduates from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, School of Business, School of Engineering, College of Education, College of Professional Advancement, School of Music and College of Health Professions will receive their degrees.
Warren and Student Commencement Speaker Abdulraheem Kaimari will speak to gathered graduates.
Kaimari will graduate from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences with a neuroscience and chemistry double-major. Kaimari is vice president of the Mercer Prosthetics and Orthotics Club and has been involved in the Vietnam Mercer On Mission program. He plans to pursue a M.D. and Ph.D. at the University of Alabama at Birmingham after graduating.
The stadium will open for ticketed guests at 7 a.m. Guests should go directly to the seating areas in the stadium and be seated by 7:45 a.m.
It is important to note that outside food or drink, coolers, lawn chairs, noisemakers, pets (excluding service animals), umbrellas, bookbags, banners and some electronic devices are not permitted in the stadium.
Attendees will find complimentary water stations located around the ceremony perimeter, and the concession stand will be open as well, serving bottled waters, Powerades, other fountain drinks and snacks for purchase.
School of Law
The School of Law will hold its ceremony on May 13 at 10 a.m. in Hawkins Arena on the Macon Campus. Graduates must arrive at the University Center and check in at the intramural courts by 9 a.m. The university also recommends graduates leave personal belongings with guests attending the ceremony.
Tomieka R. Daniel will deliver the address to the 122 graduates of the school of law. In 2002, Daniel acquired her J.D. from Mercer Law School after graduating from Clark Atlanta University with honors in 1997. In 2008, she became the first recipient of Mercer’s Law and Public Service Program Award for Outstanding Public Service by a Recent Graduate for starting programs like the Teen Dating Violence Prevention Project and founding the Secrets and Stilettos Domestic violence Awareness Program which together have helped fight domestic violence and aid 16,000 students and people in danger of sex trafficking.
Gov. Brian Kemp appointed Daniel to serve on the Georgia Commission on Family Violence in 2020, and she is a member of the Macon Bar Association. She also serves on the Access to Justice Committee for the State Bar of Georgia. She is a past president of the Houston County Bar Association, a member of the Georgia Association for Black Women Attorneys and she is a former member of the Alumni Board of Directors for Mercer School of Law.
Family members and other guests of the law school commencement are able to pre-order flowers and graduation t-shirts that feature the entire graduating class of the law school.
Atlanta Campus
The Atlanta campus will have two ceremonies. Both will be held on May 14, at the Gas South Arena in Duluth, Georgia on Sugarloaf Parkway. Commencement will be held at noon for graduates from the School of Business, College of Education, College of Professional Advancement and School of Theology. Graduates from the College of Nursing, College of Pharmacy and College of Health Professions will be recognized at 5 p.m. the same day.
The speaker for both events, Thad Warren III, will speak to over 1,200 degree recipients at the two ceremonies. He is serving his third five-year term on the board and is its current chair.
Warren is the chairman and CEO of Warren Environment Inc. in Atlanta and he serves on numerous boards and foundations such as the Lake Rabun Association and the Atlanta Youth Project. He graduated from Mercer’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences in 1986.
Tickets can be purchased for both the Macon and Atlanta campus commencements by graduates after completing the post-graduation plans survey. From there, students will be emailed their tickets beginning April 26 if they completed the survey prior to April 24. Students who finish the survey after April 24 will have to receive them on a rolling basis, usually emailed within one to two business days. Each student is allotted 10 tickets to claim via the Mercer Ticket Sales portal.
Mercer graduates can park for free at Deck 3. All other guests must use the main Gas South District entrance.
In lieu of attending in person, both the Atlanta and Macon campuses will have an option for live-streaming the event.
For any additional information on location-specific events, etiquette rules, addresses, photographs and day-of livestream coverage of all ceremonies, visit the 2023 Mercer Commencement page on the university’s website.
