More than 1,800 students will graduate in five Mercer University commencements during May in Macon, Atlanta and Savannah. The University will confer bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees, as well as one honorary degree.

School of Medicine – Macon

The School of Medicine will hold its Macon ceremony on May 8 at 3 p.m. in Hawkins Arena inside the University Center. The speaker will be Carl R. Boyd, M.D., FACS, professor of surgery on the School’s Savannah campus.

A past president of the Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma and past vice president of The Southeastern Surgical Congress, Dr. Boyd has more than 60 peer-reviewed publications in surgery, primarily in trauma and critical care, and has written two books. He has given more than 200 presentations in 16 countries, and has received numerous awards, including being a three-time recipient of the William S. Halstead Award for teaching.

Dr. Boyd will deliver his address to 124 candidates for degrees.

School of Medicine – Savannah

The School of Medicine will hold its Savannah ceremony on May 9 at 2 p.m. at the Savannah International Trade and Convention Center. The speaker will be Mark E. Murphy, M.D., FACP, AGAS, assistant professor of internal medicine on the School’s Savannah campus.

Dr. Murphy has served as president and board chairman of the Southeastern Digestive and Liver Disease Research Institute, chief of the Division of Gastroenterology at Memorial Medical Center, and has been the chief of Gastroenterology Education of the Internal Medicine Residency program at Memorial University Medical Center since January 1998. Also an associate clinical professor of medicine at the Medical College of Georgia, he has received numerous awards, including recognition in “America’s Top Doctors” and “Best Doctors in America.”

Dr. Murphy will deliver his address to 36 candidates for degrees.

Atlanta

The University will confer a Doctor of Commerce degree to commencement speaker David Cummings during the largest of the five ceremonies, May 16 at 8:30 a.m. on the upper field of the Cecil B. Day Graduate and Professional Campus in Atlanta.

A highly successful entrepreneur, Cummings is CEO of both Kevy and Atlanta Ventures and is the founder of Atlanta Tech Village, the largest technology entrepreneur center in the Southeast. In 2007, he co-founded Pardot, which was later acquired for $95 million by ExactTarget in one of the largest SaaS acquisitions ever of a bootstrapped company. He was subsequently named the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year in the deal category. In 2014, the Atlanta Business Chronicle named him one of the 100 most influential Atlantans.

Cummings will deliver his address to 978 candidates for degrees from the College of Pharmacy, Eugene W. Stetson School of Business and Economics, Tift College of Education, James and Carolyn McAfee School of Theology, Georgia Baptist College of Nursing, Penfield College and the College of Health Professions.

Walter F. George School of Law

The Walter F. George School of Law will hold its ceremony on May 16 at 10 a.m. in Hawkins Arena on the Macon campus. The speaker will be the Hon. Hugh P. Thompson, chief justice of the Supreme Court of Georgia.

A 1969 graduate of the School of Law, Thompson was appointed to the Supreme Court of Georgia by Gov. Zell Miller on March 1, 1994. Thompson previously served as a superior court judge in the eight-county Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit from 1979 to 1994, and was chief judge of the circuit from 1987 to 1994. Prior to that, he served as both judge of the Milledgeville City Court and judge of the Baldwin County Court from 1971 to 1979. Among his numerous achievements and awards, he served as president of the statewide Council of Superior Court Judges from 1993 to 1994.

Thompson will deliver his address to 113 candidates for degrees.

Macon

The University will hold its Macon ceremony on May 16 at 3:30 p.m. in Hawkins Arena. The speaker will be the Hon. W. Louis Sands, senior U.S. district judge for the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia.

A 1971 graduate of the College of Liberal Arts and 1974 graduate of the School of Law, Sands was nominated by President Bill Clinton to a new seat on the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia on Feb. 9, 1994. He served as chief judge from 2001 to 2006, and assumed senior status on April 12, 2014. Prior to that, he served as judge on the Superior Court, Macon Judicial District, from 1991 to 1993, was in private practice in Macon from 1987 to 1991, served as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Georgia from 1978 to 1987 and as an assistant district attorney of the Macon Judicial Circuit from 1975 to 1978. He is a veteran of the U.S. Army Reserve Signal Corps, and is currently serving his third term on the University’s Board of Trustees.

Sands will deliver his address to 570 candidates for degrees from the College of Liberal Arts, Eugene W. Stetson School of Business and Economics, School of Engineering, Tift College of Education, Penfield College and the Townsend School of Music.