title: Infamous First Light

text: The game began development shortly after the release of "Infamous Second Son". Nate Fox said it was an "easy" decision to make "First Light". He said protagonist Fetch's "conflicted history and overall attitude made her the perfect fit for a standalone game." Fox also said that making the game was "really fun", and that "everyone already knows how to do everything development-related and the tools are all already in place, so you can go directly to making content." Sucker Punch felt that Fetch's powers were different enough from "Second Son"s Delsin's powers to warrant a separate game. Even though Fetch's different powers alone provided gameplay variety, during development, Sucker Punch ensured that they felt "fluid" and "very different". Another focus for Sucker Punch was to make the overall tone darker than "Second Son". Sucker Punch put Fetch in plenty of harsh situations where she is forced to be herself and fight her way out.


title: Infamous First Light

text: During development, Sucker Punch placed a heavy emphasis on the characterization of protagonist Abigail 'Fetch' Walker. Sucker Punch worked extensively with Fetch's voice actress Laura Bailey throughout the development of the game, often asking for her input in specific situations. The game's director Nate Fox stated: "When it came time to put in dialogue or talk about motivations, we called Laura Bailey or texted her. She would tell me what would be Fetch's view so it was accurate to the character, but also accurate to a woman's experience." After the release of "Second Son", Sucker Punch felt "compelled" to make a game about Fetch; Fox stated: "We made a game about Fetch because we liked Fetch."


title: Infamous First Light

text: The game was announced at E3 2014 and was released worldwide digitally via the PlayStation Store on August 27, 2014. It was later released at retail only in Australia, Asia and Europe on September 10, 2014. Players who pre-ordered the game received a bonus costume for protagonist Fetch called "D.U.P. Fetch".


title: Infamous First Light

text: "Infamous First Light" received "mixed or average" reviews from critics, according to review aggregator Metacritic.


title: Infamous First Light

text: Destructoid's Chris Carter gave the game a positive review. He scored an 8.5 out of 10 and stated: "Full stop, "inFamous First Light" is more "Second Son", which is a good thing. Although I wasn't nearly as invested in Fetch as I was with Delsin's story, this is a great way for fans to return to the super-powered world of Seattle, and an even better way for newcomers to get a taste of the series."


title: Infamous First Light

text: Eurogamer's Dan Whitehead gave the game a mixed score of 6/10 saying: ""First Light"s weird, limbo nature makes it a hard one to pin down. Considered as a DLC add-on, it's pretty generous and fans of "Second Son" will certainly appreciate the extra backstory and another chance to romp around Seattle. As a standalone game, it earns points for trimming the fat from the open-world template, but is also as generic as they come. "First Light" is an adequate diversion for fans but unlikely to dazzle anybody else."


title: Infamous First Light

text: Andrew Reiner of Game Informer gave the game a positive score of 8/10 in his review. He summed up his review by saying: ""InFamous First Light" lacks some of the punch of "Second Son" in its campaign battles and familiar narrative marks, but is still a welcome addition to the series. Fetch is a fantastically written character, and the conclusion to her origin story is worth seeing in its entirety – even if you already know what happens. Sucker Punch did a phenomenal job with the finale."


title: Infamous First Light

text: Kevin VanOrd of GameSpot gave the game a 6/10 in his review. He called protagonist Fetch an "engaging heroine", said the "Silky-smooth combat and locomotion make it a pleasure to move around Seattle", and said "blasting Department of Unified Protection guards and digital demons, is an absolute blast". He did however criticize the game for being too easy, saying: "Once you max out your homing missiles you can sleepwalk your way through challenge arenas." He also called the mission design "uninspired" and disliked the characterization and dialogue.


title: Infamous First Light

text: VideoGamer.com's Jamie Trinca scored the game a 7 out of 10, writing: ""First Light" is "Second Son" with most of the fat trimmed, making it ideal for newcomers." Trinca had positive comments about protagonist Fetch; he mostly praised the character for not being a generic male who is tasked with saving the world, writing: "I like Fetch. She's infinitely more interesting than Delsin Rowe — she's a flawed anti-hero, who has come to be defined by some extraordinarily bad decisions." Trinca also thought the visuals were among the best on PlayStation 4, and complimented the cheap price, but felt the game lacked variety and featured repetitive gameplay.


title: Infamous First Light

text: Dan Stapleton of IGN gave the game a 7.5 out of 10, praising the challenge maps, the story, the protagonist, Fetch, and the new powers. He summed up his review by saying: ""InFamous First Light" is a decent story around a better character than "Second Son", but its battles don't have the same scale or superpower variety that "Second Son"s do. After the short campaign, its challenge maps put a new spin on combat by taking away your ability to escape danger on a whim, making it much tougher."


title: Infamous First Light

text: Polygon's Philip Kollar gave "Infamous First Light" an 8 out of 10 in his review. He said: "Despite how nicely their stories slot into one another, the ideal scenario for playing "InFamous First Light" is to have never touched "Second Son". This works best as an introductory package for newcomers to the Infamous series, a tightly-wound, dramatic story with solid action and very little in the way of excess. It's not different enough from the Infamous game that released earlier this year to totally stand out, but it doesn't suffer much for that similarity."


title: Infamous First Light

text: Daniel Bischoff of Game Revolution gave the game a glowing review. "That "inFamous First Light" echoes the main game's themes of siblings and what it means to lose family struck me deeply," Bischoff said, "especially as brotherhood has taken on different meanings for me over the years. With it written into the character's backstory, fans might know what to expect; still, I can't help but feel for Fetch above all else. Her imprisonment and Sucker Punch's use of a familiar location at the crux of this story breathe new life into neon-powered gameplay loops that had already proven themselves one of the best open-world mechanics yet." Bischoff scored the game a 4.5 out of 5.


title: Supercluster

text: A supercluster is a large group of smaller galaxy clusters or galaxy groups; they are among the largest known structures in the universe. The Milky Way is part of the Local Group galaxy group (which contains more than 54 galaxies), which in turn is part of the Virgo Supercluster, which is part of the Laniakea Supercluster. The large size and low density of superclusters means that they, unlike clusters, expand with the Hubble expansion. The number of superclusters in the observable universe is estimated to be 10 million.


title: Supercluster

text: The existence of superclusters indicates that the galaxies in the Universe are not uniformly distributed; most of them are drawn together in groups and clusters, with groups containing up to some dozens of galaxies and clusters up to several thousand galaxies. Those groups and clusters and additional isolated galaxies in turn form even larger structures called superclusters.


title: Supercluster

text: Their existence was first postulated by George Abell in his 1958 Abell catalogue of galaxy clusters. He called them "second-order clusters", or clusters of clusters.


title: Supercluster

text: Superclusters form massive structures of galaxies, called "filaments", "supercluster complexes", "walls" or "sheets", that may span between several hundred million light-years to 10 billion light-years, covering more than 5% of the observable universe. These are the largest structures known to date. Observations of superclusters can give information about the initial condition of the universe, when these superclusters were created. The directions of the rotational axes of galaxies within superclusters are studied by those who believe that they may give insight and information into the early formation process of galaxies in the history of the Universe.


title: Supercluster

text: Interspersed among superclusters are large voids of space where few galaxies exist. Superclusters are frequently subdivided into groups of clusters called galaxy groups and clusters.


title: Supercluster

text: Although superclusters are supposed to be the largest structures in the universe according to the Cosmological principle, larger structures have been observed in surveys, including the Sloan Great Wall.


title: Span of control

text: Span of control, also called span of management, is the term used in business management, particularly human resource management. The term refers to the number of subordinates or direct reports a supervisor is responsible for.


title: Span of control

text: In simple words, span of control means the manageable number of subordinates of a superior. The bigger the number of the subordinates a manager controls, the broader is her/his span of control.


title: Span of control

text: In a hierarchical business organization of some time in the past it was not uncommon to see average spans of 1-to-4 or even less, i.e. one manager supervised four employees on average. In the 1980s corporate leaders flattened many organizational structures causing average spans to move closer to 1-to-10. That was made possible primarily by the development of inexpensive information technology. As information technology was developed capable of easing many middle manager tasks – tasks like collecting, manipulating and presenting operational information – upper managers found they could hire fewer middle managers to do more work managing more subordinates for less money.


title: Span of control

text: The current shift to self-directed cross-functional teams and other forms of non-hierarchical structures, have made the concept of span of control less important.


title: Span of control

text: Theories about the optimum span of control go back to V. A. Graicunas. In 1933 he used assumptions about mental capacity and attention span to develop a set of practical heuristics. Lyndall Urwick (1956) developed a theory based on geographical dispersion and the need for face to face meetings. In spite of numerous attempts since then, no convincing theories have been presented. This is because the optimum span of control depends on numerous variables including organizational structure, available technology, the functions being performed, and the competencies of the manager as well as staff. An alternative view is proposed by Elliott Jaques that a manager may have up to as many immediate subordinates that they can know personally in the sense that they can assess personal effectiveness.


title: Span of control

text: The first to develop a more general theory of management was Henry Fayol, who had gathered empirical experience during his time as general manager of a coal and steel company, the Commentary-Fourchambault Company. He was the first to add a managerial perspective to the problem of organizational governance. The rationale for defining a strict hierarchy of communication channels is found in the need for vertical integration of activities, imposed by management's need for control and information.


title: Span of control

text: However, exercising control over activities performed by subordinates and monitoring their communication would inflict information overload to the nodes at the upper hierarchical levels, since all communication to other branches of the organizational structure would be routed through them. In addition, a larger number of subordinates also requires supervisors to monitor a high number of interactions below their own level; information overload and span of control are positively correlated.


title: Span of control

text: Graicunas (Gulick and Urwick, 1937) distinguished three types of interactions – direct single relationships, cross-relationships, and direct group relationships – each of them contributing to the total amount of interactions within the organization. According to Graicunas, the number of possible interactions can be computed in the following way. Let n be the number of subordinates reporting to a supervisor. Then, the number of relationships of direct single type the supervisor could possibly engage into is


title: Span of control

text: The sum of these three types of interactions is the number of potential relationships of a supervisor. Graicunas showed with these formulas that each additional subordinate increases the number of potential interactions significantly. It appears natural that no organization can afford to maintain a control structure of a dimension being required for implementing a scalar chain under the unity of command condition. Therefore, other mechanisms had to be found for dealing with the dilemma of maintaining managerial control, while keeping cost and time at a reasonable level, thus making the span of control a critical figure for the organization. Consequently, for a long time, finding the optimum span of control has been a major challenge to organization design. As Mackenzie (1978, p 121) describes it:


title: Span of control

text: ”One could argue that with larger spans, the costs of supervision would tend to be reduced, because a smaller percentage of the members of the organization are supervisors. On the other hand, if the span of control is too large, the supervisor may not have the capacity to supervise effectively such large numbers of immediate subordinates. Thus, there is a possible trade-off to be made in an attempt to balance these possibly opposing tendencies.”


title: Span of control

text: Fayol proposed that subordinate employees should be allowed to communicate directly with each other, given that their superiors had agreed upon this procedure. This principle became known as "Fayol's Bridge."


title: Span of control

text: The use of Fayol’s Bridge resulted in a number of other aspects needing to be taken into consideration. In order to put this system to work, Taylor’s functional foremanship has to be abandoned, and unity of command needs to be established. At the same time, decision power is distributed to individuals on lower levels in the organization, and only decisions that exceed the pre-defined decision scope of an employee are referred upwards. This, in turn, strengthens the co-equality of authority and responsibility. Since a Fayol Bridge is not limited to a certain functional area within the organization, but can span over functional boundaries, e.g. from purchasing to manufacturing, it can be considered as a first attempt to create a horizontal integration of related activities under a certain level of self-management, an early business process.


title: Span of control

text: Mackenzie and others (Massie 1965, Pugh et al., 1972) also noted that there is no generally applicable optimum span of control. There are instead several factors influencing the balance between the desired level of control and the manageability of the organization.


title: Span of control

text: Firstly, it depends on the capabilities of the organizational members, managers and workers. It was assumed, that no manager would be capable of supervising more than 5-6 direct subordinates. However, this conclusion built on the assumption that the superior must actively monitor the work of all subordinates. Later on, this statement was diversified when Davis (1951) divided managerial work into two categories, one requiring the attention to physical work, the other one requiring mental activity. Depending on the type of supervision, a span of 3-8 subordinates for managers at higher levels was considered adequate, while first level supervisors, i.e. those supervising shop floor personnel could have up to 30 subordinates.


title: Span of control

text: The neoclassical theorists have developed a different solution. They assumed that a considerable amount of decisions could be delegated to organizational members at lower organizational levels. This solution would be equivalent to the application of Fayol's Bridge combined with the principle of employee initiative that he proposed. As a result, the need for supervision would be reduced from direct control to exception handling. According to this assumption, they considered the opportunity of having access to a supervising manager would be sufficient to satisfy the need for control in standard situations. Peter Drucker refers to this principle as the span of managerial responsibility.


title: Minami Hamabe

text: Minami started off her career by winning the New Generation Award at the "7th Toho Cinderella Audition". She has since starred in numerous films and dramas, with many of them being live-action themed.


title: Minami Hamabe

text: Minami gained widespread fame for her role in Japan for her role in the live-action film "Let Me Eat Your Pancreas", which tells the story of a terminally ill girl's relationship with her introvert male classmate who happens to find out about her illness by accident. The film was the 5th highest-grossing film in Japan in 2017. Minami was awarded the Newcomer Of The Year Award at the "41st Japan Academy Film Prize". The film itself was nominated for the Picture of the Year award at the same ceremony.


title: Minami Hamabe

text: Despite her young age, Minami has starred in a couple of films that has grossed over 1 billion yen in Japan.


title: Minami Hamabe

text: In 2019, Minami starred in the film "The Great War of Archimedes". The film grossed over 1.9 billion yen in Japan is amongst the highest-grossing film of 2019 in Japan.


title: Minami Hamabe

text: In 2020, Minami co-starred with "Ryusei Yokohama" and "Yukino Kishii" in the live-action adaptation of the manga "Cursed in Love".


title: Minami Hamabe

text: Minami also appeared in the film "Murders At The House of Death" in 2020. The film has grossed over 1 billion yen and is the 20th highest-grossing film in Japan for the year 2020.


title: Minami Hamabe

text: In December 2020, Minami starred in the live-action film "The Promised Neverland". The film has since grossed over 2.1 billion yen in Japan, making it amongst the highest-grossing film of 2021 in Japan.


title: Minami Hamabe

text: Minami starred in the drama "Dr. White" in 2022. The drama is based on the novels "Dr. White: Senrigan no Karute" (published 2015 by Kadokawa) and "Dr. White: Kami no Shindan" (published 2019 by Kadokawa) by "Shin Kibayashi".


title: Minami Hamabe

text: Minami again starred alongside "Yukino Kishii" in the film "One Day, You Will Reach the Sea (Yagate Umi e to Todoku)" which was released in April 2022.


title: Minami Hamabe

text: Minami has been chosen as the 108th "Asadora" heroine by "NHK" whereby she will star alongside "Ryunosuke Kamiki". She was chosen directly by NHK without audition and will appear as the wife of the hero played by Kamiki. The Asadora is titled "Ranman" (らんまん). Filming will begin in fall 2023.


title: Minami Hamabe

text: Minami has a Pomeranian pet dog she affectionately calls ""Popu-chan"". She is close friends with fellow actors Takumi Kitamura and Kanna Hashimoto.


title: Mercer University

text: Mercer University is a private research university with its main campus in Macon, Georgia. Founded in 1833 as Mercer Institute and gaining university status in 1837, it is the oldest private university in the state and enrolls more than 9,000 students in 12 colleges and schools: liberal arts and sciences, business, engineering, education, music, college of professional advancement, law, theology, medicine, pharmacy, nursing, and health professions. Mercer is a member of the Georgia Research Alliance and has a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, the nation's oldest collegiate honors society.


title: Mercer University

text: Mercer has four major campuses: the historic (main) campus in Macon, a graduate and professional campus in Atlanta, and four-year campuses of the School of Medicine in Savannah and Columbus. Mercer also has regional academic centers in Henry County and Douglas County; the Mercer University School of Law on its own campus in Macon; teaching hospitals in Macon, Savannah, and Columbus; a university press and a performing arts center, the Grand Opera House, in Macon; and the Mercer Engineering Research Center in Warner Robins. The Mercer University Health Sciences Center encompasses Mercer's medical, pharmacy, nursing, and health professions programs in Macon, Atlanta, Savannah, and Columbus.


title: Mercer University

text: "U.S. News & World Report" has ranked Mercer among the top two private universities in Georgia for approximately 25 years. Overall, "U.S. News & World Report" (2021 edition) ranks Mercer 160th among the 389 National Universities, 49th in terms of undergraduate teaching; and 35th best value in terms of education relative to cost; Mercer is the 6th highest ranked private research University in the South. Mercer has been cited by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching for its community engagement and was among the 113 institutions listed on the 2015 President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction. Princeton Review has ranked Mercer as one of the best colleges in the nation for 18 years. Mercer is classified as a "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity".


title: Mercer University

text: Mercer University alumni include 21 United States Representatives, 12 Governors, four United States Senators, two Pulitzer Prize winners, two Rhodes Scholars and a U.S. Attorney General.


title: Mercer University

text: Mercer has an NCAA Division I athletic program and fields teams in eight men's and ten women's sports; all university-sponsored sports compete in the Southern Conference except women's sand volleyball, which is not sponsored by the SoCon, and thus competes in the ASUN Conference.


title: Mercer University

text: Mercer University was founded in Penfield, Georgia, as a boys' preparatory school under Billington McCarter Sanders, a professor who served as the first president, and Adiel Sherwood, a Baptist minister who previously founded a boys' manual labor school that served as a model. The school opened as Mercer Institute with 39 students on January 14, 1833. The school was named for Jesse Mercer, a prominent Baptist leader who provided a founding endowment and who served as the first chairman of the board of trustees. The Georgia General Assembly granted a university charter in December 1837. Mercer adopted its present name in 1838 and graduated its first university class, of three students, in 1841. In 1871, Mercer moved to Macon, a center of transportation and commerce in Georgia.


title: Mercer University

text: The School of Law was established in 1873 and was named the Walter F. George School of Law in 1947 in honor of Mercer alumnus Walter F. George, class of 1901, who served as a United States senator from Georgia and as President "pro tempore" of the United States Senate.


title: Mercer University

text: During World War II, Mercer was one of 131 colleges and universities in the V-12 Navy College Training Program, which offered military training that prepared students for a commission in the United States Navy.


title: Mercer University

text: Mercer expanded to Atlanta in 1959 when the university absorbed the independent Southern School of Pharmacy. The College of Liberal Arts, the School of Law, and the Southern School of Pharmacy comprised the university until 1972 when Mercer merged with Atlanta Baptist College, which became Mercer's Atlanta campus.


title: Mercer University

text: Atlanta Baptist College was founded in 1968 under the leadership of Dr. Monroe F. Swilley, a prominent Baptist educator. The college merged with Mercer in 1972 and became the College of Arts and Sciences, and in 1984 was named the Cecil B. Day College of Arts and Sciences. Mercer offered undergraduate liberal arts education in Atlanta until 1990 when the college closed. Faculty and students tried to prevent the closure, but were not successful. The mission of the Atlanta campus changed to graduate and professional education. The Southern School of Pharmacy moved in 1992 from its downtown location to the Cecil B. Day Graduate and Professional Campus.


title: Mercer University

text: Between 1982 and 2013, Mercer established nine additional colleges and schools: the School of Medicine in 1982, the Eugene W. Stetson School of Business and Economics in 1984, the School of Engineering in 1985, the James and Carolyn McAfee School of Theology in 1994, the Tift College of Education in 1995, the Georgia Baptist College of Nursing in 2001, the College of Continuing and Professional Studies in 2003 (renamed Penfield College of Mercer University in 2014), the Townsend School of Music in 2006, and the College of Health Professions in 2013. Mercer opened its second four-year medical school in Savannah in 2008 and the multi-campus Mercer University Health Sciences Center in 2012.


title: Mercer University

text: Mercer received a $5 million grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation in 2009 to support continued revitalization of the College Hill Corridor between campus and downtown Macon. The Mercer On Mission service-learning program, launched in 2007, has been recognized by the Clinton Global Initiative as "an exemplary approach to addressing a specific global challenge." It helps students combine research, study abroad and service-learning under faculty direction.


title: Mercer University

text: The multi-campus Mercer University Health Sciences Center, which incorporates programs offered by the School of Medicine, the College of Pharmacy, the Georgia Baptist College of Nursing, and the new College of Health Professions, opened in 2013. The College of Health Professions, authorized by the board of trustees in 2012, is Mercer's twelfth academic unit. Mercer purchased the former Georgia Music Hall of Fame building in downtown Macon in 2012; the extensively renovated building reopened in 2014 as the home of Mercer Medicine, a multi-specialty physician clinic and a division of the School of Medicine.


title: Mercer University

text: Mercer opened a large retail-residential center on the Macon campus in 2011. The center, called Mercer Lofts, houses the Barnes & Noble operated university bookstore, other shops, and student apartments. Mercer Lofts II, a mixed-use development adjacent to Phase I, opened in 2012; the facility houses Mercer's Center for Collaborative Journalism, which consists of the university's journalism department and the editorial-professional staffs of the Macon Telegraph and Georgia Public Broadcasting (on the first floor) along with student apartments (on upper floors). Also in 2012, the university opened a new admissions and welcome center on the Macon campus; the center is named for Emily Parker Myers, a long-time university administrator, and is the university's first LEED certified building. In 2013, Mercer completed Cruz Plaza, a major landscaping project for the Macon campus central quadrangle linking the University Center (Hawkins Arena), Tarver Library, and Connell Student Center.


title: Mercer University

text: Mercer University was the first college or university in Georgia to fully desegregate. In April 18, 1963, the Board of Trustees voted 13 to 5, with 3 abstentions, to ratify the policy that "Mercer University considers all applications based on qualification, without consideration of race, color of skin, creed, or origin.". This policy change allowed Sam Oni, a twenty-two-year-old student from Ghana, to become the first Black student to attend Mercer University. Sam Oni, knowingly and intentionally, in part applied to Mercer for the purpose of helping to end racial segregation in the United States. As Sam Oni phrased it "My role, as we conceived it was by breaking the color bar at Mercer, I would be challenging our Southern Baptist brothers and sisters in America to confront gross contradictions in the Christian witness at home and abroad." Sam Oni succeeded despite pressure from segregationist in both the South and the Southern Baptists to keep Mercer racially segregated, including an airplane flying a banner that read "Keep Mercer Segregated" as the Board of Trustees successfully voted to fully integrate.


title: Mercer University

text: In 2006, the Georgia Baptist Convention (Southern Baptist Convention) terminated its affiliation with it due to the presence of a gay association on campus and its support of other Baptist organizations. Before the affiliation ended, Mercer had an independent board of trustees; the convention provided financial support but did not control the university. The lack of control caused friction, with Mercer resisting restraints on social issues while the convention saw Mercer as becoming secularized and not conforming to its values.


title: Mercer University

text: On October 31, 2014, Mercer announced an effort to raise $400 million, including $207 million for its endowment, $109 million for capital projects, and $84 million for operations. By its public launch, $90 million in gifts and pledges had been collected. The campaign aims to fund a $15 million medical education facility in Savannah, ground was broken on October 14, 2014; a $25 million undergraduate sciences facility in Macon; a $20 million health sciences building in Atlanta; a $3 million baseball stadium in Macon; additional endowment for faculty positions, academic programs and student scholarships; funding for programs and initiatives such as Mercer On Mission; and additional support throughout the university's 12 schools and colleges, Mercer University Press, the university libraries, athletic department, and other administrative units.


title: Mercer University

text: In athletics, Mercer has added programs in men's lacrosse, sand volleyball, and football; constructed a new football and lacrosse complex, named Five Star Stadium (10,200 seats); and changed affiliation to the Southern Conference. In 2014, Mercer set an enrollment record in the fall of 2014 with a university-wide population of 8,557 students. The larger student body reflects expanded academic programs including five new doctoral degrees: Doctor of Philosophy in Curriculum and Instruction, Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing, Doctor of Nursing Practice, Doctor of Physical Therapy, and Doctor of Philosophy in Clinical Medical Psychology. Mercer opened its second four-year medical school, in Savannah, in 2008.


title: Mercer University

text: Mercer opened Mercer Lofts III in 2014; the facility is a large student-housing complex on College Street next to Tattnall Square Park and the university's historic north quadrangle. Also in 2014, Mercer completed an extensive renovation of the historic Amanda Bell House, listed on the National Register of Historic Places; the building houses the Robert McDuffie Center for Strings of the Townsend School of Music and is one of the finest conservatory facilities in the nation. Mercer's television station, WMUB (Mercer University Broadcasting), opened a new studio in Mercer Village in 2014 as a part of the university's Center for Collaborative Journalism.


title: Mercer University

text: The M. Diane Owens Garden, named for the first female chair of Mercer's board of trustees, a large environmentally friendly fountain and garden area near Five Star Stadium, was dedicated in 2014. The garden complements Cruz Plaza, completed in 2013, as a major landscaping project beautifying the Macon campus.


title: Mercer University

text: Mercer Lofts IV, known as the Lofts at College Hill, opened in 2015; the housing-retail complex is designed for graduate and professional students and is located adjacent to Macon's main post office between College Street and Interstate 75, near the Walter F. George School of Law. Mercer's Tattnall Square Center for the Arts also opened in 2015; the center is the former Tattnall Square Presbyterian Church, near the historic north quadrangle, and now houses the university theater department and is a community performing arts center.


title: Mercer University

text: Mercer Lofts V, known as the Lofts at Mercer Landing, opened in 2016 adjacent to Five Star Stadium near the Mercer University Drive exit from Interstate 75; a new campus entrance and a pedestrian bridge connecting the campus and the complex are also complete. The facility provides student housing, university offices, and a large parking garage; retail-food facilities and a second on-campus hotel, operated by Marriott TownePlace Suites, are a part of the complex as well, located directly across Mercer University Drive from the university's Hilton Garden Inn.


title: Mercer University

text: Mercer's other construction projects in recent years include renovation and expansion of the School of Medicine facility in Savannah (completed 2016), a new undergraduate residence hall in Macon named Legacy Hall (completed 2016), and a renovated and enlarged baseball facility named OrthoGeorgia Park at Claude Smith Field (completed 2017).


title: Mercer University

text: Mercer's Board of Trustees on April 20, 2018, approved a new strategic plan that succeeds the 2008 plan, which saw the institution reclassified as a national research university, admitted to the Georgia Research Alliance, granted a Phi Beta Kappa chapter, growth of 41 percent in undergraduate enrollment, a near doubling of research expenditures, investment of more than $200 million in new facilities, and an increase of endowment to more than $300 million. The 2018 strategic plan, titled "Inspire: Mercer's Vision for the Decade Ahead", has seven imperatives: be an intimate and diverse community of gifted scholars committed to changing the world; be a place of discovery and innovation; be a global university; be relevant; achieve meaningful outcomes; compete with the best, and be true to its heritage.


title: Mercer University

text: Mercer has launched second and third medical school campuses (in Savannah and Columbus), started a master's-level physician assistant program and a doctoral-level program in physical therapy, and added doctoral programs in clinical psychology, nursing, counseling, educational leadership, and curriculum and instruction. Reflecting an increased emphasis on research, Mercer meets criteria established by the Carnegie Foundation for classification as a research-doctoral university; the number of doctoral students has increased from fewer than 35 to more than 250. In addition, annual externally funded research expenditures now exceed $36 million due to increased funding from the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and the Georgia Research Alliance; plus new funding as eminent cancer scientists by the Georgia Cancer Coalition.


title: Mercer University

text: Mercer students have earned national recognition and prestigious Fulbright, Goldwater, Teach For America and Peace Corps scholarships and appointments; , two of the last three recipients of the Gulf South Summit Award for Outstanding Student Contributions to Service-Learning have been Mercer students and Mercer ranks among the top three institutions in the Southeast for placement of Peace Corps volunteers among colleges and universities with fewer than 5,000 undergraduate students.


title: Mercer University

text: The University dedicated in April 2018 the new $44 million Godsey Science Center. The largest academic facility project in the university's history, the science center includes 60 teaching and research labs, three medium classrooms (75 to 100 students each), four small classrooms (32 students each) and 46 offices for Mercer's biology, chemistry, biochemistry, and neuroscience programs.


title: Mercer University

text: Mercer began construction on Phase II of the Mercer Landing development in early 2018. The project, located adjacent to the residential loft complex completed in 2016, will provide more student housing and more parking for the complex and for Five Star Stadium, which is located across Mercer University Drive.


title: Mercer University

text: The main campus of Mercer University is in Macon, approximately south of Atlanta. The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the Stetson-Hatcher School of Business, the Tift College of Education, the Townsend School of Music, the School of Engineering, the School of Medicine, and programs of the College of Professional Advancement are located on the Macon campus. The R. Kirby Godsey Administration Building, the W. G. Lee Alumni House, and the Emily Parker Myers Admissions and Welcome Center (listed as R. J. Anderson House) are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Also listed are the Amanda Bell House (listed as Lassiter House), which houses the Robert McDuffie Center for Strings of the Townsend School of Music, located on College Street one mile (1.6 km) from the main campus, and the Grand Opera House, a county-owned performing arts center operated by Mercer.


title: Mercer University

text: The Macon campus is home to the Office of International Programs, which offers exchange partnerships between Macon and universities in countries such as England, Scotland, Germany, Spain, France, Sweden, Morocco, Argentina, Japan, Hong Kong, and South Korea.


title: Mercer University

text: The Mercer University School of Law is located on its own campus in Macon, one mile (1.6 km) from the main campus. The Law School building is a three-story partial replica of Independence Hall in Philadelphia and is located on Coleman Hill overlooking downtown Macon. Adjacent to the Law School is the university-owned Woodruff House, a Greek revival-style mansion built in 1836 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, which is used for university special events. The Law School building and the Woodruff House are two of Macon's most recognizable sites.


title: Mercer University

text: The Cecil B. Day Graduate and Professional Campus of Mercer University is in the Atlanta metropolitan area, approximately two miles (3.2 km) south of the interchange of Interstate 85 and Interstate 285 in the Northlake area of DeKalb County. The College of Professional Advancement, the James and Carolyn McAfee School of Theology, the College of Pharmacy, the Georgia Baptist College of Nursing, and programs of the Stetson-Hatcher School of Business (BBA, MBA and Executive MBA programs), the Tift College of Education (Master's and PhD programs), and the School of Medicine (Master's program) are located here. Mercer's Atlanta campus was formerly the home of Atlanta Baptist College until it merged with Mercer in 1972. The campus is named for Cecil B. Day, founder of Days Inn Hotels who attended Mercer before leaving to serve in the United States Marine Corps.


title: Mercer University

text: Mercer enlarged the Atlanta campus in 2004 by acquiring the former headquarters of the Georgia Baptist Convention, which constructed a new headquarters in Gwinnett County. The former headquarters building, renamed the Mercer University Conference and Administration Center, is occupied by the American Baptist Historical Society and the Baptist History and Heritage Society.


title: Mercer University

text: The current headquarters of the Federal Bureau of Investigation Atlanta Field Office is on the grounds of Mercer Atlanta Campus and opened in 2017.


title: Mercer University

text: Mercer opened a new four-year medical school in Savannah in August 2008. The campus is a branch of the School of Medicine in Macon and is located at Memorial University Medical Center, Mercer's teaching hospital in Savannah. The new medical school campus is the university's third major campus in addition to those in Macon and Atlanta.


title: Mercer University

text: The School of Medicine's new medical education and research facility at Memorial was dedicated in April 2016. The $18 million Savannah campus expansion, which began in October 2014 and was completed in December 2015, includes renovation of approximately 26,500 square feet of classrooms, offices, research labs and library space in the Hoskins Center, as well as construction of 30,000 square feet of new space for additional classrooms, exam rooms and study areas. This expansion allows for a 50-percent increase in M.D. student enrollment – from 160 to 240 students – in Savannah, equaling the number of M.D. students on the Macon campus.


title: Mercer University

text: In February 2012, Mercer announced the establishment of a new campus in Columbus. The campus was the third for the School of Medicine, which has existing campuses in Macon and Savannah. The campus partnered with two regional hospitals, The Medical Center and St. Francis Hospital, and beginning in the summer of 2012, offered clinical rotations for third and fourth year students. On September 3, 2020, the University broke ground for a new School of Medicine campus in Columbus to accommodate the expansion to a full four-year M.D. program. The initial cohort of first-year M.D. students began classes in August 2021 and the new campus was completed in December 2021.


title: Mercer University

text: Mercer is affiliated with five teaching hospitals – Memorial University Medical Center in Savannah; Atrium Health Navicent The Medical Center and Piedmont Medical Center in Macon; and Piedmont Columbus Regional Hospital and St. Francis Hospital in Columbus.


title: Mercer University

text: Mercer has regional academic centers in Henry County and Douglas County. The centers offer undergraduate and graduate degrees for working adults.


title: Mercer University

text: The Henry County Regional Academic Center opened in 2003. The facility combined programs previously offered at two smaller facilities in Covington and Griffin. The center is located in McDonough.


title: Mercer University

text: The Douglas County Regional Academic Center was named in 2007 in honor of Fred and Aileen Borrish, longtime Mercer benefactors and supporters of education in Douglas County. The center is located in Lithia Springs.


title: Mercer University

text: Mercer University has four libraries, which are organized as a separate division alongside the twelve colleges and schools. The Jack Tarver Library, located on the Macon campus, is the largest. The Medical Library and Peyton T. Anderson Resources Center, located in the School of Medicine, and the Furman Smith Law Library, located in the Walter F. George School of Law, are also in Macon. The Monroe F. Swilley, Jr. Library is on the Atlanta campus. Each library has a wide variety of print and non-print resources.


title: Mercer University

text: The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, founded in 1833, is the heart of the university offering undergraduate degrees in the arts, humanities, communications, natural sciences, and social sciences. The college, with more than 110 full-time faculty members, offers dozens of majors, minors, and interdisciplinary programs, and the Great Books program allows students to study the classic writers and thinkers of the Western world. In 2011, the college's largest majors were biology and biochemistry, psychology, chemistry, English, and political science. The curricular program of the college is recognized for its focus on critical thinking, effective communication, problem-solving, and development of the whole person.


title: Mercer University

text: The Stetson-Hatcher School of Business, founded in 1984, has the highest level of accreditation for business schools from the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. The school offers bachelor's degree (BBA) programs in Macon, Atlanta, and Douglas County, Evening MBA programs in Macon and Atlanta, Professional MBA programs in Henry County and Savannah, and an Executive MBA program in Atlanta.


title: Mercer University

text: The Mercer University Executive Forum, Georgia's premier business outreach program, is a part of the school. The program welcomes nationally known speakers who conduct management and leadership seminars in Macon and Atlanta. Speakers have included Lou Dobbs, Bob Dole, Steve Forbes, Lou Holtz, Jesse Jackson, Tom Ridge, George Tenet, George Will, Bob Woodward, and numerous other business, political, and social leaders.


title: Mercer University

text: The School of Engineering, founded in 1985, is the only private engineering school in Georgia and one of only five engineering schools in the state; the others are Georgia Institute of Technology, Georgia Southern University, University of Georgia, and Kennesaw State University. The school offers undergraduate and graduate degrees and is the primary provider of engineers for Robins Air Force Base in Warner Robins, Georgia. The school is located on the Macon campus in a modern academic facility. Mercer dedicated a new $14 million Science and Engineering Building adjacent to the existing facility in 2007; the new building significantly expands the school's laboratory and classroom resources. Mercer Engineering Research Center (MERC), an extension of the school located in a state-of-the-art facility in Warner Robins, directly supports Robins AFB and offers significant research opportunities for students and faculty. In addition, the school's National Engineering Advisory Board, composed of some of the nation's most respected corporate leaders including Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Boeing, and Georgia Pacific, provides premier research and career opportunities for students.


title: Mercer University

text: The School of Engineering and Robins Air Force Base maintain an educational partnership that provides on-base internships and other learning opportunities for aerospace engineering, electrical engineering, and computer engineering students. The partnership is separate from the Mercer Engineering and Research Center, which is located near the base in Warner Robins. The educational partnership is one of two maintained by Mercer University, the other involves the Georgia Baptist College of Nursing, the School of Medicine, and Piedmont Healthcare of Atlanta.


title: Mercer University

text: The Clinton Global Initiative University, a program of the William J. Clinton Foundation, recognized Mercer University in 2009 for its Mercer On Mission project, which provides amputees in developing nations with low-cost prosthetics. The prosthetics use a universal socket technology developed by School of Engineering faculty and students. Mercer On Mission was one of only three university projects recognized by former President Bill Clinton at the CGI University annual conference.


title: Mercer University

text: The Tift College of Education, founded in 1995 as the School of Education, has the highest level of accreditation from the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education and is the largest private provider of teachers in Georgia. The college was named in 2001 to honor the legacy of Tift College, a Baptist women's college in Forsyth. Tift College, founded in 1849, merged with Mercer in 1986 and was closed. Mercer adopted its alumnae and maintains their records.


title: Mercer University

text: The Tift College of Education offers undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs on the Macon and Atlanta campuses and at the university's regional academic centers. The college offers three Doctor of Philosophy degrees: P–12 School Leadership, Higher Education Leadership, and Curriculum and Instruction.


title: Mercer University

text: The Townsend School of Music opened on July 1, 2006. Mercer trustee Carolyn McAfee, wife of James T. McAfee, Jr., former chairman of Mercer's board of trustees, and her son and daughter-in-law, Tom McAfee and his wife Julie, provided the founding endowment. The school, named in honor of Mrs. McAfee's parents, Raymond and Sophia Townsend, is housed in the Allan and Rosemary McCorkle Music Building, a state-of-the-art facility that opened in 2001 on the Macon campus. The Townsend School of Music offers undergraduate and graduate music degrees formerly offered by the College of Liberal Arts.


title: Mercer University

text: The Townsend-McAfee Institute, established in 2005, is a collaboration between the Townsend School of Music and the James and Carolyn McAfee School of Theology offering graduate programs in church music that prepare musical artists for the ministry. The institute, located on the Macon campus with the School of Music, is preparing a new hymnal for Baptists and other Christian fellowships. Slated for release in 2009, the 400th anniversary of Baptists, the project demonstrates Mercer's commitment to its church-related heritage and connects with the university's namesake, Jesse Mercer, who authored "Cluster of Spiritual Songs", a hymnal first published circa 1800 with 11 subsequent editions.


title: Mercer University

text: The Robert McDuffie Center for Strings offers conservatory-quality music training in a comprehensive university setting. McDuffie is an internationally renowned violinist who has served as Distinguished University Professor of Music since 2004. The focus of the center, housed in the School of Music on the Macon campus, is to provide highly talented string students the opportunity to learn with some of the nation's most renowned string musicians. Total enrollment is limited to 26 students: 12 violinists, 6 violists, 6 cellists and 2 double bassists.


title: Mercer University

text: The College of Professional Advancement, formerly Penfield College of Mercer University, was founded in 2003 as the College of Continuing and Professional Studies and offers undergraduate and graduate degrees for working adults. Courses are offered on the Macon and Atlanta campuses and at the regional academic centers in Henry County, Douglas County, and Newnan. The college was named on July 1, 2014, to honor the legacy of Mercer's original location in Penfield, Georgia and to better reflect the college's breadth of academic offerings from certificate programs to doctoral-level degrees. Mercer maintains a portion of the original Penfield campus including historic Old Mercer Chapel and the gravesite of university founder Jesse Mercer.


title: Mercer University

text: The Public Safety Leadership Institute on the Atlanta campus offers educational programs for law enforcement and other public safety officials. The curriculum focuses on organizational leadership, liberal studies, and human resources administration within governmental organizations in the rapidly changing post 9/11 world. The institute has been endorsed by numerous law enforcement organizations.


title: Mercer University

text: The college's graduate-level programs include master's degrees in public safety, organizational leadership, school counseling, and clinical mental health counseling as well as an Educational Specialist degree in school counseling and a Doctor of Philosophy in Counselor Education and Supervision. In 2013, the college began offering graduate programs in human services and rehabilitation counseling.


title: Mercer University

text: The Mercer University School of Law, founded in 1873, is one of the oldest law schools in the United States. The school was formerly named Walter F. George School of Law after Walter F. George, Mercer Law Class of 1901, who was a long-time United States Senator and was President pro tempore of the Senate. The School of Law offers the Juris Doctor (JD) degree and a joint Juris Doctor/Master of Business Administration (JD/MBA) in conjunction with the university's Stetson-Hatcher School of Business.


title: Mercer University

text: The James and Carolyn McAfee School of Theology, founded in 1994, offers graduate theological programs and is affiliated with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. McAfee's curriculum is not directed by the Georgia Baptist Convention or Southern Baptist Convention. The school, located on the Atlanta campus, is named for James T. McAfee, Jr., former chairman of Mercer's board of trustees, and his wife Carolyn. The McAfees provided a founding endowment.


title: Mercer University

text: The McAfee School of Theology and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship are "identity partners"; announced in 2006, the CBF provides funding for operating costs, scholarships, and collaborative projects. The designation, which grants the highest level of CBF funding, is held by four theology schools, the McAfee School of Theology, the George W. Truett Theological Seminary at Baylor University, the Divinity School at Campbell University, and the Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond.


title: Mercer University

text: The American Baptist Historical Society (ABHS), with the largest and most diverse collection of Baptist historical materials and archives in the world, is located on the Atlanta campus. The ABHS moved to Atlanta in 2008 from Valley Forge, Pennsylvania and Rochester, New York. The organization is housed in the Mercer University Administration and Conference Center, formerly occupied by the Georgia Baptist Convention. The ABHS provides research opportunities for Baptist scholars and positions Mercer and the McAfee School of Theology as a national center of Baptist scholarship.


title: Mercer University

text: The Baptist History and Heritage Society (BHHS), founded in 1938 as the Southern Baptist Historical Society, relocated from Brentwood, Tennessee to the Atlanta campus in 2007. The BHHS, an independent organization with historic ties to the Southern Baptist Convention, is housed in the former Georgia Baptist Convention headquarters building along with the American Baptist Historical Society. The two organizations complement each other by providing resources on the American Baptist tradition and the Southern Baptist tradition, which further enhances Mercer's position as a national center of Baptist scholarship.


title: Mercer University

text: The Mercer University School of Medicine, founded in 1982, is partially state funded and accepts only Georgia residents into the Doctor of Medicine program. The school's core mission is to train primary care physicians and other health professionals for service in rural and medically underserved areas of Georgia. The school is consistently recognized for its focus on family medicine, and in 2005, "U.S. News & World Report" ranked the school 17th out of 126 accredited medical schools in the family medicine category. In addition to the Doctor of Medicine, the school offers master's programs in family therapy. The School of Medicine's teaching hospitals are the Medical Center of Central Georgia in Macon, Memorial University Medical Center in Savannah, The Medical Center and St. Francis Hospital in Columbus.


title: Mercer University

text: The School of Medicine received additional state funding in 2007 to expand its existing partnership with Memorial University Medical Center by establishing a four-year medical school in Savannah, the first medical school in southern Georgia. Third and fourth year Mercer students have completed clinical rotations at Memorial since 1996, approximately 100 residents are trained each year in a number of specialities. The expanded program opened in August 2008 with 30 first year students and Graduated its first M.D.'s in 2012. The School of Medicine's Macon and Savannah campuses are administered by Senior Associate Deans who report to one Dean. The new medical program furthers Mercer's mission to train primary care physicians for service in rural and medically underserved areas of Georgia.


title: Mercer University

text: The Center for Health and Learning is an educational partnership between the Georgia Baptist College of Nursing, the School of Medicine, and Piedmont Healthcare of Atlanta. The School of Medicine joined the partnership in September 2007 when it partnered with Piedmont to offer a Masters in family therapy on the Atlanta campus. Piedmont is a not-for-profit organization with several hospitals, including Piedmont Hospital and Piedmont Fayette Hospital, both recognized as among the best in the nation, a primary care physician group with approximately 20 clinics, and a physician network with approximately 500 members. Family therapy students are provided learning experiences at various facilities throughout the Piedmont system.


title: Mercer University

text: In April 2011, Mercer announced a new Doctor of Clinical Medical Psychology program with the first students to enroll in the fall of 2012.


title: Mercer University

text: In February 2012, Mercer announced the establishment of a third School of Medicine campus. The campus, in Columbus, joined existing locations in Macon and Savannah. The new campus partnered with two regional hospitals, The Medical Center and St. Francis Hospital, and offered clinical rotations for up to 80 third and fourth year students.


title: Mercer University

text: The College of Pharmacy, founded in 1903, was an independent school in Atlanta until it merged with Mercer in 1959. The college, ranked by "U.S. News & World Report" among the top five private pharmacy schools in the country, moved from its downtown location to Mercer's Atlanta campus in 1992. In 1981, the college became the first in the southeast and the fifth in the nation to offer the Doctor of Pharmacy, the highest level of pharmacy education, as its sole professional degree.


title: Mercer University

text: The college was named the Southern School of Pharmacy until 2006 when it was renamed the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences; the name change reflected new physician assistant and physical therapy programs. The college received its current name in 2013 when the physician assistant and physical therapy programs were shifted to the new College of Health Professions.


title: Mercer University

text: Mercer's football stadium (10,200 seats, completion 2013) – the Tony and Nancy Moye Football and Lacrosse Complex – is named for William Anthony (Tony) Moye, Pharmacy Class of 1973. Moye is a member of the university's board of trustees and is a major donor towards the stadium.


title: Mercer University

text: The Georgia Baptist College of Nursing was founded in 1901 as the Baptist Tabernacle Infirmary, an independent institution in Atlanta. The college was renamed the Baptist Tabernacle Infirmary and Training School for Nurses when nursing education began in 1902. The college, named the Georgia Baptist College of Nursing in 1993, merged with Mercer in 2001 and moved from its downtown location to Mercer's Atlanta campus in 2002. The college offers undergraduate and graduate programs and provides clinical experiences at numerous Atlanta-area hospitals and at other community facilities.


title: Mercer University

text: The Center for Health and Learning is an educational partnership between the Georgia Baptist College of Nursing, the School of Medicine, and Piedmont Healthcare of Atlanta. Piedmont is a not-for-profit organization with several hospitals, including Piedmont Hospital and Piedmont Fayette Hospital, both recognized as among the best in the nation, a primary care physician group with approximately 20 clinics, and a physician network with approximately 500 members. Nursing students are provided clinical experiences at various facilities throughout the Piedmont system, as well as other medical facilities across the Atlanta metropolitan area.


title: Mercer University

text: The Georgia Baptist College of Nursing began offering the Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing degree in August 2009 and the Doctor of Nursing Practice degree in August 2010. Both programs are a part of Mercer's strategic plan to expand the university's doctoral programs.


title: Mercer University

text: The College of Health Professions opened on July 1, 2013. Mercer's twelfth academic unit offers the Doctor of Physical Therapy degree along with master's-level physician assistant and public health programs previously offered by the College of Pharmacy and the School of Medicine. The new college allows for the addition of future health sciences programs, such as occupational therapy, as well as expansion of existing programs on multiple Mercer campuses.


title: Mercer University

text: The Mercer Engineering Research Center (MERC) is located in a state-of-the-art research facility in Warner Robins, Georgia. This new facility is located a short drive from Robins Air Force Base and provides upgraded physical security, staff offices, laboratories, classrooms, and a large conference facility. Established in 1987 as an extension of the School of Engineering, MERC has extensive research agreements with Robins Air Force Base and the U.S. Department of Defense, as well as with private concerns. Providing a broad range of customer oriented services to commercial and government clients, MERC's offerings include: management consulting, logistics consulting and analysis, systems engineering, structural and mechanical engineering, information technology consulting, software engineering, and various areas of industrial process and equipment design.


title: Mercer University

text: The Grand Opera House is a county-owned performing arts center operated by Mercer. Located in downtown Macon and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Grand opened in 1884 with the largest stage in the southeastern United States. The Grand has hosted vaudeville performances, Broadway touring companies, community theatre, concerts, movies, and numerous other events. Mercer has operated the Grand since 1995 through a lease agreement with Bibb County. The Grand has undergone extensive renovation and regularly hosts special events that are open to the community.


title: Mercer University

text: The Mercer University Press (MUP), established in 1979, is the only Baptist-related university press in the nation. MUP has published more than 1,000 books generally in the areas of theology, religion, Southern culture, biography, history, literature and music. MUP's annual Authors Luncheon, a book-signing event in Atlanta, is Georgia's premier literary event. Former President Jimmy Carter and civil rights activist Will D. Campbell are among MUP's published authors. Campbell's book "The Stem of Jesse", a history of Mercer in the 1960s, discusses integration of the university. The book, named for university founder Jesse Mercer, profiles notable alumni including Sam Oni and Samaria Mitcham Bailey. Oni was the first student of African descent to be admitted to Mercer University. Bailey was one of the first African-American female students at Mercer.


title: Mercer University

text: Mercer established its first radio station as a physics class project in 1922. The call sign was WMAZ, which stood for "Watch Mercer Attain Zenith". The student-run station operated from the tower of Willingham Chapel until 1927 when Mercer gave WMAZ to the Macon Junior Chamber of Commerce. WMAZ was purchased by the Southeastern Broadcasting Company in 1935 and a television station added with the same call sign in 1953. The radio station was subsequently dropped, but the television station remains a CBS affiliate, WMAZ-TV Channel 13.


title: Mercer University

text: Mercer and Georgia Public Broadcasting partnered in 2006 to create WMUM-FM, formerly WDCO-FM. The station provides local content to central Georgia public radio listeners from its broadcast studio on the Macon campus. The station's call sign was changed to WMUM-FM to identify the partnership with "Mercer University Macon". The studio, constructed in 2006, offers various media-related educational opportunities for Mercer students.


title: Mercer University

text: The Mercer Cluster, commonly referred to as simply "The Cluster", is a student-run, editorially-independent news organization for Mercer's main Macon campus. It publishes biweekly in print and 24/7 online during the academic year. It is named after a book of songs penned by the university's founder Jesse Mercer in 1810.


title: Mercer University

text: Founded in 1897, Mercer's debating society is the oldest organization on Mercer's campus as well as the oldest debating society in the entire state of Georgia. In 1898, Mercer's champion orator, John Roach Straton, won the first Intercollegiate Oratorical Championships in Atlanta. Debate continued to be a significant intercollegiate sport for many years after that, with Walter F. George, namesake of Mercer's law school, leading a team to victory over the University of Georgia at the Mercer-Athens Debate in 1899.


title: Mercer University

text: In March 2018, the student team of Jazmine Buckley and Kyle Bligen became the first all-African-American duo to win the National Parliamentary Debate championship at the nation's largest parliamentary debate tournament. Buckley as a freshman in 2015 became the first freshman and the first African-American to be named top speaker at the NPDA tournament. Buckley outranked 320 other debaters representing top programs such as the University of California, Berkeley, Wheaton, Rice and Whitman to receive the James "Al" Johnson Top Speaker Award. That same year, Lindsey Hancock and Hunter Pilkinton competed at the National Parliamentary Tournament of Excellence (NPTE) at William Jewell College in Missouri. The duo from Mercer was the first team from the University and the state of Georgia to attend the NPTE, the most prestigious parliamentary debate tournament in the nation. Also in 2015, the Hancock-Pilkinton duo became the first Mercer team to win the Georgia Parliamentary Debate Association State Championships, with Hancock being the first woman to win the state title.


title: Mercer University

text: Mercer fields eighteen (18) teams, known as the Bears, on the NCAA Division I level (FCS, formerly I-AA, for football); all teams compete in the Southern Conference except women's sand volleyball, which is not sponsored by the SoCon, and thus competes in the ASUN Conference. Men's teams include baseball, basketball, cross-country, football, golf, lacrosse, soccer, and tennis. Women's teams include basketball, cross-country, golf, lacrosse, sand volleyball, soccer, softball, tennis, track and field, and volleyball.


title: Mercer University

text: Mercer was a charter member of the ASUN Conference, originally called the Trans American Athletic Conference, from 1978–2014. Mercer teams won 21 Atlantic Sun championships: five baseball, six men's basketball, two women's basketball, five men's soccer, and one each in women's soccer, men's lacrosse, and men's golf. The men's basketball team won the 2012 CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament and in 2014 defeated Duke in the first round of the NCAA tournament.


title: Mercer University

text: Mercer opened the University Center on the Macon campus in 2004. The $40 million center houses Mercer's athletics department, a 3,500-seat basketball arena, an indoor pool, work-out facilities, intramural basketball courts, a food court, and numerous meeting facilities. Mercer's baseball, softball, and intramural fields are next to the center along with the university's tennis complex and football-lacrosse complex. The basketball arena was named Hawkins Arena in 2012; the naming honors J. B. Hawkins, former high school athletic director and basketball coach in Crawford County, Georgia.


title: Mercer University

text: Mercer opened the Tony and Nancy Moye Football and Lacrosse Complex (10,200 seats) in 2013. The stadium is adjacent to the University Center and Mercer's other athletic facilities. On February 26, 2015, the stadium portion of the complex was named Five Star Stadium in recognition of a multimillion-dollar financial commitment to Mercer athletics by Five Star Automotive Group, which owns dealerships in Georgia, Tennessee and South Carolina.


title: Mercer University

text: Hilton Garden Inn operates a 101-room hotel on university-owned land adjacent to the University Center and the Moye Complex.


title: Mercer University

text: Mercer's facilities are located next to Interstate 75. Large parking lots are available for visitors-spectators arriving via the Mercer University Drive exit.


title: Mercer University

text: Mercer received national attention in 2014 when the men's basketball team defeated Duke University in the second round of the NCAA Tournament; the team was defeated by the University of Tennessee in the third round. The team finished the season with a 27–9 record, Mercer's third straight with more than 20 victories. In honor of its win over Duke, Mercer received the 2014 Espy Award for Best Upset.


title: Mercer University

text: On November 19, 2010, Mercer announced the reinstatement of intercollegiate football beginning in the fall of 2013. The university competed as an NCAA Division I, non-scholarship program in the Pioneer Football League in 2013, and is now a scholarship program in the Southern Conference. Reinstatement came after a 70-year hiatus; Mercer suspended football during World War II and did not revive it. The final game was in 1941.


title: Mercer University

text: Mercer played its first game in 72 years on August 31, 2013; the team defeated Reinhardt University before an overflow crowd (12,172 spectators) at the Tony and Nancy Moye Football and Lacrosse Complex. Mercer finished the 2013 season undefeated at home with a 10–2 win–loss record (the two road losses were to the University of San Diego and Marist College) setting an NCAA Division I record for wins (10) by a start-up football program; Mercer had eight home wins, also an NCAA Division I record tied the same year (2013) by Auburn University, the FBS national runner-up, and Sam Houston State University who achieved its eighth victory in the FCS post-season.


title: Mercer University

text: Mercer won its first Southern Conference game on September 27, 2014; the team defeated Virginia Military Institute on the road in Lexington, Virginia. Mercer finished the season with an overall 6–6 win–loss record (1–5 in the conference) with only half the team on scholarship due to start-up restrictions.


title: Mercer University

text: "U.S. News & World Report" placed Mercer in its National Universities category, with the university ranked No. 160 nationally and joining Emory University, Georgia Institute of Technology, Georgia State University, and the University of Georgia as the only universities in Georgia in the top tier. The Princeton Review, in its 2018 "Best 382 Colleges" guide, ranks Mercer in the top 10% of all colleges and universities nationwide. The 2007 edition ranked Mercer as one of the top five most beautiful campus in the entire nation. In addition, in its most recent "America's Best Value Colleges" guide, the "Princeton Review" lists Mercer as a "Best Value", one of 165 colleges and universities in the nation that combine excellent academics, generous financial aid packages, and a relatively low cost of attendance; Mercer is one of 75 private institutions among the 165 "Best Values".


title: Mercer University

text: "U.S. News & World Report" ranks the School of Medicine in the top 20 of the nation's 126 accredited medical schools in the family medicine category, the school's primary focus. In the 2013 edition of its law school rankings, "U.S. News & World Report" ranks Mercer 105th among the nation's top 145 law schools. The same edition ranks Mercer's legal writing program third in the nation. The legal writing program has been ranked in the top three since "U.S. News & World Report" began the speciality ranking in 2006.


title: Mercer University

text: The Princeton Review, in its "Best 301 Business Schools: 2010 Edition", ranks the Atlanta MBA program third in the nation in the category of "Greatest Opportunity for Women". The program was ranked first in 2008 and third in 2009. The Princeton Review also includes the Walter F. George School of Law in its "Best 174 Law Schools: 2010 Edition".


title: Mercer University

text: In 2007, Mercer was one of 141 colleges and universities selected for the first President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll; the honor roll is sponsored by several agencies including the United States Department of Education and the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development to recognize support for community service. In 2005, Mercer was one of 81 institutions of higher education named a "College with a Conscience" by the Princeton Review and College Compact. and in 2006, Mercer was ranked thirteenth in the nation in the first "Saviors of Our Cities" ranking by Evan Dobelle, president and CEO of the New England Board of Higher Education.


title: Mercer University

text: Mercer applied for and received national recognition in 2008 from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching for the university's commitment to community engagement. Mercer is the only college in Georgia, and one of just 119 in the United States, to be selected by the foundation for its 2008 Community Engagement Classification. The university joins 76 institutions identified in 2006, including Emory University and Spelman College, the only other Georgia institutions to achieve the classification to date.


title: Mercer University

text: Mercer alumni include former Governor of Georgia Nathan Deal, the Chief Justice of Georgia, three members of the Georgia Court of Appeals including the Chief Judge, the Mayor of Macon, and the President of the State Bar of Georgia.


title: Death and funeral of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother

text: On 30 March 2002, at 15:15 GMT, Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother (née Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon), widow to King George VI and mother to Queen Elizabeth II, died at the age of 101 at Royal Lodge, Windsor. The death of the Queen Mother set in motion Operation Tay Bridge, a plan detailing procedures including the dissemination of information, national mourning, and her funeral. Representatives of nations and groups around the world sent condolences to the Queen, the British people, and citizens of the Commonwealth. Flowers and messages of condolence were left by the public at royal residences, with members of the royal family publicly paying tribute to the Queen Mother in the days after her death. Her funeral, held on 9 April 2002 at Westminster Abbey in London, attracted 10 million viewers in the United Kingdom.


text: The Queen Mother had developed a persistent cold which she caught during Christmas 2001. She was bedridden at Sandringham after her final public engagement on 22 November 2001, when she attended the recommissioning of . However, despite missing many other scheduled events—such as the 100th birthday celebrations of Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester, on 12 December 2001; the annual luncheon of the Women's Institutes, of which she was president, on 23 January 2002, and traditional church services at Sandringham—she was determined to attend the funeral of her younger daughter Princess Margaret. On 13 February she slipped in her sitting room at Sandringham, causing considerable concern to her daughter, the Queen, and the rest of the royal family, but she travelled to Windsor by helicopter the following day. She attended the funeral on 15 February in a people carrier with blacked–out windows, (which had recently been used by Margaret) shielded from the press according to her wishes so that no photographs of her in a wheelchair could be taken. She then returned to Royal Lodge in Windsor. On 5 March 2002 she attended lunch at the annual lawn party of the Eton Beagles, and watched the Cheltenham races on television; however, her health rapidly deteriorated during her last weeks after retreating to Royal Lodge for the final time. She died 'peacefully' in her sleep at the Lodge on 30 March 2002, at the age of 101, with her surviving daughter, Elizabeth II, by her side.


text: Prince Charles and Prince Andrew, who were on holiday in Switzerland and Barbados respectively, rushed back to the UK upon learning about their grandmother's death. Her body lay at the altar of the Royal Chapel of All Saints near Royal Lodge, where the Queen and the royal family attended an evensong on the day after her death. Later, Prince Andrew and his daughters, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, met with members of the public. Prince Andrew described his grandmother as a "very, very special" person. In an interview, Princes William and Harry paid tribute to their "inspirational" great-grandmother. Both the Queen and the Prince of Wales paid tribute to the Queen Mother in separate television broadcasts. On 4 April, the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh met the mourners at Windsor Castle and viewed the tributes.


text: The prime minister, Tony Blair and other MPs from the House of Commons, as well as the Leader of the House of Lords, Lord Williams of Mostyn, and the members of the House of Lords paid their tributes in separate statements. The Archbishop of Canterbury delivered a statement to the House of Lords, praising the Queen Mother for "her marvellous example of service and duty". In Scotland, the Scottish Parliament observed a one-minute silence. The Leader of the Opposition, the three first ministers of the constituent countries of the United Kingdom, and all living former British prime ministers expressed similar sentiments. Politicians within the Commonwealth of Nations who sent condolences includes the Australian Prime Minister John Howard and Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien. The House of Commons of Canada also passed a parliamentary motion of condolence. Foreign politicians who sent messages of condolences were US President George W. Bush, Russian President Vladimir Putin, French President Jacques Chirac, South African President Thabo Mbeki, and Irish President Mary McAleese. Among heads of foreign royal houses who paid tributes were Juan Carlos I, the King of Spain, Carl XVI Gustaf, the King of Sweden, Abdullah II, the King of Jordan, and Gyanendra, the King of Nepal.


text: On the BBC, Peter Sissons formally announced the death of the Queen Mother, although he created controversy and criticism from some newspapers as he wore a burgundy tie and not a black one, deemed more appropriate for such news. Sporting events in the UK observed a moment of silence as a mark of respect, though in the run-up to the funeral, the royal family and the government said they did not want sporting events to be delayed or cancelled. Members of the public were invited to sign books of condolence at St James's Palace, the Palace of Holyroodhouse, Windsor Castle, Sandringham House, Cardiff City Hall, and Belfast City Hall. Around 30,000 messages of condolence were submitted on the Palace's memorial website. Floral tributes and messages were left by the public at the gates of Buckingham Palace and other royal residences. Memorial services and prayers were held at churches across the UK, including the Easter service at Canterbury Cathedral led by the Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey, the Easter vigil at Westminster Cathedral led by Archbishop Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, and a special service of commemoration at St Paul's Cathedral. Similar services were held at St Mary Magdalene Church, Crathie Kirk, York Minster, and Manchester Cathedral, and a two-minute silence was observed by British and American troops deployed in Afghanistan during the Easter service in Bagram Airfield.


text: The flags on all public buildings in the UK were lowered to half-mast. Flags at Canadian federal buildings and establishments were also flown at half-mast from the announcement of her death until sunset the day of the funeral. The Irish National flag was also flown at half-mast on all State buildings to mark the death of the Queen Mother. Flags at Volgograd, a Russian city of which the Queen Mother was an honorary citizen, also flew half-mast after the announcement of her death and until the day of her funeral.


text: After being brought to London, the Queen Mother's coffin was initially placed at St James's Palace and later taken to Westminster Hall at the Palace of Westminster, accompanied by 1,600 troops, for her lying in state which began on 5 April. At one point, her four grandsons Prince Charles, Prince Andrew, Prince Edward and Viscount Linley mounted the guard as a mark of respect—an honour similar to the Vigil of the Princes at the lying in state of King George V. Prince Charles later returned for a private visit. The Welsh Guards and the Yeomen of the Guard also stood vigil over the Queen Mother's coffin. An estimated 200,000 members of the public filed past over three days. The queue of mourners stretched over a mile along the River Thames and over Lambeth Bridge, causing officials to extend the planned opening times.


text: The published order of service included as a preface the verse beginning "You can shed tears that she is gone" (attributed to an anonymous author) selected by the Queen. The verse became widely popular after the funeral, and was later revealed to be based on a poem written some 20 years earlier by David Harkins, an aspiring artist from Carlisle. Andrew Motion who had previously written poems for the wedding of Prince Edward, the Queen Mother's 100th birthday, and the death of Princess Margaret, released an elegy in honour of the Queen Mother.


text: The funeral, code-named Operation Tay Bridge, was held in London. It started at 9:48 am on 9 April 2002, when the tenor bell of Westminster Abbey sounded 101 times, each chime representing a year that the Queen Mother had lived. At 11:18 am the coffin was carried from Westminster Hall in the Palace of Westminster where the Queen Mother's coffin – draped in her personal standard and with a wreath of flowers on top and her crown resting on a cushion – had been lying in state on a six-foot (1.8 m) catafalque. A note from the Queen was also placed on the coffin on the day of the funeral. The coffin was then taken to the Abbey, about 300 metres away, accompanied by drummers and a massed pipe band of 192 musicians drawn from 13 British and Commonwealth regiments. Around 1,700 military personnel took part in the procession, and rehearsals lasted until the dawn of the funeral day. The Queen Mother's coffin was placed on a gun carriage led by the King's Troop, Royal Horse Artillery. Among the regiments that took part in the procession were 1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards, the Queen's Royal Hussars, the 9th/12th Royal Lancers, the King's Regiment, the Royal Anglian Regiment, The Light Infantry, the Black Watch, the Royal Army Medical Corps, the Royal Yeomanry, and the 68 (Inns of Court & City Yeomanry) Signal Squadron. Representatives from the Queen Mother's Canadian military units, the Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada, the Canadian Forces Medical Service, and the Toronto Scottish Regiment (Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother's Own) also took part in the funeral procession.


text: The following members of the royal family followed the procession: the Duke of Edinburgh, the Prince of Wales, the Duke of York, the Princess Royal, the Earl of Wessex, Prince William, Prince Harry, Viscount Linley, Peter Phillips, Daniel Chatto, the Duke of Gloucester, the Duke of Kent, Prince Michael of Kent and Timothy Laurence. Also accompanying the royal family were members of the Bowes-Lyon family and some of her senior household staff. During the funeral the Union Flag flew at half mast over Buckingham Palace, and her own personal royal standard at Clarence House (the Queen Mother's official London residence since 1952). After the funeral, the Queen Mother's personal standard was lowered for the final time. Large crowds lined the streets of London to watch the procession. The Grenadier Guards served as the guard of honour and were placed opposite Westminster Hall.


text: The doors of Westminster Abbey were first opened at 9:45 am, and the first of the 2,200 guests arrived; most of the guests were in their seats by 10:30 am. Five minutes later, VIPs and heads of state began arriving via the Great West Door. At 10:40 am, the bearer party of the Irish Guards arrived at Westminster Hall, positioning themselves outside the North Door. A guard of honour was mounted by the Nijmegen Company of the Grenadier Guards, and the members of the royal family walking in the funeral procession arrived from Buckingham Palace and St James's Palace. Royalty who were not in the procession arrived at the Grand Entrance of Buckingham Palace.


text: The procession lasted from 11:00 am until 11:16 am. Members of the royal family were chauffeured to the Abbey's Great West Door at 11:05 am to be received by the Dean of Westminster (Wesley Carr) and Chapter, and conducted to St. George's Chapel. Two minutes later, the visiting clergy participating in the service, such as the then Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey, processed along the centre aisle of the Abbey. The Queen left Buckingham Palace in the royal Rolls Royce at 11:12 am, arriving with her entourage at the Great West Door four minutes later. She and others, including Lady Sarah and Daniel Chatto, Zara Phillips, Timothy Laurence, Viscountess Linley, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie then walked down the Centre Aisle to their seats in the Lantern. The funeral service began after observing a nationwide two-minute silence at 11:30 am and lasted about 50 minutes.


text: The service was sung by the Choir of Westminster Abbey and conducted by Organist and Master of the Choristers, James O'Donnell; the organist was Andrew Reid. Music before the service included "Great Fantasia and Fugue in G minor, BWV 542", "Pièce d'orgue, BWV572", "Passacaglia in C minor, BWV582", and "Liebster Jesu, wir sind hier". The funeral started with the choir singing the "Funeral Sentences", composed by William Croft and Henry Purcell. The first lesson from Ecclesiastes, chapter 12, verses 1–7, was read by Dr David Hope, the Archbishop of York, and the second lesson, from the Book of Revelation, chapter 7, verses 9–17, was read by Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, the Archbishop of Westminster. The sermon was given by Dr George Carey, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and a reading from "The Pilgrim's Progress" was given by the Reverend Anthony Burnham, the Moderator of The Free Churches Group. The Psalm was Psalm 121, sung to a setting by William McKie. The hymns were "Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise"; words by Walter Chalmers Smith to the traditional Welsh tune "St Denio", and "Guide me, O thou great Redeemer", by William Williams to the tune "Cwm Rhondda" by John Hughes. The anthems were "How lovely are they dwellings fair" by Johannes Brahms and "Holy is the true light" by William Henry Harris. The service finished with the "Last Post", the proclamation of the Queen Mother's styles and titles by the Garter King at Arms Peter Gwynn-Jones, "Reveille" and the national anthem. The voluntary was the "Prelude and Fugue in E flat", BWV552 by Johann Sebastian Bach, and the Abbey bells rang half-muffled to a peal of "Stedman Caters" of 5101 changes.


text: At 12:25 pm, the bearer party lifted the coffin from the catafalque in the Abbey to the hearse outside the West Gate. The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh observed the departure of the coffin by road for Windsor, along with other members of the royal family. The car procession began at 12:35 pm, via Broad Sanctuary, the west side of Parliament Square, Whitehall, Horse Guards, Horse Guards Arch, The Mall, the south and west sides of Victoria Memorial, Constitution Hill, Wellington Arch, Hyde Park Corner, Queen Elizabeth Gate, South Carriage Drive, Queen's Gate, Great West Road and Datchet.


text: The Queen and the Duke then left the abbey by car for Buckingham Palace at 12:40 pm, followed by others in the processions three minutes later. The Queen arrived at the Palace five minutes later.


text: After the funeral of the Queen Mother on 9 April, the wreath that had been placed on her coffin was removed and laid on the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior, in a nod to her gesture on her wedding day in 1923. Queen Elizabeth was interred in the King George VI Memorial Chapel next to her husband, King George VI, who had died 50 years earlier. At the same time, the ashes of their daughter, Princess Margaret, who had died on 9 February 2002, were also interred in a private family service attended by senior members of the royal family. 20 years later, on 19 September 2022, the Queen Mother's daughter, Elizabeth II, and the Queen Mother's son-in-law, Prince Philip, were interred in the chapel following the funeral of Elizabeth II. In the days after the burial, members of the public visited the chapel to view the Queen Mother's tomb.


text: A memorial service to mark the 10th anniversary of Princess Margaret and the Queen Mother's death was held on 30 March 2012 at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, which was attended by the Queen and other members of the royal family.


text: On the day of her funeral, 9 April, the Governor General of Canada issued a proclamation marking the day as a national day of mourning, and asked Canadians to honour Elizabeth's memory that day. An interdenominational commemorative service was also held at Christ Church Cathedral, Ottawa that day. In Australia, the Governor-General read the lesson at a memorial service held in St Andrew's Cathedral, Sydney.


title: Politics of Iran

text: The politics of Iran takes place in the framework of an Islamic theocracy which was formed following the overthrow of Iran's millennia-long monarchy by the 1979 Iranian Islamic Revolution.


title: Politics of Iran

text: Iran's system of government ("nezam") has been described (by Juan José Linz in 2000) as combining "the ideological bent of totalitarianism with the limited pluralism of authoritarianism." It "holds regular elections in which candidates who advocate different policies and incumbents are frequently defeated", but scored lower than Saudi Arabia in the 2021 Democracy Index (combined by the Economist Intelligence Unit).


title: Politics of Iran

text: The December 1979 constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran, declares that Shia Islam is Iran's state religion (around 90–95% of Iranians associate themselves with the Shia branch of Islam), and it also combines elements of theocracy (Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist) with a presidential system. Like many Western democracies, Iran has a president and a parliament (Majles). Unlike other Western or Islamic governments, the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran is supervised by a supreme leader and an appointed & unelected Guardian Council which is made up of Islamic clerics, (in the case of the Guardian Council, half of its members are Islamic jurists).


title: Politics of Iran

text: The Supreme Leader is the head of state (above the president), and he either has direct or indirect control of the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government, as well as the military and the media, (according to Karim Sadjadpour). Iran's president, a parliament (or a Majlis), an Assembly of Experts (which elects the supreme leader), and local councils are all elected, but all candidates who run for these positions must be vetted by the Guardian Council (which disqualifies the overwhelming majority of the candidates) for their loyalty to the Islamic Republic's system of government. In 1998, the Guardian Council rejected Hadi Khamenei's candidacy for a seat in the Assembly of Experts for "insufficient theological qualifications".


title: Politics of Iran

text: In addition, there are representatives elected from appointed organizations (usually under the Supreme Leader's control) to "protect the state's Islamic character".


title: Politics of Iran

text: In 1979, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was overthrown by an Islamic Revolution in Iran, replacing its millennia-old monarchy with a theocratic republic. Shortly after, the leader of the Revolution, a senior Islamic jurist named Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (also transliterated Khumaynî) successfully supported referendums to declare Iran an Islamic Republic (in March 1979), and to approve a constitution (December 1979) whereby "the Islamic government" would be "based upon "wilayat al-faqih"", (Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist) "as proposed by Imam Khumaynî" (quoting the preamble of the constitution). The constitution (which was drafted by an assembly made up primarily by disciples of Khomeini), calls for a "Vali-ye faqih" (Guardian Islamic Jurist), to serve as the Supreme Leader of Iran, and for Islamic jurists to serve in other powerful institutions such as the Guardian Council and Assembly of Experts.


title: Politics of Iran

text: Guardianship of the Jurist is a concept in Twelver Shia Islamic law that holds that in the absence of (what Twelvers believe is) the religious and political leader of Islam -- the "infallible Imam", (who Shi'a believe will reappear sometime before Judgement Day) -- righteous Shi'i jurists ("faqīh"), should administer "some" of the "religious and social affairs" of the Shi'i community. In its "absolute" form -- the form advanced by the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and the basis of government in Islamic Republic of Iran -- the state and society are ruled by an Islamic jurist. (Khomenini served as the Guardian Jurist Supreme Leader of Iran until his death in 1989. His successor, Ali Khamenei, is still ruling as of mid 2022.)


title: Politics of Iran

text: In a 1970 book on the subject circulated to his network of supporters, Khomeini argued that since Islamic sharia law contains everything needed to rule a state (whether ancient or modern), and any other basis of governance will lead to injustice and sin. Thus Iran, the Muslim world and eventually the whole world, must be ruled according to sharia and the person who should rule according to sharia is an expert in that form of law. These Guardians the true holders of both religious and political authority, who must be obeyed as "an expression of obedience to God",


title: Politics of Iran

text: and whose rule has "precedence over all secondary ordinances in Islam such as prayer, fasting, and pilgrimage."


title: Politics of Iran

text: The early days of the revolutionary government were characterized by political tumult. In November 1979 the US embassy was seized and its occupants taken hostage and kept captive for 444 days because of support of the US government for the Shah (monarch) of Iran. The eight-year Iran–Iraq War killed hundreds of thousands and cost the country billions of dollars. By the early 1980s power struggles ended in leftists and nationalists eliminated from all governmental institutions, and the revolutionary leader Ayatollah Khomeini and his supporters firmly in control.


title: Politics of Iran

text: Iran's post-revolution challenges have included the imposition of economic sanctions and suspension of diplomatic relations with Iran by the United States because of the hostage crisis, political support to Iraq and other acts of terrorism that the U.S. government and some others have accused Iran of sponsoring. Emigration from Iran has cost the country millions of educated people including entrepreneurs, professionals, technicians, and skilled craftspeople and their capital. Poverty rose by nearly 45% in absolute terms during the first 6 years of the Iran-Iraq War, and according to the World Bank, by the time the war ended in 1988, per capita income was a little more than half of what it had been in 1976, shortly before the revolution.


title: Politics of Iran

text: The alleged tyranny and brutality towards all opposition of the monarchy was one of the propaganda themes of the Islamic revolution, but the Islamic Republic has also not tolerated opposition to its system of government, since (as mentioned above) it believes disobedience to it is disobedience to God. In 1984, Iran's representative to the United Nations, Saʿid Rajaʾie-Khorassani, declared the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to be representing a "secular understanding of the Judeo-Christian tradition", which did not "accord with the system of values recognized by the Islamic Republic of Iran" and whose provisions the IRI would "not hesitate to violate". In reply to international criticism of repression, Iranian officials loyal to the Supreme Leader deny wrongdoing, maintaining its human rights record is better than western countries who criticize its record. In 2004, Judiciary chief Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, denied that there were any political prisoners in Iran, saying "The world may consider certain cases, by their nature, political crimes, but because we do not have a law in this regard, these are considered ordinary offenses." Four years later, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad replied to a question about human rights by stating that Iran has fewer prisoners than the US and "the human rights situation in Iran is relatively a good one, when compared ... with some European countries and the United States."


title: Politics of Iran

text: The Islamic Republic centralized and drastically expanded the prison system of the previous regime. In one early period (1981-1985) more than 7900 people were executed. Somewhere between 3000 and 30,000 political prisoners were executed between July and early September 1988 on orders of the Ayatollah Khomeini, causing a 2020 UN Special Rapporteurs to sent a letter to the regime describing the killings as "crimes against humanity".


title: Politics of Iran

text: While the Islamic Republic has been noted for its political stability, political protests against perceived corruption and injustice have become more severe and common in the twenty-first century. nonetheless, at least one analyst (Seth G. Jones) believes that as of 2019, "the Iranian protest movement is ... too decentralized and Iranian security forces ... too strong" for the regime to be in danger of being overthrown by protesters. Some protests include:


title: Politics of Iran

text: Two very powerful, unelected posts/institutions unique to the Islamic Republic are the Supreme Leader and Guardian Council.


title: Politics of Iran

text: The Supreme Leader of Iran is the head of state and highest ranking political and religious authority (above the President). The armed forces, judicial system, state television, and other key governmental organizations such as the Guardian Council and Expediency Discernment Council are under the control of the Supreme Leader. According to article 110 of the constitution, the Supreme Leader delineates the general policies of the Islamic Republic. There have been only two Supreme Leaders since the founding of the Islamic Republic, and the current leader (Ali Khamenei), has been in power since 1989. His powers extend to issuing decrees and making final decisions on the economy, environment, foreign policy, education, national planning of population growth,