MACON – Gordon State College President Dr. Kirk Nooks, who earned both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Mercer, will deliver the University’s 2021 Founders’ Day address Feb. 17 at 10:20 a.m. in Hawkins Arena on the Macon campus. Limited seating will be available in observance of COVID-19 protocols.
Each year on Founders’ Day, a prominent Mercerian returns to campus to share how the University has influenced his or her life. The Heritage Life Committee of the Student Government Association (SGA) coordinates the annual convocation, which first took place at Mercer in 1891.
“The Student Government Association was pleased to hear that President Nooks of Gordon State College accepted our invitation to speak at the 130th Founders’ Day convocation,” said Senior Class President and Heritage Life Committee Chair Mary-Angel Ekezie. “We look forward to hearing about his Mercer experience and how it impacted and led him to achieve such professional success.”
Dr. Nooks, a native of New York, earned his MBA in marketing and B.S. in industrial management from Mercer. He went on to receive his Ph.D. in higher education from George Washington University and has been in the field of education for more than 20 years.
Dr. Nooks graduated from the Lakin Institute of Mentored Leadership provided by the National Council of Black American Affairs and is an inaugural cohort member of the American Council on Education’s Spectrum Leadership Institute.
He has served as president of Gordon State College since 2018 and currently resides in Forsyth with his wife, Alison, and his three children. One of his children, Anniston, is a sophomore at Mercer.
