C. Eric Mount

BIOGRAPHY

Eric Mount is professor emeritus of religion at Centre College, where he began teaching in 1966. In 1996, he became the holder of Centre’s first endowed professorship in religion—the Nelson D. and Mary McDowell Rodes Professorship. He retired from the active faculty in 2002. In 2003, he was visiting Lilly Distinguished Professor at Davidson College.  

Mount taught courses on topics such as ethics and health care, business ethics, Christian ethics and public issues, religion and contemporary literature, current trends in religious thought, and Biblical history and ideas. He also served as vice president and dean of students, college chaplain, and division and program chair at various times during his career at Centre. Twice Mount and his wife, Truly, who taught French part-time for 20 years at Centre, directed the College’s program in Strasbourg, France. They also directed five alumni trips to France and two to Scotland. A member of Phi Beta Kappa, Mount was secretary of the petitioning group that was awarded Centre’s chapter of Phi Beta Kappa in 1971. For 15 years, he volunteered as coach of the men’s tennis team, including 11 years with faculty colleague Milton Scarborough. In 2019, the two were elected to the College’s Athletic Hall of Fame.  

A scholar in the field of ethics, Mount is the author of four books: Conscience and Responsibility (John Knox Press 1964 – paperback 1971), The Feminine Factor (John Knox Press 1973), and Professional Ethics in Context: Institutions, Images, and Empathy (Westminster/John Knox 1990), Covenant, Community, and the Common Good (Pilgrim, 1999). He also published more than 30 articles and reviews.  

Along with his teaching, Mount organized a community ethics discussion group, first for business leaders and later for other professions as well. It was held once a month for members of the Danville and Centre communities and lasted more than 20 years. He is an ordained Presbyterian minister and has long been active in the local church, in the Presbytery of Transylvania, at the General Assembly level, and in the Kentucky Council of Churches. He has also been active in civil rights and race relations in Central Kentucky and is a life member of the NAACP. Mount received the 1985 John E. Haycraft Award from the state NAACP for outstanding contributions to civil rights, the state Nursing Home Ombudsman Agency Award, and the Kentuckians for the Commonwealth Award (along with Jane Brantley) for his leadership in Danville’s Fairness Campaign.  

Past chair of the Boyle County Human Rights Commission and United Way, as well as several other civic organizations, Mount has served on the Institutional Review Board of Ephraim McDowell Regional Medical Centre, the City of Danville Ethics Committee, the Ephraim McDowell Medical Center for Ethics Committee, two Centre review boards, the Heritage Hospice Ethics Committee, and the Nursing Home Ombudsman Agency Board. He is a member of The Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, has been a Court Appointed Special Advocate for Abused and Neglected Children (CASA) volunteer, a volunteer with Meals on Wheels and Soups on Us at the Presbyterian Church, and a member of the Presbyterian Church choir and Resonance, the community men’s chorus. Between 2015 and 2020, he wrote monthly columns for the opinion page of the Advocate Messenger. 

Mount holds a bachelor of arts degree with distinction from Southwestern at Memphis (now Rhodes College), a bachelor of divinity degree with honors from Union Theological Seminary in Virginia, a master’s degree in sacred theology from Yale Divinity School, and a Ph.D. from Duke University. 

PROFESSIONAL RECOGNITIONS:

• Alsop Fellowship at Union Presbyterian Seminary 

• Theologian in Residence, American Church, in Paris France (1974-75) 

• Traveling Humanist for Kentucky Humanities Council (1979-80, one of two) 

• President of Southeast Region of American Academy of Religion (1987-88) 

• Visiting Scholar, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Center for Clinical Research Ethics (1988, 1996) 

• David Hughes Distinguished Service Award from Omicron Delta Kappa (1977, 2002) 

• Kirk Award for Outstanding Teaching (2002) 

• The first recipient of the annual C. Eric Mount Jr. Award, established by the Student Government Association for outstanding dedication and leadership beyond the classroom (2002)  

• Featured statewide speaker for the Kentucky Humanities Council (2002-03)  

• Professional Conduct Policy Committee – Society of Christian Ethics