cecil pope staton jr born january 26 1958 served five terms as an elected official in the us state of georgia he was a member of the republican party and served in the georgia senate representing the 18th district which includes portions of bibb houston monroe jones and crawford counties in the newly drawn maps approved by the united states justice department on december 23 2011 the 18th district added peach and upson counties but no longer included jones county the new map was in use for the 2012 and 2014 electionsborn in greenville south carolina to cecil pope staton sr 19351999 and shirley hughes staton staton graduated from carolina high school in 1976 where he served as president of the student body he graduated from furman university in greenville south carolina in 1980 winning the baggott award as the outstanding religion major of the graduating class he earned master of divinity with languages 1982 and master of theology 1985 degrees from southeastern baptist theological seminary in wake forest north carolina focusing on hebrew the old testament and ancient near eastern studies he earned a dphil from university of oxford regents park college oxford in 1988dr staton served as professor at brewtonparker college in georgia from 1989 through 1991 he served mercer university for more than eleven years as associate provost associate professor and publisher of the mercer university pressduring his tenure as senator staton also served as a businessman having founded two publishing companies and a broadcasting company based in macon and warner robins georgia the broadcasting company owned and operated 14 radio stations an online community newspaper in warner robins georgia and a television station in warner robins serving the robins region one of his companies stoud hall publishers received national acclaim for publishing two new york times bestsellers by former georgia governor and us senator zell miller as well as books by 2011 presidential candidates rick perry and herman cainstaton was first elected in 2004 facing both primary and general election opposition he was reelected without opposition in 2006 2008 and 2010 in 2012 staton defeated a primary opponent and with no general election opponent was elected to a fifth term he served as vicechair of the republican caucus before being elected majority whip in november 2010 and as such served on the committee on assignments which appoints committee chairs and members in his final term staton also served on the rules appropriations finance higher education banking and reapportionment committees he also served as chair of the subcommittee of appropriations on higher education responsible for the states nearly 2 billion dollar annual investment in higher education and as vicechair of the subcommittee on community health for five years he served as chair of the senate science and technology committee he is a recognized leader on higher education and healthcare issues including trauma care and has sponsored many elections bills including georgias requirement for a photo identification for electionssenator staton was recognized throughout his legislative career for his work in the areas of health care and higher education in 2007 senator staton was awarded the star of life award by the georgia association of emergency medical services in 2010 staton was named legislator of the year by the georgia rural health care association as well as legislator of the year by the georgia technology association in 2011 the senator was named legislator of the year by the georgia hospital association and in 2012 georgia bio recognized staton as their legislator of the year at awards ceremonies held in atlanta on january 26 in 2014 staton received the millerdeal award the highest honor bestowed by the georgia independent college association he was awarded the honorary doctor of humanities degree by mercer university in 2014during the 2014 session senator staton announced that he would not seek reelection in may 2014 it was announced that staton would join the university system of georgia as vicechancellor for extended education the university system of georgia comprises 31 colleges and universities including the university of georgia and georgia tech dr staton is the chief international officer for the system and is responsible for the systemwide priorities of international education continuing and professional education entrepreneurial education and military affairs he works with the usg foundation on related fundraising activities and with georgias economic development initiatives in order to match the resources of usg institutions with georgias evolving workforce needsstaton is the author of several books and articles he is married to the former catherine lynn davidson of woodruff south carolina they have two children cecil p staton iii trey born in 1991 and william davidson staton born in 1995 they reside in monroe county georgia as well as in atlanta