Raleigh Kirby Godsey, better known as R. Kirby Godsey, (born April 2, 1936) served as the seventeenth president of Mercer University, an independent, coeducational, private university, located in the U.S. state of Georgia, from July 1, 1979 to June 30, 2006, twenty-seven years longer than any of his predecessors. Godsey is now university chancellor, professor, and special advisor to his successor, William D. Underwood.