Students of Samford University in Birmingham can expect an eventful 2013–14 academic year ahead. During the summer months, school officials have laid plans that promise exciting activity on several fronts.
“This year, in our most ambitious academic expansion in more than 50 years, we will clear the way for the newly organized College of Health Sciences, which will sustain and expand a long standing commitment to the mission and scholarship of the healing arts professions,” Samford President Andrew Westmoreland said.
“We’re also excited that construction will begin for a new home for the Brock School of Business,” Westmoreland said, adding that Samford is grateful for the friends who have pledged financial support to enable the project to move forward.
The projects are just two of many that underscore the school’s commitment to provide the best education possible for future generations.
“In all of our academic programs, our people are engaged in pursuits that are honoring God, strengthening minds and building bridges,” Westmoreland said. “In our 172nd year of partnership with Alabama Baptists, it is my prayer that Samford will continue to serve as a vibrant, nationally recognized academic institution that does not waver from its Christian commitment.
“It is an honor for us to be affiliated with the work of Alabama Baptists.”
The new College of Health Sciences, when fully developed, will include the existing Ida V. Moffett School of Nursing and McWhorter School of Pharmacy, as well as two new units: a School of Health-Related Professions and a School of Community and Public Health. The department of kinesiology and nutrition, now housed in Orlean Bullard Beeson School of Education and Professional Studies, will become part of the School of Health-Related Professions. A new Center for Faith and Health, proposed as part of the college, will provide a model for interprofessional practice, scholarship and service that focuses on faith, health, end of life and ethics.
Nursing dean Nena F. Sanders, in a new role as vice provost, will oversee planning for and implementation of the new College of Health Sciences.
In the School of the Arts, creation of the Forum for Worship and the Arts is underway. Matching the strengths of Samford with the needs of the local church, the program addresses a need that worship leaders have for interdisciplinary studies in worship, preaching, music, theatre, dance, visual art, architecture and film. Samford is alone among undergraduate universities in the southeast and all Baptist institutions in engaging worship and the arts at this level. Samford music professor Eric L. Mathis is director of the new program.
Beginning fall 2013, Samford’s Orlean Bullard Beeson School of Education will offer graduate courses online in its master of science in gifted education and doctorate in educational leadership degree programs. Besides offering flexibility for working teachers and administrators, the online venue will enable the school to increase its positive impact on educators beyond the campus and state.
The Howard College of Arts and Sciences is initiating a program to recognize juniors who have distinguished themselves through scholarship and service. John Howard Scholars will serve on the Dean’s Student Leadership team and also will conduct a collaborative project that will utilize their leadership skills, creativity and academic knowledge. The first class of Howard Scholars will be announced in September.
Nineteen new faculty members, including English department chair Mark Bradshaw Busbee, will begin their first fall semester as Samford educators.
About 900 new students are expected to experience their first semester at Samford. The new student cohort, including transfers and entering freshmen, is up 11 percent over 2012. The freshman class continues to reflect exceptional academic quality as evidenced by an average ACT score of 26 and GPA of 3.7, officials report.
Samford anticipates a record total enrollment of about 4,900 this fall, according to vice president for student affairs and enrollment management R. Phil Kimrey.
In early July, gifts and pledges to the multiyear, multimillion-dollar Campaign for Samford totaled an impressive $172 million. At this point in the campaign, which launched in October 2007 to build endowments for scholarships and new buildings, some 16,040 donors have made gifts to Samford.
Vice president for advancement Randy Pittman points out that the largest donor is a collective group of people through the Cooperative Program of the Alabama Baptist Convention. Representing contributions from churches throughout the state, Alabama Baptist campaign gifts totaled more than $28.6 million as of June 30.
The campaign goal is $200 million in gifts and pledges by the end of 2014.
Samford also is blessed with significant grant awards that support a variety of opportunities. Recent awards include a $1 million federal grant to help Ida V. Moffett School of Nursing ease the national shortage of nurse educators, a $499,551 Department of Justice grant that allows Samford to spearhead a campus safety program at five area colleges and a $169,950 grant to fund continued development of a Center for Science and Religion. Other grants support projects that range from ecosystem research to how to reduce avoidable hospitalizations in Alabama nursing facilities, a project led by McWhorter School of Pharmacy experts.
Groundbreaking for the state-of-the-art business school building, which will be located north of Harwell G. Davis Library, will take place this academic year.
More immediately, Samford will have two new residence halls move-in ready for students in late August. The buildings in Samford’s West Village will bring the university’s residence capacity to about 2,300. The J.T. Haywood Field House for baseball and softball teams is nearing completion in the West Campus athletic complex.
To help personnel maintain these and other buildings, several tidy Smart cars have replaced a few tired pick-up trucks. Also in support of Samford’s “go-green” effort, other older, inefficient service vehicles will soon be replaced with all-electric models.
Student leaders, athletes, band members and others will arrive on campus throughout August in preparation for the fall semester. Freshman move-in day is Aug. 23. Classes begin Aug. 26.
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Samford fall events of note
- Beeson Divinity School fall chapel series, “Tell It Slant: The Parables of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke,” Andrew Gerow Hodges Chapel, 11 a.m., Tuesdays, beginning Sept. 3. Free.
- “Engage the South,” church planting conference hosted by Beeson Divinity School and sponsored by Acts 29 and The Gospel Coalition, Sept. 24, Wright Center. Registration information: www.gotothehub.com/acts-29-engage-the-south.
- Samford Hymn Sing, Sept. 29, Reid Chapel, 2 p.m.
- Preview Days sponsored by Office of Admission: Sept. 28, Oct. 19 and Nov. 23.
- Homecoming, Nov. 15–16.
For more Samford events, check the website at www.samford.edu.
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