Samford University has appointed J. Michael Hardin as the new provost, effective July 1, according to a May 1 announcement by Samford President Andrew Westmoreland.
Hardin currently serves as dean of the Culverhouse College of Commerce at the University of Alabama (UA) and will replace J. Bradley Creed, Samford’s provost since 2002. Creed will become president of Campbell University in North Carolina on July 1.
In addition to his administrative duties as chief academic officer, Hardin will be professor of quantitative analysis in Samford’s Brock School of Business. At UA he serves as Russell Professor of Business and a professor of statistics, and he also is an adjunct professor of biostatistics in the School of Public Health at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Hardin’s appointment follows a national search that yielded more than 100 candidates. He was involved in several interviews with a 19-member, university-wide search committee and two days of on-campus visits with university leadership and representatives of various constituency groups.
“I count myself extraordinarily fortunate to receive and accept the invitation to become Samford University provost, a position enabling me to integrate my faith with my lifelong dedication to learning,” Hardin said. “I am grateful to share Dr. Westmoreland’s vision for Samford’s future, and I look forward to working alongside this man of high character and intellect at such a key point in Samford’s history.”
Diversity of experience
Hardin brings a diversity of experience to Samford, Westmoreland noted, in addition to his academic administrative experience. Hardin serves as a consultant to health care organizations in data analysis, sampling and program integrity. He is a prolific writer and guest speaker in the areas of database design and decision support systems and he is an ordained Baptist minister.
Hardin has been Culverhouse dean since 2011 and he oversees a college with a $50 million annual budget and more than 8,000 undergraduate and graduate students.
He earned his doctorate from UA, where he also completed a master of arts degree in mathematics. Additionally he has bachelor’s degrees from the University of West Florida in Pensacola, a master’s degree in research design and statistics from Florida State University in Tallahassee, Fla., and a master of divinity degree from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.
(Samford)
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