Qualities of leadership run deep in Samford University’s Westmoreland family. And, in what is a national rarity, a father-daughter pair serve as university and student body presidents at the school.
The 4,758-student university is led by Andrew Westmoreland, who assumed the Samford presidency in 2006 after serving eight years at the helm of Ouachita Baptist University in Arkansas.
Riley Westmoreland, daughter of Westmoreland and his wife, Jeanna, serves as 2011–12 student government association president, a post she was elected to by the student body in the spring.
In her role, the senior political science and journalism/mass communication double major serves as the primary representative of the student body to the Samford administration. She also develops, coordinates and executes activities and services that benefit students, and oversees the executive, legislative, judicial, development and student activity branches of SGA.
The younger Westmoreland has a deep respect for the leadership skills and qualities exhibited by her father, who in his 2005 book, “Leading by Design,” identifies ways Jesus related to and led 12 types of people.
It is her dad’s emphasis on people and on relationships that Riley admires most about his leadership style.
“He really seeks to know people and to build partnerships and friendships everywhere he goes. The time he takes to talk to people, and more importantly, to listen, is something I try very hard to emulate,” she said.
Even though her dad is busy, Riley said he realizes it is the people of Samford — the students, faculty staff, alumni, donors and others — who make the university great.
She seeks to adopt his listening skills. “It’s not my SGA. It belongs to the students. My job is to listen to them, to know them and to fight for the issues they think are important,” she said.
In addition to varied SGA posts, beginning with Freshman Forum, Riley has honed her leadership skills through Zeta Tau Alpha sorority and the Samford admission office, where her jobs have included campus tour guide and orientation leader for entering students and their families.
Although she began her SGA work as a freshman, Riley didn’t entertain the idea of running for president until she served on the executive board during her junior year. When asked during the campaign if she would be able to “stand up to” the Samford administration on behalf of students, she responded that she had lots of experience “standing up to” the Samford administration. Her father has enjoyed sharing that anecdote with others, adding his own response that the remark is “very true.”
Riley found her work as SGA vice president of development broadened her view of what all SGA does and what else it could be doing to make the student experience at Samford the best it can be. “Once I could see the big picture, I realized that I had lots of ideas that could help change occur,” she said.
Before the fall semester started, she and new student executive board members attended several days of leadership training. The result was a stated goal: To be for students, for a better Samford.
“I hope that SGA will be seen by the entire student body as the go-to group to represent any of their needs or concerns, and for us to program engaging events for all students,” Riley said at the time.
As she ably delved into her many presidential duties during the fall term, she has often sought her dad’s wisdom and counsel. “It has been very useful to be able to turn to my dad for advice across the semester,” she said. “He has a great wealth of knowledge from all of his experience, and he’s given me great advice and encouragement while working with people and working through difficult situations that might otherwise have been overwhelming.”
Andrew Westmoreland is a graduate of Ouachita, where he received a bachelor’s degree in political science in 1979.
He earned a master’s degree in the subject from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and a doctorate in higher education administration from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
Leadership is a genetic trait in the Westmoreland family. The household also includes a wife and mother who is blessed with an able leadership gene. Jeanna Westmoreland is a natural leader who serves as executive director of the Samford volunteer support group, Legacy League. She also teaches a freshman course in the Academic Success Center and is actively involved in Alabama Governor’s School summer program for high school students. At Ouachita, she was dean of the school of education and is now active with Samford’s Orlean Bullard Beeson School of Education and Professional Studies.
As for Riley’s future, the high-energy extrovert plans to attend graduate school after receiving her bachelor’s degree in May and would like to work in Washington, D.C., at some point. For now, she happily serves the same student body as her father.
“I have all the respect in the world for my dad and for this university. This really is the honor of a lifetime to get to serve the Samford community in this capacity.” (SU)
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