Each August, Samford University in Birmingham rolls out its welcome mat to eager freshmen and experienced returning students. Whether “newbie” or veteran, each one arrives with hope for personal success and a great academic year ahead.
That sentiment is shared and prayed for by Samford President Andrew Westmoreland.
“Hope is the hallmark of every new year, and that will certainly be the theme at Samford as we approach the fall of 2014,” Westmoreland said.
“We see hope in the eyes of our 3,000 undergrads, hope among the roughly 1,900 graduate students who have been accepted, hope in the hearts of parents and friends, hope throughout our workforce of faculty and staff and hope from the thousands of people who give to and pray for Samford.
“In fact, it is this message of hope through Christ that drew me to Christ-centered higher education almost 40 years ago. I have cherished each day, and I am eager to begin another year at Samford.”
Summer missions trips
Hundreds of Samford students and faculty will return with memories and testimonies from summer missions trips in which they shared hope around the globe. Undergraduate and graduate students used professional skills to serve specific needs, such as the nursing and pharmacy contingents that led health and wellness outreach programs in Peru and Ecuador.
Student athletes and other Samford personnel led sports clinics and participated in a Shoe a Nation event in the Caribbean nation of Dominica. More than 5,000 pairs of shoes, along with words of hope, were distributed in conjunction with the 10th Caribbean Baptist Fellowship Youth Festival there.
Many stories have come out of Samford missions trips about many lives having been touched with hope.
Academic news
Samford officials expect about 865 entering freshmen and transfer students to join returnees this fall for a projected record enrollment of about 4,900 total students. Almost 2,300 of the undergraduates will live in on-campus residence facilities.
Samford has responded to the changing needs of education with the development of the Institute for Continued Learning. The Institute will provide a broad but focused framework for the delivery of varied offerings. Its component offices are: Office of Continuing Education to oversee programs in law, pharmacy and nursing and other professional disciplines; Office of Learning and Innovation to develop and implement learning paths through new and existing certificate programs and lifelong learner classes in many subjects; the historic Extension Division with its theological training at sites across Alabama and new certificate programs in Pastoral Ministry and Biblical Studies; and the Academy of the Arts, which combines the former Samford After Sundown and preparatory music programming to offer community outreach and artistically focused options for children and adults.
The School of the Arts will once again offer a variety of presentations that showcase the talent of its students and faculty and host guest performers. The arts calendar is filled with presentations of music, theatre and dance, and visual arts. A music and worship schedule includes a choral vespers series featuring the A Cappella Choir and visits by guest clinicians whose specialties appeal to church musicians and worship leaders.
The Howard College of Arts and Sciences will introduce several timely academic choices. A new minor in medical ethics in the philosophy department will explore ethical foundations of medicine and health care through an interdisciplinary study of philosophy, theology, literature and ethics. A western intellectual tradition interdisciplinary minor in the University Fellows honors program will allow students to continue studying various disciplines in an existing sequence.
Online format available
Brock School of Business will make its graduate program more flexible for many with the rollout this fall of its entire Master of Business Administration degree curriculum in an online format. With all foundation and core courses offered both on campus and online, the degree program will be more accessible to students who live beyond the Birmingham area.
Beeson Divinity School regularly presents services and lectures of interest to the community. This fall’s chapel series, “Unworldly Wisdom: The Epistle of James,” is open to the public at 11 a.m. each Tuesday in Hodges Chapel. Information on Beeson’s Lay Academy for laity and ministers can be found at www.beesondivinity.com/layacademy.
Orlean Bullard Beeson School of Education looks forward to its centennial year of teacher educator programs in 2015 with several celebratory events. New curriculum options include an online master’s degree in elementary education and a new elementary education major with a concentration in Christian education and missions.
For the second year, Cumberland School of Law will offer intensive skills workshops in January to instruct students on interviewing, counseling and negotiation. In June 2014, the school’s Master of Comparative Law degree program turned 20 years old. A major anniversary celebration will take place in September with events in Birmingham, Montgomery and Washington.
The College of Health Sciences held its inaugural commencement as an academic unit in May. Two new deans came on board during the summer: McWhorter School of Pharmacy dean Michael Crouch, former executive associate dean at East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, Tenn.; and Ida V. Moffett School of Nursing dean Eleanor V. Howell, former dean of Creighton University’s College of Nursing in Omaha, Neb.
Other news of note
Samford is very close to wrapping up its ambitious $200 million capital campaign, reports vice president for university advancement W. Randy Pittman. “At the end of June, we had gifts and pledges of $196 million, or 98 percent of our goal,” Pittman said.
More than 17,000 alumni, parents, faculty, staff, students, businesses, churches and other friends have contributed to the campaign.
“The smallest gifts were less than $1 each. The largest single gift was $13.4 million,” Pittman said. “All were important.”
The Samford Office of Spiritual Life, formerly known as University Ministries, has launched Samford Home Groups, in which groups of 10–12 students meet weekly in faculty or staff member’s homes for an evening meal, prayer, Bible study and spiritual conversation. Among other changes and innovations, the longstanding Tuesday and Thursday convocation programs will be called Campus Worship with the program content to reflect that title.
Construction continues on the new Brock School of Business building, set to open in Fall 2015.
Summer progress included tying 68 tons of rebar and placing 4,900 cubic yards of concrete. The facility will take more visible shape this fall as exterior and interior walls are framed.
This year’s freshman class will arrive on campus for the thrilling, once-in-a-lifetime experience known as “Move in Day” on Aug. 22. Classes begin Aug. 25.
(Samford)
Samford fall events of note
Sept. 20, Oct. 4 and Nov. 8
Senior Preview Days
Sept. 23 and Nov. 7
Beeson Divinity Preview Days
Oct. 3–4
Family Weekend
Oct. 5
Hymn Sing, Reid Chapel, 2 p.m.
Oct. 18
Junior Preview Day
Oct. 31–Nov. 1
Homecoming
Dec. 13
Fall Commencement
For more Samford events, visit www.samford.edu.
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