Posted by Philip Poole on 2005-05-06

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Samford University's presidential search committee has scheduled its first meeting for May 13-14.

The meeting will be organizational, with members discussing the overall search process, a tentative timeline for the search and plans for an information gathering process. The committee expects to seek input from various university constituencies as part of the information gathering, according to search committee officers, although details of that process will be discussed at the first meeting.

The 17-member committee was approved by the University's board of trustees April 14 after current Samford President Thomas E. Corts announced his intention to retire by the end of the 2005-06 academic year. Corts has served as Samford president since 1983 and is only the third president in 66 years.

Former Alabama Gov. Albert Brewer and Birmingham attorney Hobart Grooms are committee co-chairs.

Jay L. Wolf, Jr., has been named to fill the final slot on the committee. Wolf, a member of Samford's board of trustees, is pastor of Montgomery's First Baptist Church. His son Jason is a 2005 Samford graduate, and his daughter Sarah is a current Samford student.

 

 
Samford is a leading Christian university offering undergraduate programs grounded in the liberal arts with an array of nationally recognized graduate and professional schools. Founded in 1841, Samford is the 87th-oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. Samford enrolls 6,101 students from 45 states, Puerto Rico and 16 countries in its 10 academic schools: arts, arts and sciences, business, divinity, education, health professions, law, nursing, pharmacy and public health. Samford fields 17 athletic teams that compete in the tradition-rich Southern Conference and ranks 6th nationally for its Graduation Success Rate among all NCAA Division I schools.