March 28, 2008

Public Events: Events To Highlight Healthcare Reform, Albert Brewer

Public Events: HEAL Conference To Study Healthcare Reform April 11

Samford’s Healthcare Ethics and Law Institute (HEAL) will focus on "Healthcare Reform: Access, Economics, and Obligation" during its annual conference Friday, April 11, at Samford.

Speakers will include Dr. Stanley Hauerwas, the Gilbert T. Rowe Professor of Theological Ethics at Duke Divinity School; Dr. Robert B. Helms, resident scholar in health policy studies at American Enterprise Institute, Washington, D.C.; Dr. Loretta Kopelman, professor of medical humanities at the Brody School of Medicine, East Carolina University; and Dr. William F. May, a fellow of the Institute for Practical Ethics and Public Life at the University of Virginia.

The speakers will receive Pellegrino Medals for their contributions to healthcare ethics.  The medal is named for Edmund D. Pellegrino, the first recipient of a lifetime achievement award from the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities.  Dr. Pellegrino often is called the "father of the American bioethics movement."

The HEAL conference–sponsored by Samford's McWhorter School of Pharmacy–is designed to help Alabama institutional ethics committees of all levels with some of today's most pressing healthcare ethics and law issues and problems.  Registration is open to committee members, physicians, nurses, pharmacists, chaplains, administrators and others involved in end-of-life care for patients who lack decision-making capacity.

For registration information, contact Lori Bateman, McWhorter School of Pharmacy, Samford University at email address lbbatema@samford.edu or telephone (205) 726-2820.  Continuing education credit is available.  The program will run from 8:20 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. in Brock Forum of Dwight Beeson Hall at Samford.

Learn More:
McWhorter School of Pharmacy

Samford to Dedicate Brewer Plaza April 4

Samford University’s Cumberland School of Law will dedicate the Martha F. and Albert P. Brewer Plaza during ceremonies Friday, April 4, at 10 a.m.

The newly-designed plaza in front of Memory Leake Robinson Hall, the law school building, will honor the former Alabama governor and his late wife “for their achievements and contributions to the lives of countless Alabamians.”

Alabama Lieutenant Governor James E. Folsom, Jr., will speak during the dedication program.  Also participating will be former Lieutenant Governor Jere L. Beasley, former law student Candace Peeples, and Professor Brad Bishop and Dean John Carroll of Cumberland.

Brewer was governor from 1968 until 1971, and is recognized for achieving much-needed reforms and new programs for Alabama. Historians have called him Alabama’s first New South governor.

Brewer’s administration produced the largest appropriations increase for public schools in state history.  He created the Alabama Development Office and introduced measures to economize the operation of state government.

Under Brewer, the Court of Appeals was divided into the Court of Civil Appeals and Court of Criminal Appeals, the state Supreme Court was expanded by two judges and the first Ethics Commission was created.

Brewer served on the executive committee of the National Governors’ Conference and was chairman of the Appalachian Regional Commission, vice chairman of the Southern Governors’ Conference and chair of the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway.

Brewer joined Samford in 1987 as Distinguished Professor of Law and Government.  He also helped Samford establish the Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama (PARCA), a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that studies issues of public interest affecting state and local government in Alabama.  He served as its first executive director, and continues to serve as chairman of its board.

Brewer taught in the Samford law school for two decades before retiring last year, earning numerous teaching accolades.  He and his wife established a scholarship fund in the law school to provide need-based aid to deserving students.

Brewer is a member of the Samford board of trustees and served on its presidential search committee in 2006.

The Brewers are parents of two daughters and have three grandchildren.

Learn More:
Samford's Cumberland School of Law