May 2, 2008

News: Samford Announces Commencement Details, Trustee Action

Samford To Graduate 845 During May Commencement

Samford will graduate 845 students during May commencement exercises, and the schedule will have a new look and a new location this spring.  Some of Samford’s individual schools will hold separate graduation ceremonies, and the University will move all the programs back to the campus after 18 years of holding exercises downtown.

Beeson Divinity School will lead off the schedule Tuesday, May 6, at 11 a.m. in Hodges Chapel.  Dr. Fisher Humphreys, professor of divinity at Beeson, will speak.

All other programs will be Friday and Saturday, May 16-17.  Here’s the way the schedule will look.

Friday, May 16, in Wright Center Concert Hall—10 a.m., McWhorter School of Pharmacy, Dr. Douglas Figg, senior scientist, Center for Cancer Research, National Institutes of Health, speaker; 1 p.m., Brock School of Business, Greg Powell, CEO, Fi-Plan Partners, Birmingham, speaker; 3 p.m., Ida V. Moffett School of Nursing, graduating senior John Derrick, speaker.

Saturday, May 17—10 a.m. in Pete Hanna Center, the Howard College of Arts and Sciences, Orlean Bullard Beeson School of Education and the School of the Arts combined ceremony, Dr. Roderick Davis, Samford professor of English, speaker; 3 p.m. in Wright Center, Cumberland School of Law, U.S. District Judge Lee Rosenthal, Houston, Texas, speaker.

Samford President Andrew Westmoreland will host a reception for all graduates on the campus quadrangle Friday, May 16, at 4-5:30 p.m. The baccalaureate service will be Friday, May 16, at 6 p.m. in Wright Center, with Dr. Humphreys delivering the sermon.

Trustees Approve Budget, New Initiatives

Samford University’s board of trustees heard extensive reports on the university’s ongoing strategic planning process and approved a proposed 2008-09 budget and several other initiatives at their regular spring meeting April 29.

Sarah C. Latham, Samford’s assistant to the president and director of the office of institutional effectiveness, presented the strategic planning update.  “We have taken the six goals driving the strategic plan in three strategic priorities:  provide an enriched and more vibrant university experience; engage the global community in faith and service; and inspire imagination,” Latham explained.

“We have used this process to develop strategies for all the academic units and divisions of the university, and you will be asked to approve a final comprehensive plan in the fall,” she told trustees.  “It is important for us to have a framework that pulls together all of the university’s individual silos.”

The process also includes updated master planning philosophies, assessment strategies and a strategic enrollment plan for managed growth of just under 5,000 students by 2013.  The master planning philosophies deal with programmatic goals, facilities management, resources management, endowment, deferred maintenance and environmental effectiveness.

“We are focusing on three elements that will help us achieve these goals:  being good stewards of what we already have, continuously improving our budget process and what we can do through a major fundraising campaign,” Latham said.

W. Randall Pittman, vice president for university relations, gave a preliminary report on a capital campaign.  Although plans still are being finalized, the campaign likely will launch publically in the fall 2008 and have a goal of more than $200 million over a five-year period.  “This is more than three times the largest previous campaign the university has had,” Pittman noted. “There are not many universities our size who have embarked on something this ambitious.”

University officials and architects provided updates on potential renovation and expansion plans for the university center.  Plans call for doubling space in the building and centralizing most student-oriented services in one building on campus.  The project is expected to be central to the proposed campaign, Pittman said. 

Trustees authorized the university administration to explore options for new residence facilities on campus.  Plans may include replacement of Ramsay Hall and Odom Lane student apartments to build one or more residence halls to accommodate anticipated future undergraduate growth, according to Harry B. Brock III, Samford’s vice president for business affairs.Design and construction of the facilities will take approximately two years.

Brock said the university is negotiating short-term options to meet current residence shortfalls caused by the recent collapse of the Ramsay Hall roof. 

“As we have improved the physical environment of the campus generally, we have not always kept up with our residence facilities,” said Samford President Andrew Westmoreland.  “This has put us at a disadvantage at times with current and prospective students.  Increasingly we have faced the challenge that we are not paying appropriate attention to residence halls.  It is a matter of keeping pace with what needs to happen with our residence facilities. 

“This is one of the most important things this board will do over the next year.”

Trustees approved a recommendation to add a third level to a previously-approved football field house.  Westmoreland told trustees that the third level would initially be a shell that could eventually provide for transition needs during campus construction and possible future expansion for athletics.

Don M. Mott, vice president for facilities, said construction will take about 11 months once funding is available for the field house.

Trustees also approved a projected operating budget for 2008-09 of about $113 million.  Trustees also approved the final tuition, room and board rates for 2008-09, which includes a 7.7 percent undergraduate tuition increase and an annual technology fee approved earlier.  Room and board will increase an average of about 4.5 percent.  The university’s fiscal year begins July 1, but new fees begin with the summer term in June.

The department of marketing and management in the Brock School of Business was renamed the department of entrepreneurship, management and marketing to reflect new academic programs now offered.  New business degree programs approved include bachelor’s degrees in entrepreneurship, finance and marketing and a joint bachelor’s degree and master of accountancy degree consistent with American Institute of Certified Public Accountants’ requirements for professional certification.

In other routine business, trustees approved the list of candidates for graduation in May and recommendations for updating the university’s bond services and heard a report that the university’s endowment was about $304.5 million at the end of March 2008 and that the university had received more than $17.6 million in annual gifts through March 2008.

Dean of Admission and Financial Aid R. Phil Kimrey reported that applications for fall 2008 are at a record 2,110.

New board chair Clark Watson, a Birmingham attorney, was presiding at his first meeting since being elected chair in December 2007.

Trustees Elect 17 New Faculty

Samford's trustees also elected 17 new facultyat their April 29 meeting.  The new faculty members include:

Kristin A. Bakkegard, assistant professor of biology.  Bakkegard is a graduate of the United States Naval Academy and earned graduate degrees at Boston University and Auburn University She comes to Samford from Utah State University, where she has been a graduate assistant while completing a doctor of philosophy degree in biology.

Lowell S. Broom, professor and chair of accounting.  Broom earned degrees at William Carey College, Mississippi College and Louisiana Tech University.  He comes from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) where he has been associate dean and professor of accounting. 

J. Chandra Clark, visiting instructor in journalism and mass communication.  Clark has degrees in telecommunication and broadcast news from the University of Alabama, where she has been assistant director, broadcast marketing and media. 

Erika Cretton-Scott, assistant professor of biochemistry and medicinal chemistry in the McWhorter School of Pharmacy.  Cretton-Scott is as an associate director of drug metabolism with Idenix Pharmaceuticals.  She has an undergraduate degree from St. Mary’s College and a doctorate in pharmacology from UAB.

B. DeeAnn Dugan, assistant professor of pharmacy practice.  Dugan has a doctor of pharmacy degree from the University of Florida and most recently has been assistant professor at Palm Beach Atlantic University.

Jasmine P. Gaines, assistant professor of biology.   Gaines has been an adjunct assistant professor at Samford and a postdoctoral scholar in UAB’s department of nutrition sciences.   Gaines has undergraduate and doctoral degrees in cellular and molecular biology from UAB. 

Julie S. Jones, assistant professor of nursing.  Jones has been a nurse at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Tuscaloosa, Ala., and earned degrees in nursing from Auburn University and the University of Alabama.

Sean R. King, assistant professor of pharmacy administration.  King has undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Mississippi and expects to earn a doctorate in pharmacy administration from Ole Miss later this month, where he has been a graduate research and teaching assistant.

John C. Knapp, professor of management and university professor.  Knapp has a doctor of philosophy degree in theology and religious studies from the University of Wales and also is directing the new Frances Mann Center for Ethics and Leadership in Samford’s Brock School of Business.  Most recently he has been at Georgia State University.

Jeffrey A. Kyle, assistant professor of pharmacy practice.  Kyle earned the doctor of pharmacy degree at Samford and also comes from Palm Beach Atlantic University, where he was an assistant professor. 

Andrew J. Lampkins, joint appointment as assistant professor of chemistry in Howard College of Arts and Sciences and assistant professor of pharmacy in McWhorter School of Pharmacy.  Lampkins has two doctorates, one in pharmacy from Butler University, and one in organic chemistry from the University of Florida.   He comes from the University of Notre Dame where he has been a Walther Cancer Institute postdoctoral fellow. 

Gregory Kent Laughlin, associate professor of law and director of the Lucille Beeson Law Library.  Laughlin has a juris doctorate from the University of Missouri and a master of science in library science degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  Gregory is coming from the University of Memphis, where he has been the associate dean for information resource, law library director and associate professor. 

Jo Beth Newton, assistant professor of teacher education.  Newton recently retired as superintendent of the Homewood, Ala., city schools.  A Samford graduate, she received her doctor of education in curriculum and instruction from the University of Alabama.

Lakisha D. Moore, assistant professor of biology.  Moore expects to earn the doctor of philosophy in pathology degree from UAB later this month.

Osvaldo Padilla, assistant professor of New Testament in Samford’s Beeson Divinity School.  Padilla has a doctorate in religious studies from the University of Aberdeen and most recently has been assistant professor at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.

LeeAnn G. Reynolds, assistant professor of history.  Reynolds earned her graduate degrees in history from Vanderbilt University and comes from the University of Georgia where she was a Franklin Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow.

Jennifer Speights-Binet, assistant professor of geography.  A Samford graduate, Speights-Binet earned a doctorate in geography at Louisiana State University.  She has been assistant professor at the University of Houston, Clear Lake.