Posted by William Nunnelley on 2008-12-05

Federal District Court Judge Karon O. Bowdre of the Northern District of Alabama was elected a member of the Samford University Board of Trustees at the board's regular winter meeting Dec. 2 at Samford.

Judge Bowdre, who was appointed to the Federal bench in 2001, was elected to fill the unexpired term of W. Randall Pittman, who resigned to become Samford's vice president for university relations.

A Birmingham resident, she served as a professor at Samford's Cumberland School of law from 1990 until her appointment as judge. Prior to that, she was an attorney with the firm, Rives & Peterson.

Bowdre is a cum laude graduate of both Samford and Cumberland, earning her undergraduate degree in 1977 and her juris doctor law degree in 1981. She was associate editor of the Cumberland Law Review and associate justice of the law school's Henry Upson Sims Moot Court Board.

She served as a law clerk with Federal District Judge J. Foy Guin, Jr., during 1981-82.

Nine board members were re-elected to four-year terms. They were D. Warren Bailey, Birmingham; Charles T. Carter, Birmingham; Gerald C. Hallmark, Alexander City; Pete M. Hanna, Birmingham; Robert Holmes Jr., Birmingham; Richard D. Horsley, Birmingham; Victor E. Nichol Jr., Birmingham; Mazen M. Sahawneh, Mobile; and Albert L. Shumaker, Centre.

 
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 5,791 students from 49 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.