Posted by Philip Poole on 2009-04-23

Several thousand guests will descend on the Samford University campus this weekend for a variety of special events, and guests are being urged to plan accordingly. The university staff has been planning for several months for what will be one of the single largest event days in university history, according to Ken England, Samford's director of event management.

Signs on campus will direct university guests to various university-sponsored events and available parking. The university's office of public safety and emergency management is working with the Homewood Police Department on traffic control.

The university's admission office will be open for prospective students and their families from 9:30 a.m. to noon on Saturday. The admission office is located in Samford Hall, the main administration building. Visitor parking is located on Sherman Circle in front of Samford Hall.

Samford's baseball and softball teams both play Elon University at 1 p.m. Saturday at Joe Lee Griffin Field and the Samford Softball Stadium, respectively. Parking for these games will be in the university's South Stadium Lot.

Several events are scheduled throughout the day in the university's fine arts complex – Wright Center Concert Hall, Brock Recital Hall and Bolding Studio. Parking for these events will be in lots adjacent to the Wright Center, on a first-come, first-served basis, England said. One event, the Thunderstruck Dance Competition, is expected to draw at least 1,000 guests to an all-day event in the Concert Hall.

The annual John Howard Showcase, sponsored by Samford's Gamma Sigma Sigma service organization, is scheduled for 7 p.m. in Bolding Studio in Bonnie Bolding Swearingen Hall.

McWhorter School of Pharmacy is hosting an all-day continuing education conference sponsored by the Alabama Department of Public Health. Parking for this event will be adjacent to Ingalls Hall, site of the conference.

The largest event, StadiumFest, is expected to attract several thousand people for a free, all-day event being planned by Birmingham-based Scott Dawson Evangelistic Association. Parking for StadiumFest will be in off-campus lots staffed and managed by Events Operations Group (EOG) of Birmingham, with shuttles running throughout the day to Samford's Seibert Stadium, site of StadiumFest. Signs on Lakeshore Drive will direct participants to StadiumFest parking, England said.

England said the university looks forward to all the guests on campus, but he encouraged guests for each event to allow extra time to navigate traffic and to find available parking.

 
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.