Posted by Mary Wimberley on 2009-04-15

Samford University will observe Earth Week April 20-23 with special speakers, a film, a sustainability fair and an art display.

The French documentary, "The World According to Monsanto," will be shown Monday at 7:30 p.m. in Brock Forum, located in Dwight Beeson Hall. A discussion led by Samford sociology department chair Dr. Hugh Floyd will follow.

Convocations on Tuesday and Thursday will feature endurance hiker Jennifer Pharr Davis and author Mike Yankoski.

Davis, Blue Ridge Outdoor magazine's 2008 Outdoor Person of the Year, will speak on Tuesday. A professional hiker, coach, speaker and author, Davis set a new women's assisted endurance record on the Appalachian Trail in August, when she completed the 2,175-mile trek in 57 days, 8 hours and 35 minutes. She is a 2004 Samford graduate.

Yankoski, who chronicled his five-month journey as a homeless man in the book, Under the Overpass: A Journey of Faith on the Streets of America (2005), will speak Thursday. During the sojourn, Yankoski sought to determine if his faith in God could remain intact without comforts he had always known.

Both convocations will be at 10 a.m. in Samford's Reid Chapel. The public is invited.

Also, on Thursday, honors students Leah Shell, Laura Morello and Kelly Burns give a student's perspective on bringing sustainability to Samford's building projects and campus dining services from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. in DBH 207.

A sustainability fair on Thursday will feature student/faculty exhibits on display 10:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. on Ben Brown Plaza near the Samford Library.

According to Earth Week faculty coordinator Dr. Betsy Dobbins, Samford is working hard to make itself a better steward of natural resources.

The sustainability fair, she says, "is a way for student groups, campus departments and outside organizations to explain what has been done and to explore what can be done to make our daily lives have a more positive effect on the local environment and on the planet."

This year's fair includes a record number of 39 exhibits.

Earth-related art created by students and employees will be on display April 19-May 1 in the Samford Library.

 
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.