Posted by Philip Poole on 2010-04-15

Beck A. Taylor, dean of Samford University’s Brock School of Business, is the unanimous choice of the presidential search committee at Whitworth University to be the next president of the school affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA).  

Taylor and his wife, Julie, are in Spokane, Wash., to meet with Whitworth faculty, students, trustees and alumni in advance of a Whitworth board of trustees meeting on Friday afternoon to consider the nomination.  An official announcement about the trustees meeting and vote is not expected until late Friday or early Saturday, according to Whitworth officials. 

“I am excited and humbled to have been selected by the Whitworth University presidential search committee as their sole finalist,” Taylor said. “I am eager to engage Whitworth’s students, faculty, staff, and trustees in the coming days, and to learn more about the university.”   

Samford President Andrew Westmoreland notified Samford employees and students of Taylor’s nomination in an email April 15. 

“Dr. Taylor has talked with me about this process as it has unfolded,” Westmoreland said. “Dean Taylor has provided extraordinary leadership for the Brock School of Business, and we are grateful for his significant contributions to Samford University. Pending the outcome of the Whitworth trustees' decision, we will take the appropriate steps to continue the positive momentum that the Brock School of Business has experienced under Dean Taylor's leadership.” 

Taylor has been Samford’s business dean since 2005.

 
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.