Samford University awarded 311 bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees during its winter commencement on Friday, Dec. 13.
Two ceremonies were held to honor graduates of School of the Arts, Howard College of Arts and Sciences, Brock School of Business, Orlean Beeson School of Education, School of Health Professions, Ida Moffett School of Nursing, School of Public Health and Cumberland School of Law.
Samford MBA alumna and Birmingham native Leigh Davis ’05 presented the morning’s commencement address, linking the students’ future to her own family’s experience of hope, faith and persistence through failure.
Davis is vice president for economic and community development at Alabama Power Company, an accomplished attorney in many business fields and a leader in numerous regional charitable and community organizations, including Samford’s Board of Overseers.
In the afternoon ceremony, graduates of the College of Health Sciences heard from three students representing the schools of nursing, health professions and public health. They addressed their peers, families and professors as they spoke on the theme of calling and reflected on their individual journeys to the graduation milestone.
Read more about the commencement honoring graduates of the College of Health Sciences
University President Andrew Westmoreland also addressed the graduates with a wish to remember Samford as they move forward in their professional careers.
“May you remember that on a hillside in Alabama there are people, decades from now, who will recall your name with the proud memory, 'That was my student,’” he said. “This campus will always be your home. We have given you our best. Now take it into a world of great need and multiply what you have received."
Twenty-eight Beeson Divinity School graduates received their degrees in a ceremony on Dec. 6.