Published on February 8, 2016  

Having spent eight days in Washington, DC since the end of January, I was glad to return home on Thursday evening.  My visit to Washington included several meetings with elected officials and staff members.  Late in the day last Tuesday, I spent about 30 minutes with Mary Blanche Hankey, a graduate of our Cumberland School of Law and the Legislative Counsel for Senator Jeff Sessions. At the end of a very long day for her, Mary Blanche listened patiently to me as I tried to explain many of the public policy interests for those of us in independent higher education.  Her competence and compassion are hallmarks of Cumberland lawyers.

 The world is better because of Mary Blanche Hankey and the dozens of Samford graduates serving on Capitol Hill.

 
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.