Samford University
Samford University is a private Baptist university in Homewood, Alabama.[4][5] It was founded in 1841 as Howard College by Baptists.[6] In the fall of 2023, the university enrolled 5,791 students from 49 states, 1 U.S. territory, and 16 other countries.[7]
Not to be confused with Stanford University or Stamford University.History[edit]
19th century[edit]
In 1841, Samford University was founded as Howard College in Marion, Alabama.[8][9] It was named for the eighteenth-century English philanthropist John Howard.[10] Some of the land was donated by Reverend James H. DeVotie, who served on the Samford Board of Trustees for fifteen years and as its president for two years.[11][12] The first financial gift, $4,000, was given by Julia Tarrant Barron and both she and her son also gave land to establish the college.[13] The university also honors the Reverend Milo P. Jewett and Edwin D. King as founders. The university was established after the Alabama Baptist State Convention decided to build a school for men in Perry County, Alabama. The college's first nine students began studies in January 1842 with a traditional curriculum of language, literature and sciences.[14] In those early years, the graduation addresses of several distinguished speakers were published, including those by Thomas G. Keen of Mobile, Joseph Walters Taylor, Noah K. Davis and Samuel Sterling Sherman.[15] In October 1854, a fire destroyed all of the college's property, including its only building.[14][16] While the college recovered from the fire, the Civil War began.[14] Howard College was converted to a military hospital by the Confederate government in 1863.[16] During this time, the college's remaining faculty offered basic instruction to soldiers recovering at the hospital.[14] For a short period after the war, federal troops occupied the college and sheltered freed slaves on its campus.
In 1865, the college reopened. Jabez Lamar Monroe Curry, an attorney, former US Congressman and Confederate military officer, served as president from 1865 to 1868. He was committed to the cause of broader education, and supported expansion of normal school training.
In 1887, Howard College's board of trustees accepted real estate and funding from the city of Birmingham, Alabama, and moved the institution there. Faculty who remained in Marion formed Marion Military Institute (MMI) on the old campus.[17] MMI continues to operate in Marion.
Academic rankings
169
143
170
Campus[edit]
Samford has moved four times during its history. Originally, Howard College was located in Marion, Alabama, a black-belt town between Selma and Tuscaloosa; it was later the birthplace of Coretta Scott King. The college moved twice in the town. Its second campus is now the home of Marion Military Institute. In 1887, the college moved to the East Lake community in Birmingham across the street from Ruhama Baptist Church. The university is now located approximately 5 miles (8 km) south of downtown Birmingham in Homewood, Alabama's Shades Valley along Lakeshore Drive in Homewood, just 2 miles (3 km) from Interstate 65. It is built in the Georgian Colonial style based on Colonial Williamsburg as envisioned by Lena Vail Davis, wife of then President Harwell Davis when the campus was moved to the Shades Valley area of Jefferson County in 1953-57.[63] The campus was designed by the Birmingham architectural firm Van Keuren & Davis, and most later buildings have also been designed by the same firm, known as Davis Architects since 1986.[64]
In 1983 the university established a study center in London, England, to facilitate students studying abroad. Named the Daniel House, the center is located at 12 Ashburn Gardens in South Kensington and hosts 15-24 students each semester.[65]
In 2014 the university purchased the campus of the Southern Progress Corporation which borders its main campus to the east. (The land had originally been part of Samford's undeveloped campus and was previously sold by Samford to Southern Progress.) The three huge buildings on the former Southern Progress campus are strikingly modern in their architecture and nestled among trees. This contrasts with the Georgian Colonial classicism of the central campus.[66]
Student demographics[edit]
In 2023, Samford University enrolled 3,832 undergraduate and 1,959 graduate and professional students.[67] Students from 49 states and 16 countries attend Samford,[67] with 74 percent of the undergraduate student body coming from outside the state of Alabama.[68] 97 percent of all May 2019 undergraduate alumni were employed or enrolled in graduate school or in internships within six months of graduation.[69][70] 81 percent of May 2015 graduates completed an internship during their time at Samford.[71] During 2015, Samford students completed 716,902 hours of community service.[60]
