Diversity and Intercultural Campus Initiatives

IMPACT (Inspiring Minorities to Pursue Academics and Community Together) promotes a successful social and academic experience to underrepresented groups at Samford. The goal is to increase the academic, career and social success of first year minority students by helping develop a sense of community. Peer mentoring is an ongoing component of this program.
In 2018, Intro to Impact (I2I) was established as an option for freshmen enrolled in IMPACT. The event takes place before Connections weekend and serves as an orientation and community building time for participants. The goal is to create an opportunity for students to ask questions and become acclimated to campus.
Diversity Ambassadors share the importance of diversity, equity and inclusion on campus. They also serve as a key resource to underrepresented prospective students who desire to learn more about Samford before, during and after the admission process. The experiences and information shared serve as integral pieces to prospective students’ navigation of the university as well as learning more about unique opportunities for underrepresented students on campus.
In conjunction with Preview Day, Diversity Preview Day is an overnight opportunity for students to learn about the college admission process and hear from students about multicultural opportunities at Samford. High school juniors hear from current students sharing the minority perspective at Samford.
The Office of Admission’s Multicultural Recruiter leads the Diversity Recruitment Team and facilitates a communication plan for students of color. Admission also provides an annual diversity resource guide for prospective students.
The Minority Youth Science Academy at Samford is a three-day residential program offering college preparation and mentoring for outstanding minority high school students who aspire to careers in the sciences.
The Office of Diversity and Intercultural Initiatives participates in STEM Days for local churches and Birmingham City Schools via panels and hands-on experiments.
Annually, the Office of Diversity and Intercultural Initiatives hosts a welcome-back event for students in conjunction with Welcome Back Weekend that introduces students across campus to minority-serving groups.

The Office of Student Life and Office of Diversity and Intercultural Initiatives traveled with 16 student leaders to Atlanta to attend the 2019 National Student Leadership Diversity Conference. There, students networked with diverse student leaders and brainstormed new ideas to facilitate the continued building of relationships on campus. New ideas and training activities were the focus of the advisor sessions. Inspired by the conference, students created a working group comprised of all the leaders from the cultural student organizations to encourage partnership and the sharing of resources.
The Office of Diversity and Intercultural Initiatives sponsors cultural excursions to a variety of locations, including:
- National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tenn.
- Mississippi Civil Rights Museum in Jackson, Miss.
- National African American Museum of History and Culture in Washington D.C.
- Birmingham Civil Rights Institute
- Moundville Archaeological Park in Moundville, Ala.
- Rosa Parks Museum in Montgomery, Ala.
- Equal Justice Initiative’s National Memorial for Peace and Justice and the Legacy Museum in Montgomery, Ala.
The Student Government Association’s Multicultural Affairs Committee (MAC) makes recommendations to the Student Executive Board to improve cultural awareness and to support on-campus multicultural programming, as well as to insure minority representation in SGA. The committee serves as diversity peer educators in order to advance cultural competency and cross-cultural dialogue on campus. In addition, the SGA also includes a Senate Diversity Committee.
A Samford student research project has created rich new online resources to help preserve the history of the predominantly African American Rosedale community near the university’s campus. The project stretches from the community’s 19th-century origins to the present and gives special attention to the Rosedale School.
Beeson Divinity School launched All Saints Fellowship, a new minority student fellowship, which seeks to prepare students to serve in minority church contexts, discuss challenges unique to minority students at Beeson, and provide fellowship with visiting speakers and each other.
In 2018-19, students in the University Fellows program joined faculty and staff for a reading group that facilitated discussions about race relations and the historical events centered around the murder of Emmett Till. The group read Emmett Till: The Murder that Shocked the World and Propelled the Civil Rights Movement by author and historian Devery Anderson. The group held several discussions including a conversation with the author.
Members of a Samford University student-run public relations campaign published a booklet focused on diversity and inclusion in the Birmingham communications workplace, and created a new scholarship to support those values at Samford.
Since 2016, student leaders from across campus have gathered for a multi-ethnic leadership training hosted by ReNew Partnerships, an organization with a mission to foster ethnic unity in the body of Christ. In 2017, ReNew returned to campus to host a training for the pharmacy school.
The Samford Black Alumni Association is an official extension of the Samford University Alumni Association, established to strengthen the legacy of educational attainment and excellence of Samford black students. The SBAA provides scholarship assistance, career mentoring and cultural advocacy through alumni volunteer involvement, philanthropy and social enterprise.
The Minority Bridge Fund provides emergency financial support for students of color.
The Shelley Stewart Endowed Scholarship was established in 2018 to support minority students in the School of Health Professions. It is one of more than 20 scholarships to support minority students on campus.
Samford is home to numerous student organizations that support diverse groups, including:
- African Students Association
- Black Law Students Association
- Black Student Union
- Chinese Student Scholars Association
- Delta Xi Phi Multicultural Sorority, Inc.
- DREAM (Disability Rights, Education, Activism, and Mentoring)
- Gospel Choir
- International Club
- Latino Student Organization
- National Pan-Hellenic Council
  - Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.
  - Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.
  - Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.
  - Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc
- Student National Pharmaceutical Association

Students, faculty and staff gathered throughout the week Feb. 9-14, 2020, for the first-ever Lead with Love event series. Sponsored by the Office of Diversity and Intercultural Initiatives, the campus-wide program celebrated a shared commitment to leading with love in all that we do. The week offered several interactive events that encouraged purposeful conversation on nurturing a diverse and inclusive culture on campus. Key events included The Defamation Experience, an interactive courtroom exercise; a discussion on systemic racism; a poverty simulation; and a screening of the film Just Mercy. The common thread across all activities was relationship building.
Beeson Divinity School hosted its first annual African American Ministry Emphasis Month in conjunction with Black History Month in February 2020. The purpose was to highlight God’s continued work among African American alumni and friends and to celebrate what God is doing in and through black churches in America, especially those connected to Beeson and Samford. The special emphasis included sermons in Hodges Chapel during the month of February.
The divinity school’s Student Government Association sponsored a tour of the 16th Street Baptist Church, led by Beeson alumna and bombing survivor Carolyn McKinstry, and of the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute as a part of African American Ministry Emphasis Month.
In November 2019, Samford hosted Robert Holmes, the first African American employee to hold a corporate vice president position at Alabama Power, as the first guest of a new leadership interview series, “For the Good,” sponsored through the Frances Marlin Mann Center for Ethics and Leadership. Holmes shared the journey of his 40-year career in an interview with President Westmoreland in front of students, faculty and staff at Reid Chapel.
In 2019, the Student Government Association launched a new program, “Common Ground,” which pairs students with opposing political views together to discuss topics in order to help students build appreciation for differing viewpoints.
Each year, monthly heritage celebration programs and performances educate and expose the student body to the background and cultural practices of different ethnicities represented on campus. In 2019-20, celebrations included Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15-October 15), Native American Heritage Month (November), Black History Month (February), and Women’s History Month (March). Activities for each month include a lunch and learn speaker series, campus panel discussions and debates, documentary screenings, and social events.
The Thurgood Marshall Symposium is presented annually by Cumberland School of Law’s Black Law Students Association and its membership. For 26 years, the symposium has honored the legacy of Justice Marshall by addressing historical and contemporary issues that affect minority communities.
- The 26^thAnnual Thurgood Marshall Symposium in February 2020 featured Regina S. Edwards, U.S. Magistrate Judge for the Western District of Kentucky.
- In February 2019, in conjunction with the 25th anniversary of the founding of Cumberland’s Black Law Students Association chapter, the symposium focused on “Race, Justice and Politics.” The event featured the Honorable Anthony Daniels, Alabama State House of Representatives Minority Leader who represents Alabama’s 53rd district.
Howard College of Arts and Sciences held a symposium on the subject of “Where do we go from here? Martin Luther King Jr., Race, and America’s Future” April 16-17, 2018. The event, the inaugural Samford Stockham Symposium on Western Ideas and Institutions, included a plenary address by 16th Street Baptist Church pastor Arthur Price and panel discussions featuring Samford faculty and distinguished guests from Birmingham-area institutions.
Samford University commemorated the 50^thanniversary of integration during the 2017-18 academic year with a series of special events and recognitions.

Beginning in fall 2020, Samford will require implicit bias training for all search committee members prior to launching a faculty search. Samford will also include diversity training for all employees at the beginning of the semester.
The Office of Diversity and Intercultural Initiatives offers training to the campus community on a variety of topics including:
- The Office of Diversity and Intercultural Initiatives (explaining the services Samford provides to engage the university community in multicultural curricular and co-curricular development and promote respect for others)
- Implicit Bias
- Equity and Resources
- Steps to Multiculturalism
- Face to Face with Race
The Office of Diversity and Intercultural Initiatives has led diversity/inclusion and sensitivity trainings for Athletics, Greek Life, Connections, Residence Life, Foundations classes, Face to Face with Race Roundtable Discussions, and other groups throughout campus.
The Office of Diversity and Intercultural Initiatives is regularly invited to provide diversity training for area and community organizations. As examples, in 2019 the office developed and presented diversity training for the eighth grade class at Our Lady of Sorrows and in 2018 the office provided training at the Girl Scouts of North and Central Alabama Leadership Summit.

Assistant Provost for Diversity and Intercultural Initiatives Denise Gregory hosts meetings with all university deans to learn more about each school’s diversity initiatives and to offer support. Dr. Gregory also served on several search committees to support the hiring process.
Since 2016, Diversity Development Grants have been awarded to 31 faculty members and students. Grants provide financial support for programming and education about topics related to diversity and inclusion. 2018-19 projects included:
- Journalism and Mass Communication held a lunch and learn entitled “Diversity and Inclusion among Current and Future Professional Communicators,” led by alumna and Pastor Kanisha Billingsley.
- The psychology department organized a week-long communication campaign to “increase multiculturalism and cultural sensitivity among undergraduate students” that included a variety of events such as an information fair in Ben Brown Plaza.
- The Black Student Union was awarded a grant to support a community building activity during which they explored the different cultural influences on hip hop around the world.
Minority faculty luncheons take place multiple times each year. Faculty of color come together to share a meal and discuss topics of celebration and concern with one another and the university provost. Recently, Christson Adedoyin, associate professor in the Department of Social Work, presented his research titled “Qualitative Experiences of Black Students in a Predominantly White Faith-Based Institution.” Faculty discuss the presentation and other relevant observations.
The faculty Diversity Committee brings together faculty from across the university to support a campus culture that promotes equality, inclusiveness and diversity.

Beeson Divinity School hosted a Conference on Racial Reconciliation in February 2019.
In partnership with No More Martyrs, a mental health awareness campaign committed to building a community of support for African American women, the Office of Diversity and Intercultural Initiatives presented the Minority Mental Health Summit in July 2018. Over 100 individuals from throughout the local community attended.
Samford has ongoing partnerships with Holy Family Cristo Rey Catholic High School.
- In summer 2019, Samford hosted teachers from Holy Family Cristo Rey for a two-day workshop to help high school faculty recognize opportunities for their students at Samford.
- Samford hosts Holy Family Cristo Rey high school students in the college work study program across Samford’s campus.
- The Office of Diversity and Intercultural Initiatives provides a sponsorship for the Rey of Hope Gala.
As a part of Black History Month programming in 2018, the university collaborated with Samford alumnus and Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin to welcome author and activist Jeff Johnson to campus. The city-wide event, “This Very Moment,” included a discussion led by Johnson and Woodfin that focused on building community, interracial relations and taking advantage of opportunities to support others in the work they are doing. The event had over 300 people present and more than 9,000 views online.
In February 2018 and 2019, the university welcomed Dr. Charles Howard, son of Audrey Lattimore Gaston Howard who was the first African American student to enroll full-time at Samford University, to campus to lead campus worship.
In 2018, Pastor Johnathan Brooks, activist, author and senior pastor of Canaan Community Church in Chicago, Illinois, delivered a moving speech during campus worship in February. After the message, students, faculty and staff had the opportunity to share lunch with them and continue the conversations sparked by each of their presentations.
Orlean Beeson School of Education hosted Anthony Ray Hinton for the 2019 Tom and Marla Corts Distinguished Author Series. As a part of the series, the Office of Diversity and Intercultural Initiatives coordinated with community partners in secondary education to provide students from Holy Family Cristo Rey High School, Restoration Academy and a curricular program with the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute a copy of the speaker’s book to read with their classes. The students were bussed to campus to enjoy an Admission presentation, dinner in the cafeteria and complimentary seats for the Author Series presentation. This event created the opportunity for the office to expose students to topics and issues to which they may not have been introduced before.
In partnership with the Birmingham Education Foundation (BEF), the Office of Diversity and Intercultural Initiatives coordinated several members of the Samford faculty and staff to facilitate mock interviews for over 450 eighth grade students attending the Birmingham City Schools. The office also partnered with BEF and the School of Public Health to provide college tours and majors presentations to students from A.H. Parker High School and Ramsey High School.
The Office of Diversity and Intercultural Initiatives participates with Birmingham area colleges and universities in the Diversity Higher Education Council Group. Diversity personnel from Birmingham Southern College, University of Alabama at Birmingham and University of Montevallo come together for quarterly meetings to discuss ideas and initiatives for providing programming, support and training to promote diversity and inclusion on the respective campuses.

Campus Initiatives

Student Recruitment/Support for Freshmen

Student Development

Campus Programming

Diversity Training

Faculty Development and Support

Community Events/Programs

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