Following its national search for an executive director to lead the new Mann Institute for Christian Faith & Learning, Samford University has selected Todd C. Ream, an accomplished author, professor and administrator with 30 years of experience in higher education.
Ream currently serves as university professor and executive director of faculty research at Indiana Wesleyan University, senior fellow for public engagement for the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU) and publisher for Christian Scholar’s Review.
“The Mann Institute for Christian Faith and Learning embodies the primary distinctive of the academic mission at Samford University,” said Dave Cimbora, provost and vice president for academic affairs. “I am thrilled that Todd Ream has joined the Samford community to steward this critical aspect of our mission. He brings sagacity, experience, creativity, and innovation to the faith and learning space.”
Funded by an $11 million endowment from the late Samford alumnus and benefactor Marvin Mann, the university announced plans in August 2025 to establish the Mann Institute, aspiring to foster the integration of Christian faith across the disciplines to form educators for faithful service to students, the academy, and the Church.
Ream became publisher of Christian Scholar’s Review in 2019, leading a 60-member staff that produces a quarterly print journal, the weekday “Christ Animating Learning” posts and the “Saturdays at Seven” series featuring thought leaders discussing the relationship the academic vocation shares with the Church.
Since 2022, Ream has served the CCCU as senior fellow for public engagement, providing consultation and programming to more than 185 member institutions. As a component of that role, Ream is chairing the mission self-study advisory board.
Prior to his current appointment at Indiana Wesleyan, Ream served on college and university campuses in residence life, student support services, honors and graduate programs and as a chief student development officer.
“It is an honor to be selected to serve as a faculty member at Samford and to serve my new colleagues, Church-related higher education, and the Church as the executive director of the Mann Institute,” Ream said. “My hope is the Mann Institute will be recognized on and beyond the campus as a leading catalyst for the relationships faith and learning share.”
Ream is the author or editor of 20 books and is presently writing The Academic Vocation for Oxford University Press and Hesburgh of Notre Dame: An American Prophet (1957-1972) for Catholic University Press of America.
Ream has also contributed more than 200 articles, editorials, interviews and reviews to a variety of journals, magazines and newspapers including: About Campus, America, Christianity Today, Inside Higher Ed, Modern Theology, the National Catholic Reporter, New Blackfriars, Notre Dame Magazine, the Review of Higher Education and Teachers College Record.
A native of Fullerton, California, Ream earned his BA from Baylor University, his MDiv from Duke University Divinity School and his PhD from Pennsylvania State University.
Ream and his wife, Sara, are members of Northview Church-Kokomo where Sara serves as kids pastor. Their daughter, Addison, and son-in-law, Owen, are graduate students at Duke University and their daughter, Ashley, is a May 2026 graduate of Westmont College.
“The quality of the programs and resources the Mann Institute will generate will prove critical,” Ream said. “My overriding hope, however, is those efforts are first and foremost the products of an imagination sparked by intellectual friendship. Samford and the Mann Institute are uniquely positioned to make such a contribution and model what is best about the ways Christian scholars work and serve together.”
