Posted by Mary Wimberley on 2005-10-24

Samford University will honor graduates from three decades as its 2005 Alumni of the Year during Homecoming weekend activities Oct. 28-30.

Betsy Box, director of the Bedford School, Fairburn, Ga., William E. Hull, research professor and retired Samford provost, and L. Durwood McAlister, retired editor, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, will be recognized at a dinner on Friday, Oct. 28.

Box, a 1971 graduate, pioneered a program in Georgia for children with learning disabilities in 1971, and expanded it into a successful summer camp called Squirrel Hollow. The Bedford School opened in 1985 as a day school specifically for children with learning disabilities. Box holds a Ph.D. in education from Century University, Albuquerque, N.M.

Hull, a 1951 graduate, is a renowned Baptist educator, minister, author and lecturer. He was provost at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and minister of First Baptist Church, Shreveport, La., before being named Samford's chief academic officer in 1987. The author of many books on theology and higher education, he is minister in residence at Mountain Brook Baptist Church. He holds a Ph.D. from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and did advanced study at the University of Gottingen, Germany, and Harvard University.

McAlister, a 1949 graduate, was a reporter in Alabama at Birmingham's The Age-Herald and The Anniston Star before joining The Atlanta Journal staff in 1954. He retired as editor in 1992. He served as a board member of the Associated Press Managing Editors Association, and in 1978 received the Sigma Delta Chi Green Eyeshade Award for distinguished column writing. He did graduate study at Columbia University.

Samford president Thomas E. Corts and Samford national Alumni Association president Tom Armstrong will present the awards at the banquet. 

 

 
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 6,101 students from 45 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.