Published on June 9, 2012 by Philip Poole
Samford University graduate Anna Laura Bryan was crowned Miss Alabama 2012 Saturday night (June 9). Bryan is a May graduate who earned a degree in interior architecture. She is from Decatur, Ala., and was competing as Miss Hoover.
First runner-up was 2011 Samford alumna Susan Hamm
Bryan continues a long tradition of Samford students and alumnae who have worn the Miss Alabama crown. Deidre Downs Gunn, a 2002 Samford graduate, won the Miss America 2005 crown as Miss Alabama.
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.