Extolling his new year's theme of gratitude through stories that were uniquely personal, President Beck A. Taylor launched the 2024 fall semester during an address at Samford University's 183rd opening convocation on Aug. 27.
The fourth-year president’s previous themes had focused on love, hope and faith. Shifting toward a new emphasis, Taylor told a packed audience at the Wright Center how being intentionally grateful is cathartic.
“Expressing gratitude reminds us of the love of God. Expressing gratitude centers us in the love of God,” he said.
“As we orient ourselves in gratitude to the Lord, we are less likely to be overwhelmed by serious setbacks or to catastrophize about relatively insignificant nuisances.”
Taylor advised students and staff to express acknowledge parents, teachers, coaches, pastors and mentors who sacrificed on their behalf. “Let their faces come to your mind,” he said, before recounting the people who uplifted him from childhood struggles.
He jokingly referred to third grade as “the best two years of my life,” a period in which his behavior grew so problematic that the teacher moved him to the back of the classroom, sequestered from other students. He wound up having to repeat third grade just as he and his mother were evicted from their apartment and spent some nights in their car.
“Not exactly the story that you would associate with someone who would go on to be a university president,” he said.
The story turned thanks to a Catholic priest, Father Fred, who offered meals to Taylor and his mother and let them sleep on his floor. The story turned thanks to a new third-grade teacher, Mrs. Smith, who embraced Taylor and steered him toward straight A’s. The story turned thanks to the arrival of a step-father who ultimately adopted the boy.
“Thanks to people the Lord put into my life,” Taylor said, “it was like someone hit the reset button.”
The speech resonated with students and faculty who overcame less-than-perfect scripts to arrive at Samford, where they landed crucial internships or earned exciting research grants. Taylor said gratitude should remain key to individual achievements as well as those of the university.
“Record enrollments, new facilities, increasing impact, winning sports programs, big donations—these are on anyone’s bingo card when describing a successful university,” he said. “But as we celebrate, let’s not succumb to the temptation to forget that these are gifts from God, or to fall into the trap of thinking these moments we celebrate are reflective only of our own might, or our talent, or our own faithfulness.
“Let us be known as a grateful university in every way.”
Taylor officially installed David Cimbora as Samford’s provost and vice president of academic affairs, and recognized the athletic success that resulted in the Southern Conference men’s and women’s all-sports title as well as the league’s top graduation rate.
The convocation featured three employees being honored for their outstanding work and service to the university.
Janet Goodwin received the Bill Nunnelley Award, which recognizes outstanding job performance by a non-faculty employee whose work regularly and consistently exceeds expectations and reflects a high level of service, trustworthiness and respect. Goodwin is the assistant director for human resources operations.
Erin Gilchrist received the John H. Buchanan Award. The award for excellence in classroom teaching is given annually to an outstanding member of the faculty. Gilchrist is a professor of secondary curriculum and instruction within the Orlean Beeson School of Education.
Jonathan Bass received the Outstanding Faculty Scholarship Award, which recognizes sustained scholarly contributions to a faculty member’s discipline and the academy over the years. Bass is a professor of Southern culture, civil rights and legal history within the Howard College of Arts and Sciences.
