Samford University is Alabama’s top-ranked private university with nationally ranked academic programs rooted in the university’s Christian mission. Located in suburban Birmingham, Samford was founded in 1841 and is the 87th oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. It enrolls 5,206 students from 46 states and 32 countries in 10 academic units: arts, arts and sciences, business, divinity, education, health professions, law, nursing, pharmacy and public health.

In 2015, U.S. News and World Report ranked Samford 4th among regional universities in the South. Samford also has been nationally ranked for academic programs, value and affordability by such prestigious publications and rankings as Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, The Princeton Review and Colleges of Distinction, among others.

Samford offers 30 undergraduate and graduate/professional degrees. There are 158 undergraduate majors, minors and concentrations. Graduate/professional degrees are offered in business, divinity, design studies, education, health professions, environmental management, law, music, nursing, pharmacy and public health. The university’s College of Health Sciences is adding many new undergraduate and graduate/professional programs in the next few years.

The faculty-to-student ratio is 1:13, and no classes are taught by teaching assistants. Among Samford’s 48,000-plus alumni are more than 60 U.S. congressmen, seven state governors, two U.S. Supreme Court justices, four Rhodes Scholars, multiple Emmy and Grammy award-winning artists, two national championship football coaches, and recipients of the Pulitzer and Nobel Peace prizes.

The university fields 17 varsity sports—eight men’s and nine women’s—that participate at the NCAA Division I level in the Southern Conference.

Samford has an annual economic impact of $335.1 million on the state of Alabama.