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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 24, 2004
BIRMINGHAM, Ala.—Birmingham-Southern College Chancellor
and President Dr. Neal R. Berte was presented with an honorary
Doctor of Laws degree from Samford University at the institution's
Commencement May 22 to recognize his 28 years of leadership at
Birmingham-Southern.
In a media release prior to the ceremony,
Samford President Thomas E. Corts announced that the Samford
Board of Trustees “enthusiastically approved” the
granting of the degree. “This is as high an honor as our university can
give, one that is richly merited in your case, and I am very pleased,” Corts
wrote to Berte in a letter informing him of the honor. Corts cited the “common
commitment” of Birmingham-Southern and Samford “to academic quality,
to Christian faith, and to the worthiness of independent higher education.” He
added, “It would be an honor for Samford University to claim you as
an honorary alumnus.”
In his 29th year as president of Birmingham-Southern, Berte will
retire June 30 but will continue as chancellor of the college.
He became president Feb.
1, 1976, after serving at the University of Alabama as dean of the New College
and vice president for educational development. An Ohio native, he holds
three degrees from the University of Cincinnati, where he was elected
Phi Beta Kappa |