Samford’s enrollment has increased by 36% since 2009, and it continues to expand in both student body and campus size. Since 2023, Samford’s approach to strategy and goal planning has been through its Fidelitas plan, which aims to put the mission of Samford at the forefront of its growth.
Lauren Leach, former associate vice president of planning for UAB health, has now stepped into the dual role of chief of staff and vice president of strategy at Samford University.
While this is technically a new position, it is really a reorganization of duties that other people previously held. At the start of Fidelitas, many of the strategic duties now assigned to Leach were incorporated into Colin Coyne’s role as Vice President for Finance, Business Affairs and Strategy, and previously Michael Morgan, current assistant to the president, held the role of chief of staff.
President Beck Taylor said, “Ms. Leach will allow us to take some important steps forward as we better articulate some key objectives of the plan and measure our progress with more sophistication.”
Coming from UAB, Leach said her first 90 days will be primarily focused on learning and listening to the community, the staff and the history of the school.
“I want to be that sponge right now that really understands where we’ve been to be able to really help shape where we go,” Leach said. “That would just be a misstep on my part to not hear from as many people as I can before we really start shaping those next steps that we’ll take.”
Leach said that communication is key, and her goals are to be able to represent groups across campus and keep the larger goals of the university in mind when setting smaller ones.
“Just to see where Samford has been and where they’re going and just the record enrollment over 17 years (…) I’d love to be a part of the next steps of Samford and that next generation of students that are coming through,” Leach said.
According to the Fidelitas strategy, Samford is planning to expand to a new apartment-style residence hall east of Seibert stadium, which is planned to begin construction in winter of 2028.
Staff Reporter
