Samford’s Howard College of Arts and Sciences & School of the Arts Celebrate Spring 2026 Graduates | Samford University
Samford University’s Howard College of Arts and Sciences and School of the Arts celebrated their spring graduates with a joint commencement ceremony May 2 in the Pete Hanna Center.
Neil Davis, president of Davis Architects, Samford University’s primary architecture partner, was presented with an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree.
Ahead of commencement exercises, Davis reflected on nearly 50 years in practice and how his understanding of the profession has changed over time.
Quoting Winston Churchill, Davis said, “We shape our buildings, and thereafter they shape us,” noting that the idea has taken on new meaning for him throughout his career. Early on, his focus centered on creativity, but experience gradually broadened his perspective. “What has changed,” Davis said, “is my understanding of what the work is actually for.”
Davis believes architecture is ultimately defined by the people who inhabit it. “A building is not finished when construction ends,” he said. “It becomes finished, slowly, as a community moves into it and makes it their own.”
Reflecting on his work at Samford, Davis described seeing buildings he helped design now fully shaped by student and faculty life. “That transfer—from the architect’s vision to the community’s life—is the real completion of the work,” he said. “You are not making something for yourself. You are making something for time.”
Davis offered practical and personal guidance for graduates entering creative careers. His first piece of advice is simple but demanding: “Be true to yourself. Creative careers often present pressure to compromise essential ideas, and learning the difference between healthy collaboration and surrendering one’s vision is critical.” He also urges graduates to pair patience with persistence, acknowledging that the arts rarely reward effort on a predictable schedule. “Patience is not waiting passively,” he said. “It is staying committed to the work even when the work is not yet returning the favor.”
Davis hopes graduates remain guided by passion, which he believes is the sustaining force of any creative life. “Skills can be developed. Connections can be made,” he said. “But passion is the renewable resource.” Looking ahead, Davis said he hopes the spaces he has helped create inspire “joy, first. And wonder,” and offer a sense of belonging. If future artists and designers encounter in those spaces the belief that “beauty and purpose are not in opposition,” he said, then the work will have fulfilled its highest aim.
