It is official

It is official - I have resigned my position at UAB and will become a member of the Samford Music Faculty.

Things I want you to know:

• Directing the choirs at UAB was my greatest joy during my tenure at the university.  I will always value the nine wonderful years of music making and laughter we shared together.
• The relationships that I have with UAB students and faculty are important to me and I hope that they will continue. 

Why I chose to leave  . . . . There was nothing negative about my position at UAB that caused me to look for another job.  You will want to know why I made the decision, so I wanted to share some of the reasons.

Samford appealed to me because:

• The Samford faculty, like the UAB faculty, is outstanding.  There are four full-time voice teachers and one part-time. 
• Samford is an arts-centered university.  Presidents and provosts, along with scholarships and program budgets, support the choir and believe in its importance.
• International travel is funded in part by the university and encouraged every two years in the official description of the choir.
• UAB's urban campus was never a long-term career choice for me - the facilities and non-urban nature of the Samford campus is appealing.
• There are three separate outstanding performing spaces for choirs:  Brock Hall, Hodges Chapel, and Reid Chapel.  Two of those spaces have organs, allowing for exploration of the rich choral-organ literature.
• String faculty and string students allow for exploration of other types of choral literature.
• There is a tradition at Samford that I greatly admire - alumni frequently attend the concerts of the choir.
• My family and I are very happy in Birmingham for many reasons and Samford looks like a place I can spend the rest of my career.  After a certain amount of time, my children will be able to attend Samford and other similar institutions tuition free - a gift that is worth about $250,000 from what I know about current tuition costs.

I don't know if you want to know all that, but we have always shared honestly with each other and I want to honor that practice by communicating openly about my thinking.

I'm at O'Henry's nearly every morning - come see me if you want to talk.

philip l. copeland
former director of choral activities,
the university of alabama at birmingham