Steven Epley
Chattanooga native and former News-Free Press reporter Steven Epley has received a top faculty award at Samford University.
Dr. Epley, an English professor in Samford’s Howard College of Arts and Sciences since 1992, won the Jennings B. Marshall Service Award for significant and sustained service contributions to the university.
He received the accompanying $1,000 cash prize from Samford provost J. Bradley Creed at the opening convocation of the spring semester on Jan. 27.
Mr. Creed cited Dr. Epley for his long service and leadership in many areas of campus life. Dr. Epley has been chair and secretary of the faculty senate, chair of the learning resources committee and a member of the faculty/trustee ad hoc committee on faculty governance. He has served on the university’s values council and on various academic, athletic and business committees. The sports enthusiast has also been a scorekeeper at Samford basketball games.
“He is beloved by his students, our alumni and his colleagues,” Mr. Creed said of Dr. Epley, who teaches cultural perspectives, British literature, senior thesis and medieval literature. He is a specialist on 18th century novelist and educator Susanna Rowson.
“When we think of him, we think of kindness, good humor, dedication to Samford, love for teaching and quiet, unassuming, faithful service,” Mr. Creed said.
Dr. Epley joined the Samford faculty after an early career as a community news and sports reporter for his hometown newspaper, The Chattanooga News-Free Press. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and master’s and PhD. Degrees in English from Columbia University.
He and his wife, Deborah Gibson Epley, have a son, Zane. His sister, Dottie McCurdy, and her family reside in Chattanooga. He is the son of the late Buell and Elizabeth Epley of Chattanooga.