Samford University is an accredited private, Baptist-related university located in Birmingham, Alabama. It is the home to the Cumberland School of Law, purchased from Cumberland University in Lebanon, Tennessee in 1951, and other graduate programs as well. It was formerly known as Howard College and the name change was made in the 1960s, in part to end any ambiguity about there being any relationship between it and Howard University in Washington, D.C. (there is none). However, the newer name tends to be associated in the minds of many with Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, although there is no association between the two other than the somewhat similar names.