News Releases

The Lander University Minorities On the Move Gospel Choir will have its annual Spiritfest Concert at 3 p.m. on Sunday, April 17, in Lander’s Josephine B. Abney Cultural Center.

An army major, a recognized hospice care expert and the manager of Lander’s newest athletic facility are the 2011 recipients of the Lander Alumni Association’s top awards. The honorees are Major Cory Plowden, a 17-year South Carolina National Guard and U.S. Army veteran; Nancy Boyter Corley, chief executive officer of HospiceCare of the Piedmont in Greenwood; and Steve Grogan, Lander’s assistant athletic director and manager of the Jeff May Complex.

The final concert of the season by Lander University’s Jazz Ensemble on Thursday, April 14, will be a study in contrasts. Brassy numbers like Kris Berg’s “Fowl Play,” “Cold Duck Time,” by Eddie Harris and Joe Garland’s “Leap Frog” will alternate with more introspective pieces, like “Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars,” by Brazilian composer Antonio Carlos Jobim, “The Creole Love Song,” by jazz great Duke Ellington, and “Django,” John Lewis’s tribute to jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt.

For the fifth straight year, a Lander University student has won the triathlon award, the top prize at the annual competition of the South Carolina Speech and Theatre Association (SCSTA).

The Lander Dance Company will grace the Josephine B. Abney Cultural Center stage for their final two concerts of the 2010-11 Fine Arts Performance season Monday and Tuesday, April 11-12, at 8 p.m. Under the direction of 1990 Lander graduate and adjunct instructor of dance Joey Giles, the Lander Dance Company is working hard to prepare for their exciting season finale. For further information, contact the College of Arts and Humanities at 864-388-8323.

Dr. Daniel Ball, president of Lander University, seated right, signs a Memorandum of Understanding with officials of East China Normal University in Shanghai. Ball and Dr. Sung-Jae Park, standing right, Lander’s interim dean of International Programs, are visiting China and South Korea to meet with the administrators of six colleges and universities.

Two Lander University political science majors from Greenwood will spend the fall 2011 semester working and studying in Washington, D.C. Conner Lewis and Christopher Ty Grogan were selected for Washington Semester Internships sponsored by the University of South Carolina Honors College in Columbia. Lewis and Grogan are among 17 students who were chosen from the 25 who applied.

Dr. Sung-Jae Park, recently retired from an international program leadership position at Ball State University, is now leading an Asia initiative for Lander University. He will develop strategies that will encourage students from Japan, Korea, China, and India to study at Lander for one or two years as a part of their degree programs. Dr. Park will also create some additional study abroad opportunities in Asia for Lander students.

Lander University President Dr. Daniel Ball, center, congratulates the recipients of the university's 11th annual staff excellence awards: Jeff Beaver, left, Lander physical plant director; and Tom Covar, Lander’s budget director and controller.

This semester nine Lander University students and two faculty members attended the South Carolina Council for Exceptional Children Conference in Myrtle Beach. Students held fundraisers to collect money to cover hotel costs and expenses related to the conference. During the conference several of these students and some Lander teaching education alumni made presentations, and received awards and scholarships.