News Releases

The Lander Magazine is a publication distributed primarily to alumni, donors and friends of the university to inform them of recent Lander activities and the accomplishments of faculty, staff, students and alumni. Started in 1972, the magazine is produced with diligent consideration by the Office of University Relations two times each year, with issues in spring and fall.

Lander University recently hosted the South Carolina Speech and Theatre Association (SCSTA) High School Festival for the second straight year. The festival provides a forum for high school students to compete in such categories as solo acting, duet acting, group acting, ensemble performance, storytelling, original monologue, impromptu speaking, literary interpretation, theatrical design and readers’ theatre.

The Student Scholarship Showcase sponsored recently by Lander University’s College of Arts and Humanities (CAH) was a “tremendous success,” according to Dean Alice Taylor-Colbert, who said it garnered praise from students and faculty alike.

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).

Four Lander University seniors will bring their directing talent to the Josephine B. Abney Cultural Center Greenroom Theatre during the university's annual Student-Directed One-Act Plays. Pictured, from left, are: Ashley Ulmer of Covington, Ga., Dustin Kelly of Enoree, Rachel Perry of Saluda and Madison Bull of Columbia.

The Lander Dance Company will grace the Josephine B. Abney Cultural Center stage for their first concert of the 2010-11 Fine Arts Performance season Tuesday and Wednesday, Nov. 16-17, 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 debut.

Mixing corn syrup, chocolate syrup, Coffee Mate, corn starch and a little water creates a tasty chocolate drink that anyone can enjoy. Add in the red food coloring, and what was a delightful dessert beverage takes on an amazing likeness to the elixir that satisfies the thirst of most vampires: Blood. The recipe is also guaranteed to wash out of the whitest of Victorian-era shirt collars.

Lander University was among the schools across the country chosen to participate in a conference call with U.S. President Barack Obama on Monday, an event that gave student journalists an opportunity to question to him. Mistie Hart of Laurens, a senior mass communication major and editor of the student newspaper, The Forum, sat by the phone waiting for her chance to pose a question to Obama. The president took questions from students at four schools but time ran out on the conference call before Hart had a chance to speak with him.

Nine Lander University students will spend the fall 2010 semester studying at foreign universities as part of Lander's Study Abroad Program.

The names of seven Lander University students will be included in the 2010 edition of Who's Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges, recognizing their selection as outstanding campus leaders.

Four Lander University seniors will bring their directing talent to the Josephine B. Abney Cultural Center Stage during the university's annual Student-Directed One-Act Plays. Pictured front, from left, are: Elizabeth Teal of Darlington and Michael Genevie, Lander associate professor of theatre. Back, from left, are: Jasmine Wallace of Whitmire, James Anthony Chapman of Greenwood and Cherelle Mitchell of Greenwood.

It was a little more than a month ago that Lander University put its campus radio station on the air. On Tuesday, Nov. 17, the university's new television program, Lander Today, made its debut on Northland Cable's government access channel. A group of students, faculty and staff, including President Daniel Ball, gathered in the university Dining Hall to watch the 30-minute production, which airs on Channel 9 at 8 a.m. and 7 p.m.

The new film "S. Lander - His Life and Legacy," which chronicles the life of Lander University founder the Rev. Samuel Lander, premiered Saturday, Oct. 24, in the university's Josephine B. Abney Cultural Center Auditorium. From as far north as Toronto, Canada, and as far west as San Carlos, Calif., nearly 100 descendents of the Rev. Lander were on hand for the event. They came back to Lander with a sense of pride in their heritage and they left the auditorium with a renewed commitment to carrying on the Rev. Lander's legacy for generations to come.

The announcement that Lander University was introducing a new campus radio station has given substance to the observation, "If you build it they will come." In late September, Dr. Robert Stevenson, chair of Lander's Department of Mass Communication and Theatre, sent an e-mail to students, faculty and staff inviting those interested in volunteer positions with the radio station to submit applications. "I was flooded with responses," Stevenson said, adding, "I heard from 20 to 25 people within minutes after my message appeared."

As the Lander University community prepares to welcome the premiere of "S. Lander - His Life and Legacy," a new film chronicling the life of the university's founder, the Rev. Samuel Lander, an exhibit in Lander's Monsanto Gallery will offer early glimpses of the state educator whose actions shaped the lives of many South Carolinians.

A mist hangs over a nondescript train station in turn-of-the-century anywhere, South Carolina. A young woman waits on a bench, nervous and unsure about where the tracks will take her. She is preparing to start school at Williamston Female College, and she waits at the station for a school representative who will escort her to Williamston. The Rev. Samuel Lander, president of the college, emerges and takes the young woman's hand. With his presence, the woman's fears and reservations subside, and she readily boards the train, beginning her college days at the institution that will one day be Lander University.

After Don LaDuke and wife, Peggy, moved to Savannah Lakes Village in McCormick in 2002, he purchased an impressive assortment of electronic equipment related to his former career as a radio broadcaster. He planned to turn a third bedroom in their new home into a recording studio and produce commercials and public service programming.

Production on a documentary highlighting the life and times of Lander University's founder, the Rev. Samuel Lander, is nearly complete, and filmmakers plan to show the movie's trailer and a short clip at the 2009 Spring Water Festival, Sat., Aug. 22, in Williamston. The 55-minute film, titled "S. Lander - His Life and Legacy," paints a vivid portrait of the Rev. Samuel Lander and his determination to build an institution known for quality education. Lander locksmith Paul Crutcher is using his own company, Prestantia Pictures, to coproduce the film with Robert Stevenson, chair of Lander's Department of Mass Communications and Theatre.

This spring, a group of eight Lander University Mass Communication and Theatre majors traveled to Newberry, along with Monique Sacay-Bagwell, Lander associate professor of theater, to compete in the annual South Carolina Speech and Theatre Association College Festival and Competition at Newberry College.

A poster soliciting submissions for the Review, Lander University's art and literature magazine reads "Submit now or the Man-o-Lisa gets published." A graphic to the left shows the face of da Vinci's Mona Lisa replaced by that of the Review's assistant editor - who, it so happens, is a guy. But perhaps more noticeable is the large red "R" resting in the hands of the subject. This "R" has been at the core of a months-long effort, involving Lander faculty, staff and students from across campus and curricula. The process has culminated in the "new" Review.