Shae Baldwin didn’t just graduate from Lander University in December 2025 -- she left an indelible mark on the institution’s academic legacy.
Recognized with the Thayer Award, the University’s highest academic honor, Baldwin has been recognized not only for her exceptional scholarship, but for the intellectual curiosity, discipline and dedication that defined her journey and set her apart as one of Lander’s most accomplished graduates.
The Thayer Award is bestowed each semester upon the graduating student with the highest grade point average (GPA).
For Baldwin, of Mount Pleasant, the award is significant given the demands she balanced along the way. In addition to excelling in Lander’s rigorous nursing program, she was a dedicated member of the Lander women’s soccer team, successfully navigating two of the University’s most demanding arenas -- academics and athletics -- at the highest level.
“Receiving the Thayer Award is such a blessing. I have spent the past three-and-a-half-years pouring my heart into Lander University, and to be recognized for my work ethic and dedication is incredibly meaningful,” said Baldwin, who earned academic honors at Lander from the Honors College and now is working at MUSC’s Shawn Jenkins Children’s Hospital in Charleston as a nurse in the pediatric heart center.
When she received the congratulatory call about the award from Dr. Holisa Wharton, dean of the College of Nursing, Human Performance and Health Sciences, Baldwin said, “I was completely shocked and beyond grateful. This award represents the hard work, discipline and determination it has taken to become the best student and future nurse I can be. I am so thankful for Lander University and the opportunities it has given me.”
An Academic “Rock Star”
Dr. Lillian Craton, director of Lander’s Honors College, hailed Baldwin as an academic “rock star,” who was “never satisfied with being just one thing: just an honors student, just a soccer player, just a future nurse. She was determined to do it all.”
Craton described Baldwin as “the kind of student who makes us be better teachers. She raises the bar for class discussion and has a remarkable memory for what she reads. Shae is always thinking three steps ahead: asking questions for her midterm project the first week of classes and planning her work for the final project by midterms, for example.”
Baldwin easily stood out from the crowd, Craton said, by earning a business administration minor, “because the most rigorous major at Lander plus honors classes just wasn’t enough of a challenge. She had to work in corporate finance, too.”
A Symbol of Lander Values
Wharton said Baldwin “symbolizes the values we strive to instill in all students -- academic excellence, integrity, leadership, service and compassion. The Thayer Award represents the highest ideals of scholarship and character at Lander University, and having one of our own from the School of Nursing recognized in this way reflects the strength of our faculty, the rigor of our programs and the culture and mentorship within our college.”
Baldwin’s accomplishment is even more impressive because of her athletic commitment, Wharton said.
“The demands of nursing alone are significant. When combined with collegiate athletics and service as a Presidential Ambassador, among Shae’s many other service-related activities, this achievement becomes truly exceptional and reflects the highest standard of our college and Lander University,” Wharton said.
Looking to the Future
Baldwin is in the application process to pursue a master’s degree in Lander’s Clinical Nurse Leadership program and has a goal of becoming a nurse practitioner. “I recently received all of the required documentation and am excited to take this next step in my education,” she said.
Baldwin will be “wildly successful in her position at MUSC,” said Craton, noting that the “families she’s going to work with are so lucky to have such a compassionate and insightful problem-solver on their team, making their children’s lives better and longer.”
Beyond Baldwin’s compassion, “I can only imagine the power -- potentially the lifesaving power -- her influence on colleagues will have in a healthcare setting,” Craton said.
About the Thayer Award
The Thayer Award pays tribute to the legacy of civic leader Henry K. Thayer, who served as president of Thayer’s Inc. of Greenwood for numerous years. A U.S. Army major during World War II, Thayer died in 2006.