Lander University
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Lander University is a public university located in Greenwood, South Carolina. It is the state's smallest publicly-funded baccalaureate institution.
Lander University was founded by Methodist clergyman Samuel Lander in 1872 as Williamston Female College in Williamston, South Carolina. It remained a private institution for 26 years. In 1898 the College gained the support of the South Carolina Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. The college moved to Greenwood in 1904 and was renamed Lander College in honor of its founder who died in the same year. It remained a women's college until 1943 when men were first admitted.
In 1948, when the Methodist Conference, pursuant to a policy of consolidation of its education efforts decided to end support of Lander College, interested citizens of Greenwood formed the Lander Foundation as a non-profit corporation and leased the College from the Church.
In 1951, the County of Greenwood obtained the College name and property from the Methodist Conference. The South Carolina General Assembly created the Greenwood County Education Commission, known as the Lander Foundation, to serve as the board of control of the College. Lander thus became the only four-year liberal arts college in the United States to be controlled and financed by a county government.
In 1973, Lander College became a state-supported college and in 1992 its name was changed to Lander University. The institution is now completely co-educational.
The University is situated near the center of the City of Greenwood, a small South Carolina city. Proud of its identity as a small student-centered public four-year university with a nurturing educational environment, Lander is committed to a gradual but limited growth from its present enrollment of 3000 to about 3500 students.
Lander University confers the degrees of Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science, and Master of Education. The University is fully accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. In addition the University's programs in Business Administration, Nursing, Teacher Education, Music, Visual Arts, and Theatre are accredited respectively by the appropriate national accrediting agencies (the AACSB, the NLNAC, the NCATE, the NASM, the NASAD, and the NAST).
Lander University is a member of the Peach Belt Athletic Conference. Its official mascot is the Bearcat.
[edit] See also
- List of colleges and universities in South Carolina
- List of current and historical women's universities and colleges
[edit] External link
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