Chapter 7: Lander University and Student Success Data

Katie is a pre-service teacher in the Department of Teacher Education in the College of Education. Lander University consists of five colleges including the College of Education. As a public university, the university was founded in 1872 and gained its state-supported status in 1973. Lander University is located in Greenwood, South Carolina. It is the state’s second smallest publicly funded baccalaureate institution. In the 2018 edition of U.S. News & World Report’s Best Colleges rankings, Lander was ranked 29th in Regional Colleges of the South and 6th in Best Colleges for Veterans (Lander University, n.d.).

Lander University was originally established as a private women’s college in Williamston, South Carolina in 1872. To honor its founder, Samuel Lander, the college was renamed Lander College 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 from Williamston to Greenwood in 1904 and was renamed Lander College in honor of its founder, and the college became known as Lander University in 1992.