In case any student or faculty member couldn't make it Monday, September 19, 2016 at 4:00 p.m., President Cosentino gave his State Of The University Address to the Lander Community. He stated, "We're doing well, and we are going to continue to do well."

Before getting into detail about his speech, I would like to say how much this man genuinely cares about his students. He refers to us as his children and I personally like that because it shows that we can come to him with a problem (as would a parent) and he would do his best to solve the problem. I emailed him after his speech asking if I could have a copy of his slides because I wanted to write about him this week for Odyssey. He then emailed me back relatively fast and I was impressed because I know how much a busy man we have on our hands.

Now getting into his speech. He first started by showing a number of slides of what Lander University used to look like. Did you know that on February 12, 1872, Lander University only had 38 students? Today, we have 2,774 students which is 165 more than we had just last year in Fall of 2015. Next year, 2017, he projects Lander University to have 3,100 students. Cosentino noticed that our enrollment was declining so he knew he had to do something about it. It is a lot more crowded, I must say, but I am honored by all the students that want to come to Lander University because it is more than just a school, it is a family. Lander University went from being ranked 44 to 19 in the Best Regional Colleges in just one year. We also were ranked 66 out of 100 for Top Baccalaureate colleges in the country.

Last year Lander had a Vision statement containing 353 words (which no student wanting to come to Lander will read, let's be honest), so what did our President do? He changed it, of course! Our vision is now 17 words, which states, "All Lander graduates are educated, well rounded and prepared to continue their education or launch their careers." When Cosentino stated this he put an emphasis on launching one's career. He did this because he doesn't want us to just get a job, he wants us to thrive and have a life-long career that we believe in like he believes about us. Cosentino also changed the Mission Statement and made Core Values. His mission states, "Lander University offers high-demand and market-driven programs to ambitious and talented students in South Carolina and beyond. These programs are delivered in a rich liberal arts environment to produce highly qualified and marketable graduates." First, I must say, WOW, that is so inspiring. Lander University is a very diverse campus. We have many foreign students that come to further their education here. The classes are very demanding at times, but I think of the ultimate goal- graduation.

President Cosentino set Lander tuition at $10,700 for the next four years. Why? Because he is thinking of the parents or individualize students whom pay for college. He knows how expensive it is and he wants us to be able to accommodate for paying so much. He set it at that rate so we can plan and invest in furthering our education. He is also investing more in recruitment, the classrooms, the science labs, and our over all take-away experience from Lander University. By doing this he believes that if he invests we will excel more.

In the years to come, President Cosentino plans on investing more in Lander University. He plans on many more expansions. The nursing department will soon be larger, which is great because there is an unusual need for nurses right now. There will be a two-story building added onto the current one. He also plans on investing more in the ROTC program and recruiting more men and women.

Remember the experience I referred to earlier? Cosentino is making sure we get just that! He and the Campus Recreation Office have came up with a plan regarding renting bicycles so the students can get out and stay active. There will also be more cycle shelters because of this. He also asked the students of things to make Lander more at home. What did the students reply? "We want a fire pit." We're getting one. It is being made as we speak and it will be adjacent to the outdoor volleyball court. He is also putting up random "Eno Villages" across campus- so be on the lookout for that. President Cosentino loves coffee, and he knows his students do too. So much that, we have expanded Starbucks. We are also going to renovate the old Bearcat Lounge and update it to be more modern. He is asked what we wanted more of from it, and we the students wanted more study rooms, and the new lounge will have just that. Another addition to Lander next year will be the Trolley. This is mostly for the foreign students, or the ones whom just don't have a car. It will run a regular route everyday, taking students uptown. Cosentino asked the students of another eating place they would like to have. So, in return we are getting a Moe's on campus (unsure of when but I am glad to see more diverse food coming to campus).

From all of this expansion, President Richard Consentino knows that there will have disadvantages to go along with the many new advantages. He knows that the students and faculty will become fatigued and that parking will become more of an issue (he must have read my parking article), but he plans on fixing all of this, he just asks us, the students, to be patient and to come to him if there are any problems that he is unaware of because he wants his children to have the best experience that we can while receiving the best education that we can.