Lander University will conduct its spring commencement on Saturday, May 2, and it will be a historic occasion, marking Dr. Daniel Ball's final graduation ceremony as Lander president. The ceremony will be held in the university's Finis Horne Arena at 11 a.m.
A live stream of the event will be available here, beginning shortly before 11 a.m. that morning.
Due to campus construction, commencement attendees are encouraged to arrive early to allow for additional time to park and walk to Horne Arena. A campus map with information on general and handicap parking is available here.
Dr. Daniel Ball will retire on June 30 after serving 15 years as Lander's 12th president. His successor, Dr. Richard Cosentino, vice chancellor for Finance and Administration at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, will assume the presidency on July 1.
The commencement speaker will be Cameron Dorn, the Lander graduate who has become famous as a record-setting endurance athlete and distance runner.
Dorn received a business degree with a marketing management emphasis from Lander in 2010 and earned a master's in international business from the University of Winchester in England. The creator and president of the corporate wellness organization The Suitcase of Courage, he is employed as a wellness consultant for FujiFilm in Greenwood and its other locations in the U.S.
Dorn made national headlines in May of 2014 when he set a new world record for performing the most burpees, a physically punishing exercise routine, in a 24-hour period. He finished with 10,105, eclipsing the old record of 7,684.
He has also raised more than $17,000 for educational programs and facilities for school children in Peru and to provide funds for his former cross country team at Ware Shoals High School.
Just recently, he and three other Lander graduates created The Suitcase of Courage Scholarship at Lander. Joining Dorn in endowing the $10,000 scholarship for business students were Dylan Potts, who also graduated in 2010; Piers DeGruchy, Class of 2011, and Jarrod Moody, Class of 2012. Dorn said he and the others wanted to give something back to Lander, which had done so much for them when they were students.