The Lander University Alumni Association wrapped up its 2021 Homecoming festivities on Saturday, Oct. 30, with a special dinner and ceremony recognizing last year’s alumni award recipients. The six recipients selected last fall were announced in February of this year, but COVID-19 restrictions prevented an in-person gathering at the time.
Guests were treated to dinner and had the opportunity to socialize with fellow Lander alumni before hearing a brief campus update from President Richard Cosentino. Following the president’s remarks, Alumni Association Executive Director Suzann Couts provided insight on each award recipient before welcoming them to the podium to say a few words.
The late Maurice Holloway ’78, who was posthumously awarded the Grace Iler Norman Alumni Service Award, was remembered as a loyal Lander alumnus who loved to visit and interact with students, faculty and staff whenever he had the opportunity. An inaugural member of Lander’s Board of Trustees, Holloway served 32 years on the board until his passing in 2020. He retired from a 42-year career with AT&T (formerly Bell South) in January of 2020. His wife, Dr. Mary Holloway, also a 1978 Lander graduate, accepted the award on her late husband’s behalf, remarking, “ Maurice graduated from Lander in 1978, but he never left Lander. Most of us graduate and move on, but not Maurice. He stayed true [to Lander] until his death.”
Distinguished Alumni Award recipient Brad E. Rader ’98, a native of Simpsonville, graduated from Lander with a degree in history and served as a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha Honor Society and Kappa Sigma fraternity. He is currently a deputy regional counsel with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), in the Philadelphia Regional Office for the mid-Atlantic region. In his remarks to guests, Rader thanked his alma mater for welcoming him to campus as a new freshman in 1994, and also for recognizing his achievements now as an alumnus. “Lander University is a place I will always call home,” he said.
Lonnie Nesbitt ‘07, is a recipient of the Young Alumni Achievement Award. The mass communications major participated in the Walt Disney World College Program while at Lander, and stayed in Florida after graduation to pursue a full-time career with Disney. He also recently launched his own business, Health Fitness Happiness, where he focuses on empowering young adults to embrace their value by strengthening themselves from inside out through fitness training and life coaching. “It’s nights like tonight that help you realize that you’re going in the right direction,” he told guests. “Lander University, thank you so much for this honor. I will continue to do great things, and the best is yet to come.”
Three of last year’s award recipients were not able to be in attendance at the event and will be honored separately at a later date: Ryan L. Peck ’06, recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award and the current deputy director of Athletics at the University of North Texas; Kavin Campbell Jr. ’14, recipient of the Young Alumni Achievement Award, and a designer of apparel, products, footwear and collections with The Whitaker Grp; and Laura Brown Wood ’16, recipient of the Young Alumni Achievement Award, and a professional photographer and current staff photographer with Lander University.