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Alumni Focus

What makes AU Such a special place?

It’s You.

By: Jason Rutland
Associate Vice President for Parent and Family Engagement, Stewardship and Major Gifts

From our humble beginnings to our growth into South Carolina’s largest private institution of higher learning, Anderson University has sought to provide a transformational education experience within an intentionally Christian environment. At the heart of the University’s mission is an uncompromising commitment to Great Academics, Great Faith, Great Hospitality and Great Purpose.

I appreciate the commitment to each of these pillars of the University. They each provide structural support, and they help form our culture.

For a moment I want to focus on our commitment to Great Hospitality. Over the last 20 years, Anderson has seen the number of students grow to 4,700 and we have more than 30,000 active alumni. With this growth it would be easy to lose our focus on the individual. But intentional, individual attention is what makes our institution special. The strong commitment to hospitality by our administration and every member of the faculty and staff ensures that we will continue to make conscious decisions that keep the heart of Anderson the same. We have even made it part of our mission:

For God and humanity, Anderson University seeks to be an innovative, entrepreneurial, premier comprehensive university where liberal arts, professional studies, and graduate studies thrive within an uplifting, welcoming, and distinctively Christian community of diverse faculty, staff and students dedicated to intellectually rigorous learning, a caring and hospitable campus culture, and personal transformation.

I truly cherish the intentional effort by those in the Anderson family to connect with each other. I consider myself extremely fortunate to have been in a position over the past nine years to serve not only our alumni, but also the parents and families of our wonderful students.

As we add to the number of people in our campus family, we also want to make sure that we are doing our best to serve each member and make them feel a part of this caring and hospitable culture. That’s why we have recently added a new member to the Development Office staff to assist us in these efforts. I am excited to announce that moving forward, Leah Clevenger will serve as our Associate Vice President for Alumni Engagement and Major Gifts.

Just a little about her: She is a lifelong Carolina resident (North and South), and she has been involved in ministry and church planting for her entire career. We are so thankful to have such a wonderful mission fit for the campus. I look forward to your meeting her, whether it be on campus for an event or to grab lunch.

With Leah’s arrival, I will focus on expanding the opportunities for our parents and families as I move into the role of Associate Vice President for Parent and Family Engagement, Stewardship and Major Gifts. Together, Leah and I, alongside all Anderson faculty and staff, will continue serving you.

You are special to Anderson University. It’s our job to make sure you know it.

Long Live Anderson!

P.S. Feel free to reach out to Leah at lclevenger@andersonuniversity.edu or call her at 864.804.4360 to welcome her to the Trojan family.

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