Hamacher: LU will continue progress while presidential search goes on

Lincoln University interim President Connie Hamacher gave her first public speech Friday morning after succeeding Carolyn Mahoney as LU's chief executive. Hamacher told LU faculty and staff she and other administrators will work to keep Lincoln operating smoothly while a search committee seeks applicants, and then decides whom to hire, for the school's next president.
Lincoln University interim President Connie Hamacher gave her first public speech Friday morning after succeeding Carolyn Mahoney as LU's chief executive. Hamacher told LU faculty and staff she and other administrators will work to keep Lincoln operating smoothly while a search committee seeks applicants, and then decides whom to hire, for the school's next president.

Life goes on at Lincoln University, even as the school searches for its 19th president - and there will be challenges ahead as in every other year.

On just her second day as LU's interim president, Connie Hamacher told Lincoln's Faculty and Staff Fall Institute Friday morning: "We will be participating in (the state's new) performance funding, and the new (state) Innovation grant that Lincoln was awarded this summer."

But one of the biggest challenges may have been voiced by Matthew Baggs, president of LU's Student Government Association.

"It's a little known fact that, year in and year out, Lincoln University's retention rate has standardized around 50 percent, compared to a national average of 74 percent for four-year institutions," he told the faculty and staff during his "Greetings" from the SGA. "As a student, this is not something that I take pride in."