South Carolina State University’s new first lady says she’s committed to student development and recruitment just like her husband, Dr. George E. Cooper who will be inaugurated as S.C. State’s 10th president on March 27.

Diane Cooper says she will take on her official role as the university’s first lady with pride and sees it as an opportunity to be “the official hostess, ambassador and mother of the students here.”

“I have already taken it with such pride and such joy. It’s a blessing. I feel very honored to be first lady of South Carolina State University. We’ve been very, very pleased with the support and love that we feel that we’re getting from the city of Orangeburg,” she said.

Mrs. Cooper said while she will not be involved in the day-to-day activities of the university because that is the president’s job, she will support his decision-making with a firm belief that he has the best interest of the historically black institution at heart.

“I trust his judgment. He’s intelligent; he’s knowledgeable. I support him. I pray for him. I know that he’s going to make wise decisions. My role is definitely more student-centered,” said Cooper, who has an extensive background of service to students.

She retired on June 13 last year from the Montgomery County Public School System in Rockville, Md., where she was a school counselor and resource counselor. Prior to that, she was a counselor in the public school system of Huntsville, Ala.; coordinator of counseling for the ROTC Skills Center at Alabama A&M University; supervisor of counseling and orientation at the Tuskegee University Job Corps Center and home economics teacher in the Champaign County Public School System in Champaign, Ill. and the Orange County Public School System in Orlando, Fla.

“My love is students. My husband came in saying that he’s student-centered without a doubt. I’ve been a high school counselor for numbers of years ... . I feel so honored now to have been almost transitioned to college. I’ve spent my entire profession ... encouraging students to take advantage of higher education,” Cooper said. “Now that I’m here, I feel that I’m pushing them on to greater things.”

She said her activities will center around enhancing her relationship with students and alumni. For example, she said she and Dr. Cooper have visited at least 16 alumni chapters across the nation, including Orlando and Chicago, in what she calls a “road show” designed to become more acquainted with chapter members.

“We want to meet our alumni, so I’m involved in recruitment for students. I’ve talked with parents. I’ve said things to parents that I mean from the bottom of my heart. We’re there for their kids, and I see the joy in their faces when I say that. My involvement includes community involvement, but I’m more involved in every aspect of student life that I can,” said Cooper, who was the first African-American student to enroll and graduate with a bachelor of science degree from the College of Human Sciences at Florida State University. She received her master’s degree in education from Tuskegee University.

Cooper has already started reaching out to students by speaking in freshman orientation classes and visiting study halls for student-athletes. She said that while she loves athletics and she and her husband are “out-of-control cheerleaders” at all sporting events, academic achievement is equally important to her.

“We have more honor students this year than ever. So, we’re very proud with the caliber of students that we have that are interested in South Carolina State. We know that we have to do our very, very best to keep them,” said Cooper, who has also gotten involved with groups such as the Student Government Association.

“We’ve had from nine to 12 lock-ins with girls. I think they call them love-ins,” she said. The love-ins are a social development initiative of the SGA initiated by reigning Miss South Carolina State University Uchechi Egbuhuzo.

“We’re talking about 60 mainly freshman girls talking about what’s on their mind,” Cooper said. “I’ve had lectures with students, dinner with students and I’ve talked with students. I encourage them. Anything related to student progress and development is my passion.”

Cooper will be the host of the university’s sixth annual First Lady Scholarship Luncheon at noon on Thursday at the Kirkland W. Green Student Center.

“This year, we’re honoring 25 ladies. Fifteen of them will be adults from the community and the university in arts, education, fine arts, law enforcement, politics and medicine. These are unsung heroes. We’ve had wonderful response,” she said.

Cooper said her husband’s own commitment to helping the university overcome funding challenges – while at the same time trying to revitalize building projects across campus – is commendable.

“I think my husband came in at a very critical time, and that was during the financial crisis. I was pleased with the way he tackled that. ... He was able to spot things that could be done to keep us from being in worse shape that we are right now,” Cooper said, noting the hard work and cooperation of the president’s cabinet and other staff members.

She also cited the continued development of the Clyburn Transportation Center and the Miller F. Whittaker Library under her husband’s auspices.

“He’s working on a lot of building projects that will make South Carolina State a better institute,” Cooper said. “We’re very, very pleased with the university, but I think his involvement and commitment to this university can make it an even greater university.”

T&D Staff Writer Dionne Gleaton can be reached by e-mail at dgleaton@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5534.

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