Archives For November 30, 1999
On Thursday, Jan. 28, 2021, the College of Charleston held its second annual CofC Day. Like last year, the event ran from midnight to 11:59 p.m.
Read the fall 2020 edition of Philanthropia, formerly known as Donor Digest. We changed the name to the Greek translation of philanthropy to reflect the Classics, which have been at the core of our liberal arts and sciences curriculum since we were founded 250 years ago.
How do you make a difference in the world? Victoria Thompson ’15 and her wife, Kourtney Johnson, spent a recent evening in their Tacoma, Washington, home pondering that question. They talked about their education and ways to change the landscape for educators, particularly for people of color.
That’s when they hit upon how they could make a difference. Despite being very early in their careers, they decided to create a scholarship to help education majors at the College of Charleston offset the financial challenges of their clinical internship semester, with a preference toward students of color.
“The bottom line is that there are not enough educators of color,” says Thompson, who majored in elementary education at CofC. “I was the only Black woman in my graduating class, and one reason why is the lack of incentive to pursue a career as an educator. Becoming an educator requires a lot of sacrifice. While there is a lot of personal return as a teacher, there is not a lot of financial return. That’s why dedicating a semester [to student-teaching] without payment or part-time work serves as a huge obstacle for educators.”
Click here to read more on The College Today
This fall marks a major milestone for the College of Charleston: For the first time in its 250-year history, CofC will offer a major in engineering. A total of 30 students are enrolled to receive a B.S. in systems engineering — the first major of its kind in South Carolina. Systems engineers take a macro view of a project and are responsible for the concept, architecture and design.
“Over the last 10 years, the Charleston tri-county area has evolved into a high-tech manufacturing center,” says Sebastian van Delden, interim dean of the School of Sciences and Mathematics, which houses the systems engineering major. “As the local public university, we have the responsibility of providing talent to our economy.”
Indeed, engineers from Boeing, Bosch, Mercedes-Benz and others helped design the curriculum, while an industrial advisory board is in place to help ensure that it remains relevant to industry needs.
Next fall, the College will also start offering a B.S. in electrical engineering and hopes that others will follow. In fact, a robust engineering program is one of the College’s nine fundraising priorities that launched during its 250th anniversary-year celebration (CofC once offered a few engineering classes in the early 1900s but never a degree). The goal is to raise $4 million, with the majority of it going to support a founding dean, a nationally known leader tasked with expanding the College’s engineering offerings and implementing a new School of Engineering. (The dream is to construct a 40,000–square foot building on Pitt Street next to the library that would also house the Department of Computer Science, which now rents space at Harbor Walk.)
Click here to read more on The College Today
At the 25th annual Cistern Society donor luncheon in February 2020, Peggy Cieslikowski, director of Planned Giving, announced the launch of the Porter’s Circle.
Scholarships play a vital role in attracting and retaining some of the country’s most talented and motivated students. There is no better way to help shape the future of a promising student than through supporting a scholarship fund.