College of Charleston Marketing and Communications Updates

The Office of Marketing and Communications is off to a busy start in 2024, with several exciting new projects and initiatives, including a new College of Charleston website, new charleston.edu email addresses and a new campus calendar.

For those who are new to the College, or if you just need a reminder, MarComm has a wide range of responsibilities – managing everything from recruitment marketing, branding and website content to social media, campus communications and media relations, among other functions.

If your unit needs marketing and communications support, please visit our website on The Hub and complete the appropriate request form at the bottom of the page.

New College of Charleston Website

On Dec. 17, 2023, the Office of Marketing and Communications, in close collaboration with the Division of Information Technology, launched the College’s new website at charleston.edu. If you haven’t checked out the new site yet, please do!

The new site was designed to create a modern, sophisticated, intuitive and accessible experience for prospective students, families, faculty and staff. To date, more than 75 pages (offices, departments, schools, etc.) have been migrated from the old website (cofc.edu) to the charleston.edu site. Both websites will remain active until all content has been migrated to the new site. All hyperlinks will automatically take users to the appropriate webpage, regardless of which site the page is on.

This project involved several dozen people from across campus who helped provide valuable input on content decisions and the development of individual web pages. To learn more about the new website and the timeline for completion, please visit the MarComm site on The Hub. For questions about website content, please contact Betsey Geier, senior director of brand marketing, at geierbp@cofc.edu.

The College Today Gets a Refresh

The College’s official news site, The College Today, has a new look, too. In collaboration with IT, the MarComm team revamped the site to improve navigability, enhance the overall appearance and create a consistent look with the College’s new website design.

If you have an idea for an article or are seeking assistance with promotion of an event or initiative, please complete the Communications Request Form on the MarComm Hub page.

College Logo System Review

During the fall 2023 semester, President Andrew T. Hsu established a new working group headed by MarComm that included representatives from the Divisions of Academic Affairs, Student Affairs and Institutional Advancement; the Athletics Department; and other units. This group was charged with reviewing the College’s current logo system to ensure that our university is taking full advantage of our unrivaled location in Charleston in our branding, especially for national audiences.

This group has presented its recommendations to the president, and the MarComm team is in the process of creating new brand guidelines so that campus members will have clear direction on which logos and fonts are appropriate for different uses (recruiting materials, external advertising, internal communications, etc.). To be clear, the College is not creating a new university logo. Rather, this process will result in a reprioritization of our current logos and fonts. Stay tuned for an update later this semester.

New Campus Calendar

As part of the launch of the new College website, the Office of Marketing and Communications, in collaboration with IT, has launched a new campus calendar. Built on the Localist platform, the new calendar offers event organizers more flexibility when submitting events. Calendar users can now customize the events they want to see based on a variety of categories (e.g., arts, athletics, admissions, academic, etc.). Calendar events are submitted by event organizers and approved for posting by MarComm staff. To learn more about the new campus calendar, read about it on The College Today. For detailed instructions on submitting events, please visit the Campus Calendar section of the MarComm Hub page.

Charleston.edu Email Addresses Now Available to Campus Community

On Feb. 19, 2024, the Division of Information Technology launched an optional College of Charleston email address (username@charleston.edu) for students, faculty and staff. The move is part of the strategic goal to elevate the College’s national brand and academic profile. Read the announcement on The College Today. For more information, detailed instructions and tutorials on voluntarily changing your email address, visit The Hub.

The Conversation

In January 2023, the College embarked on a pilot membership with The Conversation, a nonprofit news organization that publishes articles written by scholars for a mainstream audience. The goal for 2023 was to get 10 articles published. Thanks to the support of Provost Suzanne Austin, academic leadership and our faculty’s enthusiasm, we far exceeded our goal, with 25 articles published and more than 1.4 million total reads. See which of your colleagues have been published.

This calendar year, we are opening the opportunity to all faculty members to write articles for The Conversation. For more information about pitching ideas to The Conversation and other resources, please visit the MarComm site on The Hub.

Podcasts

Did you know that the Office of Marketing and Communications produces two podcast programs? Both programs – Speaking of … College of Charleston and Inside College of Charleston – can be downloaded on your favorite podcast platform, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify. In addition, you can listen to episodes directly from a web browser by visiting the podcast section of The College Today. There, you will also find a listing of other podcasts being produced by units all over campus.

Training Opportunities

The Marketing and Communications staff is available upon request to do presentations and conduct workshops for your units. MarComm has expertise across a variety of fields, including media relations, social media, branding, web content, video and photography and graphic design. If you would like to schedule a presentation or workshop for your area, please visit our website on The Hub and complete the appropriate request form at the bottom of the page.