Updates From the Office of Community Engagement
The small-but-mighty team in the Office of Community Engagement provides a few updates of what the OCE has been up to since opening in July.
Launching a new office is no easy task. Just ask the small-but-mighty team in the Office of Community Engagement (OCE). Below are a few updates of what OCE has been up to since opening in July.
Community Issue: Food Insecurity
Food insecurity is an issue impacting our community both on and off campus. To raise awareness and explore ways to tackle this problem, OCE has launched a series of monthly events:
- Lunch-and-Learns: These virtual sessions feature speakers from organizations working to tackle hunger. Sessions generally are held on the first Friday from 12-1 p.m. Look for the registration link in OCE’s monthly newsletter or on the Campus Calendar. Upcoming sessions will highlight efforts with close ties to the College – CofC Cougar Pantry (Jan. 9), Swipe out Hunger (Feb. 6) and Katie’s Krops (March 13).
- Watch it Wednesdays: Every third Wednesday of the month, OCE hosts an all-day screening of a short documentary about an initiative addressing food insecurity. Most documentaries run 15-20 minutes. Screening will restart in the spring semester on Jan. 21. Drop by the Robert Scott Small Building, room 241, from 9:15 a.m.-5 p.m. to watch. Light snacks will be available, and feel free to bring your lunch!
OCE started the Fill the Wagon Challenge to encourage departments across campus to collect items for the Cougar Pantry. Special thanks to the 15 offices that signed up to host a collection wagon. Extra kudos to the Department of History for collecting three wagons worth of items! Be sure to check for collection dates and locations in OCE’s monthly newsletter.
OCE created the Cougars in the Kitchen Instagram series featuring cooking demonstrations of easy and affordable recipes. The series started with a wildly popular video of President Andrew T. Hsu making green onion pancakes, and has continued with students, children from ECDC and more. New reels are posted twice weekly until Thanksgiving. Efforts are underway to extend the series to the spring semester. Check it out on Instagram at @oce_cofc.
OCE partnered with the Center for Civic Engagement during Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week in November 2025. In the spring semester, OCE will team up with the Cougar Pantry to host Food Insecurity Week, Feb. 9-13, 2026. Several activities will be held, including a couponing workshop, open mic night and more. The week will end with a meal-packaging event on Feb. 13 in partnership with Rise Against Hunger, a global hunger relief organization. The meal-packaging event is open to all College students, faculty and staff. Space is limited and registration is required.
Community Involvement
OCE represents the College in the Black History Intercollegiate Consortium (BHIC), comprised of CofC, MUSC, The Citadel, Trident Technical College and Charleston Southern University. Since 1990, BHIC has organized an annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration each January. The 2026 program will be hosted in the College of Charleston Simons Center Recital Hall on Tuesday, Jan. 20, at 7 p.m. Marla Robertson, assistant director of the College’s Master of Public Administration program, will receive an MLK Humanitarian Award and a student will be awarded a BHIC scholarship. The program is free, open to all, and will include student presenters, performers and much more.
OCE is excited to welcome Joanna Gilmore, LaSheia Oubre and Clay Middleton as facilitators for the Community Engagement Council associated with the 106 Coming Street site. With their extensive knowledge and experience, they make the perfect team to guide the council in providing the College with important insights and recommendations related to the site.
Youth and Precollege Programs/Protection of Minors
Last year, over 2,000 minors participated in registered youth programs hosted at the College of Charleston. This includes after-school, summer and special programs focused on academic enrichment, mentoring and athletics. Many of these programs are listed on our youth and precollege programs website. Over the next two summers, we anticipate seeing more youth on our campus, thanks to the generous support of a major corporation. Stay tuned for the official announcement.
OCE, in consultation with the Office of Legal Affairs and other offices, works with program directors to ensure their programs are registered and have met the requirements of the College’s protection of minors policy.
1967 Legacy Program
The 1967 Legacy Program welcomed a record 15 first-year students this semester, bringing the total number to 45 Legacy Scholars and six peer mentors (Legacy Ambassadors) studying African American history, Gullah Geechee culture and trailblazers at the College. Their immersive experience is facilitated by program director Valerie Frazier ’91 (M.P.A. ’94) and faculty fellow Lancie Affonso ’96 (M.S. ’08).
Legacy Scholars continue to excel in and out of the classroom. The first graduating class (’25) of Legacy Scholars dedicated two benches in Cougar Mall to a few exceptional pioneers in the College’s history. Earlier this semester, students from the Legacy program presented at the national conference of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History in Atlanta, as well as at the Heritage Days celebration at the Penn Center on St. Helena Island, South Carolina.
