April 25, 2024 • 15 mins
On this episode of 'Speaking of College of Charleston,' host Ron Menchaca, Vice President of Marketing and Communications at the College of Charleston, has a year-end discussion with President Andrew Hsu, focusing on the accomplishments and future directions of the institution.
President Hsu celebrates his five years in office, discussing the significant strides the college has made academically and financially through collaborative efforts involving faculty, staff, students and the wider community. He outlines strategic moves towards achieving national university status, including the introduction of new doctoral programs.
Other highlights include a surge in applications, achievements in philanthropy, sports successes, creation of new academic schools, and the implementation of new programs and online platforms. President Hsu also addresses the value of a liberal arts education in today's economy and the college's strategies to navigate the imminent demographic challenges in higher education.
Resources from this episode:
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Ron Menchaca (00:04):
Hello, and Welcome to Speaking of College of
Charleston. I'm Ron Menchaca,Vice President of Marketing and
Communications at the College ofCharleston. And on today's
episode, I speak with PresidentAndrew Chu. As the college winds
down another exciting andproductive academic year.
President Xi looks back on hisfirst five years in office, and
(00:24):
highlights the numerousinitiatives and achievements of
our faculty, staff and students.
This is our third year sittingdown with President Chu at the
end of the academic year. As welook ahead to spring
commencement and celebrating theclass of 2024. We reflect on all
of the incredible thingshappening at our university.
Without further ado, here's ourtalk with President Andrew Chu.
(00:45):
Well welcome President Chu.
Thanks for joining us.
Unknown (00:52):
All. Thanks for having me. Again,
Ron Menchaca (00:54):
this is our third annual podcast interview with
you to do a kind of an end ofthe academic year wrap up. So
thanks again for making time forus. So, President shoot may
2024, marks your fifthanniversary as President of the
College of Charleston? Are youpleased with where we are at
thus far and where we are headedas a university?
Unknown (01:16):
Ron? Absolutely, I'm so proud of what we have achieved
together as a campus. The lastfive years really represent
incredible collaborations amongfaculty, staff, students,
alumni, administration, Board ofTrustees, stoners and community
(01:38):
partners to make thisinstitution stronger. And both
academically and financially,the institution really is
becoming more relevant and moreresponsive to growing student
demand and workforce needs. I'mso pleased on the progress that
(01:59):
we're making toward ourstrategic vision, which is to
achieve a national universitystatus. You know, if you
remember, five years ago, wedeveloped our 10 year strategic
plan at which I think themajority of the campus wanted us
to move towards a nationaluniversity status, which means
(02:22):
that we have to be able to offer30 doctoral degrees per year.
And and of course, it's a multistep process, we first had to go
to the state and worked with theGeneral Assembly to create a new
category of higher education inthe state of South Carolina. And
(02:45):
we then have the HigherEducation Commission
reclassified the College ofCharleston as a DPU, or a
professional doctorateUniversity at the state level.
And our next steps are to boastour our graduate degree
(03:08):
offerings in order to be able toqualify in the current the
classification as a doctoralgranting University. The first
step we took was back in 2023,we had our first PhD program in
mathematics with computingapproved by the state and and we
(03:31):
had enrolled our first student.
Now we're working with a campusand with the academic programs
to create two new doctoralprograms. One is a Doctorate in
Business Administration, and theother is a doctorate in
education. So we're making verygood
Ron Menchaca (03:52):
progress. So 30 doctoral degrees, that's the
magic number.
Unknown (03:56):
That's the goal. All right. Okay,
Ron Menchaca (03:59):
so as we're recording this episode,
President Chu, we're windingdown another productive and
successful academic year, andwe're looking head to spring
commencement. Can you share afew highlights and achievements
from this past year?
Unknown (04:11):
Sure. This is, like I said, a tremendous year for us.
You know, we're making goodprogress both inside and outside
of the classroom. And so manyachievements that we have
achieved individually andcollectively. For example, we
have a record year forapplications. You know, we went
(04:34):
from having 12,000 applicantsback in 2019, five years ago, to
now close to 32,000applications. We're making good
progress in philanthropy. recordnumber of donors who engaged in
a one day forgiving our CFC daythat increase in alumni donors
(04:59):
how boasts to create a morerobust culture of philanthropy,
on and beyond our campus. AndI'm also proud to say that we're
going to be celebrating three,seven figure donations to the
university in the near future.
Of course, our basketball teamis proud of this campus, we went
(05:22):
to the NCAA March Madness twicein a row. And then we were able
to attract a national leveltalent in CHRIS MACK as our next
coach. I'm really lookingforward to seeing how Coach Mac
can elevate us among the midmajors and make us even better
(05:46):
program in basketball. And ofcourse, I'd be remiss if I
didn't mention that Our Ladycougars, our women's basketball
team went all the way to the Wnit tournament under Coach Robin
harmony. We created three newacademic schools during the last
(06:10):
year and that is School ofHealth Sciences School of
Natural and EnvironmentalSciences and School of
Engineering, Computing andmathematics. I think those
schools will really help usexpand the scope of our academic
offerings. And of course, Icould just go on and on, there's
(06:32):
a very long list of what we havedone, we have implemented new
academic programs degrees wehave put up historic,
interpretive signages. In orderto tell a more complete story of
our campus. We're makingavailable micro credentials
(06:53):
through Coursera to help ourstudents, alumni and faculty for
real world training. We heldanother successful Charleston
expo where our students wereable to showcase their amazing
research and scholarship. And welaunched a new and refreshed
(07:16):
institutional website. And infact, we're moving towards from
cfc.edu towards charleston.edu,which no doubt will help with
our outreach for potentialstudents. I'm also proud to say
(07:37):
that this year, we reached the30 student milestone of our 1967
legacy scholars, which is ascholarship that support our
minority students. That's
Ron Menchaca (07:54):
great been an amazing, amazing academic year,
and greater things to come. Sokind of switching gears here
switching topics on you for asecond here, President Chu.
There's been a lot of mediaattention in the last couple of
years about the value of acollege education, particularly
a liberal arts education. I knowthis topic is very close to your
(08:17):
heart. Can you share yourthoughts on this?
Unknown (08:21):
I know I have talked a lot already about how our
institution is trying to respondto student demand and workforce
development needs through ourapplied science and professional
programs. But I think it'simportant is to mention that
those degree programs areessential to our current and
(08:44):
future success. However, whatremains essential to our
university is our long liberalarts tradition, and as well as
the liberal arts core that weteach all of our students. The
liberal art tradition reallyshape our identity, both our
(09:09):
university and our students.
Today's economy needs moreliberal arts trained graduates
rather than less in order todeal with the fast changing
nature of the marketplace andour society. A liberal arts
programs or liberal artstraining sharpens the critical
(09:29):
thinking skills of our studentand it makes our student more
adaptable and flexible,especially as technology makes
us reimagine our jobs andcareers. As as we're doing now.
What is going to set up ourprograms apart really is that
(09:52):
they will come out of and with astronger community occations
skills and more finely tunedsoft skills like cultural
literacy, teamwork, globalfluency, then graduates of other
more traditional programs, theliberal arts is and always will
(10:16):
be a differentiator or, or XFactor at the College of
Charleston.
Ron Menchaca (10:27):
Wonderful. So another topic that's getting a
lot of attention both inside andoutside higher education is the
so called demographic cliff orenrollment cliff. For our
listeners who are unfamiliarwith this topic, can you explain
what it is and how the Collegeis preparing for it?
Unknown (10:44):
Sure, the so called demographic Cliff refers to the
fact that there were simply lessbabies born in 2008, and
thereafter, and we are about tosee a decline in the traditional
(11:06):
college age going studentpopulation. So there's less
supply coming through thepipeline, and and perhaps more
competition for students thatwill come in the future as asked
this student population decline,how it will impact different
(11:27):
regions of our country, ofcourse, it's going to be it's
not going to be uniform incertain regions. You know, for
example, the Northeast andMidwest is already feeling that
effect. And in the Midwest forseveral years already. Some
(11:47):
colleges and universities,especially in the Midwest and
Northeast are seeing alreadydeclining enrollments and some
colleges have already closedsome of the smaller, private
colleges. In the south, ofcourse, demographic decline will
(12:07):
not be as sharp. In fact, insome states, we're actually
going to see an increase instudent population for a small
number of years. And we're alsoseeing more students in other
regions wanting to come to thesouth, especially South Carolina
in order to escape the winterweather. I'm hopeful that would
(12:34):
we, as an institution have doneover the past five years to
strengthen our reputation, ouracademic quality, will make it
more desirable, relevant toprospective students and their
families, and will somehow, tosome extent, insulate us from
(12:56):
the negative effects of thedemographic cliff.
Ron Menchaca (13:00):
So wrapping up here, President Chu just a
couple more questions. Simplequestion. How can people keep up
with you on social media and getin contact with you?
Unknown (13:09):
Sure. So social media is easy. If you go onto
Instagram, or Twitter, which isI guess, now known as x, you can
search SEO, FC HS you and youwill be able to find me. And you
can easily reach me throughemail, it's very easy to
(13:29):
remember its president atCOF c.edu. Or even better, you
can type inprecedent@charleston.edu.
Ron Menchaca (13:44):
It has a nice ring to it like that. So last
question, President Chu, what'sone moment from this past
academic year that stands out toyou and why? Well,
Unknown (13:56):
I was so excited when I first heard that our first 1967
legacy scholar is going tograduate this May. Amber
Anderson was a 1967 scholar fromour first cohort is actually
(14:17):
graduating this May after onlythree years, what an
achievement. You know, fouryears ago, this was just an idea
in the in the mind of ProfessorValerie Frazier, and now we have
some of our best minoritystudents graduating. So that's
(14:40):
probably the most memorablemoment for me for this past
year.
Ron Menchaca (14:46):
That's great.
Well, thank you very much forjoining us today. President Chu.
Thank
Unknown (14:50):
you, Ron. Good to be with you all.
Ron Menchaca (15:00):
Thank you for listening to this episode of
speaking of College ofCharleston with today's special
guest President Andrew Chu. Formore episodes and read stories
about our guests, visit theCollege of Charleston's official
new site, the collegetoday@today.charleston.edu. You
can also find this and pastepisodes on all major podcast
(15:22):
platforms, including Applepodcasts and Spotify. If you
like what you hear, pleasesubscribe and leave a review.
This episode was produced by AmyStockwell and Ron Menchaca from
the Office of marketing andcommunications with recording
and sound engineering by JessiCombs and Lance Laidlaw, from
the Division of InformationTechnology. Thanks again and
(15:43):
we'll see you next time.
Hello, and Welcome to Speaking of College of
Charleston. I'm Ron Menchaca,Vice President of Marketing and
Communications at the College ofCharleston. And on today's
episode, I speak with PresidentAndrew Chu. As the college winds
down another exciting andproductive academic year.
President Xi looks back on hisfirst five years in office, and
(00:24):
highlights the numerousinitiatives and achievements of
our faculty, staff and students.
This is our third year sittingdown with President Chu at the
end of the academic year. As welook ahead to spring
commencement and celebrating theclass of 2024. We reflect on all
of the incredible thingshappening at our university.
Without further ado, here's ourtalk with President Andrew Chu.
(00:45):
Well welcome President Chu.
Thanks for joining us.
Unknown (00:52):
All. Thanks for having me. Again,
Ron Menchaca (00:54):
this is our third annual podcast interview with
you to do a kind of an end ofthe academic year wrap up. So
thanks again for making time forus. So, President shoot may
2024, marks your fifthanniversary as President of the
College of Charleston? Are youpleased with where we are at
thus far and where we are headedas a university?
Unknown (01:16):
Ron? Absolutely, I'm so proud of what we have achieved
together as a campus. The lastfive years really represent
incredible collaborations amongfaculty, staff, students,
alumni, administration, Board ofTrustees, stoners and community
(01:38):
partners to make thisinstitution stronger. And both
academically and financially,the institution really is
becoming more relevant and moreresponsive to growing student
demand and workforce needs. I'mso pleased on the progress that
(01:59):
we're making toward ourstrategic vision, which is to
achieve a national universitystatus. You know, if you
remember, five years ago, wedeveloped our 10 year strategic
plan at which I think themajority of the campus wanted us
to move towards a nationaluniversity status, which means
(02:22):
that we have to be able to offer30 doctoral degrees per year.
And and of course, it's a multistep process, we first had to go
to the state and worked with theGeneral Assembly to create a new
category of higher education inthe state of South Carolina. And
(02:45):
we then have the HigherEducation Commission
reclassified the College ofCharleston as a DPU, or a
professional doctorateUniversity at the state level.
And our next steps are to boastour our graduate degree
(03:08):
offerings in order to be able toqualify in the current the
classification as a doctoralgranting University. The first
step we took was back in 2023,we had our first PhD program in
mathematics with computingapproved by the state and and we
(03:31):
had enrolled our first student.
Now we're working with a campusand with the academic programs
to create two new doctoralprograms. One is a Doctorate in
Business Administration, and theother is a doctorate in
education. So we're making verygood
Ron Menchaca (03:52):
progress. So 30 doctoral degrees, that's the
magic number.
Unknown (03:56):
That's the goal. All right. Okay,
Ron Menchaca (03:59):
so as we're recording this episode,
President Chu, we're windingdown another productive and
successful academic year, andwe're looking head to spring
commencement. Can you share afew highlights and achievements
from this past year?
Unknown (04:11):
Sure. This is, like I said, a tremendous year for us.
You know, we're making goodprogress both inside and outside
of the classroom. And so manyachievements that we have
achieved individually andcollectively. For example, we
have a record year forapplications. You know, we went
(04:34):
from having 12,000 applicantsback in 2019, five years ago, to
now close to 32,000applications. We're making good
progress in philanthropy. recordnumber of donors who engaged in
a one day forgiving our CFC daythat increase in alumni donors
(04:59):
how boasts to create a morerobust culture of philanthropy,
on and beyond our campus. AndI'm also proud to say that we're
going to be celebrating three,seven figure donations to the
university in the near future.
Of course, our basketball teamis proud of this campus, we went
(05:22):
to the NCAA March Madness twicein a row. And then we were able
to attract a national leveltalent in CHRIS MACK as our next
coach. I'm really lookingforward to seeing how Coach Mac
can elevate us among the midmajors and make us even better
(05:46):
program in basketball. And ofcourse, I'd be remiss if I
didn't mention that Our Ladycougars, our women's basketball
team went all the way to the Wnit tournament under Coach Robin
harmony. We created three newacademic schools during the last
(06:10):
year and that is School ofHealth Sciences School of
Natural and EnvironmentalSciences and School of
Engineering, Computing andmathematics. I think those
schools will really help usexpand the scope of our academic
offerings. And of course, Icould just go on and on, there's
(06:32):
a very long list of what we havedone, we have implemented new
academic programs degrees wehave put up historic,
interpretive signages. In orderto tell a more complete story of
our campus. We're makingavailable micro credentials
(06:53):
through Coursera to help ourstudents, alumni and faculty for
real world training. We heldanother successful Charleston
expo where our students wereable to showcase their amazing
research and scholarship. And welaunched a new and refreshed
(07:16):
institutional website. And infact, we're moving towards from
cfc.edu towards charleston.edu,which no doubt will help with
our outreach for potentialstudents. I'm also proud to say
(07:37):
that this year, we reached the30 student milestone of our 1967
legacy scholars, which is ascholarship that support our
minority students. That's
Ron Menchaca (07:54):
great been an amazing, amazing academic year,
and greater things to come. Sokind of switching gears here
switching topics on you for asecond here, President Chu.
There's been a lot of mediaattention in the last couple of
years about the value of acollege education, particularly
a liberal arts education. I knowthis topic is very close to your
(08:17):
heart. Can you share yourthoughts on this?
Unknown (08:21):
I know I have talked a lot already about how our
institution is trying to respondto student demand and workforce
development needs through ourapplied science and professional
programs. But I think it'simportant is to mention that
those degree programs areessential to our current and
(08:44):
future success. However, whatremains essential to our
university is our long liberalarts tradition, and as well as
the liberal arts core that weteach all of our students. The
liberal art tradition reallyshape our identity, both our
(09:09):
university and our students.
Today's economy needs moreliberal arts trained graduates
rather than less in order todeal with the fast changing
nature of the marketplace andour society. A liberal arts
programs or liberal artstraining sharpens the critical
(09:29):
thinking skills of our studentand it makes our student more
adaptable and flexible,especially as technology makes
us reimagine our jobs andcareers. As as we're doing now.
What is going to set up ourprograms apart really is that
(09:52):
they will come out of and with astronger community occations
skills and more finely tunedsoft skills like cultural
literacy, teamwork, globalfluency, then graduates of other
more traditional programs, theliberal arts is and always will
(10:16):
be a differentiator or, or XFactor at the College of
Charleston.
Ron Menchaca (10:27):
Wonderful. So another topic that's getting a
lot of attention both inside andoutside higher education is the
so called demographic cliff orenrollment cliff. For our
listeners who are unfamiliarwith this topic, can you explain
what it is and how the Collegeis preparing for it?
Unknown (10:44):
Sure, the so called demographic Cliff refers to the
fact that there were simply lessbabies born in 2008, and
thereafter, and we are about tosee a decline in the traditional
(11:06):
college age going studentpopulation. So there's less
supply coming through thepipeline, and and perhaps more
competition for students thatwill come in the future as asked
this student population decline,how it will impact different
(11:27):
regions of our country, ofcourse, it's going to be it's
not going to be uniform incertain regions. You know, for
example, the Northeast andMidwest is already feeling that
effect. And in the Midwest forseveral years already. Some
(11:47):
colleges and universities,especially in the Midwest and
Northeast are seeing alreadydeclining enrollments and some
colleges have already closedsome of the smaller, private
colleges. In the south, ofcourse, demographic decline will
(12:07):
not be as sharp. In fact, insome states, we're actually
going to see an increase instudent population for a small
number of years. And we're alsoseeing more students in other
regions wanting to come to thesouth, especially South Carolina
in order to escape the winterweather. I'm hopeful that would
(12:34):
we, as an institution have doneover the past five years to
strengthen our reputation, ouracademic quality, will make it
more desirable, relevant toprospective students and their
families, and will somehow, tosome extent, insulate us from
(12:56):
the negative effects of thedemographic cliff.
Ron Menchaca (13:00):
So wrapping up here, President Chu just a
couple more questions. Simplequestion. How can people keep up
with you on social media and getin contact with you?
Unknown (13:09):
Sure. So social media is easy. If you go onto
Instagram, or Twitter, which isI guess, now known as x, you can
search SEO, FC HS you and youwill be able to find me. And you
can easily reach me throughemail, it's very easy to
(13:29):
remember its president atCOF c.edu. Or even better, you
can type inprecedent@charleston.edu.
Ron Menchaca (13:44):
It has a nice ring to it like that. So last
question, President Chu, what'sone moment from this past
academic year that stands out toyou and why? Well,
Unknown (13:56):
I was so excited when I first heard that our first 1967
legacy scholar is going tograduate this May. Amber
Anderson was a 1967 scholar fromour first cohort is actually
(14:17):
graduating this May after onlythree years, what an
achievement. You know, fouryears ago, this was just an idea
in the in the mind of ProfessorValerie Frazier, and now we have
some of our best minoritystudents graduating. So that's
(14:40):
probably the most memorablemoment for me for this past
year.
Ron Menchaca (14:46):
That's great.
Well, thank you very much forjoining us today. President Chu.
Thank
Unknown (14:50):
you, Ron. Good to be with you all.
Ron Menchaca (15:00):
Thank you for listening to this episode of
speaking of College ofCharleston with today's special
guest President Andrew Chu. Formore episodes and read stories
about our guests, visit theCollege of Charleston's official
new site, the collegetoday@today.charleston.edu. You
can also find this and pastepisodes on all major podcast
(15:22):
platforms, including Applepodcasts and Spotify. If you
like what you hear, pleasesubscribe and leave a review.
This episode was produced by AmyStockwell and Ron Menchaca from
the Office of marketing andcommunications with recording
and sound engineering by JessiCombs and Lance Laidlaw, from
the Division of InformationTechnology. Thanks again and
(15:43):
we'll see you next time.
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