Centers & Institutes


Change society in a way that serves the greater good.

The College of Charleston is proud to be a catalyst for innovation, economic development and cultural understanding in the region. Much of our work is accomplished through interdisciplinary institutes and research centers. Some examples include:

Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture

The 4,000 artifacts, books and source materials at the Avery Research Center tell the extraordinary history of Blacks in the South Carolina Lowcountry. Records include material from the era of slavery to the flourishing of Gullah culture and continues through the significant events of the civil rights movement. Functioning as both a museum and a research facility, the center plays a central role in Charleston’s Black community, offering valuable research opportunities and outreach programs.

Carter Real Estate Center

The Carter Real Estate Center supports the College’s real estate program in the Department of Economics and Finance. The center is home to three full-time real estate faculty as well as the Student Real Estate Club and the Real Estate Executive Speaker Series.

Carolina Lowcountry and Atlantic World (CLAW) 

This multidisciplinary, multicultural academic program studies the City of Charleston and the South Carolina Lowcountry as part of a larger Atlantic World (Europe, Africa, South America and the Caribbean). It studies how these areas are tied together historically by the transatlantic slave trade.

Center for Entrepreneurship 

The Center for Entrepreneurship directs its resources to provide experiential activities that assist students in developing an entrepreneurial mindset. It helps connect students to the wider entrepreneurial ecosystem encapsulating guest speakers, mentors, judges, etc. This focus ties directly into the College’s strategic plan to provide enhanced “opportunities for experiential learning” and “contribute to the well-being of the region."

Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning 

Located in Addlestone Library, the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) serves as a hub for inquiry and collaboration. The center provides support for holistic faculty development by connecting teaching and learning opportunities from across campus. The center's directors aim to cultivate excellent teaching and learning by fostering communities of inquiry, practice and scholarship.

Center for Historical Landscapes

The Center for Historical Landscapes (CHiL) focuses upon the impacts of human and environmental change over the long expanse of human history. Its goal is to empower discussions related to cultural heritage,  land management, economic development, and responses to climatic fluctuations and change.

Center for Partnerships to Improve Education

As part of the School of Education, the Center for Partnerships to Improve Education creates effective collaborations to improve the lives of the students. With a focus on community, higher education and PreK-12 linkages, the Center enhances the areas of teaching and learning.

The Center for Public Choice and Market Process 

The Center for Public Choice and Market Process is designed to examine and stimulate discussion of such topics as the role of government institutions in a capitalist society, relationship between government and the individual, relationship between political and economic freedom and the moral structure of a free market economy.

Center for the Study of Slavery in Charleston

The Center for the Study of Slavery examines the impact of slavery and race-related issues at the College of Charleston, in the City of Charleston, and the surrounding region, from the late 18th century through the civil rights era. The center also focuses on the continued impact and legacy of slavery in the present.

Center for Sustainable Development

The Center for Sustainable Development is a collection of students, staff and faculty who are concerned about  and invested in — addressing the many problems that plague today’s society. The center's main goals are to focus on applied research, experiential learning, operational management and public engagement within the campus and in the greater Charleston community. It is also home to the Sustainability Literacy Institute, which manages and directs the College's Quality Enhancement Plan (Sustainability as a Bridge to Addressing 21st-Century Problems).

The College of Charleston at Stono Preserve

Stono Preserve is a majestic 881-acre property along the Stono River and the Intercoastal Waterway. The myriad ecosystems include long-leaf pine forests, wetlands, savannahs, tidal marshes, as well as brackish, saltwater and fresh-water ponds. Students and faculty from multiple disciplines at the College of Charleston, ranging from marine biology to forest management and historic preservation, utilize this vibrant living laboratory. Stono Preserve enables the College of Charleston to educate its students in an unparalleled natural setting. It inspires collaboration across campus, industry and governmental agencies. It prepares students and faculty to be leaders in today’s environmentally volatile, global society.

Global Business Resource Center

The Global Business Resource Center (GBRC) supports continued development of international education opportunities so students may gain the necessary international business skills, cross-cultural experiences and foreign language proficiencies needed to compete effectively in today's globalized economy. To help ensure that the international business knowledge conveyed in the classroom is up-to-date and relevant, the GBRC also supports faculty development and international business research.

Grice Marine Laboratory

Established in 1955, the laboratory is a core facility in support of the undergraduate and the graduate degree programs in marine and environmental sciences at the College of Charleston. The lab supports research in marine sciences conducted by faculty members and students.

Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art

Part of the School of the Arts at the College of Charleston, the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art is the public face of artistic life at the College. In addition to exhibiting some of the finest contemporary art in the Southeast, the Halsey Institute sponsors lectures, film series and publications. It serves as an inspiring living laboratory for undergraduate art students.

John Edward Mroz Global Leadership Institute

The John Edwin Mroz Global Leadership Institute is a collaborative partnership between the School of Languages, Cultures, and World Affairs and the EastWest Institute (EWI). The Mroz Institute builds on EWI’s framework of conflict resolution through education and dialogue by positioning the College as a national leader in cross-curricular international education. The partnerships formed and the scholarship nurtured will have a profound and lasting impact on the students, campus and greater community.

N.E. Miles Early Childhood Development Center (ECDC)

As a partner of the School of Education, the ECDC offers a creative, student-centered learning environment for children two to five years old. This fully accredited institution is also a demonstrative program for the innovative approaches to early childhood education taught in the College’s undergraduate and graduate teaching programs.

Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Center for Livable Communities

Home to the undergraduate program in urban studies and the graduate program in public administration, the institute is a regional focal point for the study of urban environments and their associated problems and potential. Named in 2001 after Charleston Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr., the institute is both an academic and community resource for issues concerning urban planning, low-income housing, crime reduction and economic development.

South Carolina Space Grant Consortium

Through NASA-sponsored fellowships and scholarships, undergraduate and graduate students at the College of Charleston (and 13 other colleges and universities) can work alongside NASA mentors on real aerospace research projects. Faculty from these schools can also apply for generous grants to support student-focused, hands-on research into projects like high-altitude balloons.

Yaschik/Arnold Jewish Studies Center

The Sylvia Vlosky Yaschik Jewish Studies Center is the center of Jewish activity at the College of Charleston. Located in the heart of the historic campus, the Center houses the administrative offices for the Yaschik/Arnold Jewish Studies Program, a lounge and office for the Jewish Student Union/Hillel and the offices of the Jewish Historical Society of South Carolina, as well as offices for some of the professors that teach in the Jewish Studies Program.