As the center of gravity – and employment in particular – moves north up the I-26 corridor in the Lowcountry, so does the Lowcountry Graduate Center (LGC). This summer, the LGC will move its operations to Trident Technical College’s Thornley Campus on Rivers Avenue in North Charleston.
Now more convenient than ever, and with extended hours for programs and services, the Lowcountry Graduate Center is even better positioned to provide graduate education. Working professionals throughout the Lowcountry can cultivate new skill sets and grow their careers at the LGC.
Joining the high school-through-graduate education pipeline at Trident Tech, the LGC will remain an independent organization. It will continue to provide in-person and hybrid graduate level programs of study and courses in fully digital classrooms with robust support services and free parking. Some will culminate in degrees while others generate an academic certificate with credits towards a future degree. Still others may simply represent a certificate of completion and accomplishment at a graduate level.
The new location in Building 920, the Center for Economic Development, allows the Lowcountry Graduate Center to extend its program and service hours to weekends, complementing the evening classes and services previously offered. Among the resources in that building are computer labs; high speed internet access; the College Center conference space; and Relish, the fine dining restaurant of Trident Tech’s Culinary Institute of Charleston. LGC students will have routine access to common shared areas such as to student break rooms, beyond the dedicated space for their classrooms in Building 920.
“As major manufacturing companies like Volvo and their suppliers locate at the northern edge of the Lowcountry, the need increases for a central location like Trident Tech, which sits between two I-26 exits and in proximity to Airport Road from Boeing,” said Nancy Muller, director of the Lowcountry Graduate Center. “Given the LGC’s longstanding involvement in the Metro Charleston Chamber’s Career Academies for the area’s high school students, I am delighted to be a new extension of Dr. Mary Thornley’s vision for education and career development in support of the Lowcountry’s growing and increasingly sophisticated workforce.”
Added Trident Tech Vice President for Academic Affairs Cathy Almquist, “At Trident Tech, part of our mission is to enable members of our community to pursue higher education. We are delighted to host the Lowcountry Graduate Center as they help members of our community fulfill the goal of completing a graduate program.”
Recognizing that an educated populace is a key to economic growth and well- being, the LGC works with trusted advisors – business leaders, major employers, and academic institutions – throughout the Lowcountry to identify graduate studies, certificates and degrees that will help meet workforce needs in the region.
About the Lowcountry Graduate Center
Funded annually by the state, the Lowcountry Graduate Center was created in 2001 as a consortium of the College of Charleston, The Citadel and the Medical University of South Carolina. These founding institutions, along with the University of South Carolina and South Carolina State University, now offer a variety of graduate degrees and certificates at the Lowcountry Graduate Center. Conveniently located in North Charleston, the mission of the Lowcountry Graduate Center is to increase access to higher education by professionals in the workforce, support the region’s employers, and meet the economic, business development, and social needs of the Lowcountry. For more information, visit www.lowcountrygradcenter.org.
