You don’t have to be on the tour bus when it pauses at the corner of St. Philip Street and Green Way, or on the horse carriage as it clops past Porter’s Lodge, or on the rickshaw as it wobbles and weaves over the brick walkways: As a CofC employee, you get to tour the College of Charleston any time you want! And now – thanks to a new initiative created by the Office of Human Resources and the Office of Admissions Visitor Services Team – faculty and staff can tour the campus like never before!
Starting in September, guided campus tours will be held once a month just for employees! Led by the Charleston 40 student guides, the tours provide both new and veteran employees a chance to brush up on their knowledge of student-centered campus resources and give a better understanding of the student experience both in academics and student life.
“We thought this would be a good way for employees to interact with students and see our campus from their perspective, and at the same time learn about the campus and where things are,” says Vice President of Human Resources Ed Pope, adding the initiative was created in support of the third pillar of the College’s 10-year strategic plan, Employee Experience and Success. “Many employees don’t have the opportunity to experience campus the way students do – and many of them don’t get to talk to students at all: We talk to other employees and our colleagues regularly, but don’t always get to have this exposure. So we hope that this will give employees a chance to really see things the way our students do.”
The guides will stop at the typical stops included in a prospective-student tour, including the Stern Student Center, the Rita Liddy Hollings Science Center and the Addlestone Library.
“Our guides are really happy to get to connect with faculty and staff in this capacity,” says Will Chase, director of visitor services and volunteer outreach in the Office of Admissions. “The hope is that the employees and the guides will both learn something from these interactions.”
Indeed, it seems to be a win-win all around.
“The tours will help our employees learn and engage in a meaningful way, and also give the student guides a chance to talk to staff who might be mostly in the background at the College and whom they might not otherwise encounter,” says Pope. “Students get to talk to faculty members regularly, of course, but this will really introduce them to some new faces in the greater College community.”
The one-hour tours will be held at 10:30 a.m. on the second Tuesday of every month during the academic year (September–May), excluding April. The dates for the remaining 2021–22 academic year are as follows:
- Jan. 11, 2022
- Feb. 8, 2022
- March 8, 2022
- May 10, 2022
Participant capacity will fluctuate from month to month, depending on tour guide availability, but space will be limited so faculty and staff are encouraged to register early using the Employee Tour Registration form. Once the form is complete, a registration confirmation email will be sent with the details of the tour.
For more information, email specialtour@cofc.edu.
