Ron Menchaca

Vice President of Marketing and Communications

Ron Menchaca is the vice president of marketing and communications at the College of Charleston. He began this position in February 2023.

In this role, Menchaca serves as a member of the president's senior leadership team and directs the Office of Marketing and Communications, which is responsible for university marketing, social media, videography, photography, campus news, College of Charleston Magazine, media relations, and crisis communications.

Menchaca is a veteran of the U.S. Army, having served as a paratrooper and radio communications specialist in the 82nd Airborne Division. Following his military service, he enrolled as an adult student at the College of Charleston, where he graduated cum laude with a bachelor's degree in communication, with a concentration in media studies.

Menchaca began a career in journalism in 1998 at The Post and Courier newspaper in Charleston, S.C., where he won numerous state and national awards for investigative reporting, feature writing and breaking news. He co-wrote several major investigative pieces that led to government reforms, including a series on police officer misconduct, a probe into a fire that killed nine Charleston firefighters and an examination of the state's aging fleet of school buses. He was named Journalist of the Year by the South Carolina Press Association in 2007.

In 2009, Menchaca returned to his alma mater to serve as director of executive communications and speechwriter in the Office of the President. He was promoted to senior director of communications in 2014 and moved to the College's Division of Marketing and Communications, where he led the creation of a campus newsroom and news website.

Menchaca has served on numerous campus committees and task forces, including the Staff Advisory Committee to the President, the 250th Anniversary Historical Documentation Committee and the Historical Review Taskforce.

A native of Oregon, Menchaca and his wife, Amy, live in Charleston, S.C. Their youngest daughter is a student at the College of Charleston and their oldest daughter graduated from the College in 2023.

Education

1998: B.A. in Communications - Media Studies (cum laude), College of Charleston

2023: B.A. in English - Creative Writing (cum laude), College of Charleston

Career Highlights

2023-Present: Vice President of Marketing and Communications, Office of Marketing and Communications, College of Charleston

2020-2023: Vice President of Communications, Office of University Communications, College of Charleston

2018-2020: Executive Director of Communications, Division of Marketing and Communications, College of Charleston

2014-2018: Senior Director of Communications, Division of Marketing and Communications, College of Charleston

2009-2014: Director of Executive Communications, Office of the President, College of Charleston

1998-2009: Reporter, The Post and Courier, Charleston, S.C.

1996-1998: Freelance reporter; columnist

1992-1996: Paratrooper, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C., U.S. Army

Honors and Achievements

2008: Alumnus of the Year, College of Charleston Alumni Association

2007: Journalist of the Year, South Carolina Press Association

2006 & 2008: Taylor/Tomlin Award for Investigative Journalism, University of South Carolina

2006 & 2008: National Headliner Award for Investigative Journalism, Press Club of Atlantic City

2003: Distinguished Alumni Award, Department of Communication, College of Charleston

1995: Army Commendation Medal, 82nd Airborne Division

1992: Army Airborne School, Fort Benning, Ga.