About Us

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Whether it's our ideal location or the overall excellence of our programs, the School of Natural and Environmental Sciences offers you unparalleled opportunities for success in STEM.

Interested in programs like marine biology, life sciences, geology and environmental sciences? These programs benefit from our harbor-side location and the rich biodiversity of the South Carolina Lowcountry.

In addition, you'll have opportunities for relevant internships with industry leaders such as Boeing, Bosch, Google, Mercedes-Benz Vans, Volvo, Cummins and Scientific Research Corporation. That's why they call Charleston the Silicon Harbor. 

Tackling hands-on research? In programs like computer science, chemistry, physics and astronomy, you'll work alongside accomplished faculty members. These vibrant academic offerings are consistently recognized for their excellence by the South Carolina Commission for Higher Education.

Faculty Mentors

The School of Natural and Environmental Sciences encourages, builds and sustains the involvement of its faculty in research and scholarship.

Scholarly activities of the faculty contribute to the intellectual environment that characterizes the College of Charleston. In addition, it supports the mission of the College by providing students a community to engage in original inquiry and creative expression.

Faculty are encouraged to guide students in research activities whenever possible. All undergraduate programs use independent study and student-faculty research as important methods for developing intellectual independence and creativity as well as for teaching appreciation and understanding of sciences and mathematics.

Research is central to the goal of leading students to connect their coursework with the techniques and applications of their disciplines.

The faculty have as their three key professional goals to:

  • stimulate learning,
  • convey an understanding of and appreciation for their disciplines, and
  • continue their scholarly activities and guide undergraduate research.

Core Commitments

In the School of Natural and Environmental Sciences, we're dedicated to providing a high-quality education for students, delivering an innovative and challenging curriculum and maintaining high academic standards.
  • Vision

    We are a community of teacher-scholars committed to creating an environment of distinctiveness and excellence that supports and nurtures students as scholars and encourages learning through inquiry, all within the framework of a broad liberal arts and sciences education.

    The School of Natural and Environmental Sciences provides the foundation of both scientific literacy and mathematical numeracy that are essential components of a broad education for all students.

    In addition, the school's coursework establishes and emphasizes the depth of disciplinary knowledge as well as connections between and among disciplines.

  • Mission

    As our mission, we integrate discovery, innovation and education in order to serve our students, our state and our nation.

    The principal responsibility of theSchool of Natural and Environmental Sciences is to provide the science and mathematics courses for all students at the College, and, concomitantly, to equip students who major in sciences and/or mathematics with the knowledge and skills to pursue careers in a wide variety of fields, including, science, engineering, medicine and allied health, law, social services and journalism.

    The school's graduate programs have been carefully selected to complement the undergraduate programs in areas of significant national strength and to meet the intellectual, professional and economic needs of the region and the state.

    A key element of our mission is accountability, including regular assessments of the effectiveness of theSchool of Natural and Environmental Sciences programs. Departments continue to seek opportunities to measure their programs against objective indicators of programmatic quality, such as accreditation reviews and external program evaluations.

  • Department Goals

    Science Goals

    Our goals in science are to help assure that all graduates of the College of Charleston:

    1. Can demonstrate an understanding of some of the fundamental scientific concepts and theories about the natural world.
    2. Acquire knowledge of the evidence, ideas and models that scientists use to make judgments about the natural world.
    3. Acquire knowledge about science and technology as they shape contemporary experience and values, and demonstrate an appreciation of the historical and contemporary impact of science on daily life.
    4. Develop the skills of logical and critical thinking necessary to explore how the natural world works.
    5. Can demonstrate an appreciation and understanding of the scientific method of inquiry.
    6. Understand that scientific knowledge is based on the outcomes of testing of hypotheses and theories that are under constant scrutiny and subject to revision based on new observations, and such knowledge is not just a collection of facts.
    7. Can demonstrate an ability to distinguish between science and technology and appreciate the capabilities and limitations of both.  

    Graduate Goals

    Science, mathematics and engineering graduates should have:

    1. The ability to recount and explain the basic facts and postulates of the discipline and to use these in the solution of problems with which the discipline concerns itself.
    2. Proficiency in the use of the techniques and tools of the discipline.
    3. An awareness of the resources of the discipline and the ability to seek out and assimilate the knowledge that has not been a part of the classroom experience.
    4. The ability to relate knowledge in the discipline to other disciplines.