Strengths at the College

Strengths GraphicThe Gallup CliftonStrengths Assessment is a tool that measures natural patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving and categorizes them into 34 talent themes. For students, learning about their talent themes can lead to improved self-awareness and engagement. For faculty and staff, learning about their talent themes provides individuals and workplace teams the opportunity to better understand and apply their individual talents to become more engaged on campus and excel professionally.


Over 27 million people worldwide have discovered their natural talents. Over 600 colleges and universities have introduced the CliftonStrengths assessment to their schools and encouraged their community to explore, develop and apply their talents.


From 2017-Spring 2022, approximately 75% of College of Charleston students and hundreds of faculty and staff were trained to understand their top 5 talent themes. This was accomplished through holding CofC Strengths Institutes, departmental retreats, faculty professional learning clubs, workshops for student organizations, class presentations, and the infusion of the CliftonStrengths assessment into the First Year Experience program. In Fall 2022, the use of the CliftonStrengths assessment will be discontinued in the First Year Experience program but is still being used by several faculty and programs on campus, such as the REACH program, STEP, BPS, MBA programs and Professional Development programs.


If you need more information about strengths or have questions about how you might use strengths with your student, department or organization,  contact us at strengths@cofc.edu.