Charles R. Hancock, PhD
Charles R. Hancock (’70) received his PhD in the Teaching of Foreign Languages and is believed to be the first Black alumnus of this college program in the United States. (Ohio State’s program in this area was the first of its kind in the nation). After serving as an assistant and later an associate professor at Columbia University at Albany, then as an associate professor at the University of Maryland, he returned to The Ohio State University in 1986 as an associate professor.
During his 26 years of service, Hancock served in numerous leadership capacities and advised countless graduate students, including many international students from Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East. Originally from New Orleans, Louisiana (where he was a product of an outstanding urban public high school), Hancock was part of the first cohort of Black students to integrate Louisiana State University (LSU) at New Orleans, where he met his true love, Theresa Meriwether.
At LSU, he discovered his love for and facility with languages, eventually obtaining a master’s degree and traveling abroad, where fate brought him to the attention of Ohio State Professor Edward Allen, who became his PhD advisor. Hancock spoke three languages fluently and was learning two more at the time of his death on October 29, 2012. He and his wife Theresa have three adult daughters, two sons-in-law and three grandchildren.
