Richard Bland College

Richard Bland College of The College of William and Mary
Established	1960
Type	Public junior college
President	Dr. James B. McNeer
Provost	Dr. LeAnn Binger
Academic staff	33
Students	1,634
Location	Petersburg, Virginia, United States 37°9′26.5″N 77°23′54.1″W / 37.157361°N 77.398361°W / 37.157361; -77.398361Coordinates: 37°9′26.5″N 77°23′54.1″W / 37.157361°N 77.398361°W / 37.157361; -77.398361
Campus	Rural
Colors	Green      White
Website	http://www.rbc.edu

Richard Bland College of The College of William and Mary (commonly, "Richard Bland College" or simply "RBC") is a public junior college with about 1,400 students located near Petersburg, Virginia. Named after Virginian statesman Richard Bland, RBC was established in 1960 by the Virginia General Assembly as a branch of the College of William and Mary and was once under the umbrella of "the Colleges of William and Mary". Though self-functioning, RBC is governed by William and Mary's Board of Visitors. Richard Bland College is now the only public junior college in the Commonwealth of Virginia (the University of Virginia's College at Wise became a four-year college in the early 1970s). At Richard Bland, students have access to a library with over 67,000 books, 53,000 e-books, 2,000 videos and 2,200 DVDs (most, from an anonymous donor), and the Virtual Library of Virginia.

Richard Bland was established to provide the first two years of college education, after which a typical student would transfer to William & Mary or to another of the four-year colleges in the state. To this end, RBC has formal credit transfer agreements with over a dozen Virginia colleges, including The College of William & Mary, Old Dominion University, Virginia Commonwealth University, James Madison University, George Mason University, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Virginia State University, and Washington and Lee.

In the autumn of 2008, Richard Bland College became the only junior college in the state of Virginia to offer campus housing. The residence halls, Freedom Hall and Patriot Hall, offer Richard Bland College students apartment-style living accommodations. The College offers one-, two-, three-, and four-bedroom apartments, each furnished with full range stove and oven, microwave oven, garbage disposal, refrigerator, washer, and dryer. A standard four-bedroom apartment has two bathrooms, four bedrooms, a full kitchen, dining area, living room, and a walk-in laundry room. The residence halls also provide the students who live on campus access to both wireless and wired internet, as well as cable television jacks in the individual bedrooms and the common living area. The combined capacity of both Patriot and Freedom Halls is 243 students. To maintain the academic atmosphere that the College desires to foster in its living areas, there is a 2.5 GPA requirement for all incoming students who wish to live on campus.

External links

• Richard Bland College
• The College of William and Mary