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Virginia Commonwealth University
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| Established |
1838 |
| Type |
Public university |
| Endowment |
US $410.3 million[1] |
| President |
Eugene P. Trani |
| Provost |
Stephen D. Gottfredson |
| Faculty |
2,813 |
| Staff |
16,696 |
| Students |
30,381 |
| Undergraduates |
21,260 |
| Postgraduates |
9,121 |
| Location |
 Richmond, Virginia, USA |
| Campus |
Urban, Monroe Park Campus - 88.2 acres (35.7 ha), MCV
Campus - 52.4 acres (21.2 ha). |
| Colors |
Black and Gold |
| Nickname |
Rams |
| Mascot |
Rodney the Ram |
| Athletics |
NCAA Division I,
CAA, 16 varsity teams |
| Website |
www.vcu.edu |
Virginia Commonwealth University, or VCU, is a large public American
research university with its main campuses located in downtown Richmond, Virginia. Particularly recognized for its nationally
ranked art, social work, health administration, and medical degree programs, VCU is the largest university in Virginia with 30,381 students enrolled in the fall
semester of 2006.[2] It is
one of four Virginia universities rated RU/H: Research Universities (high research activity) by the Carnegie Classification of
Institutions of Higher Education.
Formed by a merger between the Richmond Professional Institute and the Medical
College of Virginia in 1968, VCU has a medical
school that is home to the nation's oldest organ transplant program.[3] VCU is host to the annual VCU French Film Festival, the largest French film festival in the United States.[4][5]
History
Though officially created with the merger of the Richmond Professional
Institute (RPI) and Medical College of Virginia (MCV) in 1968, VCU's
history stretches back to 1838, when MCV first opened its doors as the medical department of Hampden-Sydney College. VCU recognizes the latter date on its official seal and promotional
materials. RPI traces its roots back to 1917, when it began as the Richmond School of Social Work.
Timeline
- 1838 - The Medical Department of Hampden-Sydney College opens in
Richmond
- 1844 - The Medical Department moves into its first permanent home, the Egyptian
Building
- 1854 - The Medical Department of Hampden-Sydney College receives an independent charter from the Virginia General Assembly and becomes the Medical College of Virginia (MCV)
- 1860 - In return for a $30,000 appropriation MCV conveys all its property to the Commonwealth of Virginia and becomes
a state institution
- 1893 - College of Physicians and Surgeons, later University College of Medicine, was established by Dr.
Hunter Holmes McGuire just three blocks away from MCV
- 1912 - McGuire Hall opens as the new home of the University College of Medicine
- 1913 - MCV and UCM merged through the efforts of Dr. George Ben Johnston and Dr. Stuart McGuire. MCV acquired the
Memorial Hospital as a result of the merger
- 1917 - Richmond School of Social Work and Public Health established
- 1925 - Richmond School of Social Work and Public Health becomes the Richmond division of the College of William and Mary
- 1939 - Richmond division of William and Mary becomes the "Richmond Professional Institute of the College of
William and Mary" (RPI)
- 1947 - MCV Foundation is incorporated.
- 1962 - RPI separates from William and Mary to become an independent state institution.
- 1968 - The first heart transplant at the Medical College of Virginia is
performed by Dr. Richard R. Lower. This was only the 9th such operation performed in the United States, and the 16th in the
world.
- 1968 - State legislation merges MCV and RPI to become Virginia Commonwealth University. MCV retains the right to use
its name.
- 2000 - VCU Health System authority is established.
- 2001 - Spring- Inger and Walter Rice Center for Environmental Life Science opened. It includes a 70-acre lake, pine
and hardwood forests. In the Summer the Eugene P. and Lois E. Trani Center for Life Science was opened. It features an extensive
greenhouse, 18 laboratories for research in genetics to systems biology, and is home to the Bioinformatics program.
- 2004 - The name VCU Medical Center is adopted to refer to MCV
Hospitals and VCU's medical schools, and the VCU Academic Campus is renamed the VCU Monroe Park Campus.
- 2006 - VCU grew to become the most populated university in Virginia and the state's first to have 30,000 students
Expansion
More recently the university has focused on what it calls life sciences as an avenue of
future expansion, with the 2001 opening of the Lois E. and Eugene P. Trani Life Sciences Building. Construction has begun on a
Monroe Park Campus Extension, which will include the second phase of the School of Engineering building and a new home for the
School of Business. There will also be a new dormitory facility along with retail development.
VCU has developed a strategic plan for the future dubbed "VCU 2020." Among its major goals is the creation of a collegiate
community promoting student engagement and the campus environment. On the Monroe Park Campus, in addition to the expansion east
of Belvidere St, this long range plan includes the renovation and expansion of Cabell Library, dubbed the "Information Commons",
academic expansions along Linden St. and on the Business Building lawn, parking facilities near Grace and Belvidere, Greek
housing along W. Grace St, improvements to Monroe Park, and numerous other projects. The Medical Campus can expect a new School
of Allied Health Professions, School of Medicine, School of Nursing, VCUHS Bed Tower, and other projects.
The university has expanded rapidly in recent years, with construction focused mainly along the Broad Street corridor. The
school is approximately 70 percent off-campus resident and 30 percent on-campus resident, with new residence hall Brandt Hall
having opened in August 2005. RAMZ Hall opened in mid-January 2005, seven months behind schedule after a fire destroyed most of
the still-under-construction building in March of 2004. The Shafer Court Dining Center and Phase III construction and renovation
of the University Student Commons were completed in 2004. A complete renovation of the Hibbs Building, the oldest of the major
academic buildings and former dining hall, was completed in Fall 2006. The Ackell Residence Center (formerly known as West Broad
Street Student Apartments) was opened in 2001 across the street from the West Broad Parking Deck, e2 (pronounced "e-squared")
Bookstore and VCU Welcome Center that were completed in 1998. 1998 also saw the opening of a new School of the Arts Building,
also on Broad Street.
West Grace Street Student Housing is home to the University Honors Program and honors housing with single one-person rooms.
Formerly the Capital Medical Center, the university purchased and converted the building in 1998. The building was once also home
VCU OccuHealth Alliance, part of the VCU Health System.
Campuses
VCU has two main campuses in Richmond: the Monroe Park Campus and the Medical College of
Virginia Campus. VCU also has a branch campus for its School of the Arts in Education City,
Qatar. Informally, the campuses are known respectively as the "academic campus," "medical campus," and "VCU-Qatar."
Monroe Park Campus
Many VCU
buildings are named after influential people in the school's history or in Richmond history.
- The Pollak Building, is named after Theresa Pollak, who founded the School of Art at
VCU when it was the Richmond Professional Institute. Pollak was one of Virginia's more famous artists and who is often credited
with bringing modern art to Richmond.
- The Ginter House at 901 West Franklin Street, the main administrative building on the Monroe Park Campus. It is named
for cigarette magnate Major Lewis Ginter (1824-1897), one of Virginia’s wealthiest men who
was responsible for developing Richmond’s Ginter Park neighborhood and commissioning the Jefferson Hotel.
The boundaries of the Fan
Home to most of VCU's general education facilities, the Monroe Park Campus is located at the eastern end of the
Fan district, a historic neighborhood built adjacent
to downtown Richmond in the early 20th century. The Monroe Park Campus begins at
Monroe Park on North Belvidere Street and continues west to Harrison Street. Most buildings
are located on or between West Broad Street and West Cary Street. Originally home to the Richmond Professional Institute and then the Academic Campus of VCU in 1968, the Monroe
Park Campus took on its current name in June of 2004. This campus blends the old and new; while it
encompasses over 40 buildings older than 1900, new and renovated buildings abound. VCU is currently expanding this campus
eastward into Richmond's Monroe Ward.
Some of the notable buildings in Monroe park are:
- University Student Commons
- Stuart C. Siegel Center
- Sports Medicine Building
- James Branch Cabell Library
- Engineering Building - School of Engineering
- T. Edward Temple Building - General academics, mass communications
- School of Business
- Oliver Hall - School of Education, Physical Sciences
- School of the Arts Building
- Hibbs Hall - College of Humanities & Sciences
- Shafer Court Dining Center
- Pollak Building - School of the Arts
- Trani Life Sciences Building
The housing apartments include:
- West Grace Street Student Housing (Honors)
- Ackell Residence Center
- RAMZ Hall
- Brandt Hall
- Rhoads Hall
- Broad & Belvidere Apartments
- Capital Garage Apartments
- Johnson Hall
- Gladding Residence Center (I,II & III)
MCV Campus
The Medical College of Virginia Campus is home to the Health Sciences
Division of VCU. This includes the Schools of Medicine, Dentistry, Pharmacy, Allied Health, Nursing, a recently established
School of Public Health, and the MCV Hospitals, which is the major component of the VCU Health System. The Campus is also home to
the Massey Cancer Center (an NCI-designated Cancer Center). The MCV Campus
is an integral part of Richmond, located adjacent to the city’s business and financial district near the state capitol.
The notable buildings in the MCV campus are:
- Main hospital
- Gateway Building
- Egyptian Building
- Massey Cancer Center
- Sanger Hall
- Lyons Building
- Wood Memorial Building
- Tompkins-McCaw Library
- Hunton Student Center
- Larrick Student Center
- West Hospital
The housing facilities include:
- Cabaniss Hall
- Bear Hall
- McRae Hall
- Warner Hall
- Rudd Hall
Academics
Programs
VCU offers Baccalaureate, Master's and
Doctoral degrees, as well as Professional and Certificate courses. A complete degree
inventory is available from the Web site of the State
Council of Higher Education for Virginia.
Over 40 of VCU's programs are unique to Virginia, such as the Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness major in the L.
Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs, as well as the Real Estate and Urban Land Development degree in VCU's
School of Business. The university also offers a wide range of study options with more than 170 certificate, undergraduate,
graduate, professional and doctoral degrees in the arts, sciences and humanities in fifteen different schools of discipline.
In addition to its undergraduate and graduate degree programs, as well as its honors program, VCU now hosts the Illustration Academy.
The university's medical campus provides students with several opportunities for postgraduate study at VCU. This has led to
the development of "guaranteed admission programs," whereunder select incoming undergraduates are guaranteed a spot in a variety
of professional schools so long as a high academic standard is maintained throughout their undergraduate studies. Schools with
such a program include medicine, physical therapy, dentistry, pharmacy and others.
An accelerated program in the School of Education offers a combined undergraduate, teaching certificate and master's degree in
five years.
Rankings
VCU holds a number of national rankings, US News & World
Report rankings include:
- 1st- Sculpture
- 1st - Nurse Anesthesia
- 4th - Graphic Design
- 4th - Health Services Administration
- 6th - Fine Arts
- 10th - Painting and Drawing
- 13th - Dentistry[6]
- 13th - Rehabilitation Counseling
- 14th - Social Work
- 15th - Occupational Therapy
- 18th - Community Health
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- 18th - Women's Health
- 21st - Pharmacy
- 25th - Physical Therapy
- 39th - Secondary education
- 47th - Nursing
- 49th - Education
- 50th - Creative Writing[7]
- 67th - Medical School (Research)
- 65th - Public Affairs
- 68th - Clinical Psychology
- Top 50 - Teacher Preparation
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The VCU Adcenter, the School of Mass Communication’s graduate program in advertising, has also been ranked 1st in the nation
by Creativity Magazine. VCU’s Masters of Health Administration program
ranked No. 2 by Modern Healthcare, VCU Health System earned national Magnet nursing designation by the American Nurses
Credentialing Center, a top American research university by Lombardi Program on Measuring University Performance, a top-100
research university by the National Science Foundation, Twice named one of
the Solucient Top 100 Hospitals in the U.S. by Solucient Corporation, and as one of the 10 most diverse student bodies by
Campusdirt.com.
The Academic Ranking of World Universities conducted in 2005
by the Institute of Higher Education at Shanghai Jiao Tong University
ranks VCU in the top 100 universities in North & Latin America and one of the top 200 universities in the world.[8]
The VCU Counseling Psychology Graduate Program was ranked 3rd in the nation in the Faculty Scholarly Productivity Index in
2007.[9]
Faculty
Notable faculty members include analytical chemist Dr. John Fenn, who in 2002 was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his contributions to the field of mass spectrometry, and Religious Studies professor Amina Wadud,
who caused controversy in 2005 by leading an Islamic prayer service of men and women.
In the medical field, VCU has had four professors elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences' Institute of Medicine, most recently Dr. Steven Woolf in 2001.[10] Historically, notable faculty members include Charles-Édouard Brown-Séquard, M.D., for whom Brown-Sequard syndrome is named. Hunter McGuire was the
Confederate surgeon for General Thomas
J. Jackson before he founded the University College of Medicine which later merged with
MCV where he became the Chairman of Surgery. The Hunter Holmes McGuire Veterans Administration Medical
Center is named in his honor.
Dr. Jennifer Johnson's (Professor of Sociology) work at the Department of Defense in the area of Social Network Analysis won
her the 2006 Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Joint Distinguished Civilian Service Award, which is the highest-ranking
civilian service award given by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Dr. Johnson was also awarded the 2004 Analyst of the
Quarter by the Joint Warfare Analysis Center for her work on the Social Network Analysis Methodology Team.
Schools & Departments
Athletics
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VCU currently sponsors sixteen varsity teams in NCAA
Division I play through the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA). These
teams include basketball, baseball, volleyball, soccer, tennis,
golf, field hockey, track and field, and cross country. VCU's
mascot is Rodney the Ram, and the teams as well as students are called VCU Rams.
VCU also has many student run club teams. These sports not sponsored by the university include baseball, men's[22] and women's[23] rugby, ice hockey,[24] ultimate
frisbee[25] and men's and women's lacrosse. Previous club sports have also included rowing, wrestling, tennis, and cycling. VCU does not support
a football team. The current university president, Eugene P. Trani, has been quoted as saying that he will not allow football to
come to VCU under his watch due to the extra incurred cost.[26] VCU does not currently have a stadium that would be suitable for hosting football-related
events.
Facilities
Organizations
VCU has numerous student organizations, including the Black Awakening Choir which won first place in the 2005 Baptist Student
Union National Choir Competition in Atlanta, GA. Also, 2007 is the first year that STRUT has become an official organization at
VCU. STRUT is an annual fashion show that has grown into a week long celebration on campus. In addition, VCU boasts a
well-established net of ethnic and cultural organizations such as the African Student Union, Latino Student Association, Queer
Action and the Vietnamese Student Association, among many others.
Similarly, VCU offers a variety of religious organizations, such as Aletheia Campus Organization, Muslim Student
Association, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship,
Catholic Campus Ministry, Chi
Alpha Christian Fellowship house, BSU, Hillel @ VCU, and Lotus Buddhist Group.
VCU's Greek system has grown particularly rapidly in the last few years, with expansions within the Interfraternity Council
and among multicultural organizations. Theta Chi, Kappa
Sigma, Delta Chi, Alpha Kappa Lambda,
Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Sigma Beta Rho, Delta Phi Omega, Lambda Upsilon Lambda, Kappa Phi Gamma, Sigma Lambda
Upsilon and alpha Kappa Delta Phi have all chartered on campus since 2007.
As well as a chapter of our nations oldest engineering fraternity Theta Tau.
Student Government Associations
There are two student government associations at VCU, one for each campus.[27] According to the Monroe Park Campus SGA Web site, it "serves as the unifying voice for all students
to members of Virginia Commonwealth University administration, faculty, staff, and the Board of Visitors as well as to the City
of Richmond." It is the stated goal of the SGA "to represent the concerns and interests of all students to the various groups
that have an influence on student life," and it "oversees more than 200 student organizations."[28]
Notable alumni
Health and medicine:
Media:
- Wiley Miller - American cartoonist and author of the comic strip Non Sequitur.
- Tom Robbins - American author, best known for his novel Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (1976).
- David Baldacci - American author, best known for his novel Absolute Power (1996).
- Stephen Furst - American Actor, best known as "Flounder" in the National Lampoon
classic Animal House (1978) as well as TV series St. Elsewhere and Babylon 5.
- Robert Lanham - American author, best known for his book The Hipster Handbook (2003).
- Boris Kodjoe - Austrian-born model (Ford Modeling), actor (Soul Food, Madea's Family Reunion)
- Debbie Matenopoulos - American TV host, best known for co-hosting ABC's
The View, The Daily 10, and TV Guide Channel's The Screening Room.
- Robb Spewak - Producer and radio personality for The Don
and Mike Show.
- Zachary Knighton - Actor, starred most recently in The Hitcher.
- Bruce Cunningham - Baltimore sportscaster
- Jodi Weatherton - MTV Road Rules cast member
Sports
Art:
Other
- Grace Harris - Civil rights activist and one of the first three African American faculty members hired by VCU.
- Ron Tillett - Former Treasurer of Virginia, Secretary of Finance for Virginia.
- Nancy C. Everett - CEO of General Motors Asset Management Corp. and its U.S. subsidiaries.
- John C. Neal - CEO of Union Bank and Trust Company
- Dick Robertson - President of Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution.[31]
References
External links
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