Diversity Drives Excellence: Building community through dance
With their “Hoptown” immersive performance, iCubed professor MK Abadoo uses sistering circles to create intergenerational connections Beautiful art sometimes originates in dark places. For MK Abadoo, VCU dance professor and iCubed scholar in the Racial Equity, Arts and Culture core, the passion project that has consumed much of their time and energy over the past […]
Equity and Access Services publishes its first annual report
In its first comprehensive annual report published this week, VCU’s Equity and Access Services (EAS) office outlines a human-centered approach to creating a more inclusive, equitable and fair learning, living and working environment at VCU.
Goode Makes VCU Better
From the MLK vigil to the Men of Color Initiative, Carlton Goode brings a positive attitude to making change If you are new to VCU, some campus traditions – like Weeks of Welcome or the start of basketball season – seem like they must have been around forever. But one tradition – the silent candlelight […]
Lactation policy helps support parents in the VCU community
New policy and lactation room reviews are latest additions to resources Equity and Access Services offers to support pregnancy and parenthood The work of one student can have a profound impact on a campus. While the development and implementation of the new campus-wide lactation policy has involved dozens of people, it started with Kirsten Olsen, […]
Community Connection: Richmond Public Schools
In our Community Connections series, we spotlight a community partner and provide insight and details on how best to engage with them. This month, we’re talking to Grady Hart with Richmond Public Schools (RPS). Hart helps facilitate the dozens of partnerships RPS maintains that involve VCU. Tell us about yourself. I’m an RVA native and […]
From Two-Spirits to Long Man, Smithers brings contemporary understanding to indigenous heritage
The professor of history works to provide “intellectual multivitamins” to students and readers, inspiring them to do their own research Some of the hottest of hot button issues these days involve environmental stewardship, the recognition of gender fluidity, and what aspects of history are appropriate to be taught in schools. Standing at the intersection of […]
“Connect”conference spotlights community partnerships and engagement skills
Faculty, staff and community members gather to network, learn principles and meet new VCU Community Engagement team In her keynote address at the Connect: Community Engagement Conference, Maghboeba Mosavel, Ph.D. said that everything she learned about community engagement and community outreach, she learned growing up in apartheid South Africa. “It is a very diverse country […]
Bryan-Campos isn’t just teaching journalism, she’s cultivating citizens
Capital News Service students leverage technology in a new context When talking about the awareness-building that happens in her classes, professor Alix Bryan-Campos evokes a 2017 Virginia House of Delegates election that ended up in a tie. “I’ve had students who say they didn’t vote, that didn’t think voting was important until they took my […]
Glover’s work on self-determination is not just theoretical but deeply personal
The activist, performer and iCubed scholar studies and celebrates the embodied knowledge of marginalized communities “I really am a shapeshifter,” asserts Julian Kevon Glover, Ph.D. “You never know what I’m going to look like.” She continues, “Today I was listening to Shania Twain’s ‘Man I Feel Like a Woman’ so here I am dressed in […]
iCubed scholar Rachel Gómez inspires students to feel pride in their history
School of Ed professor followed non-traditional path guided by her ancestors Rachel Gomez, Ph.D., was taking classes in community college when she first learned about colonialism. That eye-opening experience set her on the path she’s still on today. “So much suddenly made sense to me,” said Gomez, now a tenure-track Assistant Professor in the School […]
