The halfway point of Quest – and beyond
Earlier this week, VCU’s leadership team engaged in a series of in-depth discussions about our progress in achieving the ambitions outlined in our Quest for Distinction strategic plan.
The conversations were informative and revealing: By any measure, the first three years of Quest have been profoundly successful, thanks to my colleagues across the institution who have helped transform VCU into one of the nation’s premier urban, public research universities. We have now reached the halfway point of our six-year plan, and as we achieve the ambitions still remaining, I have no doubt that we will become the nationally premier urban, public research university.
Our successes in student and faculty excellence, in research preeminence, in advancing human health and in community engagement have come because we have the right team in place, and because these talented people have leveraged one another and the resources that exist across the university to make profound contributions.
So three years from now, when Quest has run its course, what will VCU look like? Well, we will be a national model for collaboration, working as one university with focus. We will be the right size, committing to access while still increasing in excellence and focusing on diversity among our students and our faculty. We will also have the right resources to catalyze our priorities. We will be, as one colleague described, “A university of yes!” That’s not to say we can agree to everything, but rather, we will be relentless in finding ways to get done what matters most.
Stated differently, VCU will help our commonwealth and our nation thrive, ensuring that everyone continues to have the chance to live, work, lead, create and pursue the American Dream in a wonderfully vibrant place. We will advance opportunities for our students, who thrive in a transformative educational experience and who emerge as leaders in their fields and in their communities — seizing every opportunity to use what they learn and discover to help other people. Finally, we will advance the human experience through innovations like our translational research and clinical trials, and through creativity like that which we will see at the Institute for Contemporary Art (on which we broke ground this week) and across our university.
As we move forward to complete Quest, let’s keep talking, keep collaborating and keep advancing as one university. Let’s keep leveraging one another. And let’s ensure that we are the right size and using the right resources in the right way.
I am convinced that there has never been a better time to be at VCU. As we continue to make our Quest ambitions real, I am also convinced that the next three years — and beyond — will be even better, thanks to the remarkable contributions of our entire community.
I look forward to our successes to come.
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