Office of the Provost

Photo credit: Erin Borges On June 17, the VCU Academic Internships Office (AIO) gathered partners from across VCU for an open conversation about what it takes to host an intern on campus and the impact that successful experiential learning opportunities on campus have on students.  The key question driving the morning was practical: how can […]

Behind the scenes, IRDS supplies the data that helps inform VCU’s biggest decisions, initiatives  Institutional Research and Decision Support at Virginia Commonwealth University, under the Office of the Provost, occupies a unique position in the VCU universe. IRDS’s Vice Provost, Michael D. Bourgeois, Ph.D., answered some questions about how IRDS helps inform critical decisions on […]

Across Richmond, community organizations, neighborhood leaders and residents converge to partner with VCU. Through the voices of our neighbors closest to this work, we explore how collaboration with an urban campus supports community goals and enriches real-world impacts.  Longtime community organizer Jim Vigeant founded The Ealey Project after unexpectedly discovering a collection of 230,000 historic […]

Garret Westlake, Ph.D., vice provost for innovation and strategic design at VCU, will join the inaugural Google HE Faculty AI Fellowship for North America.  Westlake, a professor of management and entrepreneurship, is motivated by business and design approaches that help individuals better understand how to use AI critically, creatively and ethically,  without losing the human […]

Hernan Bucheli has been appointed interim leader of VCU’s Global Education Office, effective June 19. In addition to the interim role, Bucheli will continue to serve as vice president for Strategic Enrollment Management and Student Success. He aims to strengthen global partnerships and support VCU’s long‑term internationalization goals.

VCUarts Communication Arts students premiered large‑scale animated digital murals at CoStar’s new headquarters, showcasing Richmond‑inspired motion art. The project provided real‑world creative production experience, highlighted collaboration with industry mentors, and demonstrated students’ technical skill, artistic range, and ability to design immersive public visual environments.

VCU researcher Baobao Song advances corporate social responsibility through public‑relations scholarship, driven by personal experience with harmful products. She publishes widely, earns national recognition, and explores how fandoms, including BTS fans, mobilize around advocacy causes, while encouraging curiosity-driven learning in students.

In this issue: VCU expands credit‑bearing internships, highlights major research events, announces Arturo Saavedra as provost, celebrates faculty achievements, and promotes upcoming academic programs, conferences, and resources supporting student success and interdisciplinary collaboration.

VCU launched an interdisciplinary effort uniting health professions, medicine, nursing, and pharmacy to pursue a major neurodegeneration center grant. The team set summer research plans and a fall reconvening, advancing VCU Convergence’s mission to tackle complex brain‑health challenges collaboratively.

VCU’s inaugural Neuroscience Design Jam united clinicians, students, and innovators to turn surgical challenges into early medical‑device concepts, advancing VCU’s Convergence initiative by fostering interdisciplinary problem‑solving, rapid prototyping, and pathways to commercialization through TechTransfer and ongoing Vertically Integrated Project development.