Learnings from the Carnegie Community Engaged University Reclassification Self-Study
VCU has a complete draft of the Carnegie Community Engaged University Reclassification Self-Study report. It has been a tremendous effort across the campus. We want to take this opportunity to recognize what we have accomplished and share highlights of what we have learned.
The Process
Over the past year, we conducted two unit-level surveys and one survey of our community partners. We met with many campus committees, used questionnaires and interviews to collect and verify case study details, and worked with offices, centers, departments, and individual faculty and staff to gather and confirm qualitative and program data. In addition, we reviewed existing VCU records and requested further data from specific units when needed, particularly for assessment-related questions. We held two town hall meetings to share what we were learning for feedback.
With specific word limits, we could not include everything we gathered in our process. Still, we were intentional in our selection of the data included to ensure we fully represented the breadth and diversity of work occurring across our campus and community.
The Findings
The self-study demonstrated that community engagement at VCU is deep and pervasive. It is present in all our schools and colleges and embedded in our curricular and co-curricular activities, ensuring its integration into student learning. It is a fundamental part of our research enterprise. It reaches across our region, state, and beyond. We use a variety of ways to assess our progress.
Curriculum
- DCE surveyed schools, colleges, and departments for this self-study to understand the pervasiveness of community engagement in VCU’s academic core. The results revealed that all VCU Schools and Colleges had examples of community engagement integration into traditional curricula and academic activities. We see the highest level in internships (25%), graduate courses (22%), student research (20%), core courses (17%), career exploration (15%) and capstones/senior projects (15%). It is also integrated into student leadership, major and minor courses, practicums, and fieldwork.
- With the implementation of REAL, the number of students in community-engaged learning increased significantly. Ten years ago, we had 138 undergraduate and 22 graduate classes taught by 75 faculty in 30 departments. Today, VCU offers 971 undergraduate and 373 graduate, community-engaged courses taught by 349 faculty in 71 departments, resulting in more expansive partnerships and increased impact on our students and communities. Transformational learning is the next phase focused on enhancing student learning through research and community engagement.
Co-curricular activities
- Of 466 active and published student organizations, 102, or 22%, operate with a focus on civic engagement and community services. Of the 466 organizations, 23 are Fraternity and Sorority Life student groups.
- In 2023-2024, students contributed 8,935 service hours across Student Affairs programs, a 32% increase from the previous year.
Research
- A review of over 4,000 IRB applications from the past 10 years found that 50% included community partners, such as K-12 public schools and school systems, the YMCA, Boys and Girls Club of Greater Richmond, the City of Richmond, state and county agencies, and Richmond Police and health districts. Those projects brought in over $232 million in research during that period.
- Of our 38 research centers, 20 have community engagement in their mission, and 29 do community-engaged work.
Reach
- Using the database of about 90 partnerships we collected through our surveys (we know there are more out there), those partnerships are located as follows:
- Sixty-seven percent of our partnerships are in the RVA (of those, over half are in the City of Richmond)
- Twenty-three percent are in the Commonwealth of Virginia (not including the RVA).
- The remaining ten percent are national.
Monitoring and Assessment of Community Engagement
- The study revealed many ways our Schools, Colleges, Departments, and other units track and assess community engagement. Examples include:
- Student activities and learning outcomes, including service hours, partnership type, reflections, feedback, and internships to ensure quality experiences for students and community partners.
- Organizations/partners engaged to maintain relationships over time.
- Faculty annual reviews include community engagement in the evaluation as part of annual reporting.
- Collaboratory will add capacity and capability to move this forward over the coming year.