Office of the Provost

VCU Blogs

Monthly Academic Report (May 2025)

by Fotis Sotiropoulos
VCU office of the provost

Message from the Provost

Dear Colleagues,

In just a few days, I’ll have the opportunity to brag about you. Again.

In what I expect to be my last presentation as provost to VCU’s Board of Visitors, I will have the opportunity to update the members on all we have accomplished in the past year on the final recommendations of the One VCU Academic Repositioning Task Force – and our shared success is incredibly impressive.

The repositioning exercise is fueled by the ideas that came from VCU’s talented, creative, and impressive faculty. We have aligned our academic enterprise to succeed in a rapidly-changing environment, and we are future-proofing the education and experience that our graduates are carrying into the broader world.

Higher education is facing a lot of head wind these days. Thanks to you, VCU is in great shape to not just survive those challenges but thrive in the face of them. Rising enrollment and student success numbers; increasing sponsored research funding; and our ascent up the national rankings are all indicators that VCU’s academic enterprise is on the right path, and I cannot urge you strongly enough to continue that progress.

As I wind down my four-year tenure as your provost and senior vice president for academic affairs, I am filled with gratitude for the collaborations we shared and the partnerships we forged on behalf of a university that has been described as, “important for the future.” Thank you for the opportunity that has been the highlight of my career. I know that for VCU, in your capable hands, the institution’s best days lie ahead!  

Best regards,

Fotis
Fotis Sotiropoulos, Ph.D.
Provost and senior vice president for academic affairs

P.S. I wish all the best to former VCU Provost Beverly J. Warren, Ed.D., Ph.D., who will return to VCU to serve as interim provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at the end of May while a national search is conducted to find the person who will fill the role permanently.

Celebrating VCU Faculty

  • Cristina Stanciu, Ph.D., director of the Humanities Research Center and professor in the Department of English, and Catherine Ingrassia, Ph.D., dean of the College of Humanities and Sciences, are creating the new Indigenous Humanities Lab at VCU, which just earned an 18-month, $150,000 grant from the Mellon Foundation awarded in April. The lab will open this summer, joining eight other humanities labs currently supported by VCU’s Humanities Research Center.
  • Nicole Killian, graduate director and an professor of graphic design in the VCU School of the Arts, was among the Faculty Award honorees at the 19th Annual Burnside Watstein Awards, which recognize individuals who enrich the Virginia Commonwealth University community and make a significant difference in the lives of LGBTQIA+ faculty, staff and students.
  • Brian Fuglestad, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry in VCU’s College of Humanities and Sciences, has been recognized by pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly and Co. for his lab’s research into proteins linked to notable diseases.
  • VCU’s 52nd annual Service Recognition Celebration highlighted more than 2,800 VCU and VCU Health employees whose dedication powers the academic and health sciences communities. Among those reaching milestones in 2024, 1,330 were cited for completing five years of service, and more than 550 others reached the decade mark. Three individuals celebrated their 50th year with VCU, and one celebrated his 60th year.
  • For most of his adult life, Chris Burnside’s creative language was kinetic movement. The choreographer and former Chair of VCU’s Department of Dance and Choreography (1991-1996) expressed himself through dance. Now, in the seventh decade of his life, he’s turned to a new medium–the written word. His memoir, The Man from Figueras, is newly published on Scholars Compass and also available in a limited edition printed book.
  • A research team from VCU Libraries is the recipient of the Library Publishing Coalition’s 2025 Award for Outstanding Scholarship in Library Publishing. The award, given every two years, acknowledges contributions to a growing body of scholarship that informs best practices and demonstrates the impact of library publishing efforts. These efforts include functions such as university repositories like VCU’s Scholars Compass, supporting open educational resources and reducing textbook costs, addressing changes in the scholarly publishing environment and more. The award recipients are VCU faculty Jessica Kirschner, Hillary Miller, Sergio Chaparro, and Nina Exner and students Preeti Kamat and Jose Alcaine, for their article, “To Open or Not to Open: An Exploration of Faculty Decisions to Publish Open-Access Articles” (Journal of Librarianship and Scholarly Communication). This research was funded by a VCU Quest grant.

Leadership Updates

  • Brian P. Brown, Ph.D., will serve as the dean of the VCU School of Business, starting April 25. Brown, a professor in the Department of Marketing, has been the school’s interim dean since January 2024. The Board of Visitors will officially consider the appointment at its next quarterly meeting. Brown was selected after a national search.
  • Monica Swahn, Ph.D., has been named dean of the VCU School of Public Health, effective July 1, 2025. The Board of Visitors will officially consider the appointment at its next quarterly meeting. Swahn comes to VCU from Kennesaw State University, where she served as dean and professor in the Wellstar College of Health and Human Services.
  • Maghboeba Mosavel, Ph.D., the current head of VCU’s Division of Community Engagement is being promoted to vice provost, effective immediately. Dr. Mosavel has done an outstanding job of both reorganizing and energizing VCU’s Community Engagement team after it was moved into the Office of the Provost – all while ensuring that it remained focused on developing and strengthening relationships and partnerships across communities connected to our university.

Initiative Updates

  • VCU adopts a new name for the Robertson School. Now, it is the Richard T. Robertson School of Communication, the change reflects the breadth of its disciplines and the evolving industry landscape.
  • FAQs for the VCU community on immigration services and how to support the international education community.

Quest 2028 Data Point

Did you know that IRDS administers VCU’s First Destination Survey, which tracks student outcomes within six months of degree completion? 

With commencement just days away, we are reflecting on previous survey results and looking forward to learning more about the class of 2025 soon. Below are a few highlights from students who graduated in May 2024:

  • 71% of graduate level students who responded to the survey were employed full-time within six months of graduation, and 95% of employed students had jobs related to their degree
  • Healthcare, higher education and K-12 education were the top three industries that graduate students entered
  • 85% of survey respondents who earned a baccalaureate degree remained in Virginia
  • 24% of baccalaureate degree earners who indicated they had one or more co-curricular experiences were offered a full-time job as a result of their experience

Learn more about May 2024 graduates by checking out our Undergraduate Outcomes and Graduate Outcomes infographics, or by visiting the FDS Dashboard, accessible to VCU staff and faculty.

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