Provost’s Monthly Academic Report (Oct. 2025)
Message from the Provost
Dear Colleagues,
I want to thank the many faculty members who participated in the COACHE survey last spring. Your insights, shared with candor and care, are helping us shape a stronger, more responsive VCU.
With a 47% completion rate (55.9% total response), our faculty engagement exceeded that of our institutional peers and the national cohort. That level of participation speaks volumes about your commitment to this university and to one another.
The survey affirmed many of our strengths, including academic freedom, collegiality, departmental leadership, and interdisciplinary collaboration among them. It also surfaced areas where we must grow, including mentoring, promotion, workload, support, and senior leadership support. These findings are guiding our next steps and they’re already reflected in the momentum we see across faculty innovation and support.
This fall, faculty are leading transformative efforts that respond directly to areas of opportunity identified in the COACHE survey. The new faculty-led Convergence Labs are fostering interdisciplinary collaboration and creative problem-solving, and have already engaged hundreds of faculty members across our campuses. We’re also offering workshops and panels, led by Faculty Affairs, LEDstudio, and VCU Community Engagement that advance inclusive research, emerging technologies, and community engagement practices that can successfully be integrated into valuable scholarship and high-impact teaching and learning. (You can find all those opportunities lower in this report!) And thanks to efforts underway in Faculty Affairs, we’re proud to offer a record number of mentorship opportunities for faculty across career stages.
The COACHE Steering Committee will meet monthly to develop targeted action plans for each area of opportunity. Updates will be shared in monthly reports and posted to the COACHE website, where you can follow our progress and offer feedback.
We are listening. We are learning. And we are committed to leading together with transparency, purpose, and care.
With appreciation,
Beverly J. Warren, Ed.D., Ph.D.
Interim Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs
Celebrating VCU Faculty
- Congratulations to the recently announced 2025 NIRA and EPIA honorees. These annual awards reflect VCU’s commitment to recognizing faculty leadership and innovation across the university.
- Elizabeth Fortune, the administrative director of the Wright Center for Clinical and Translational Research has earned a Fulbright award, reinforcing VCU’s global research presence and faculty leadership in health innovation.
- Jonathan Isaacs, M.D., professor of orthopaedic surgery at VCU and chair of VCU Health’s Division of Hand Surgery, is the latest faculty member featured in VCU’s Uncommon Hero series for his invention of Nerve Tape: a suture-free, biologic wrap that simplifies nerve repair and improves surgical outcomes.
- Nicholas Thomson, Ph.D., a forensic research psychologist in Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of Medicine and the director of research for the Injury and Violence Prevention Program, has received a $3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to lead the nation’s largest federally funded study on how virtual reality can prevent violence among high-risk youth.
- Heather Jones, Ph.D., associate professor of psychology at VCU, has been awarded two federal grants totaling $3.6M to expand pro bono mental health care and train future practitioners through the Primary Care Psychology Training Collaborative.
- Daniel Gutierrez, Ph.D., a professor in Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of Education, has been named a fellow of the American Counseling Association.
- Nelson Wikstrom, Ph.D., longtime VCU professor and former chair of political science, died Aug. 20 at age 85; he co-authored a leading textbook on intergovernmental relations and served the university for more than four decades.
Initiative Updates
- VCU has launched Convergence Labs, a university-wide initiative advancing interdisciplinary research, experiential learning, and community impact. With enterprise themes in AI, Neurosciences, and Health Outcomes, the Labs are led by faculty experts and supported by hundreds of collaborators across campus.
- VCU Online earned a top 10 national ranking from Forbes in its 2025 list of Best Online Colleges with a High Acceptance Rate, recognizing institutions that offer both accessibility and academic challenge. With more than 50 online programs, VCU earned high marks for graduation rates, low loan default rates, and robust support for distance learners. Students benefit from academic advising, affordable laptops, Canvas tutorials, counseling, and writing center access, all with no in-person requirements and the flexibility to learn on their own schedule.
- VCU’s Shift Retail Lab is featured in Fast Company as a national model for inclusive, future-facing higher education. The article emphasizes how programs like Shift are redefining who teaches, who learns, and how innovation happens—by engaging community leaders and entrepreneurs like Everette Taylor, CEO of Kickstarter, who recently joined VCU as affiliate faculty. The piece positions Shift as a living prototype for higher ed transformation, where real-world experience, cultural relevance, and student-led ventures drive meaningful change.
- Six major campus construction projects are currently underway, many designed to enhance faculty teaching, research, and collaboration spaces. Updates include new facilities for interdisciplinary research, expanded classroom environments, and modernized infrastructure to support academic excellence.
- VCU’s Division of Community Engagement is advancing co-created scholarship and civic partnerships through planning grants, youth development programs, and place-based initiatives. Highlights include the Health Hub at 25th, literacy workshops, and the Community Engaged Scholarship Series spotlighting faculty impact.
- Erin Braselmann has joined Virginia Commonwealth University’s Division of Student Affairs as director of Student Accessibility and Educational Opportunity. She comes to VCU from her most recent role as dean of accessibility and disability resources and lecturer in human rights. Braselmann has worked in higher education for more than 15 years, with recent positions at Bard College and Yale University. She said she looks forward to continuing her career supporting accessibility and accommodation efforts across the university.
Upcoming Faculty Learning Opportunities
- Community Engaged Scholarship Writing Group – Weekly Virtual Sessions | Fridays beginning October 2 | 11:00am–12:30pm | Virtual, via Zoom | Register Here
- Monthly Forum for Department Chairs – Leading Change: A Discussion of Departmental Transformation | October 7 | 10:00-11:00am | Academic Learning Commons, Room 4100 | Register Here
- LEDstudio Workshop – Creating Dynamic Discussions: Engaging Students with Harmonize | October 7 | 1:00pm – 2:00pm | Virtual, via Zoom| Register Here
- Community Engaged Scholarship Series – Mobile Health and Wellness Program | October 9 | 12:00–1:00pm | Virtual, via Zoom | Register Here
- LEDstudio Workshop – Lights, Camera, Express: Quick Video Creation with Adobe Express | October 14 | Noon – 1:00 pm | Virtual via Zoom | Register Here
- National Conflict Resolution Day – 2025 Theme: Navigating Difficult Situations in a Moving Landscape | October 16 | 9:00am-12:00pm | University Student Commons, Virginia Rooms | Register Here
- Advancing Scholarship through Community Engagement – In-Person Workshop | October 22 | Time and Location TBD | Register Here
- Conversations About Inclusion Series – Turning the Page: Helping Students Reconnect with Reading | October 23 | 10:00-11:15am | Virtual, via Zoom | Register Here
- LEDstudio Workshop – Less Clicks, More Teaching: Using AI as Your TA | October 28 | 1:00pm – 2:00 pm | Virtual, via Zoom | Register here
- VCU Libraries Workshop – Assignment Hacking: Managing Generative AI in Coursework | Multiple Dates | Virtual, via Zoom | Register Here
- VCU Libraries Discussion Series – AI in Research: Exploring Generative AI Across Disciplines | Ongoing | Format and Dates TBD | Express Interest Here
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Categories Academic Affairs, Community Engagement, Faculty Affairs, Monthly Academic Update, Provost