Office of the Provost

VCU defines community engagement as “The collaboration between institutions of higher education and their larger communities for the mutually beneficial exchange of knowledge and resources in the context of partnership and reciprocity. It can involve partnerships and coalitions that help mobilize resources and influence systems and serve as catalysts for initiating and/or changing policies, programs, […]

VCU was one of the first universities in the nation to receive the Carnegie Community Engaged University Classification in 2005, and one of very few R1 institutions. We earned reclassification in 2015, and are in the midst of reclassifying for the designation now.  One of the reasons we do this is to keep growing – […]

Message from the Provost Dear Colleagues, As we begin a new academic year, some information from the 2023 Faculty Data report is encouraging: A lot of work remains, however, when it comes to attracting and retaining a diverse community of highly-qualified faculty members. For example, we know that we must retain more VCU faculty members […]

VCU was established by the Wayne Commission to be an urban serving institution, which means it was designed from its inception to be community engaged and address community needs. It is truly in our DNA.  Community engagement at VCU is a collaborative process where both the university and community partners co-create solutions to pressing societal […]

The VCU Division of Community Engagement (DCE) is actively collaborating with partners to identify community needs and drive impactful initiatives. This fall, they will launch a Faculty Learning Collaborative focused on best practices for assessing the impact on community engagement. Additionally, as part of their efforts for the Carnegie Community Engaged University reclassification, they initiated three surveys for […]

Message from the Provost Dear VCU faculty and staff: You are inspiring! I cannot count the number of deep and meaningful conversations I have enjoyed with you, and our colleagues, since I launched the One VCU Academic Repositioning Task Force in the spring of 2023. We’ve talked about broad societal changes that are reshaping our […]

Message from the Provost SACSCOC ReaccreditationThis week we host SACSCOC evaluators as part of the university’s ten-year reaccreditation process. This intense and multifaceted effort began a few years ago and I’m grateful to the many faculty and staff members who placed VCU in such a strong position to go through this examination. That’s especially true […]