Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) is a public research university located in Richmond, Virginia. MCV was founded in 1838 as the medical department of Hampden–Sydney College, becoming the Medical College of Virginia in 1854. In 1968, the Virginia General Assembly merged MCV with the Richmond Professional Institute, founded in 1917, to create Virginia Commonwealth University. In 2018, more than 31,000 students pursue 217 degree and certificate programs through VCU’s 13 schools and one college. The VCU Health System supports the university’s health care education, research and patient care mission.
With a record $270.3 million in sponsored research funding in the fiscal year 2014–15, VCU is designated as “R1: Doctoral University – Highest Research Activity” by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. A broad array of university-approved centers and institutes of excellence, involving faculty from multiple disciplines in public policy, biotechnology and health care discoveries, supports the university’s research mission. Twenty-eight graduate and first-professional programs are ranked by U.S. News & World Report as among the best in the country.[8] VCU’s athletic teams compete in Division I of the NCAA and are collectively known as the VCU Rams. They are members of the Atlantic 10 Conference. The VCU campus includes historic buildings such as the Ginter House, now used by the school’s provost.
Though officially created with the merger of the Richmond Professional Institute (RPI) and Medical College of Virginia(MCV) in 1968, VCU’s history began in 1838 when the Medical Department of Hampden-Sydney College opened in Richmond. In 1844, it moved into its first permanent home, the Egyptian Building. In 1854, the Medical Department of Hampden–Sydney College received an independent charter from the Virginia General Assembly and became the Medical College of Virginia (MCV). A few years later in 1860, MCV conveyed all its property to the Commonwealth of Virginia and becomes a state institution in exchange for $30,000. In 1893, the College of Physicians and Surgeons, later University College of Medicine, was established by Hunter Holmes McGuire just three blocks away from MCV. In 1912, McGuire Hall opened as the new home of the University College of Medicine. The following year, MCV and UCM merged through the efforts of George Ben Johnston and Stuart McGuire. MCV acquired the Memorial Hospital as a result of the merger.
In 2013, VCU was awarded a $62 million federal grant to oversee a national research consortium of universities, hospitals and clinics to study what happens to service members and veterans who suffer mild traumatic brain injuries or concussions.
In 2010, VCU received a $20 million National Institutes of Health grant to join a nationwide consortium of research institutions working to turn laboratory discoveries into treatments for patients. The Clinical and Translational Science Award made VCU the only academic health center in Virginia to join the prestigious CTSA network. In 2011, The Carnegie Foundation elevated Virginia Commonwealth University to “Very High Research Activity,” with over 255 million in sponsored research.
In 2009, Michael Rao was appointed the fifth president of VCU and continues in his tenure to focus on VCU’s growth as a premier public research university.
Virginia Commonwealth University has two main campuses in Richmond, Va.: the Monroe Park Campus, located west of downtown Richmond, and the MCV Campus in the urban center. Additionally, VCU has a branch campus in Education City, Qatar, along with numerous regional facilities.
Named after the city park, the 90.6-acre Monroe Park Campus took its name in June 2004, replacing the former name, the Academic Campus of VCU. The Monroe Park Campus houses most of VCU’s general education facilities, and is situated on the eastern end of the Fan district, a historic, late 19th-century neighborhood adjacent to downtown Richmond. Prior to the merger of the Richmond Professional Institute and the Medical College of Virginia, the campus was the home to the entire Richmond Professional Institute. Today, the campus has a mixture of modern and vintage buildings, with over 40 structures built before 1900.
In its history, one faculty member and one alumnus have won a Nobel Prize: Baruj Benacerraf, an alumnus of the Medical College of Virginia, was awarded the 1980 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, and John Fenn, a professor in the College of Humanities & Sciences, was awarded the 2002 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
In the medical field, VCU has had four professors elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences’ Institute of Medicine, most recently Steven Woolf in 2001.
The student body consists of 57% female students and 42% male students. Out-of-state students have increased to 15% as of the fall of 2011, and the remaining 85% of students are from Virginia. Demographically, the student body is 51% white, 15% African American, 12% Asian, 7% Hispanic, 6% International, less than 1% Native American and 8% Unknown.
VCU has more than 500 registered student organizations in which students can be involved.[ VCU boasts a well-established net of ethnic and cultural, religious, recreational and special interest organizations. There are two student government associations at VCU, one for each campus.
VCU is also an academic partner to the largest French Film Festival in the United States. Founded in 1993, the total participation in 2012 has grown to more than 22,000 entries for the 27 films.
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