VCU news

By Jeffrey Kraus
Office of the Provost

Virginia Commonwealth University’s academic accreditation has been affirmed for another decade, and the committee that conducted the process found no areas for recommendations – a rare achievement, as universities commonly receive formal recommendations for improvement.

VCU’s 10-year reaccreditation was made official this month when SACSCOC – the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges – held its annual meeting in Austin, Texas.

“I am very proud of the results of this reaccreditation process, and of the staff and faculty who worked tirelessly to achieve it,” said VCU President Michael Rao, Ph.D. “It reaffirms what we see every day – that VCU is fully committed to the success of our students and ensuring they learn critical thinking and problem-solving skills. As a truly public research university, VCU is a place that engages motivated students from all backgrounds to learn and be a part of advancing our foundation of knowledge and our understanding of our world.”

“A university undergoing an accreditation review with no recommendations is simply outstanding,” said Fotis Sotiropoulos, Ph.D., VCU provost and senior vice president for academic affairs. “That result is a testament to the work of our entire university community. A positive SACSCOC reaffirmation directly benefits students by adding legitimacy to their degrees.”

A wide-ranging achievement

Earning reaccreditation is a significant undertaking. In addition to development of a Quality Enhancement Plan – the QEP is a major student-focused component of the process – the steps include developing a Compliance Certification, a self-study report that addresses the 14 SACSCOC accreditation principles and their various subsections. The entire process requires contributions from faculty and staff across the university.

Reaccreditation culminates with international on-site visits by a committee of leaders from peer institutions across the Southern region, which occurred last winter. Committee visits included VCU’s Monroe Park and MCV campuses in Richmond, the Alexandria campus in Northern Virginia and VCUarts Qatar in the Middle East. The committee met with students, faculty, staff and leadership, as well as Board of Visitors members.

“In addition to being impressed with VCU’s students, the on-site committee was impressed with faculty, staff and leadership’s commitment to student success,” said Katrice Hawthorne, Ph.D., vice provost for academic planning and institutional effectiveness. “When people ask why they should care about the reaffirmation process, I say it’s about more than compliance – it’s about our students and providing opportunities for them to participate in high-impact practices like those in our QEP.”

Every Ram’s a Researcher

VCU’s QEP is focused on expanding undergraduate research across the university. The plan offers students, regardless of major or career aspiration, an opportunity through their General Education coursework to acquire the skills to become problem solvers, including the abilities to investigate, reflect, collaborate and connect.

Ultimately, the goal of Every Ram’s a Researcher is to give every student the chance to learn from, and with, dedicated faculty members, exploring today’s critical questions and bringing fresh knowledge to shape the answers we need.

“VCU offers some of the most comprehensive undergraduate research opportunities in the state, yet VCU students often aren’t aware they are attending an R-1 institution or perhaps aren’t aware of the advantages that gives them,” said Sarah Golding, Ph.D., director of the QEP and associate professor and director of undergraduate research in the Department of Biology in the College of Humanities and Sciences. “The QEP aims to change that by infusing research preparedness skills into our General Education courses, promoting earlier engagement in research experiences and elevating messaging on campus that at VCU, every Ram is a researcher”

Students embrace the opportunities

Efforts to spread the word about Every Ram’s a Researcher yielded immediate results this year. VCU saw a 40% increase in original research proposals submitted by students and mentors to the Undergraduate Research Fellows program in spring 2024, leading to a record-breaking 72 funded projects for the current cohort. This is the highest number of projects submitted and funded since establishment of the program in 2010, with representation across nearly every discipline. 

VCU also concluded the 2023-24 academic year with a record 278 participants hired in the Work Study Research Assistant program, a 20% increase from the previous year and a new benchmark since formation of the program in 2017.

“QEP-related courses introduce VCU students to research-supportive, project-based learning and, in turn, a long list of skills and dispositions that will help them navigate the 21st-century workforce,” said Matthew James Vechinski, Ph.D., associate director of the QEP, associate professor in the Department of Focused Inquiry and coordinator of academic programming for the College of Humanities and Sciences. “In addition, the research shows that this approach to learning by doing and learning through collaboration is often more engaging to today’s undergraduates who seek meaningful challenges to develop their abilities to solve problems.”