VCU news

By Pamela DiSalvo Lepley

RICHMOND, Va. – The Executive Committee of the Virginia Commonwealth University Board of Visitors today voted to change the name of the university’s Academic Campus to the Monroe Park Campus.

VCU has two campuses.  The university’s Medical College of Virginia (MCV) Campus is adjacent to Richmond’s business and financial district, and is the location of the VCU Medical Center.  The Academic Campus, now known as the Monroe Park Campus, is situated adjacent to the city’s historic residential neighborhood known as the Fan District. 

“With the changing of the name, the Monroe Park Campus has symmetry with the MCV Campus -- they both have names rich with tradition and history and are geographically descriptive,” said VCU President Eugene P. Trani.  “We have always been proud of the MCV Campus name, and now we have a name in the Monroe Park Campus that we will be proud of as well.”

The campuses trace their origins to the same time period.  The Medical College of Virginia was established in 1854.  Monroe Park, which is surrounded by VCU in the Fan District and serves as the university’s campus green, is Richmond’s oldest park. It was acquired by the city in 1851 and was the site of state and national agricultural fairs.  Today, it remains under city ownership and is maintained by VCU. 

“I always thought that there was something corny about the “Academic Campus” name – it’s not a descriptive term nor a valued term,” said Dr. W. Baxter Perkinson, Jr., VCU Board of Visitors Rector and a graduate of the VCU School of Dentistry.  “I can assure you that when I went to dental school, there were plenty of academics on the MCV Campus.”

The board’s action was the last under Dr. Perkinson’s term as rector and as a member of the VCU Board of Visitors for the past eight years.  “I see VCU as one university, and this name change is another step towards being a first-class, full-force university,” he said. 

Dr. Trani said the name change will be reflected in signage, publications and other university communications over a period of time.  He added that the proposed site of the new School of Business and School of Engineering  expansion, which informally has been called the Monroe Campus, now will be called the Monroe Park Campus Addition. 

The name change has been discussed among several university and civic groups.  The VCU Alumni Association Board, representing more than 70,000 alumni, endorsed the renaming of the Academic Campus to the Monroe Park Campus.