VCU news

An endowed scholarship to honor outgoing Virginia Commonwealth University Provost Beverly Warren, Ed.D., Ph.D., was approved at the VCU Board of Visitors meeting earlier this month.

The Beverly Warren Scholarship Fund will provide scholarships for students from any discipline within the university and will honor Warren’s commitment to accessibility and affordability in education.

Warren, who has been the VCU Provost since 2010, announced in January that she had accepted the presidency of Kent State University in Kent, Ohio. Warren will leave VCU at the end of May.

She has been at VCU since 2000, serving first as a professor and head of the Division of Health, Physical Education and Recreation and then later as dean of the VCU School of Education. VCU President Michael Rao, Ph.D., named her interim provost in April 2010. Following a national search for a new provost, Warren was named the provost in 2011.

The scholarship fund was made public at a farewell gathering in Warren’s honor on April 21. Following the announcement of the scholarship, Rao remarked on the tremendous contribution Warren has had at VCU during her time as provost.

“Bev Warren is an incomparable leader and scholar who has contributed immeasurably to VCU’s success as a premier, urban public research university,” Rao said. “Academic quality, student success and graduation rates all increased during her time at VCU. She has been a great partner who will be hard to replace.”

Fundraising has been spearheaded by fund co-chairs Nancy Langston, Ph.D., former dean of the VCU School of Nursing, and Michael Davis, Ph.D., former interim dean of the VCU School of Education and now special assistant to the provost for strategic initiatives.

“Bev Warren has had such a tremendous impact on VCU that it is only fitting she be remembered with this scholarship,” Davis said. “Although she’s moving on to even greater things at Kent State, her legacy at VCU will live on through this fund.”

More than 100 donors have so far donated to the scholarship fund, which currently stands at more than $120,000 in gifts and pledges. The fund, raised primarily from donations by current and retired VCU faculty and staff, will be held by the VCU Foundation.

“The great outpouring of contributions in such a short period was truly astounding,” Langston said. “The number of faculty and staff willing to contribute to honor Bev Warren is a testament to the enormous respect and admiration so many feel for her here at VCU.”

The Warren scholarship fund is continuing to accept contributions and pledges. Those interested in making contributions should contact Jamie Stillman, director of external relations and development for the provost, at (804) 828-1205 or visit the scholarship's website at http://www.provost.vcu.edu/scholarship/warren_scholarship.html.

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