Virginia Commonwealth University

Located in the heart of Richmond, the capital of Virginia since 1779, Virginia Commonwealth University serves an integral role in the economic health of the city and state, educating the current and future workforce, reaching out to the community, advancing research and enhancing patient care.

VCU was founded in 1838 as the medical department of Hampden-Sydney College, becoming the Medical College of Virginia in 1854. In 1968, the General Assembly merged MCV with the Richmond Professional Institute, founded in 1917, to create Virginia Commonwealth University.

Today, VCU offers comprehensive undergraduate, master’s, doctoral and professional programs and encompasses one of the largest academic health centers in the nation. With $363 million in externally funded research awards for the 2021 fiscal year, VCU is one of only 67 universities nationwide classified by the Carnegie Foundation as an “R1 Doctoral University – Highest Research Activity,” the foundation’s highest ranking, as well as its prestigious “Community Engagement” status. Its centers and institutes of excellence support the university’s research mission and involve faculty from multiple disciplines in the arts, public policy, biotechnology and health care discoveries.

VCU enrolls more than 28,000 students in more than 200 degree and certificate programs in the arts, sciences and humanities. Twenty-nine of the programs are unique in Virginia, many of them crossing the disciplines of VCU’s 11 schools and five colleges. VCU has a full-time instructional faculty of more than 2,100 who are nationally and internationally recognized for excellence in the arts, business, education, engineering, the humanities, the life sciences, social work and all the health care professions. With more than 23,000 employees, VCU and VCU Health also have a significant impact on Central Virginia’s economy.

Through the guidance of its strategic plan, Quest 2025, VCU serves diverse populations through impactful research and creativity, rigorous study, and extensive community engagement and is among the nation’s premier urban, public research universities.