Virginia Commonwealth College is the winner of the eleventh annual Innovation & Financial Prosperity Expertise award from the Affiliation of Public and Land-grant Universities. The award acknowledges exemplary initiatives in training and workforce growth.
Introduced through the affiliation’s annual assembly at the moment, VCU’s submission was lauded by the APLU for its “significantly modern and exemplary” framework for regional financial growth and engagement. The award highlights the college’s RTR instructor residency program, da Vinci Middle for Innovation and Richmond Well being and Wellness Program.
“I’m grateful to APLU and really happy with VCU for this award that acknowledges on a nationwide stage our engagement with our communities and our give attention to their wants,” mentioned VCU President Michael Rao, Ph.D. “We’re dedicated to offering college students with an training that equips them with the data, expertise and creativity that they are going to want for his or her careers and their work on the earth, adapting and innovating to maintain forward of the quickly altering wants of our college students, our workplaces and our society.”
VCU’s award submission represents the collaborative efforts of greater than 20 school and workers members throughout the college and well being system. Guided by the establishment’s Collective City and Regional Affect unit, committee members chosen applications and initiatives that greatest represented regional financial growth and engagement.
The RTR instructor residency program is a partnership between the VCU Faculty of Training and Richmond-area college districts that pairs instructor trainees with mentor academics within the classroom for one 12 months. RTR-trained academics have demonstrated considerably greater retention charges, they higher replicate scholar demographics, and their college students are extra profitable in math, English and social research matters.
With a purpose of accelerating the illustration of girls and underrepresented minorities within the innovation and STEM workforces, VCU’s da Vinci Middle is a singular collegiate mannequin that advances student-led innovation and entrepreneurship via cross-disciplinary collaboration. The middle facilitates partnerships between trade companions and cross-disciplinary scholar groups to resolve real-world issues.
The Richmond Well being and Wellness Program supplies college students in well being care disciplines with collaborative, experiential studying alternatives to satisfy consistently evolving well being care wants. Working with low-income housing residents, 1,400 college students have developed well being care plans and providers for 1,450 residents, leading to improved outcomes for this system’s members.
“We’re honored to obtain such a prestigious award,” mentioned P. Srirama Rao, Ph.D., vice chairman for analysis and innovation. “The initiatives highlighted on this submission are excellent representations of our deep dedication to data creation, innovation and conducting transformative analysis that tackles our biggest challenges, connects with our communities, reduces disparities and lifts lives. VCU’s TechTransfer and Ventures has been instrumental in advancing a number of of those university-led improvements to {the marketplace}, together with via startups and general furthering financial growth.”
VCU was first acknowledged as an IEP college in 2022 – 91 establishments have acquired the designation for the reason that program was launched in 2021. The designation helps greater training establishments codify, elevate and advance their enterprise supporting financial and group growth whereas offering nationwide recognition to establishments dedicated to college financial growth.
Extra IEP College Award winners have been: College of Alabama at Birmingham (Innovation), Kansas State College (Place) and Iowa State College (Financial Engagement Connections).
“Universities are instrumental in driving expertise growth, innovation and the expansion of thriving locations,” mentioned APLU President Mark Becker. “We’re delighted to acknowledge the most important affect our IEP designees and awardees have on their communities’, states’ and areas’ economies.”
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