Think about graduate school

The office of Career services hosted an information session about graduate educationOffice of career service

Do 2 with VCU: A Community Engagement Initiative

Do 2 with VCU will be a day-long Expo highlighting volunteer activities and opportunities with up to 100 community partners. VCU faculty and staff will be encouraged to collaborate with these community partners by using their 16 hours of community service leave provided by VCU. The Expo will culminate with a Keynote Speaker for this inaugural event. This year we have selected author and activist, Elaine Brown; she will deliver an address on the importance of community activism and service which will be marketed to the greater Richmond area. This project was designed around Theme IV of the VCU Quest for Distinction: “Become a national model for community engagement and regional impact.

Brown Tide Symposium and Workshop : 15-16 July 1991

The 'brown tide' bloom of an aberrant Chrysophyte sp. phytoplankter occurred for more than 18 months and extended into both upper (cover map) and lower Laguna Madre, Texas. Great concern for the Laguna Madre ecosystem was shown during the brown tide event by local, state and regional groups, but little previous knowledge was available about this unusual phytoplankton bloom. Since field data had been collected by an ongoing UTMSI field program in the Laguna, it was felt that a workshop format meeting should be convened with national and international experts to discuss the data and results on brown tide and other unusual phytoplankton blooms. A relatively quick response was needed as planning for the workshop started in May 1991 for a meeting date in July, with support supplied by the Gulf of Mexico Program of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (Grant No. X 006242-01-0), The Resource Protection Division of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and The University of Texas Marine Science Institute. This report includes the agenda, abstracts of presentations and summary of findings by the workshop participants. The participants also strongly agreed that long term research support was necessary to further understand the brown tide bloom and its effects. To that end, a resolution was drafted and unanimously approved by all the workshop participants.September 1991Marine Scienc

Valuing Adjuncts as Liaisons for University Excellence (VALUE) Program

Adjuncts are increasingly becoming more important in higher education and make up nearly onethird of VCU’s teaching faculty. While VCU has made strides in increasing the number of tenuretrack and term professors, the size and needs of certain departments will always make adjunct instructors necessary. A number of schools on both the Monroe Park and MCV campuses utilize professionals from the Richmond community to enhance experiential learning, thereby making a university investment in adjunct faculty a means by which to elevate VCU’s strategic mission. Adjuncts often provide a community perspective that comes from the professional work they do outside of the university setting and as a whole are reflective of VCU’s diverse student population. As a result, they serve a critical role in student success and diversity initiatives. Keeping adjuncts connected with campus resources and engaged with the larger VCU community is also an important step in making the university more inclusive. This project will study opportunities associated with the orientation and support of adjunct faculty at VCU on both Monroe Park and MCV campuses. This project is research-oriented and will serve as an important foundation for developing and implementing a plan for institutionalized adjunct support. To develop a detailed proposal for implementation, our team consulted with several key stakeholders including: academic leaders who hire and support adjuncts in the current decentralized process students who have taken classes with adjunct instructors adjunct faculty who have recently taught at VCU Through a combination of methods, we aim to determine how adjuncts are utilized across the university, identify resources currently provided, and assess additional resource needs in an effort to inform a new orientation and support program for adjunct faculty at VCU

Mental Health First Aid Training for VCU Faculty and Staff

Mental Health First Aid (MHFA), an international training program, teaches participants to notice and support individuals experiencing a mental health or substance use issue and connects them to appropriate resources. While resources exist for students, this project aims to implement MHFA as a professional development opportunity for VCU faculty and staff. A successful pilot training held this summer demonstrates the need and desire for training in the VCU community. Evidence shows mental health issues lead to absenteeism, employee turnover and increased healthcare costs, costing organizations billions in recruitment that may have been avoided. Through state partnerships, trainers are available to offer this one-day program multiple times a year

Planning Your Transition from Pediatric to Adult Health Care: A Workbook to Help You Take Charge of Your Health

Are you a child, teen or young adult with special health care needs and/or a disability? If so, this workbook is for you! The workbook is designed to help you take the lead in planning for your transition from pediatric (children’s) health care to adult care. It offers information about preparing for the transition, choosing medical providers, paying for services, taking responsibility for your own health, and much more

SB 909/HB 1408 Virginia Fair Housing Law; unlawful discriminatory housing practices

This report provides a legislative racial impact analysis of Senate Bill (SB) 909, a proposed bill in the Virginia General Assembly, to expand the Virginia Fair Housing Law to include lawful sources of income. Specifically, this report examines state and county source of income laws and their variances by race and ethnicity

Connecting Youth and Communities: Customized Career Planning for Youth with Psychiatric Disabilities

Young people with psychiatric disabilities are significantly overrepresented in the juvenile justice system, tend to be employed sporadically if at all, and frequently have negative connections within and to their communities. Recent research conducted in Montana with youth who have developmental and/or physical disabilities demonstrates the effectiveness of using a customized career planning model to increase linkages to resources and access to community- based employment. Side benefits include improved self-esteem and positive community connections. The customization model holds promise as a way to reduce the risk factors young people with psychiatric disabilitiesf ace and increase the resiliency factors that can assist them to achieve healthy long-term outcomes. The author describes the model as it has been applied in Montana, explores additional considerations when working with youth diagnosed with psychiatric disabilities, provides an example of the model in action, and makes recommendations for further areas of research and inquiry

Employability in a knowledge-driven economy

This paper examines the concept of employability. The recent policy emphasis on employability rests on the assumption that the economic welfare of individuals and the competitive advantage of nations have come to depend on the knowledge, skills and enterprise of the workforce. Those with degree-level qualifications are seen to play a particularly important role in managing the ‘knowledge-driven’ economy of the future. But the rhetoric that shrouds the idea of employability has been subjected to little conceptual examination. The purpose of this article is to show that the way employability is typically defined in official statements is seriously flawed because it ignores what will be called the ‘duality of employability’. It also introduces ‘positional conflict theory’ as a way of conceptualising the changing relationship between education, employment and the labour market

Promoting VCU Community Solutions

This promotional project focuses on VCU Community Solutions — the new interdisciplinary initiative for education, research, and service. Since this initiative demonstrates the synergy that students, faculty, and community members can create by working together, the promotional video captures their perspectives. Through interviews and footage of community programs, the video shows how VCU Community Solutions engages university and community partners in addressing critical social issues — creating more imovative approaches by working together