Current areas of focus

The college recently reviewed current and past work with the community to see where we might build on our strengths to mutually benefit our research, teaching and service, as well as our community. Explore the links below to learn more about faculty and student efforts in each of our five target areas.

K-12 education

The VCU College of Humanities and Sciences has extensive faculty involvement in teacher training and the enhancement of K-12 education. To learn more about some of these efforts, check out:

• The work of Dr. Sally Hunnicutt to enhance chemistry education through a National Science Foundation-funded project that supports high school chemistry teachers and students to conduct research during the summer
• The recent Fall Teachers Workshop on China organized by Weiping Wu and VCU’s Summer Language Emersion Program headed by Patricia Cummins
• The School of Mass Communications’ Program in Scholastic Journalism
• The Department of English’s work on the Capital Writing Project, as “one of the 160 sites of the National Writing Project, the largest staff development project for teachers in the country”
• The Metropolitan Education Training Alliance Teacher Development and Retention Project grant headed by the School of Education’s Theresa Dozier and funded by the U.S. Department of Education for five years for a total of $5.9 million. This effort involves many college faculty members, including Kathryn Murphy-Judy (World Studies), Sally Hunnicutt (Chemistry), Alison Baski (Physics), William Haver (Math), Helen Ruth Aspaas (Geography), Jim Kinney (English) and Jon Steingass (Dean’s office).

These collaborative efforts support VCU’s overall commitment to work in the community as described in Theme V of VCU’s new strategic plan, VCU 2020. Our efforts within the college are coordinated with the Division of Community Engagement and VCU Community Solutions. DCE has an excellent directory of programs and supports available to the community through its office.

Also learn more about the work being done in the education and outreach programs of the VCU Rice Center for Environmental Life Sciences, which involves faculty from math, chemistry and biology.

Well-being, culture and health

Many of our departments offer programs that support individual, family and community well-being, including our graduate programs in clinical and counseling psychology, as well as urban planning. In addition, the work of several faculty members supports our ability to effectively understand and integrate the role of culture and language in health and well-being. Research has helped us to understand that language and culture play very important roles in an individual’s access to health care and they shape our understanding of what health is, the ways in which our lifestyles affect our well-being and how we address illness. Efforts within the college include the work of:

• The Center for Psychological Services and Development, a training clinic that offers clinical and counseling services to members of the local community
• Dr. Steve Danish’s work in the Life Skills
  Center, which provides support for the development and evaluation of life skills training programs
• The School of World Studies partnering with the VCU Center for Health Disparities for a fall 2006 conference focusing on health disparities in the Latino community

Community and public safety

Faculty and academic units within the college are involved in cutting-edge research and training that emcompasses areas from the development and evaluation of youth violence prevention programs to training in homeland security.

The College of Humanities and Sciences is home to:

• The Coordinating Center for the Criminal Justice National Drug Treatment Studies headed by Faye Taxman and funded by the National Institutes for Drug Abuse
• A post-baccalaureate certificate program in gender violence intervention
• The first bachelor’s degree program in homeland security and emergency preparedness at a major research university
• The Public Safety Institute, headed by Robyn Diehl Lacks, which provides public safety professionals with advanced leadership and management skills training
• The VCU Clark Hill Institute for Positive Youth Development, led by Al Farrell, one of eight National Centers of Excellence on Youth Violence Prevention funded by the Centers for Disease Control

Civic, government and community leadership

Beyond our academic and internship programs in criminal justice, public administration and public policy within the L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs, our faculty members and departments support effective leadership and governance through the work of the following:

• Grace E. Harris Leadership Institute
• The Office of Public Policy Training
• College faculty also support effective nonprofit management training through their participation in the Especially for Nonprofit Organizations program, which operates through the Division of Community Engagement

Recent pilot projects

In our efforts to strengthen and support the collaborative work of our faculty and staff with the local community, the college provided support for five pilot projects during summer 2006. These efforts include work by:

• Rosalie Corona, from the Department of Psychology, to expand work on understanding needs among teenagers in our growing Latino community
• Jill Rowe, in the Department of African American Studies, to conduct research examining connections between obesity and chronic disease among African-American women and potential barriers to effective intervention
• Maya Corneille, a post-doctoral student in the Center for Cultural Experiences in Prevention, and Dr. Faye Belgrave, from the Department of Psychology, to assess risk and protective factors related to sexual health among young African-American men
• Iyrada Ruiz, in the School of World Studies, to collaboratively expand student internships with local schools supporting English as a Second Language instruction
• Ann Creighton Zollar, to build on work with the Virginia Department of Social Services to expand training in the Effective Black Parenting Program for local human service providers