Virginia Commonwealth University College of Humanities and Sciences

Faculty experts

As a member of the community, the College welcomes you to connect with our dedicated and diverse faculty and students, as well as share in their research, teaching and learning.

To connect with our faculty experts:

• Check out our faculty Web sites and departmental descriptions to get a sense of the areas of faculty expertise, review faculty interests and contact the faculty directly.
• Use the search function on the VCU home page to search for work or projects in your interest area and identify relevant faculty and staff.
• Contact Kevin Allison, associate dean for community activities, at kallison@vcu.edu.
• Contact the Division of Community Engagement to identify opportunities in the College or schools or with faculty within the university.
• Some faculty members engage in “for-fee” independent consulting. These arrangements are based on an individually negotiated agreement between the faculty member and the community organization.

Volunteers

Do you want to get involved in the community, but aren’t sure where to go? Or are you a local organization in need of volunteers from the university?

The College not only collaborates with several university and community organizations to offer service-learning and academic programs, but volunteer opportunities for individuals and groups of students, staff and faculty.

The following programs and divisions — both on campus and in the community — offer ways you can get involved in the community or find volunteers on campus:

• The Division of Community Engagement’s Office of Community Solutions program coordinates with a variety of local and national organizations, such as AmeriCorps, the Carver-VCU Partnership, Lobs & Lessons and America Reads, to organize volunteer opportunities, service-learning courses and unique learning environments. For more information, contact Lynn Pelco at lepelco@vcu.edu or (804) 827-8215.
• The United Way of Greater Richmond and Petersburg, Hands On Richmond and the city of Richmond Volunteer Connection work to improve the quality of life in the region by connecting organizations with volunteers.
• Internships, field work and practicum courses allow VCU students to work with community organizations. To learn more, contact the directors for the following schools, departments and programs: School of Mass Communications, Capital Semester, L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs, School of World Studies and the Department of Psychology.
• Undergraduate students in The Honors College or graduate students in master’s and doctoral programs sometimes enroll in individual or independent research projects that may involve partnerships with community agencies to address and inform questions. To learn more, contact Kevin Allison, associate dean for community activities, at kallison@vcu.edu.
• University Student Commons and Activities coordinates volunteer opportunities for students to help get you involved with the VCU campus, the Richmond community and beyond. Whether for individuals or groups, the staff can help students identify programs of interest and arrange contact with local nonprofit agencies.

Partnership expectations

When connecting students, faculty and staff with organizations in the community, we find it is useful to understand what’s involved with partnering with a university and develop set expectations for communication, understanding and a common perspective. For example:

• The university, its schools, faculty and students have different areas of specialization and it is important to understand what expertise may or may not be available. If we are unable to offer assistance in a particular area, we can connect you to another college or university that does.
• It is also important to keep in mind that faculty availability may depend on their current schedule and responsibilities.
• Students and courses, such as service-learning classes, follow the University’s academic calendar; this means that course projects typically last for one semester and end before winter or summer break. You should consider whether your project will work in a one-semester timeframe.
• Students often have very high skill levels, but individual skills may vary and, for students, the primary goal is learning. While some students may produce exceptional work, all student cannot be expected to perform at the level of experienced professionals.
• Faculty and students may use jargon or terms that are unclear — don’t hesitate to ask them to explain. The ability of faculty and students to communicate clearly with community partners is an important part of their learning.

Data and research resources

The College collaborates with several local organizations to collect data and resources to help you with your research interests.

Whether you’re looking for reports on animal welfare initiatives, education and literacy, health issues, or social statistics, Connect Richmond’s reports and data resources can help you get started. You’ll also find links to other local, regional and national resources, such as presidential polls, state performance summaries and state comparisons.

Our Survey and Evaluation Research Laboratory provides research support for many public and private nonprofit organizations. Faculty and students from SERL have also partnered with our L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affair’s urban and regional studies program to develop DataShare, which organizes information about the greater Richmond community for easy access.

Reports

The following reports provide data on community needs, youth violence prevention, population data, economic profiles and homelessness statistics for the Richmond area.

• Greater Richmond Area Child and Youth Needs and Assets Assessment
• Central Virginia Health Planning Agency’s Community Needs Assessment Survey
• The State of Homelessness: 2007 report on homelessness in the Greater Richmond Area
• Indicators of Community Strength
• Richmond city community profile
• Youth Violence Prevention in Metropolitan Richmond
• Juvenile justice system statistics