Richmond as a laboratory for a university

Throughout VCU’s many incarnations, Richmond has served the unique role of laboratory – a vibrant setting for faculty and students to observe, learn, and practice. Founded in 1917, the School of Social Work now has a vast network of relationships with 500 human and social service agencies across Richmond and the Commonwealth that addresses contemporary social and economic inequities. Student teachers from the School of Education are found throughout the 23 schools comprising the Richmond Public Schools, a system that serves nearly 24,000 individuals today. VCU Health, also founded on a tradition of community engagement, places students in local clinics and VCU-affiliated hospitals and medical offices across the region, where they help preserve and restore health to countless children, women, and men.

Nursing students wearing their public health uniforms and carrying the trademark public health nursing bag head to South Richmond Health Center to see patients.

A nursing student checks a patient's tonsils as other children watch.

VCU Mobil Oral Health Clinic.

A VCU social work student goes into the community.

Field work isn't always serious business. A social work student spends time with one of her clients.

The School of the Arts provides programs for kindergarteners through ninth-graders in the form of summer camps and classes taught by both undergraduate and graduate art education students. The Center for the Creative Economy teaches art students to be “business artists,” and students work with groups throughout Richmond to create projects with commercial applications for emerging technologies.

An education student takes an elementary school class on a nature walk.

A student teacher oversees her classroom.