Our tenacity. Our love of the city. Our commitment to diversity and access.
These are the things that drive us and make us one of America’s premier research universities. They are what set us apart from your average college. They are how we make it real.
When you’re a Ram, you know you are part of something big.
You’re part of a culture that values hard work, stick-to-it-ness and even — dare we say it? — grit. You are part of a community that loves its city, serves its city, and learns from its city. As a Ram, you also love a good Cinderella story — like the time VCU surprised the country and made it to the NCAA Final Four. These are the success stories that make you cheer, make you proud, and make you #RamProud.
Official VCU mission: Why we’re here
Virginia Commonwealth University and its academic health sciences center serve as one national urban public research institution dedicated to the success and well-being of our students, patients, faculty, staff, and community through:
- Real-world learning that furthers civic engagement, inquiry, discovery, and innovation;
- Research that expands the boundaries of new knowledge and creative expression and promotes translational applications to improve the quality of human life;
- Interdisciplinary collaborations and community partnerships that advance innovation, enhance cultural and economic vitality, and solve society’s most complex challenges;
- Health sciences that preserve and restore health for all people, seek the cause and cure of diseases through groundbreaking research, and educate those who serve humanity;
- Deeply engrained core values of diversity, inclusion, and equity that provide a safe, trusting, and supportive environment to explore, create, learn and serve.