What’s new at VCU for 2025-26

By Elinor Frisa

The 2025-26 academic year is in full swing at Virginia Commonwealth University, with the campus energized by the familiar busy rhythms of students, faculty and staff. But VCU never stops changing, either. Below is a sampling of what's new since last semester at a public urban research university that's unlike any other.

Dining news you can use, and reuse

Good news for going green! The Reuse program that VCUDine piloted in the spring semester at Market 810 will continue this semester. It allows students to take reusable takeout containers from the dining hall and return them to recycle into the program.

Choolaah Indian BBQ is a new dining option in The Commons offering power bowls, naan wraps and more. (Contributed photo)

In terms of new eatery options, VCUDine officially welcomed Choolaah Indian BBQ to the Commons in August, offering a fast-casual concept that brings a modern twist to traditional Indian cuisine. Choolaah, which replaced Za'atar, serves up customizable power bowls and naan wraps made from fresh, healthy ingredients. With vegan, vegetarian, gluten-friendly and Halal-certified options, Choolaah addresses a wide range of dietary needs and taste preferences.

Choolaah made its debut after receiving overwhelmingly positive feedback from students during a tasting event held last spring. For a full menu and current hours, visit vcu.campusdish.com.

Also new on campus is the Snack Nook, a smart market in Harris Hall where students can use debit or credit cards (dining dollar payment is coming soon) to pick up packaged grab-and-go items, drinks, snacks and candy. The Snack Nook is open when the building is open. And Ramwich Deli inside Ram City Market recently opened a new BBQ concept.

New academic programs, online options and a path to VCU

This year, VCU is offering two new certificate programs:

• Undergraduate Certificate in Aging Studies
• Graduate Certificate in Advanced Educational Statistics

And new concentrations have been added to existing degrees:

• M.S. in Anatomy and Neurobiology with a concentration in anatomical science education
• B.S. in Finance with a concentration in financial planning
• M.S. in Forensic Science with a concentration in digital forensics and incident response
• M.S. in Gerontology with a concentration in assisted living administration
• Doctor of Nursing Practice with a concentration in nursing informatics
• Doctor of Pharmacy with a concentration in digital health
• Doctor of Pharmacy with a concentration in geriatrics
• Doctor of Pharmacy with a concentration in pharmaceutical industry
• B.A. in Philosophy with a concentration in ethics and philosophy of AI
• B.S.Ed. in Secondary Education and Teaching with a concentration in English education
• B.S.Ed. in Secondary Education and Teaching with a concentration in history education

There are also more fully online options this year than ever, and VCU Online recently launched a new website to make it easier to explore program offerings. Online students can currently choose from nine bachelor's programs in areas such as nursing, social work and accounting, as well as two undergraduate-level certificates. There are nearly 20 master's and Ph.D. programs (several of which are ranked in the top 50 in the country by U.S. News & World Report), plus more than a dozen graduate-level certificates. All of these programs can be taken completely online.

NEXT Step VCU, a dual-admission program that creates transfer pathways from Reynolds Community College to 25 degree programs at VCU, kicked off in September. (Jonathan Mehring, Enterprise Marketing and Communications)

Just this month, a new dual-admission program launched that aims to provide a seamless transition for students transferring from Reynolds Community College to VCU by offering cost savings, personalized academic advising and early access to VCU resources such as the library. With pathways to 25 degree programs, NEXT Step VCU (NEXT stands for Navigating Educational Excellence Together) offers credit guarantees and distinctive transfer maps that help students save money by guiding them to complete two years of their bachelor's degree at Reynolds. Organizers plan to increase the number of VCU degree program pathways and expand NEXT Step to other community colleges beginning in January.

Signs of change

The overhead walkway between the Temple Building and Oliver Hall has a new look with UNCOMMON branding. (Allen Jones, Enterprise Marketing and Communications)

As an urban campus, VCU blends organically into the city, but if you stop and look, there are often clear indicators that you are on campus, whether it's the VCU name on a building or banners on signposts. There are several new can't-miss signs this year.

Monroe Park Campus students, faculty and staff are accustomed to the giant gold VCU letter signs that have been installed in recent years as part of VCU's "Front Doors" project, but now the MCV Campus has a few of its own. Starting in late April and finishing in July, four new sets of letters, with accompanying landscaping, were added to the corners of Broad and 10th streets, Cary and Belvidere streets, Broad and College streets, and Leigh and 12th streets.

Also bold, large and hard-to-miss are new banners on the walkway from Oliver Hall to the Temple Building, with messaging that reflects VCU's UNCOMMON brand. A similar banner is set to be installed on the walkway over Main Street in the coming weeks.

While not new, map kiosks around campus have been replaced with updated versions. For the first time, they include a QR code that takes users to the interactive VCU Maps website, where they can view details about specific buildings or access the wayfinding function.

A new interim provost who's not so new

Interim Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Beverly Warren, Ed.D., Ph.D., speaks at VCU's recent New Faculty Orientation. (Duane Berger)

When Fotis Sotiropoulos, Ph.D., VCU's provost for the past four years, left for a new institution in May, a familiar face returned to VCU to take the reins. Beverly Warren, Ed.D., Ph.D., knows VCU well: She worked at the university from 2000 to 2014 before becoming the president of Kent State University from 2014 to 2019. And she knows the role of VCU provost well: She held it from 2010 to 2014.

Warren holds a Ph.D. in exercise physiology from Auburn University and an Ed.D. in administration of higher education from the University of Alabama. Before she became VCU's provost, she served in several senior leadership roles, including dean of the School of Education and associate dean for faculty affairs.

More recently at Kent State, she championed the establishment of major interdisciplinary initiatives, including the Brain Health Research Institute and the School of Peace and Conflict Studies. And during her presidency, the university achieved record enrollments and fundraising and launched 30-plus new degree programs.

The search for a new provost is underway, and as it proceeds, Warren, whose official title is interim provost and senior vice president for academic affairs, is focused on guiding the university through a transitional period, promoting faculty excellence, strengthening academic programs and fostering institutional innovation through research and student engagement. You can read her back-to-school message to the community here.

A direct shuttle between campuses

The RamsXpress shuttle service between VCU's two campuses began in August; the buses will get a new, branded look in the coming weeks. (Jonathan Mehring, Enterprise Marketing and Communications)

In August, VCU launched a point-to-point shuttle service, RamsXpress, to provide another way for students, faculty and staff to travel between VCU's Monroe Park and MCV campuses. (VCU students and employees continue to have access to the GRTC network, and they can take the free Pulse bus that runs along Broad Street between the two campuses.)

RamsXpress has stops near Cabell Library at the corner of Cathedral Place and Floyd Avenue on the Monroe Park Campus, and at Larrick Student Center at the corner of North Ninth and Turpin streets on the MCV Campus. The shuttle runs Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. every 10 to 15 minutes. Students can track the free shuttle in real time using the Ride Pingo app.

Four VCU schools get new deans

(clockwise from top left) Brian P. Brown, Ph.D.; Kelli Feldman, Ph.D.; Patricia Kinser, Ph.D.; and Monica Swahn, Ph.D.

The following senior leaders joined VCU or began new roles in the past several months.

• Brian P. Brown, Ph.D., was named dean of the School of Business in April. He had been serving as interim dean since January 2024. Brown joined VCU in 2011 as an assistant professor of marketing and has more than 15 years of experience in marketing, management and consulting. His background includes several years at The Coca-Cola Company, including a role as brand manager of Coca-Cola Classic. More recently, he was vice president of marketing at Snapper Power Equipment. Brown's research interests include brand strategy, business-to-business marketing and product management, and he has published articles in several of marketing's top academic journals, such as the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science.
• With three decades of experience as a teacher, researcher and administrator, Kelli Feldman, Ph.D., took the reins as dean of the School of Education in March. Before joining VCU, she served as the associate dean for teacher education and undergraduate programs at the University of Kansas School of Education and Human Sciences. Feldman began her career in 1991 as a middle school and elementary school teacher at the Department of Defense Dependent Schools in Würzburg, Germany, transitioning to higher ed a decade later. Her research addresses topics such as educator preparation, assessment and evaluation, mathematics and science education, and students' mathematical reasoning.
• Longtime faculty member, active clinician and nationally recognized researcher Patricia Kinser, Ph.D., became dean of the School of Nursing in May after serving as interim dean for roughly a year. An alum of the school, Kinser has been on the faculty since 2012 and previously served as assistant dean for research and scholarship. Her research focuses on the overall vision of helping mothers, families and children thrive. She maintains an active clinical practice as a women's health nurse practitioner and serves as co-director of perinatal mental health research at the VCU Institute for Women's Health.
• On July 1, Monica Swahn, Ph.D., became dean of the School of Public Health. She previously served as dean and professor in the Wellstar College of Health and Human Services at Kennesaw State University. Her research examines the structural drivers of alcohol use, violence and HIV/AIDS in the United States and globally, with a particular emphasis on how alcohol exacerbates health disparities, including chronic diseases like breast cancer. Throughout her career, Swahn has contributed significantly to global health initiatives, serving as a Fulbright Scholar for the sub-Saharan HIV program at Makerere University in Uganda and consulting for organizations such as the United Nations Development Program, the World Health Organization and the Pan American Health Organization. Prior to academia, she spent nearly a decade at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as a health scientist and epidemiologist in multiple divisions.

A new school, a new school name and a reimagined college

Much of the new School of Life Sciences and Sustainability is housed in the Trani Center for Life Sciences (Allen Jones, Enterprise Marketing and Communications)

On July 1, VCU established the School of Life Sciences and Sustainability within the College of Humanities and Sciences. The new school was born out of a recommendation from the One VCU Academic Repositioning Task Force, which was launched in May 2023 to lead a transformational effort to make VCU both a more academically attractive and more efficient university. SLSS brings together the Department of Biology with what was formerly VCU Life Sciences. By combining these complementary disciplines into one school, VCU aims to strengthen collaboration among faculty and staff that integrates social sciences, earth sciences, and quantitative and computational data sciences with molecular and cellular biology, evolution and ecology. The Rice Rivers Center and the Center for Integrative Life Sciences Education are also part of the new school.

Several other changes that are part of the academic repositioning effort occurred in recent months. The Richard T. Robertson School of Media and Culture changed its name to the Richard T. Robertson School of Communication. And several programs and centers have moved into the reimagined University College. The college now brings together Interdisciplinary Studies, Life Design, Transformative Learning, Shift Retail Lab and the da Vinci Center for Innovation under one roof. The college serves all students, regardless of major or discipline, and now offers a "Credit for Prior Learning" option for students in the Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies program.

New name, same way to get extra help with classes

VCU student Styx Ely leads a PASS session for Psychology 101 students. (Contributed image)

In the realm of student resources, one of the Campus Learning Center's most valuable programs has changed its name to better describe the way it assists students. The Supplemental Instruction program is now called Peer Assisted Study Sessions. More than 60 students who are trained as PASS leaders facilitate weekly group study sessions (capped at 30 participants) to provide academic support in targeted courses. PASS leaders are assigned to support a class they have already taken and excelled in. They attend class with students and remain up-to-date on lessons and assignments with the instructor. The collaborative study sessions could be especially helpful to first-year students and offer the added bonus of giving them the chance to get to better know their peers from class.

Appier days ahead for VCU Mobile

The VCU Mobile app got a makeover this summer, with a modern look and a slew of new features to help make students' lives easier.

Designed as a one-stop-shop for all things VCU, the new version includes a meal plan tracker that indicates whether a student is over, under or on track for their swipe allotment. It also features a personalized day-at-a-glance dashboard that integrates with Google Calendar and shows classes, campus events, holidays and more. And the platform is introducing opportunities for individual schools and departments to work with Web Services to create their own custom interfaces, allowing for tailored experiences for diverse communities such as VCU Alumni, VCUarts Qatar, study abroad programs and off-campus student services.

The redesigned VCU Mobile app offers a meal plan tracker, a day-at-a-glance dashboard and more.

As always, VCU Mobile users can view the campus map; check out VCU dining facility menus and hours of operation; access real-time guest parking to view availability for public lots near campus; and connect to other VCU applications like Live Safe, Facilities Self-Service and RamsConnect, as well as continue to use many other functions that were part of the previous iteration of the app. Future enhancements are in the works, including integrations with critical student platforms like Canvas and Handshake that will give users access to current grades, assignment due dates and appointment reminders.

The redesign was the result of user feedback and collaborative workshops with students, and Technology Services is seeking feedback on this latest version of the VCU Mobile app. It can be provided - you guessed it - through the app, with a chance to win an iPad.

VCU Police welcomes student advisory panel

A newly established Student Voice Committee will offer their insights, suggestions and perspectives to VCU Police as part of an effort to reimagine policing at VCU. (Jake Burns, VCU Police)

This fall a new student-led advisory committee will be advising VCU Police on the campus safety environment and helping reimagine policing at VCU. The Student Voice Committee will consist of 10 students who will have a direct channel of communication to VCU Police leadership. They will provide valuable input - sharing concerns from themselves and their peers, proposing policy changes, promoting transparency, co-developing community-centered strategies and more.

By amplifying student perspectives, they will help VCU Police foster a secure environment where everyone feels heard, respected and protected. The Student Voice Committee is still accepting applications for current students - undergraduate and graduate - who would like to make their voices part of this dialogue. Interested students can visit this page for more information on qualifications and the application process.