We recognize the role civic engagement plays in enabling our institution to carry out its mission to "[prepare] students for lives of purpose, thoughtful inquiry, and responsible leadership in a diverse world." Through civic engagement, the University and its members can live out this responsibility with purpose, collaboration, and leadership.
University of Richmond receives national recognition for community engagement
In 2025–26, the CCE successfully shepherded the application process for the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching’s 2026 Carnegie Community Engagement Classification for which departments across campus contributed data and stories. The classification, first bestowed on UR in 2010 and again in 2020, lasts until 2032.
The robust application requires extensive, evidence-based documentation of institutional practice to be used in an ongoing and forward-looking process of self-assessment and quality improvement for community engagement.
One section of the application highlighted eight academic-community partnerships, including the Latin American, Latino & Iberian Studies (LALIS) Department and CrossOver Healthcare Ministry; UR Law and Legal Aid Justice Center; the Spider Business Hub and Metropolitan Business League; the Richmond Cemetery Collaboratory; SPCS Graduate Education, the Jepson School of Leadership Studies, and Richmond Public Schools; the Innovation Studio and Underground Kitchen; Unpacking the Census; and the American Studies Program and The Valentine.
“Community engagement is deeply embedded in UR’s institutional identity and culture, positioning the university as a strong and evolving model of community-engaged practice.”
Place matters
There are few places better than Richmond to study Civil War history. Students in history professor James Broomall’s Civil War and Memory class learned why during a series of study trips to the Virginia Museum of History & Culture (VMHC) and the American Civil War Museum (ACWM) supported by CCE Course Support Grants.
At the VMHC, library director James Brookes exposed the students to a series of documents from the museum’s vast collection and a long-term exhibition on the Lost Cause.
At the ACWM, the class explored the galleries in depth, then returned for a second study trip to engage in deeper conversations with president and CEO Rob Havers and director of collections and senior curator Robert Hancock.
“It’s important for me to immerse my students in the city in which they're going to school,” Broomall said. “Place matters and just transporting them to the place enriches the class in manifold ways.”
Richmond Cemetery Collaboratory continues its impact
In the Richmond Cemetery Collaboratory’s ninth year, UR continued its long-term partnership with Virginia Commonwealth University and the Friends of East End and also partnered with the Descendants Council of Greater Richmond, the Library of Virginia, the Memory Lab at Richmond Public Library, and Woodland Restoration Foundation.
The Collaboratory, focused on bringing together faculty, staff, students, organizations, and community partners in Richmond to document and support African American history and culture via the region’s cemeteries, fosters sustained relationships that positively impact student learning, faculty scholarship, and the greater Richmond community.
Seven UR classes, from Cultural Anthropology to Justice and Civic Society to Advanced Focused Inquiry, centered projects at the cemeteries this year. At Evergreen Cemetery, 367 new stones were mapped to bring the total over time to 2,099 stones. Over the course of the year, 1,505 new records for 623 individuals were also added to the Collaboratory archive by students and community members.
Spotlighting community organizations
Seeking to provide new avenues for students, faculty, and staff to connect with community organizations across Richmond, the CCE launched Spotlight on Community Lunches in 2025–26. The lunches provided a casual opportunity to learn more about key issues areas and how to get involved, and representatives from 22 organizations visited campus for the series.
“We were grateful that so many community partners joined us on campus to raise awareness about the important work that they’re doing,” said Kim Dean-Anderson, CCE associate director for community relationships. “These connections can open up pathways for future engagement.”
Spiders introduce local students to college life
Now in its fourth year, the CCE’s Pathways to a College Experience (PACE) program introduces the possibility of a college education to Richmond area middle and elementary school students by offering a comprehensive full-day or half-day tour experience at UR.
PACE is supported by a grant from the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) and strong leadership of UR students. This year, juniors Isabella Corona and Duncan Hall, and sophomore Lucy Lew, oversaw tour logistics, coordinated with schools and campus partners, and managed student volunteers. The program welcomed 643 young people from the Richmond region to campus.
“When a student arrives on a college campus, they envision themselves there,” said Jacci Banegas-Abreu, CCE director of the Bonner Scholars Program and associate director of student engagement. “When they walk around, or they see someone that looks like them on a college campus, they think, ‘Wow, I can do this. Someone believes in me.’”
Artist-in-residence leads conversations to remember empathy
In the third year of his residency with the Modlin Center for the Arts and in collaboration with the CCE, Marc Bamuthi Joseph engaged students, staff, faculty, and community members in conversations about six themes of investigation — Memory, Folklore, History, Truth, Facts, and Erasure.
Bamuthi led conversations in academic classrooms and meeting rooms, the Harnett Museum of Art, and Oakwood Arts in Richmond’s Church Hill community.
The conversations inspired a new orchestral work, Remembering Empathy, that joins Bamuthi’s libretto on the six themes with composer Tamar-kali’s symphonic score. The work will be performed by the Richmond Symphony under the direction of Valentina Peleggi in April 2027.