About us
Established in 1893, the School has a proud heritage of educating the nation’s best nurses. As the physician who called for the establishment of our school so poignantly pled, “our medicines and surgeries are of no avail, our patients are dying for want of educated nurses.” While our School has grown dramatically and expanded its focus over the last century, our faculty, staff, students and alumni remain true to the core identity with which we were founded: to improve the quality of care of patients through the development of “educated nurses.” Today, VCU educates nurses from entry level practice through the doctorate – all with the mission of improving health and the human condition through nursing research, education and service.
With an average enrollment around 1,000 students, VCU offers the full range of academic programs from baccalaureate to doctoral. Whether you’re pursuing your first nursing degree or you’re an experienced nurse seeking a B.S., M.S. or Ph.D., the VCU School of Nursing has a program for you.
But it’s not just the range of program offerings and our rich heritage that make the VCU School of Nursing unique. Our students learn with faculty who create the knowledge that improves nursing and health care in a comprehensive academic health sciences center setting that offers one of the best clinical learning experiences in the nation. VCU Nursing students get a rigorous education that combines classes conducted in our new, state-of-the-science classrooms and clinical simulation laboratories with patient care experiences in hospitals – including our own VCU Medical Center, a Level I Trauma Center with Magnet status – community clinics and physician offices.
VCU School of Nursing faculty members are nationally recognized for their contributions to research and education. Because of the work of these dedicated researchers the School is consistently ranked in the top 25 schools of nursing based on research funding from the National Institutes of Health.
In 2007, the School moved into a new, state-of-the-science facility. Our Clinical Learning Center, one of the most advanced and comprehensive clinical simulation centers on the East Coast, has transformed nursing education for our students and faculty. The School’s student lounges and garden offer inviting spaces for students to relax, study, catch up with friends and mingle with alumni. State-of-the-science bench laboratories support the analysis of the biobehavioral research conducted by our faculty and students.
For more than 100 years the VCU School of Nursing has worked with Richmond’s neighborhoods and communities to improve the quality and access to health care for Richmond’s most vulnerable and underserved populations. In 1901, Sadie Heath Cabaniss, the School's first director, established the Nurses Settlement House, which later became the Instructive Visiting Nurses Association (IVNA). Today our students, faculty, staff and alumni continue this tradition of giving back to improve health and the human condition of those in need. VCU’s Nursing Students Without Borders participates in an annual trip to provide health care abroad. Locally, our faculty and students volunteer their time at community clinics that serve the underserved, and our Community Nursing Organization partners with neighborhoods and communities to develop innovative programs that decrease health disparities and inequities with underserved adolescents, particularly African American and Latino youths and their families.
Wherever you are in nursing – considering it as a career, continuing your formal education or considering a relocation of your academic career – I hope you will consider the VCU School of Nursing as the place for you.
