Qualla: Virginia Commonwealth University

Virginia Commonwealth University: Introduction

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Eli Christman from Richmond, VA, USA, CC BY 2.0. In March 2011, VCU was not supposed to be in the NCAA tournament at all. The selection committee's decision to give the Rams an at-large bid was openly mocked by sports media — the team had to play its way through the new "First Four" play-in game just to reach the round of 64. So they did. They beat USC. Then they beat Georgetown. Then they beat third-seeded Purdue. Then they beat tenth-seeded Florida State by a single point in overtime on a last-second bucket. Then, almost casually, they beat top-seeded Kansas in the Southwest Regional final to make the Final Four. VCU finished sixth in the final coaches poll — the highest ranking any team from its conference had ever earned. The Cinderella run captured the school's broader personality. VCU is sprawling, scrappy, and stitched directly into the fabric of downtown Richmond in a way that very few American universities are.

Image: Eli Christman from Richmond, VA, USA | CC BY 2.0

Virginia Commonwealth University: Two Campuses, One City

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Richmond HS, CC BY-SA 4.0. VCU is not on the edge of Richmond. It is inside Richmond. The Monroe Park Campus sits between the Fan District, Oregon Hill, and the Carver neighborhood — a dense academic quarter that bleeds into the surrounding rowhouses without obvious boundaries. The MCV Campus, the medical ...

Image: Richmond HS | CC BY-SA 4.0

Virginia Commonwealth University: The Mosque

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Crazyale, CC BY-SA 3.0. The grandest building on VCU's downtown campus was not built by the university and was never intended for academic use. The Altria Theater — known to generations of Richmonders as simply "the Mosque" — was constructed by the Shriners of Acca Temple Shrine in the 1920s in full Moo...

Image: Crazyale | CC BY-SA 3.0

Virginia Commonwealth University: The Rams Run

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit AlbertHerring, CC BY-SA 3.0. VCU has competed at the NCAA Division I level for just over thirty years, and it has put together a deeper athletic resume than that timeline would suggest. The 2011 men's basketball Final Four run remains the headline, but VCU men's tennis under coach Paul Kostin — one of just f...

Image: AlbertHerring | CC BY-SA 3.0

Virginia Commonwealth University: An Arts School That Happens to Have a Hospital

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Hunter Holmes McGuire and George Llewellyn Christian with Introduction by James Power Smith, Public domain. VCU's School of the Arts is consistently ranked one of the top public arts programs in the United States. Its alumni cluster in unexpected directions: Patch Adams, the medical doctor and clown made famous by the Robin Williams film; Christopher Poole, who founded 4chan and reshap...

Image: Hunter Holmes McGuire and George Llewellyn Christian with Introduction by James Power Smith | Public domain

Virginia Commonwealth University: Rivals

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Eli Christman from Richmond, VA, USA, CC BY 2.0. VCU's main athletic rival is Old Dominion University in Norfolk — the Old Dominion-VCU men's basketball rivalry is often called the best college basketball rivalry in Virginia. Closer to home, the Black & Blue Classic against the University of Richmond Spiders captures the city's...

Image: Eli Christman from Richmond, VA, USA | CC BY 2.0