UR Downtown gets new director and more undergraduate involvement

Kim Dean, UR Downtown's new project director, said she hoped to make the University of Richmond's downtown space an extension of campus for undergraduate students in the coming years.

Dean, who had previously served as the director of the Bonner Scholars Program, officially accepted her second title on Feb. 14. Dean was a Bonner Scholar herself when she attended Richmond in the mid-90s.

There has always been a culture of service at the university, even before UR Downtown existed, she said, but the physical manifestation of a building, the administrative support through the Center for Civic Engagement and the new transportation options to get downtown had eased students' efforts.

"I certainly don't think transportation is the magic bullet," Dean said, "but it will be the answer as far as the accessibility piece of the puzzle. I hope students will start to plug into this really unique space that physically connects them to the rest of the city."

Amy Howard, executive director of the Center for Civic Engagement, said UR Downtown offered endless opportunities, not only for students, but for faculty and staff as well.

"It is in the heart of the city and serves as a launch pad for internships and fellowships," she said. "It houses educational forums, spaces for art, debate, discussion and meetings with alumni. It is vibrant, beautiful and interdisciplinary."

The UR Downtown building is within walking distance of City Hall, the new federal courts building, Capitol Square, Center Stage and the Library of Virginia.

UR Downtown celebrated its two-year anniversary last month and now houses four programs: the Jeanette Lipman Family Law Clinic, the Harry L. Carrico Center for Pro Bono Service, the Richmond Families Initiative and Partners in the Arts.

Although the two programs hosted by the T.C. Williams School of Law were established in 2006, Rich Johnson, the president and chief executive officer of the Wilton Companies, provided Richmond with a physical space to house its existing downtown programs for the first time in 2009.

Tara Casey, director of the Harry L. Carrico Center for Pro Bono Service, said Johnson's generosity had come at a serendipitous time when UR Downtown was ready to grow.

The administrative and community space on 7th Street and Broad Street immediately became the hub of this professional community, she said. Today, she said, her hope was for UR Downtown to become seamlessly integrated into the fabric of the university.

Dean said although student involvement was limited to the law school and the School of Continuing Studies programs, undergraduate students could get involved through the Bonner Scholars Program, student employment and community-based learning classes.

Community-based learning serves as a sort of nexus between the intellectual passions of faculty and undergraduate students and the identified needs of the community, she said.

Through this initiative, Dean said, faculty were starting to get a lot more excited about using the space as a meeting hub and connecting their classroom experience to partnerships available with the Richmond Families Initiative (RFI).

Richmond Families Initiative, a Center for Civic Engagement initiative launched in 2008, addresses community-identified needs of Richmond-area children and families through partnerships between Richmond and community organizations.

Last semester, Dean said, there were more than 40 community-based classes offered across the spectrum of Richmond departments.

"The fact that students and faculty are connecting with UR Downtown through RFI is just another piece of the puzzle I anticipate will become more visible and exciting in the coming years," she said.

Dean said many students who started working with RFI as independent volunteers, through community-based classes or through summer fellowships ended up continuing their experiences in a different vein. Just this semester, she said, the number of student volunteers had more than doubled.

"To have that surge in UR Downtown involvement in a moment of transition indicates to me that people are really starting to get what is happening in that space," Dean said.

"As President Ayers would say, we are not only the University of Richmond, we are the University in Richmond. We are with Richmond. We are a part of Richmond."

Liz Sheehan, director of Partners in the Arts, said UR Downtown had transformed the university's historical identity of being elitist and distinct from the rest of the community by physically bringing it into the city.

Partners in the Arts is a School of Continuing Studies program that partners with local public and private schools, artists and organizations in the greater Richmond area to integrate arts into the K-12 curriculum.

Because the program is small, she said, it had not yet been able to integrate undergraduate students, but this may change in the next year or two.

With everything going on right now, she said, including the new transportation options, staffing changes and space expansion, there would be so many more opportunities for undergraduates to frequent the space.

"I'm a city person myself," Sheehan said, "and while I think the campus is gorgeous and I love the history and architecture, it's fun to be downtown. It keeps the blood moving."

Howard said the staff would be hiring a new events and projects coordinator in the near future and would like to start a student ambassador program to jumpstart increased undergraduate involvement as well. Student input was critical to the future of UR Downtown, she said.

Dean said she was excited to assume a senior administrative role at this turning point in UR Downtown's life cycle.

"The stars are aligning," she said. "All these great pieces have been out there in the universe beginning to formulate over the past few years. Now it's all coming together. The synergy is there."

Contact reporter Kaylin Politzer at kaylin.politzer@richmond.edu