Pathways to the Arts and Humanities

A collaboration between VCU and the Virginia Community College System (specifically, Brightpoint Community College and Reynolds Community College), the Pathways to Arts and Humanities initiative provides a seamless transfer experience for community college students looking to pursue a four-year degree within the humanities and certain art programs.

The initiative, funded through a Mellon Foundation grant award in the spring of 2018, is designed to reduce barriers and improve outcomes for these community college students as they transition to VCU. Specifically, the pathway program will help VCU and community college faculty and advisors align curricula, create appropriate curricular and co-curricular experiences, and develop transition programming to introduce community college students to VCU programs and resources.

The Pathways to Arts and Humanities will also help develop dual admission policies and processes for arts and humanities students, all with the goal of providing a clearer path to graduation and an improved academic experience for these transfer students.

Janelle Marshall was named the director of the Pathways to Arts and Humanities in May 2022.

In addition to this pathways program, the VCCS currently holds a guaranteed articulation agreement with VCU where, historically, approximately 75 students a year transfer from Reynolds and Brightpoint to VCU in the arts and humanities.

This collaborative effort aims to increase the number of transfer students in the arts and humanities, but more importantly, to ensure that these students successfully compete with other degree-seeking students and prepare them for careers or graduate education.

The Pathways to Arts and Humanities program will have more than 50 students in its VCU cohort in the Fall of 2023.