Virginia Commonwealth University is a major public research university located in Richmond, the state capital of Virginia. VCU was founded in 1838 as the medical department of Hampden-Sydney College, becoming the Medical College of Virginia in 1854. In 1968, the General Assembly merged MCV with the Richmond Professional Institute, founded in 1917, to create Virginia Commonwealth University. Today, more than 31,000 students pursue 220 degree and certificate programs through VCU’s 13 schools and one college. The VCU Health System supports the university’s health care education, research and patient care mission. With a record $260 million in sponsored research funding last fiscal year, VCU became one of only 28 public universities in the country with an academic medical center to be designated as a research university with very high research activity as well as a Community Engaged Institution, both by the Carnegie Foundation. A broad array of university-approved centers and institutes of excellence — involving faculty from multiple disciplines in public policy, biotechnology and health care discoveries — supports the university’s research mission. Thirty-two graduate and first professional programs are ranked by U.S. News & World Report as among the best in the country.