Strategic Plan

The University of Richmond, approaching its third century, is a remarkable place. We are fortunate to have extraordinary people, unparalleled offerings, significant financial resources, dedicated supporters, and a desirable location within a vibrant city and region. All of this, combined with boundless energy and enthusiasm to do great work and create an even more remarkable university make us well-positioned to continue our upward trajectory.

Our mission is to educate in an academically challenging, intellectually vibrant, and collaborative community dedicated to the holistic development of students and the production of scholarly and creative work. A University of Richmond education prepares students for lives of purpose, thoughtful inquiry, and responsible leadership in a diverse world.

Our Richmond Spiders community is the heart of who we are. We are connected to each other, our region, and the world.

We have outstanding students, staff, and faculty, who come from a variety of places and bring diverse experiences and perspectives, and a highly engaged network of alumni, parents, and friends who share our commitment to our students, passion for the University, and help us strive to achieve our mission, realize our vision, and live our values. More than 1,800 people work here, nearly 4,000 study here, and we have nearly 60,000 alumni, parents, and friends — creating a vast, powerful, and interconnected web.

Spiders are driven and engaged, dynamic and connected, determined and supportive. We strive for excellence and continuous improvement in all we do, while looking for opportunities to engage meaningfully and intentionally. We are creative thinkers, problem-solvers, and leaders who care about the impact we make, locally and globally. We take care of ourselves and look out for others.

Simply put, Spiders are remarkable — they are smart, have character, do great work, lead purposeful lives, and contribute to and succeed in communities across the world.

The University of Richmond is a tight-knit community with immense opportunities for learning and engagement, inside and outside of the classroom. We have five schools, each connected to and underpinned by a robust liberal arts foundation. We offer broad exploration and deep discovery, with an array of academic disciplines and programs — from arts to sciences, law to leadership, business to continuing education — and much more, all on a residential campus that is engaged with our region and world.

We offer endless opportunities to discover passions and cultivate interests — whether in the classroom, in the courtroom, in the lab, on the stage, in the studio, on the field, or in the community. We provide opportunities to turn theory into practice, including through research, creative production, international experiences, internships and jobs, and service projects. We have an outstanding Division 1 athletics program, hundreds of student organizations, and many inclusive living-learning communities.

We benefit from generosity of philanthropy, a strong foundation of resources and a tradition of responsibly stewarding them in service of our mission. We value the trust that has been placed in us by generations of alumni, students, parents, and members of our community. We are committed to the careful stewardship of our resources, and of the relationships that provide the foundation of our University community.

We have a beautiful, well-maintained residential campus. Our academic facilities offer space for teaching and learning, scholarship and creative work, and there are many buildings and spaces across our campus that facilitate connection, reflection, and opportunities for engagement outside of the classroom. We have an award-winning dining program that nourishes and brings together our community at the Heilman Dining Center and several other locations across campus.

Our stunning, wooded campus is at the doorstep of the city of Richmond, the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia. We are part of a dynamic, diverse region which boasts an array of businesses, government entities, cultural offerings, and a vibrant nonprofit sector. Increasingly our graduates stay in Richmond after graduation, contributing to the advancement of our region.