Make & Mingle with University College
Open Hours start Aug. 19
Monday through Wednesday from 12-3pm
Shift Retail Lab | 1235 W Broad Street
Curious about what the new University College is all about?
Join us at Shift Retail Lab for hands-on activities, casual convos, and a fun way to meet other students and staff. No RSVP needed—just drop in when you can!
Weekly Advising Info Sessions
Wednesdays 10–11am
Virtual
Want to learn more about creating your own customized degree? Join a weekly info session, Wednesdays 10–11 a.m. Sign up below for the Zoom link or watch this video.
Upcoming Events
Feedback Friday
Oct. 17, 4 - 6 pm
SHIFT Retail Lab
1235 West Broad Street
Richmond, VA 23220
United States
Feedback Friday is a dynamic round table where your voice shapes the future of student entrepreneurship. Bring your curiosity, questions, and your vote for people’s choice award! From ready-to-buy items to concepts in need of refinement, Shift is where ideas evolve with real-world feedback. Open to all!
Demo Day at Feedback Friday
Nov. 14, 4 - 7 pm
SHIFT Retail Lab
1235 West Broad Street
Richmond, VA 23220
United States
VCU Demo Days is a bi-annual pitch competition held each fall and spring semester at Shift Retail Lab's Feedback Friday events. Participants have the opportunity to deliver investor-style pitches and compete for seed funding and support. All friends, family, and community members are welcome to attend and cheer on the pitches. Following the pitches, everyone is invited to stay for an awards ceremony and networking session.
Emerging Researchers Academy Fall Workshop Series
Reading and Incorporating Academic Sources into Your Writing Workshop for Emerging Researchers Academy
Date: Wednesday, October 1st
Time: 3-4 p.m.
How to join: Sign up via Zoom
Sources are an important part of the writing process, but it can be difficult to know whether an article is “academic” or “scholarly,” much less whether or not it is useful to your research. This online Writing Center workshop is a guide to finding, reading, evaluating, and incorporating academic sources into your work. Students will learn tips to start the search for relevant sources and how to properly integrate outside information into their writing.
Using Zotero to Manage Your Citations Workshop for Emerging Researchers Academy
Date: Wednesday, October 8th
Time: 3-4 p.m.
How to join: Sign up via Zoom
Zotero is a free and open-source software program to help you manage citations and create bibliographies -- and save plenty of time and heartache in your research process. In this VCU Library online workshop, participants will learn how to create a Zotero account, import citations and PDFs from various platforms, organize references, and generate in-text citations and bibliographies in Microsoft Word or Google Docs.
AI in AI (Academic Integrity in Artificial Intelligence) Workshop for Emerging Researchers Academy
Date: Wednesday, October 22nd
Time: 3-4 p.m.
How to join: Sign up via Zoom
AI is transforming the way scholars write, think, and conduct research…but are we using it wisely? This online workshop led by McNair Staff explores how to use AI tools responsibly and intentionally by addressing the risks of relying on AI for unverified information, the ethical concerns of generative platforms, and the importance of maintaining authorship and voice. Participants will gain tips for using AI outputs responsibly and learn how to use AI to enhance their scholarly identity. Whether you’re new to AI or already using it in your academic work, this session will help you navigate its complexities ethically and with integrity.
Annotating Sources: Gathering Evidence for Your Research Project for Emerging Researchers Academy
Date: Wednesday, October 15th
Time: 3-4 p.m.
How to join: Sign up via Zoom
Why not save yourself time and energy and take notes in PDFs of sources while you read? Annotation makes reading more engaging and helps you gather the most valuable evidence from your sources. This workshop, led by the FILL, will show you how to save many kinds of texts as PDFs and introduce you to a system of note-taking using free annotation software. The easy approach to highlighting and leaving comments you will learn will ensure that you can quickly make sense of your notes when you return to them later.