Higher Education
Richard Bland College: Academic Innovation Center.
Petersburg, Virginia
RRMM completed a Feasibility Study for the design of Richard Bland College of William & Mary’s signature Academic and Innovation Center connected to the existing Library and Learning Commons central to campus. The design team’s objective was to create a space that encompasses the College’s Vision, supports the internal 2025 Strategic Plan of the institution, and most importantly created student-centric spaces that support forward-thinking higher education. The Academic Innovation Center at Richard Bland College (RBC) of William & Mary enables the College to expand its reach – and its value to the Commonwealth – by enhancing its capacity to offer programming in partnership with an array of institutions and organizations. The teaching and learning spaces are planned intentionally flexible to accommodate varied delivery and content creation options including micro-credentials, fast track programs, remediation, and OER-enhanced Online and hybrid programming. In addition, the facility provided space designed to support RBC’s cutting-edge predictive analytics retention program, ESE@RBC. Renovated spaces for Archives and Special Collections are responsive to the evolving nature of the scholarly record and are the focal point of the library renovation and modernization on the second floor.
Academic innovation of this magnitude depends on the optimal utilization of leading-edge technologies and pedagogies and must be flexible to change as programmatic needs adjust to the market. Support of distance credentialing and conferencing in partnership with national and international institutions and organizations is central to this facility.
