Higher Education
Richard Bland College: Academic Innovation Center.
Petersburg, Virginia
RRMM began this project with a feasibility study for the design of Richard Bland College of William & Mary’s signature Academic and Innovation Center. The design team’s goal was to create a space that encompasses the College’s vision, supports the internal 2025 strategic plan, and creates student-centric spaces that support forward-thinking higher education. The Academic Innovation Center will allow Richard Bland 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 intentionally planned to be flexible in order to accommodate varied delivery and content creation options. These include micro-credentials, fast-track programs, remediation, and online and hybrid programming. The new facility will also provide space that is designed to support RBC’s cutting-edge predictive analytics retention program.
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.
