The large, diverse urban university revealed in this saga has all the upstart optimism, grit, and ambition the nation came to know through the 2011 Final Four run. This compelling account will help define and secure VCU’s distinctive legacy for years to come.
Simultaneously affected by and influencing such forces as politics, economic development, social change, and the media, the mission of education access is not for the fainthearted. It is noble work accomplished by dedicated leaders who surmount the challenges of the day by demonstrating unwavering commitment to fundamental purpose. Kneebone and Trani deliver an outstanding book that is a must read to deeply understand university-community interdependence.
The story told in Fulfilling the Promise is one that I lived in many respects. It is a tale of a historic city in decline looking for a miracle of reversal and an upstart academic center searching for an identity and roots that did not belong to an antebellum past. It is a history rife with as many twists and turns as any first-rate thriller and where the stakes were sky-high. It is also a blueprint for what can go right when good people keep trying to make something work where nothing really had before. Fulfilling the Promise more than lives up to its title.
Gene Trani and John Kneebone have gifted readers a brilliant narrative of how two very different and unevenly yoked parent institutions of higher education--through strategy, sacrifice, and struggle--gave birth to Virginia Commonwealth University. The book adeptly explains the alchemy of the birthing crucible and then sensitively expounds upon VCU’s essential role in the travails and triumphs of Richmond’s journey toward social and economic progress. The authors have wrought an inspiring saga of VCU--a unique and ubiquitous institution that has unapologetically infused "urban" into its DNA, unwaveringly committed to "democratizing’’ educational opportunity, and uncompromisingly conscripted the character and courage to be excellent.
