Richard Bland College
| Type | Public junior college |
|---|---|
| Established | 1960 |
| President | Dr. Debbie L. Sydow, Ph.D. |
Academic staff | 36 |
| Students | 1,386 |
| Location | Petersburg , Virginia , United States 37°9′26.5″N 77°23′54.1″W / 37.157361°N 77.398361°W |
| Campus | Rural |
| Colors | Green White |
| Nickname | RBC |
| Mascot | Statesman Eagle |
| Website | http://www.rbc.edu |
| File:Richard Bland College Logo.jpg | |
Named after Virginian statesman Richard Bland, RBC was established in 1960 by the Virginia General Assembly as a branch of the College of William and Mary and is under the umbrella of "the Colleges of William and Mary". The "Colleges" system lasted only two years, but Richard Bland continued as a junior college of the College of William and Mary. Though under its own administration, Richard Bland College is governed by William and Mary's Board of Visitors.
Richard Bland College was established to provide the first two years of college education, after which a successful student would transfer to William & Mary or to another of the four-year colleges in the Commonwealth. To this end, Richard Bland College has formal credit transfer agreements with twenty Virginia colleges, including The College of William & Mary, Old Dominion University, Virginia Commonwealth University, James Madison University, George Mason University, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, and Virginia State University In the autumn of 2008, Richard Bland College became the only two-year college in the state of Virginia to offer campus housing. The residence halls, Freedom Hall and Patriot Hall, offer Richard Bland College students apartment-style living accommodations. The combined capacity of both Patriot and Freedom Halls is approximately 350 students. To maintain the academic atmosphere that the College desires to foster in its living areas, there is a 2.5 GPA requirement for all incoming students who wish to live on campus.
Formerly a large dairy farm, the 750 acre rural campus is located on the border of Prince George and Dinwiddie Counties, just south of Petersburg. The campus features a large grove of century old pecan trees, a restored turn-of-the-20th century farm house that now serves as the president's home, and an early 20th century dairy barn (now used as a theater).
Students have access to a library with over 67,000 books, over 64,000 e-books, and over 4,700 DVDs (most from an anonymous donor), and the Virtual Library of Virginia, which provides access to many full-text journal databases for students both on-campus and of-campus.