VCU Division of Community Engagement

Learning outcomes: 

• Understanding of the principles guiding engagement with community organizations and community members.
• Learning key considerations in building partnerships.
• Reviewing specific strategies for building trust with partners and collaborators.

Speaker Bio

Dr. Zimmerman holds a PhD degree in sociology (2001) from the CUNY Graduate Center, MPH (2017) from the University of South Carolina and MS (1993) from Hunter College. She is Director of Community Engaged Research and Qualitative Research, at the VCU Center on Society and Health and co-leads the community engagement team of the Wright Center for Clinical and Translational Research. Her work is dedicated to health equity and promoting the integration of patient and community members into research partnerships. Notable among her achievements is the development of the SEED Method for Stakeholder Engagement in Question Development, and publication of the textbook Researching Health Together: Engaging Patients and Stakeholders, from Topic Identification to Policy Change (Sage Publications). She is currently the PI on an NIH/NIDA research center grant, A Virginia Patient Engagement Resource Center to Improve Substance Abuse Treatment Interventions.

• Speaker: Meghan Gough
• Date: March 20, 2025
• Location: https://vcu.zoom.us/j/82619593626
• Register: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdx8HPOItFnp6epl4mguRjf4Cc6G9CBk_4OzFQybjX3ZFhSNQ/viewform?usp=dialog 

Learning Outcomes:

• Recognize the roles of institutions such as higher education in supporting community-identified opportunities and concerns.
• Understand the processes and adjustments necessary to foster long-term partnerships.
• Discuss how the Richmond Cemetery Collaboratory may inform other partnerships in the building and growing stages.

Speaker Bio

Meghan Z. Gough, Ph.D.

Dr. Meghan Z. Gough is an associate professor of urban planning at Virginia Commonwealth University’s L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs. Meghan’s scholarship emphasizes the importance of local knowledge, power and place history in planning processes and outcomes. She frequently works with community partners to co-produce research and pedagogy practices focused on opportunities to advance paradigmatic change that serves local and educational communities and advances systems thinking within the planning discipline. Meghan’s contributions to teaching, research and community service elevate the importance of community-based decision-making in the development of more just plans, policies and practices.

Loretta Tillman

Loretta Tillman is a teacher and social justice advocate from Richmond, Virginia. A retired Henrico County Public Schools educator, she continues to share her experiences growing up in Richmond during the Civil Rights Movement, the implications for public education, and the ongoing fight for racial justice. She serves as co-chair of the Descendants Council of Greater Richmond, working to protect historic Black cemeteries and other culturally significant sites. As a member of the Richmond Cemetery Collaboratory, she collaborates with descendants and allies to preserve these spaces. Loretta also works in Archives and Surveys at the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, supporting the documentation and maintenance of Virginia’s historic resources.

Bernard K. Means, Ph.D.

Dr. Bernard K. Means is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. His scholarly pursuits include reconstructing American Indian village spatial and social organizations, the research potential of archaeological collections, the history of archaeology across the Americas, especially during the Great Depression, and the founding fathers’ obsession with prehistoric megafauna. Dr. Means directs the Virtual Curation Laboratory, where he and his students create 3-D digital models of archaeological, historical, and paleontological objects used for teaching, research, exhibitions, and public outreach. He has co-authored five comic books with VCU almuna Maggie Colangelo, including two on the founding fathers’ obsession with Pleistocene megafauna, especially the American mastodon. Their most recent collaboration provides a perspective of America’s first successful public museum from the point of view of a mouse.