MeadWestvaco's (MWV) recent gift of $1 million to Virginia Commonwealth University's Walter and Inger Rice Center for Environmental Life Sciences is a crystal-clear statement about the importance MWV places on scientific research for the protection of our national waters. This gift demonstrates the company's commitment to environmental education at every level of academic progression, from school-age students to lifelong learners in one of the many outreach programs the VCU Rice Center offers, to undergraduate and graduate students, to established investigators and their colleagues in doctoral and postdoctoral programs who benefit from the facilities and location. Areas of research conducted at the VCU Rice Center include sturgeon restoration in the James, avian conservation, water quality and resource management, and one of the largest wetland restoration projects on the East Coast, to name a few.
The VCU Rice Center, a newly developed education and research station situated on the banks of the historic James River, was initially conceived as a center for the study of large rivers. This field station has exceeded expectations through strategic alliances with local, state, and national agencies as well as corporate alliances to embrace broad environmental considerations. The center will house the nationally known Center for Conservation Biology, a collaborative effort with the College of William and Mary. It also shares property and facilities with the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries and has important partnerships with other environmental agencies and organizations.
MWV's lead gift will support the Environmental Analysis Laboratory — an integral part of the $10 million campaign to construct a premier research facility and overnight housing for scientists, policymakers, academicians, business leaders, and politicians who will use this unique field station for ongoing environmental studies, deliberations, and discussions about water quality and environmental responsibility. The new research building and overnight facilities will complement the existing conference center already on the property. That building, the first platinum LEED building in the Commonwealth of Virginia, is the standard by which VCU will measure future building projects.
The generosity of MWV, through its Foundation, is entirely in keeping with its history of and stated mission to protect the health and safety of all communities in which the company's employees live and work. MWV has shown consistency through this alliance with VCU in its desire to show corporate responsibility as a global citizen dedicated to environmentally sound practices.
VCU, the City of Richmond and Charles City County are immediate direct beneficiaries of this tremendous investment by MeadWestvaco. However, the gift has much broader and far-reaching implications for the scientific community and those involved in water quality discussions and deliberations.
Inasmuch as this donation from MeadWestvaco is a gift to the community, it is also an investment in education, the environment, the commonwealth and beyond. Richmond can surely be proud to be the beneficiary of MWV's largess and foresight, to share the city as home and headquarters for the company, and to share in thoughtful, intelligent, and informed national and international environmental leadership.
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