the richmond professional institute to form virginia commonwealth university. during this merger, the agreement stipulated that the mcv would retain its name in perpetuity. the exact title by the act was "the medical college of virginia health sciences division of virginia commonwealth university." envisioning a great urban university at the 1969 convocation for vcu, dr. brandt envisioned a great urban university, stating, "we are caught up in a thing you might call the virginia commonwealth university idea. it's an exciting concept....an academic approach without precedent, vcu will become a name that will mean a great deal to you in years to come...as one of the leading educational institutions." in 1983, the vcu massey cancer center opens. 1994 kontos building construction and the discovery of the east marshall street well during the construction of the kontos building, a well was accidentally uncovered which was found to be full of human remains. the capping of the well dates to about 1860. the discarded remains belong to various individuals, mostly enslaved and free people of color, whose graves were robbed in order to supply the medical college with cadavers for medical study and training. the medical college's primary source for obtaining cadavers from the time of its establishment until 1879 was the shockoe hill african burying ground. after its closure in june of that year, african american pauper burials were conducted at oakwood cemetery. oakwood than became the new primary target of the grave robbers. from its beginning, the medical college of richmond, virginia, boasted of its unique ability to acquire medical cadavers in abundance. it was routinely stated in their advertisements. as such was the case in the may 11, 1838 edition of the richmond enquirer, which stated: "in no city in our union are anatomical materials so abundant and easily procured as richmond..." what was not stated was that the anatomical material was acquired through participation in the illegal cadaver trade, through grave robbing. there were many persons involved in the practice of grave robbing for the medical college, including various hired resurrectionists, medical students, the demonstrator of anatomy, as well as the professor of anatomy. 2004 name change the previous administration led by president eugene p. trani had pursued a policy of promoting the vcu name as a unified identity to the outside world. this policy had included directing faculty, staff, and students to use the vcu name, instead of mcv, in any official meetings or correspondence. this was accomplished by, first, the creation of the mcv hospital authority, ostensibly to better administer the mcv hospitals, to a later name change of this authority to the vcu health system authority (with mcv hospitals being a component thereof). this authority, under the direction of sheldon retchin md, then went about changing the physical appearance of the structures and advertising materials, to include letterhead and websites. the faculty and medical students at that time were instructed to cease referring to the institution as the medical college of virginia. the main cited evidence for this was misrepresentation of the institution in the press. in 2004, dr. retchin sent an e-mail that described a 2003 front-page usa today article that incorrectly referred to mcv as the "virginia medical college, a teaching arm of the university of virginia", when in fact mcv is not a part of that university. the vcu medical center now resides on the mcv campus of virginia commonwealth university. since that time, the schools of that institution have been listed as a part of the vcu medical center rather than as a part of a university or college. research university vcu expanded its research programs significantly over the decade since 2001 and has over $255 million in sponsored research. in 2010, vcu was selected by the nih for a $20 million grant to become part of a nationwide consortium of research institutions working to turn laboratory discoveries into treatments for patients. in 2006, vcu health system received magnet status. architecture and design egyptian building – the egyptian building was to fulfill "his highest conception of a building adapted in every way to the purposes for which it was dedicated." the structure was completed in 1845. the building is unusual in having been constructed in the egyptian revival style. the only other university built in this style was the college of cape town, south africa, now the university of cape town. the three bears – the sculpture of the three bears, which now sits on the first floor of the gateway building, has served as an unofficial mascot and symbol for the mcv hospitals for more than sixty years. dr. william t. sanger, president of the medical college of virginia from 1925 to 1956, saw the original sculpture of the bear group in january 1940. the bears, created by noted american sculptor anna hyatt huntington, were displayed at brookgreen gardens, the renowned sculpture garden and nature retreat created in south carolina by huntington and her husband archer milton huntington. sanger thought the bears would make a nice addition to the entrance court for the new medical college of virginia hospital on broad street, which opened in january 1941. huntington agreed to make a copy of the bears, and she and her husband donated the sculpture to the medical college of virginia on october 9, 1941. the copy of the bears was cast in stone, not the original gray bronze, because the metal was unavailable due to the war conditions in europe. sanger believed that the bears were an appropriate subject for a sculpture at a medical institution. the west hospital – built in 1941, the 18 story west hospital has 600 beds and exemplifies art deco architecture. the centennial dome – torn down in 2008 and replaced by the larrick student center, the dome was built on the campus in 1961, was a major part of the city's commemoration of the centennial of the civil war, and was operated by the civil war centennial commission through 1965.