- Location: Charlottesville, Virginia 22904
- Founded: 1819 by Thomas Jefferson
- Enrollment: approximately 20,000 (approximately 13,000 undergraduates)
- University President: John T. Casteen III
- School Colors: Navy and Orange
- Official University Website: www.virginia.edu
History
The University of Virginia was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, who outlined the institutions purpose, designed its buildings, supervised construction, planned the curriculum and directed the recruitment of the first faculty. As the first Rector of the University, Jefferson presided over the school's governing body known as the Board of Visitors. James Madison and James Monroe were members of the board in early years.
When it opened for classes in 1825, the University of Virginia represented a dramatic innovation in American education. In an era when colleges trained students almost exclusively for teaching and the ministry, Jefferson dedicated his University to the education of leaders in practical affairs and public service.
The Grounds
Jefferson designed his "academical village" to house teachers and students alike in four long rows of rooms interspersed with larger buildings that provided classrooms and dwelling space for faculty families. The Rotunda is the focal point of the historic central Grounds. In 1976, the American Institute of Architects proclaimed the academical village on of the outstanding achievements of American architecture; in 1988, the Lawn was named to the prestigious World Heritage List.
The University Today
Although the University has expanded to encompass more than 1,100 acres, it retains the intimacy that characterized the academical village. University planners have been careful to reserve open space for study and contemplation while erecting modern facilities for each of the six undergraduate schools as well as the professional schools.
Total student enrollment is approximately 20,000, including 13,000 undergraduates, 4, 600 graduate students, 1,600 first-professional (law and medicine) degree students and 600 on-Grounds continuing education students. 69% of the University's undergraduate students are Virginia residents and 8.7% are African-American. The total undergraduate student population is 54% women and 46% men, while the ration of undergraduate students to instructional faculty is approximately 15 to 1.
In its 18th annual "America's Best Colleges" issue (August 2004), U.S. News & World Report ranked the University of Virginia as tied for the nation's second-ranked public university and tied for 22nd among all national universities, public or private. The magazine has ranked Virginia among the top two public schools in the nation since its first such ranking in 1998.
Research and teaching are carried out in the University's 10 schools: the School of Architecture, the College and Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the School of Continuing and Professional Studies, the Curry School of Education, the Colgate Darden Graduate School of Business Administration, the School of Engineering and Applied Science, the School of Law, the McIntire School of Commerce, the School of Medicine, and the School of Nursing.
Charlottesville Area
The University of Virginia is located in Charlottesville, Virginia. The city, located in beautiful central Virginia among the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, has the advantage of proximity to metropolitan areas such as Washington D.C. (120 miles), Richmond (70 miles) and Roanoke (125 miles). Charlottesville is easily reached by interstate highway, bus, air and rail transportation.
Charlottesville is an independent city located within the confines of Albemarle County in the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States, and named after Princess Sophia Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the wife of King George III of England.
Each year, the area attracts hundreds of thousands of tourists, who come to see the Grounds of the University, visit the homes of Jefferson, James Madison and James Monroe, tour local wineries, and hike through the Shenandoah National Park, just 20 miles west in the Blue Ridge Mountains.
In 2004, Charlottesville was cited as the best place to live in the United States by Bert Sperling and Peter Sander in their book, Cities Ranked and Rated.
Charlottesville has its own traditions. The community celebrates each spring with a Dogwood Festival and New Year's Eve with First Night Virginia fireworks and entertainment. Steeplechase fans attend the Foxfield Races and every spring, runners in the Charlottesville Ten-Miler rush through town toward the finish line at University Hall.
A pedestrian mall downtown offers fine dining, distinctive shops and nightspots in a historical section of the city. The city is known for its fine restaurants, appealing to every taste and budget, and many establishments present nightly entertainment by local artists. The Virginia Film Festival brings new visitors and celebrities to the area each fall, along with movies, seminars and premieres. The Virginia Festival of the Book attracts poets, writers, and novelists to Charlottesville each spring.
The city is served by Charlottesville-Albemarle Airport, Greyhound, and by Amtrak.
For more information about Charlottesville go to www.charlottesville.org
The Faculty
In creating an academical village, Jefferson sought scholars who had distinguished reputations and were willing to live among their students, an unusual, but from Jefferson's point of view, essential combination. Suva's faculty, one of the most distinguished groups of scholars and researchers in the country, still exemplifies this tradition.
The University's full-time instructional and research faculty numbers approximately 2,000, most of whom conduct research and publish their findings on a regular basis. The University has established approximately 480 endowed professorships for outstanding scholars, and the Shannon Center for Advanced Studies plays a major role in attracting and retaining scholars of national and international distinction.
Despite the demands of research and writing, University faculty are remarkably attentive to the needs of their students. In addition to their teaching responsibilities, faculty members serve as academic advisors. Professors routinely post office ours, and students do not hesitate to use them. It's not unusual to encounter students clustered in the hall outside a professor's office, waiting for a chance to discuss papers or review classwork.
The Honor System
The Honor System is one of the University's oldest and most venerated traditions. Based on the fundamental assumption that anyone who enrolls at the University subscribes to a code of ethics forbidding lying, cheating, and stealing, the Honor System allows students the kind of personal freedom possible only in an environment where respect and trust are presumed. For nearly 160 years, the system has been administered by students.
Visit The University's Website
For more information about the University, you can click on the logo below or visit its website at www.virginia.edu/.
Visitors to the website can view electronic versions of all the undergraduate publications, and even print out an undergraduate application. Admissions information for the graduate and professional student is also available.
