University of Virginia
| Seal of the University of Virginia | |||
| Type | Flagship State University | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Established | 1819 | ||
| Endowment | $3.4 billion | ||
| President | John T. Casteen III | ||
Academic staff | 2,053 | ||
| Undergraduates | 13,401 | ||
| Postgraduates | 6,393 | ||
| Location | , , | ||
| Campus | World Heritage Site 1,682 acres (6.8 km²) | ||
| Athletics |
| ||
| Colors | Orange and Navy blue | ||
| Mascot | Virginia Cavalier | ||
| Website | Virginia.edu | ||
The University of Virginia (also referred to as UVA, U.Va., or simply The UniversityTemplate:Fn by those close to it) is a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, established by Thomas Jefferson. It is the only North American college or university designated as a World Heritage Site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, and is notable in U.S. history for being the first to offer academic specializations in areas now common, such as Architecture, Astronomy, and Philosophy, as well as being the first to separate church and education. It is incorporated as The Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia.
History
On January 18, 1800, plans for a new college were alluded to by Thomas Jefferson, then Vice President of the United States, in a letter written to Joseph Priestley: "We wish to establish in the upper country of Virginia, and more centrally for the State, a University on a plan so broad and liberal and modern, as to be worth patronizing with the public support, and be a temptation to the youth of other States to come and drink of the cup of knowledge and fraternize with us." After Jefferson's two terms as President of the United States, and later his struggles with the Virginia Legislature, the institution he had described two decades earlier was founded in 1819 as "Central College".
In the presence of James Madison, the Marquis de La Fayette toasted Jefferson as father of the "University of Virginia" at the school's inaugural banquet in 1824. The University's first classes met in March 1825, when it became the first institution to offer students a full choice of elective courses, instead of the then-standard fare of fixed schedules determined by school administrators. Other universities of the day allowed only three choices of specialization: Medicine, Law, and Religion. Under Jefferson's guidance, the University of Virginia also became the first in the United States to allow specializations in such diverse fields as Astronomy, Architecture, Botany, Philosophy, and Political Science. Jefferson explained, "This institution will be based on the illimitable freedom of the human mind. For here we are not afraid to follow truth wherever it may lead, nor to tolerate any error so long as reason is left free to combat it."
An even more controversial direction was taken for the new university based on a daring vision of higher education, completely separated from religious doctrine. One of the largest construction projects in North America up to that time, the new Grounds were centered upon a library (then housed in The Rotunda) rather than a church — further distinguishing it from its peer universities in both America and Europe, each of which had teachings based on religious beliefs. In a letter to Thomas Cooper in October 1814, Jefferson stated, "a professorship of theology should have no place in our institution" and, true to form, the University had, nor has, no Divinity school or department, and was established independent of any religious sect. Replacing the then-standard specialization in Religion, the University undertook groundbreaking specializations in more "scientific" subjects such as Astronomy and Botany. A non-denominational University chapel, notably absent from Jefferson's original plans, was constructed in 1890.
Jefferson was intimately involved in the University, hosting Sunday dinners at his Monticello home for faculty and students, until his death. So taken with the import of what he viewed the University's foundations and potential to be and counting it amongst his greatest accomplishments, Jefferson eschewed mention of his political posts, and instead insisted his grave bear these words as by which he wished to be remembered:
THOMAS JEFFERSON
AUTHOR OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
OF THE STATUTE OF VIRGINIA
FOR RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
AND FATHER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA
Many of America's political leaders have gravitated to the University of Virginia over the years. In 1826, fourth U.S. President James Madison became Rector of the University, at the same time America's fifth President James Monroe made his home on the Grounds (at Monroe Hill) and was a member of the Board of Visitors. Woodrow Wilson, the 28th U.S. President, attended for one year the University of Virginia Law School, the same institution from which graduated Robert Kennedy, his son Robert Kennedy Jr., and his brother, Ted Kennedy. Other alumni in leadership roles have included three United States Supreme Court Justices, two Surgeons General, a Speaker of the House, a Senate Majority Leader, numerous Senators and Representatives, Secretaries of State, Defense, Energy, Transportation, Treasury, and the Navy, and the Secretary General of both NATO and the Council of the European Union.
Unlike many other colleges in the Southern United States, the University of Virginia was kept open throughout the American Civil War, an especially remarkable feat with Virginia beset as the site of more battles during this war than any other state. In March 1865, Union General George Armstrong Custer marched troops into Charlottesville, whereupon faculty and community leaders convinced him to spare the University. Though Union troops camped on the Lawn and damaged many of the Pavilions, Custer's men left four days later without bloodshed and The University was able to return to its educational routines.
Jefferson, ever the skeptic of central authority and bureaucracy, had originally decided the University of Virginia would have no President. Rather, this power was to be shared by a Rector and a Board of Visitors. As the nineteenth century waned, it became obvious this arrangement was incapable of adequately handling the many administrative and fundraising tasks which had become regretably but unavoidably necessary amid the interworkings of the growing University.
In 1904, Edwin Alderman resigned as President at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to take the same position at the University of Virginia. As the University's first President, he embarked on a number of reforms for both the University and the state of Virginia's public educational systems in general. A reform specific to the University of Virginia was one of the first school-sponsored financial aid programs in all of higher learning and, though primitive by today's standards, it included a loan provision for those "needy young men" who were unable to pay. Initially controversial and opposed by many at what had become a very traditional school, Alderman's progressive ideas stood the test of time and he today remains the longest-serving President of the University's history, having served for nearly thirty years until his death in 1931. Alderman Library, a popular landmark among today's students, is his namesake.
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Pulitzer and Nobel Prize winner William Faulkner became writer-in-residence at the University in 1957, keeping open office hours until his death in 1962. He was also a lecturer at the school, as well as taking the title "Consultant on American Literature to the Alderman Library". Faulkner had a large collection of his manuscripts and typesets given to and made available (the request reaffirmed by his wife and daughter) at the library upon his death.
In 2004, the University of Virginia became the first public university in the United States to receive more of its funding from private sources than from the state with which it is associated. Thanks to a Charter initiative that recently passed the Virginia legislature, the University — and any other public universities in the state that choose to do so — will have greater autonomy over its own affairs.
In the same year, the 100th anniversary of Alderman becoming President, the University announced the AccessUVa financial aid program. This program guaranteed the University will meet 100% of a student's demonstrated need. It also provided low-income students (up to 200% of the poverty line – at the time about $37,700 for a family of four) with full grants to cover all of their educational needs. This program is the first to guarantee full grants to students of low-income families at any public university in the United States.
Though all-white until 1950 and generally all-male until 1970 (women had for many years previous attended the education and nursing schools), the University of Virginia is now more diverse. The makeup of the Class of 2008 was 10% African-American, 14% Asian-American, 5% Hispanic, 5% Other and 5% International. Fewer than two-thirds identified themselves as being white. Eighty-five percent of the University's entering Class of 2009 were ranked in the top 10% of their graduating high school class and 56% were female.
Today, minority students are particularly successful at the University of Virginia, relative to other top universities both public and private. According to the Fall 2005 issue of Journal of Blacks in Higher Education [1], the University "has the highest black student graduation rate of the Public Ivies at 86 percent." The journal goes on to state that "by far the most impressive is the University of Virginia with its high black student graduation rate and its small racial difference in graduation rates."
Grounds
- Main articles: The Lawn, The Rotunda, and The Range
The New York Times said in January 1895 that Thomas Jefferson's design of the University of Virginia "was incomparably the most ambitious and monumental architectural project that had or has yet been conceived in this century".[1] Moreover, in 1976 the American Institute of Architects called it "the proudest achievement of American architecture in the past 200 years".[2] Today, the University of Virginia remains a popular tourist destination and historical landmark.
The University, together with Jefferson's home at Monticello, is a World Heritage Site (#442). This honor is shared by only three man-made sites in America: the Statue of Liberty, Independence Hall, and Taos Pueblo. It was the first collegiate campus worldwide to be awarded the designation.
The University now stands on land purchased in 1788 by a Revolutionary War veteran, James Monroe, who would decades later become the fifth President of the United States. The Charlottesville farmland was purchased from Monroe by the Board of Visitors of what was then Central College in 1817, while Monroe was beginning his first year in the White House. Guided by Jefferson, the school would lay its first building's cornerstone later in 1817 and the Commonwealth of Virginia would charter the new university on January 25, 1819.
Jefferson's original architectural design revolves around The Lawn, a grand, terraced green-space surrounded by residential and academic buildings. He called it the "Academical Village", and that name remains in use today to describe both the specific area of the Lawn and the larger University surrounding it. The principal building of the design, The Rotunda (RotundaCam), stands at the north end of the Lawn, and is the most recognizable symbol of the University. It is half the height of the Pantheon in Rome, which was the primary inspiration for the building. The Lawn and the Rotunda were the model for many similar designs of "centralized green areas" at universities across the country (most notably those at Duke University in 1892, Johns Hopkins University in 1902, Rice University in 1910, Peabody College of Vanderbilt University in 1915, and Killian Court at MIT in 1916 — the last of which was coincidentally founded by William Barton Rogers, who immediately prior to founding MIT was a Natural Philosophy professor at the University of Virginia for 19 years). Frank E. Grizzard, Jr., a scholar at the University, has written the definitive book[2] on the original academic buildings at the University.
Flanking both sides of the Rotunda and extending down the length of the Lawn are 10 Pavilions interspersed with student rooms. Each has its own classical architectural style, as well as its own walled garden separated by uniquely Jeffersonian Serpentine walls. These walls are called "serpentine" because they run a sinusoidal course, one that lends strength to the wall and allows for the wall to be only one brick thick, another example evidencing Jefferson's combination of aesthetics with utility.
On October 27, 1895, the Rotunda burned to the ground with the unfortunate help of overzealous faculty member William "Reddy" Echols, who attempted to save it by throwing roughly 100 pounds (~45 kg) of dynamite into the main fire in the hopes that the blast would separate the burning Annex from the main building. His last-ditch effort ultimately failed. (Perhaps ironically, one of the University's main honors student programs is named for him.) University officials swiftly approached celebrity architect Stanford White to rebuild the Rotunda. White took the charge further, redesigning the Rotunda interior — making it two floors instead of three, adding three buildings to the foot of the Lawn, and designing a President's House. He did omit rebuilding the Rotunda Annex, which had been built in 1853 to house classroom space. The classes formerly occupying the annex were now moved to the South Lawn in White's new buildings.
In concert with the United States Bicentennial in 1976, Stanford White's changes to the Rotunda were removed and the building was returned to Jefferson's original design. Renovated according to the original plans, a three-story Rotunda opened on Jefferson's birthday, April 13, 1976.
Though student enrollment has grown well beyond the original Lawn facilities, the University further distinguishes itself by extending the original Academical Village ideal with two exclusively First-Year living areas, The Old Dorms, located on McCormick Road, and The New Dorms, adjacent to Scott Stadium, both situated wholly on Grounds and considered integral to establishing peer discourse. The common bonding experience proves such a fixture to the University experience, students often identify themselves by individual "Old" or "New" dormitory.
In 2001, John Kluge donated 7,378 acres (30 km²) of additional lands to the University. Kluge wished for the core of the land to be developed by the University, and the surrounding land to be sold to fund an endowment supporting the core. A large part of the gift was soon sold to musician Dave Matthews, of the Dave Matthews Band, to be utilized in an organic farming project. It is unknown what the University will do with its "core" portion of the land.
Modern Luminary Gatherings and Events
On June 10, 1940, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt came to the University's Memorial Gymnasium to watch his son Franklin D. Roosevelt Jr. graduate, and to give the commencement address. Instead, "in this university founded by the first great American teacher of democracy" he made his impromptu "Stab in the Back" speech denouncing the act of Italy joining beside Nazi Germany to invade France on that day.[3] (Graduation ceremonies are traditionally held on the Lawn, but rain had forced a move to "Mem Gym" for the Class of 1940.)
Nearly two decades later, in 1958, Senator John F. Kennedy visited and spoke in the same space with brothers Robert Kennedy and Ted Kennedy, the latter of whom was managing JFK's 1958 Senatorial re-election campaign from his dormitory at the University of Virginia.
To commemorate the anniversary of America's independence, Britain's Queen Elizabeth II strolled The Lawn and lunched in the Dome Room of The Rotunda, one of five American sites she publicly visited.
The Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu, considered among many as both spiritual and humanitarian leaders, graced The Grounds with their presence in 1998, while attending the University's Nobel Laureates Conference.
Academics
The University of Virginia does not award honorary degrees; the only way to obtain a U.Va. degree is to earn it.Template:Fn This policy was instituted by Thomas Jefferson. When the Virginia Legislature's Committee of Schools and Colleges was reconsidering it in 1845, future MIT founder and then U.Va. professor William Barton Rogers wrote "the legislators of the University have, we think, wisely made their highest academic honor—that of Master of Arts of the University of Virginia—the genuine test of diligent and successful literary training, and, disdaining such literary almsgiving, have firmly barred the door against the demands of spurious merit and noisy popularity." Template:Fn
The University of Virginia places #1 among public universities and #6 overall in the United States in the production of Rhodes Scholars (trailing only Harvard, Yale, Princeton, West Point, and Stanford). Tuition is lower for both in-state and out-of-state students than at most other top universities. The student composition of the University is such that it was described in the 2006 America's Best Colleges edition of U.S. News and World Report ("Jefferson's Public Ivy") as being "chock full of academic stars who turn down private schools like Duke, Princeton, and Cornell for, they say, a better value."
First in 1993, and again 8 times since, U.S. News and World Report ranked the University of Virginia as #1 (once tied for #1 with the University of California, Berkeley) among U.S. public universities. In the most recent (2006) edition, the undergraduate program at U.Va. currently ranks #23 (tied with Georgetown University) among national universities and #2 out of roughly 200 doctorate-granting public universities in the United States. In every published edition of the report, the University of Virginia has retained its position as the highest ranking university in the state of Virginia.
The Jefferson Scholars Foundation offers four year full-tuition scholarships based on regional, international, and at-large competitions. Students are nominated by their high schools, interviewed, then invited to weekend-long series of tests of character, aptitude, and general suitability. Approximately 3% of those nominated are successful.
Echols (College of Arts and Sciences) and Rodman (School of Engineering and Applied Sciences) Scholars, which include 6-7% of undergraduate students, receive no financial benefits, but are entitled to special advisors, priority course registration, and residence in designated dorms, and fewer curricular constraints than other students.
The University offers 48 bachelor's degrees, 94 master's degrees, 55 doctoral degrees, 6 educational specialist degrees, and 2 first-professional degrees (Medicine and Law) to its students.
The University of Virginia Library System holds 5 million volumes. Its Electronic Text Center[4], established in 1992, has put 70,000 books online as well as 350,000 images that go with them. No university in the world can claim more electronic texts. These e-texts are open to anyone and, as of 2002, were receiving 37,000 daily visits (compared to 6,000 daily visitors to the physical libraries).
The University of Virginia hosts the headquarters of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (which owns the Very Large Array of radio telescopes made famous in the 1980 television documentary Cosmos and the 1997 movie Contact) and the North American Atacama Large Millimeter Array Science Center. It also hosts the Rare Book School, a non-profit organization that studies the history of books and printing. The University is one of 60 elected members of the Association of American Universities, and the only member elected from the state of Virginia. It is the United States' sole member of Universitas 21, an international consortium of research-intensive universities.
Faculty
The University of Virginia possesses a distinguished faculty, including a Nobel Laureate, 25 Guggenheim fellows, 26 Fulbright fellows, six National Endowment for the Humanities fellows, two Presidential Young Investigator Award winners, three Sloan award winners, three Packard Foundation Award winners, and the Chairman of the NAACP. The University's faculty were particularly instrumental in the evolution of Internet networking and connectivity. Physics professor James McCarthy was the lead academic liaison to the government in the establishment of SURANET, and the University has also participated in ARPANET, Abilene, Internet2, and Lambda Rail. On March 19, 1986 the University's website Virginia.edu became the first contribution to the World Wide Web originating from the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Faculty were originally housed in the Academical Village amongst the students, serving as both instructors and advisors, continuing on to include the McCormick Road Old Dorms, though this has been phased out in favor of undergraduate student resident advisors (RAs). Several of the faculty, however, continue the University tradition of living on Grounds, either on the Lawn in the various Pavilions, or as fellows at one of three residential colleges (Brown College at Monroe Hill, Hereford College, and the International Residential College).
Colleges and schools
- School of Architecture
- College of Arts & Sciences
- School of Continuing and Professional Studies
- Curry School of Education
- Darden Graduate School of Business Administration
- School of Engineering and Applied Science
- School of Law
- McIntire School of Commerce
- University of Virginia School of Medicine
- School of Nursing
- University of Virginia's College at Wise - branch campus in Wise, Virginia
Graduate Placement
Based on the number of students attending the best graduate schools, The Wall Street Journal studied the undergraduate backgrounds of entering students at Top 5 programs (e.g., Harvard Business School, Yale Law School, and Johns Hopkins Medical School). The University of Virginia (82 placements, 2.6% of class) placed first statewide and third among all public universities [5] in elite graduate placement. No other public university on the Atlantic Seaboard had even one-third the number of placements as the University of Virginia.
Athletics
- Main article: Virginia Cavaliers
The University of Virginia's athletics program competes in Division I-A and since 1953 as a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference. Their teams, the Virginia Cavaliers (also called "Wahoos" or "Hoos") have won 16 recognized NCAA National Championships, 13 of them since 1980.
In 2006, the latest championship season culminated with the University of Virginia's fourth NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championship. Virginia handily won the final game 15-7 over UMass in front of a record crowd of 47,062 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, the first lacrosse crowd to surpass the Final Four of men's basketball and the largest crowd to witness any NCAA Championship during the year.[3] The team finished the season a perfect 17–0, becoming the only lacrosse squad in history to win 17 games in a single season.
Some of the best known athletic facilities at the University of Virginia include Scott Stadium, University Hall, Klöckner Stadium, and the Aquatics and Fitness Center (webcam). John Paul Jones Arena (construction webcam) is scheduled to be completed during 2006.
Student life
Student life at the University of Virginia is marked by a number of unique traditions. The campus of the University is referred to as "the Grounds," and freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors are instead called first-, second-, third-, and fourth-years. Professors are traditionally addressed as "Mr." or "Ms." vice "Dr." (although medical doctors are the exception and are called "Doctor") or "Professor", in deference to Mr. Jefferson's desire to have an equality of ideas, discriminate upon merit but unburdened by title. However, since the early to middle 1980's, the insistence upon and usage of "Professor" has become increasingly common.
A number of secret societies at the University, most notably the Seven Society, Z Society, and IMP Society, have operated for decades, leaving their painted marks on University buildings. Other significant secret societies include Eli Banana, T.I.L.K.A., the Purple Shadows (who commemorate Jefferson's birthday shortly after dawn on the Lawn each April 13), and the Rotunda Burning Society (who commemorate the Great Rotunda Fire). [6] Not all the secret societies keep their membership unknown, but even those who don't hide their identities generally keep most of their good works and activities far from the public eye.
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The student life building on the University of Virginia is called Newcomb Hall. It is home to the Student Activities Center, where student groups can get leadership consulting and use computing and copying resources, as well as several meeting rooms for student groups. The office of the independent student newspaper, The Cavalier Daily, is located here. It is also home to the University Programs Council, which uses money from student activities fees to provide events for the student community. Newcomb Hall includes a dining hall, a theatre, a ballroom, an art gallery, and several rooms for magazine and newspaper production.
A positive attitude regarding the libraries exists among the students. A national publication's survey recently revealed that U.Va.'s students give their library system higher marks than students at any other school in the United States. The best-known library is Alderman Library for the humanities and social sciences, which contains 10 floors of stacks with many useful study nooks hidden among them. U.Va.'s renowned Small Special Collections Library feature one of the premier collections of American Literature in the country as well as a copy of the Declaration of Independence. Clemons Library, next to Alderman, is a popular study spot. Hundreds of students can be found gathered on its various quiet floors on any given night. Clark Hall, home of the Science & Engineering Library, also scores high marks. Clark Hall is also notable for a large Greek-style mural on the ceiling of the library entrance.
Volunteerism at the University is centered in Madison House, which offers numerous opportunities to serve others. Among the numerous programs offered are tutoring, housing improvement, and an organization called Hoos Against Hunger, which gives leftover food made at restaurants to Charlottesville's homeless rather than allowing it to be thrown away.
One of the largest events at the University of Virginia is called Springfest. It takes place every year in the spring, and features a large free concert and various inflatables and games.
Distinguished Alumni
- Main article: List of University of Virginia people
Among the people who have attended or graduated from the University of Virginia are Edgar Allan Poe, Woodrow Wilson, prominent members of the Kennedy family, three Supreme Court justices, three astronauts, singer songwriter Stephen Malkmus, painter Georgia O'Keeffe, journalist Katie Couric, the president of NASDAQ, and leaders of the political and economic spheres of the United States and European Union. Those involved in the sciences have helped to cure yellow fever, and to "crack the code" of DNA.
Notes
Template:Fnb Many universities' students and alumni refer to their respective institutions as "the university" for short. At the University of Virginia, this title is capitalized as a proper noun (i.e., "The University" or "the University")[7] in reference only to this particular school, much like The Lawn and The Rotunda. In recent decades many of the school's alumni and students have sported university-licensed bumper stickers and window decals of simply THE UNIVERSITY in the school's colors ([8]), a practice not always well understood or appreciated by outsiders, leaving some to declare such usage to be elitist.[9] However, the vernacular tradition goes back more than a hundred years, as indicated in this excerpt from a Marie Manning novel[10] first published in 1903:
- But hardest of all to leave had been Archie, best and most promising of young brothers—Archie, who had come out ahead of his class in the high-school, all ready to go to The University—the University of Virginia is always "The University"; but who, it had seemed at a certain dark season, must give up this long-cherished hope for lack of the wherewithal...
Template:Fnb Rector and Visitors of The University of Virginia (1995). "Chapter 4: University Regulations: Honorary Degrees". Rector and Visitors of The University of Virginia. Retrieved 2006-05-07. "The University of Virginia does not award honorary degrees. In conjunction with the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation, the University presents the Thomas Jefferson Medal in Architecture and the Thomas Jefferson Award in Law each spring. The awards, recognizing excellence in two fields of interest to Jefferson, constitute the University's highest recognition of scholars outside the University."
Template:Fnb "No honorary degrees is an MIT tradition going back to ... Thomas Jefferson". MIT News Office. 2001-06-08. Retrieved 2006-05-07. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |publishyear= ignored (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link):"MIT's founder, William Barton Rogers, regarded the practice of giving honorary degrees as 'literary almsgiving ... of spurious merit and noisy popularity....' Rogers was a geologist from the University of Virginia who believed in Thomas Jefferson's policy barring honorary degrees at the university, which was founded in 1819."
References
External links
- University of Virginia home page
- University of Virginia Library website
- University Programs Council (events planning)
- U.Va. History
- Online tour
- Jefferson's Academical Village
- University of Virginia Athletics website
- Cavalier Daily
- U.Va. Bookstores website
| Current members |
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| Championships & awards | ||
| Tournaments | ||
| Broadcast partners | ||
| Former competitions | ||
- American architecture
- Association of American Universities
- Charlottesville, Virginia
- History of Virginia
- Sea-grant universities
- Space-grant universities
- Thomas Jefferson
- University of Virginia
- Landmarks in Virginia
- World Heritage Sites in the United States
- 1819 establishments
- National Intercollegiate Women's Fencing Association