University of Virginia

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“We wish to establish in the upper and healthier country, 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.”
Thomas Jefferson

The University of Virginia was chartered by the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia in 1819. The University of Virginia is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) to award baccalaureate, masters, educational specialist, and doctoral degrees. For questions about the accreditation of the University of Virginia contact SACSCOC at 1866 Southern Lane, Decatur, Georgia 30033-4097 or call 404-679-4500.

Professional degree programs at the University of Virginia hold the following accreditations. The Master of Landscape Architecture (M.L.A.) is accredited by the Landscape Architectural Accreditation Board. The Master of Architecture (M.Arch) is accredited by the National Architectural Accrediting Board. The Bachelor of Urban and Environmental Planning (B.U.E.P) and the Master of Urban and Environmental Planning (M.U.E.P) are accredited by the Planning Accreditation Board. The following Curry School of Education degree programs are accredited by the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation: Master of Teaching (M.T.), Administration and Supervision (M.Ed., Ed.S., Ed.D., and Ph.D. concentration), and Curriculum and Instruction-Reading Education (M.Ed.). In addition, the following agencies accredit degree programs within the Curry School: The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (M.Ed. in Speech Communication Disorders), the Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education ( M.S. in Athletic Training), Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (M.Ed. in Counselor Education), and the American Psychological Association (Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology). Degree programs in Accounting (M.S.), Commerce (B.S.C. and M.S.), and Management of Information Technology (M.S.) in the McIntire School of Commerce and the M.B.A. and Ph.D. programs in the Darden Graduate School of Business Administration are accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. The J.D. in the School of Law is accredited by the American Bar Association. The following B.S. programs in the School of Engineering and Applied Science are accredited by the Computing Accreditation Commission or the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET: Aerospace Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Systems Engineering. The B.S.N., M.S.N., and the D.N.P. in the School of Nursing are accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education. The M.D. in the School of Medicine is accredited by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education. The M.P.H. is accredited by the Council on Education for Public Health. The Ph.D. in Psychology (clinical program) in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences is accredited by the American Psychological Association and the Psychological Clinical Science Accreditation System. In addition to these accrediting agencies, various University programs are certified by, or retain membership in, the American Chemical Society (B.S. in Chemistry), the Association of American Law Schools (J.D.), the University/Resident Theatre Association (M.F.A. in Drama), the Virginia Board of Education, and the Virginia Board of Nursing (B.S.N. and pre-licensure programs).

A member of the highly competitive Atlantic Coast Conference, Virginia fields 13 intercollegiate sports for men and 14 for women.

Virginia Athletics 2018-19

NCAA championships in men’s basketball and men’s lacrosse propelled Virginia to an eighth-place finish in the final 2018-19 Learfield IMG College Directors’ Cup competition. Virginia posted its sixth top-10 finish in the decade and placed in the top 25 for the 13th consecutive year. UVA is one of 12 schools to rank in the top 30 of the final Directors’ Cup standings in the 26-year existence of the program.

In addition to the pair of NCAA championships, 21 other UVA teams – or programs with individuals representing their teams – appeared in postseason competition. Women’s swimming and diving finished sixth at the NCAA Championships and men’s tennis and women’s lacrosse each advanced to the NCAA Elite Eight. Men’s swimming and diving and rowing each placed 10th at the NCAA Championships, while men’s soccer, women’s soccer and field hockey each advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16. Women’s golf placed 14th at the NCAA Championships.

UVA captured two Atlantic Coast Conference championships and its 81 conference titles since the spring of 2002 are the most of any ACC school during that time. In 2018-19, UVA won ACC championships in men’s lacrosse (18th overall and first since 2010) and rowing (10 consecutive and 19th in 20 years).

Football participated in back-to-back bowl games for the first time since 2004-05, capturing the Belk Bowl with a 28-0 win over South Carolina. Virginia defeated Virginia Tech 12.5 to 9.5 in the Commonwealth Clash All-Sports competition between the two schools.

Individually, Jordan Scott became the first ACC male competitor to win the indoor national title in the triple jump, while wrestler Jack Muller was the runner-up at the NCAA Championships in the 125-pound weight class. Tony Bennett (men’s basketball), Andres Pedroso (men’s tennis), Lars Tiffany (men’s lacrosse) and Bryan Fetzer (men’s outdoor track & field) earned ACC Coach of the Year honors.

Virginia’s intercollegiate athletics teams won 62.3 percent of their contests in 2018-19. UVA’s teams compiled an overall record of 286-172-4.

Academics

Virginia posted a graduation rate of 92 percent in the NCAA’s annual Graduation Success Rate for incoming student-athletes from 2008 to 2011. It is the highest mark for Virginia since the report was launched in 1998.

Chesdin Harrington (baseball), Erika Osherow (softball) and Rachael Politi (swimming & diving) received Weaver-James-Corrigan postgraduate scholarships from the ACC.

Seven UVA sports programs were recognized by the NCAA with Public Recognition for academic excellence after scoring in the top 10 percent of their sport’s Academic Progress Rates. Men’s golf, women’s basketball, women’s golf, women’s lacrosse, women’s track and field, women’s swimming and diving and women’s volleyball teams earned the recognition based on their most recent multi-year APRs, which include the 2014-18 academic years. That total tied for the second most by UVA since the program’s inception in 2004-05.

A record total of 427 UVA student-athletes were named to the ACC Honor Roll for registering a grade point average of 3.0 or better for the full academic year. During the course of the year, UVA had 105 student-athletes named to ACC All-Academic teams.

University Code of Ethics:

1. We perform our public responsibilities, services and activities ethically, competently, efficiently and honestly, in keeping with University policy and applicable law.
2. We expect that all necessary and proper controls safeguarding public resources are in place and observed, with periodic auditing of functions and departments by the State Auditor of Public Accounts and/or the University Auditor who shall report directly to the Board of Visitors’ Audit and Compliance Committee.
3. While in the service of the University, we conduct ourselves free of personal conflicts or appearances of impropriety, mindful that our exercise of authority on behalf of the University has been delegated fundamentally for the public good. Conflicting interests or influences are promptly disclosed to our superiors and appropriate steps are undertaken to promote the integrity of University business and other transactions.
4. We do not accept anything of value offered in consideration of performing our public duties, other than the compensation, benefits and reimbursement of expenses duly authorized by the University or otherwise permitted by law. We do not accept any favor, loan, service, business or professional opportunity from anyone knowing (or when it should be known) that it is offered in order to improperly influence the performance of our public duties, or when acceptance thereof may reasonably be perceived as an impropriety in violation of University policy or state law. University procurements of goods or services are undertaken only by authorized personnel and, when competitive principles apply, decisions are made impartially and objectively in accordance with established policy and state law.
5. We preserve and respect the confidentiality of University records, including patient and student records. We do not externally disclose confidential records or other nonpublic information without appropriate authorization, and any confidential record or information we access as a result of our position or duty is neither exploited for personal benefit nor misused for any unauthorized purpose.
6. We are committed to the principles of federal and state law guaranteeing equal opportunity and nondiscrimination with respect to University services, programs, activities and employment, and we support an environment that respects the rights and opinions of all people which, in the words of our founder, promote “the illimitable freedom of the human mind.” Complaints of discrimination, harassment and retaliation are investigated and when warranted appropriate corrective action is taken and disciplined in accordance with University policy and applicable law.
7. Our communications on behalf of the University with all persons, including co-employees, clients, customers, patients, students, guests and vendors, are conducted professionally and with civility.
8. We do not condone dishonesty in any form by anyone, including misuse of University funds or property, fraud, theft, cheating, plagiarism or lying. We encourage and expect reporting of any form of dishonesty, and our managers and supervisors to appropriately investigate such reports. We also expect that the police and/or State Auditor of Public Accounts will be notified when circumstances reasonably indicate fraud or theft of University funds.
9. We strive for continuous improvement in our performance of public duties for the University, mindful of the public cost to our activities which must be reasonable and appropriately authorized.
10. We bring to the attention of supervisors and managers, the University auditor or other responsible University office, any violation of these principles or circumstances reasonably indicating that a violation has occurred or may occur. Such reporting in good faith in order to promote the ethical integrity of operations is expected and encouraged by the University, and retaliation by any University employee as a result against the person making such good faith report shall be subject to disciplinary action. We appropriately investigate all such reports and, when warranted by the facts, require corrective action and discipline in accordance with University policy and state law.

The University offers graduate and first-professional degrees through ten of its 11 schools and one interdisciplinary institute. Of the nearly 24,000 students enrolled at the University, 6,500 are students in a graduate or first-professional (law and medicine) degree program. UVA offers 91 master’s degrees in 64 fields, 55 doctoral degrees in 53 fields, five education specialist degrees, and first-professional degrees in law and medicine. UVA is one of the top universities in the nation, ranked twenty-fifth overall and third among public institutions by U.S. News & World Report, with 19 fields, departments, or schools ranked in the top 25 for graduate study. In 2017 the University conferred 1,776 master’s degrees, 361 doctoral degrees, and 464 first-professional degrees.

Promoting excellence in graduate programs is a consistent point of focus across all schools and departments. In the last two years alone, the University announced four major awards totaling $29.5 million in support of graduate education in the Curry School of Education, the School of Engineering and Applied Science, and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. Included in these school specific investments is over $2 million to support the development of PhD Plus, a university-wide program to enhance career and professional development opportunities for all PhD students and open the aperture of career paths for PhD graduates. In addition to these school-specific investments, a number of programs have also been developed to support interdisciplinary graduate student research and to encourage cross-disciplinary collaborations. Beginning in 2014 with the creation of the University’s Data Science Institute, the University has announced the creation of three additional interdisciplinary institutes: The Virginia Brain Institute, the UVA Environmental Resilience Institute, and the Global Infectious Diseases Institute. Building research opportunities in conjunction with the development of these institutes has been a high priority. Exemplary of these efforts are the Presidential Fellowships in Data Science, Collaborative Neuroscience, and Environmental Resilience and Sustainability Fellowships, all of which provide graduate and professional students with the opportunity to collaborate closely with other student and faculty across disciplines in the pursuit of research in areas of major social impact. Other programs developed to support graduate student research include the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences summer research awards, which provide up to $5,000 each for students conducting preliminary or exploratory dissertation research, and the External Fellowship Supplement program which provides necessary tuition support for students who have been successful in receiving federally funded grants, such as the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship.

The University also offers a number of opportunities for undergraduates to partner with graduate students conducting original research. Aforementioned programs in Environmental Resilience and Data Science have both offered funding for undergraduate students to join research projects. In 2016 the University successfully revamped its Double-Hoo program, which offers research awards for graduate and undergraduate student pairs who proposed joint research projects across all fields. Through this innovative program student teams receive up to $6,000 and work with a faculty member on a project of their own design. 2016 also saw an expansion of USOAR, Undergraduate Student Opportunities in Academic Research, which provides paid research opportunities for undergraduates across all disciplines.

Additional resources in support of graduate education can be found in the University’s Office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs. With a commitment to the career and professional development of graduate students, this office houses Ph.D. trained personnel with expertise in a wide range of career and professional development opportunities for graduate students and postdoctoral trainees. The Office provides students with support and advice in decision-making and planning for career pursuits within and beyond the academy. Through one-on-one advising appointments and other programs delivered through PhD Plus, the Office strives to prepare students for a wide variety of careers. The office also partners with the University’s Center for Teaching Excellence in support of programs such as an annual teaching workshop for graduate students, and Tomorrow’s Professor Today, a successful and long-running program designed to prepare the future professoriate with pedagogical training and professional development in a wide variety of areas.

As part of the university’s ongoing commitment to diversity in graduate education, the Office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs also works to enhance the diversity of the graduate student body by fostering a welcoming environment for all students, and serving as a resource for administration, faculty, staff, and graduate students on matters of diversity. The office supports a vibrant mentoring institute intended to help facilitate the transition from undergraduate to graduate school, and serves as a resource for graduate student organizations focused on diversity. The office also serves as a liaison between UVA and minority-serving institutions. It participates actively in the recruitment of students from diverse backgrounds through efforts such as graduate student recruitment weekends, the creation and coordination of summer research and education opportunities and by representing the university in a variety of external networks and recruiting opportunities. 

More detailed information about graduate studies at the University is available on-line from the Office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs, http://gradstudies.virginia.edu, by e-mailing gradstudies@virginia.edu, or by calling (434) 243-4014.

Thomas Jefferson founded the University of Virginia in 1819. He planned the curriculum, recruited the first faculty, and designed the Academical Village. Comprised of a central lawn and surrounded by faculty residences called pavilions, with student rooms between and working service yards behind, the “village” symbolizes Jefferson’s intent to create an institution that supports the free and open exchange of ideas, close interaction among students and faculty, and collegial collaboration across disciplines. Together with Monticello, Jefferson’s mountaintop house, the Academical Village is an architectural design of global significance; UNESCO declared the pair a World Heritage site in 1987 in recognition of their universal cultural value.

Jefferson intended to establish an institution that would be, in his words, “based on the illimitable freedom of the human mind.” Yet, the construction of the Academical Village relied in large part on enslaved black laborers, and slaves were a significant part of the University’s operation for almost fifty years. Like other U.S. colleges and universities, the University has recently focused much-needed attention on the role of slavery in its early history. In 2015, the Board of Visitors named a newly constructed residence hall, Gibbons House, for William and Isabella Gibbons, husband and wife, who were enslaved by different professors and lived in different pavilions at the University in the mid-19th century. In 2017, the Board of Visitors named another building for former slave and stonemason Peyton Skipwith. For more information on slavery at the University, see the President’s Commission on Slavery and the University and Jefferson’s University the Early Life. In 2018, the Board of Visitors established the President’s Commission on the University in the Era of Segregation, to continue research on race and inequity for the century following emancipation.

With regard to its mission, the University was innovative for its day because it was dedicated to educating leaders in practical affairs and public service rather than for professions in the classroom and the pulpit exclusively. It was the first nonsectarian university in the United States and the first to use the elective course system. Where it excelled in regard to curricular innovation, however, it was representative of its time in the make-up of its student body and faculty. When the University opened for classes in 1825, its faculty of eight and student body of sixty-eight were all white and all male. Not until the 20th century would the University admit women and men of color or white women, and it would be one of the last public institutions of higher education in the U.S. to do so.

At the time of the University’s opening in the 19th century, instruction included ancient languages, modern languages, mathematics, moral philosophy, natural philosophy, chemistry, law, and medicine. Jefferson opposed the granting of degrees on the grounds that they were “artificial embellishments.” In 1831, however, the Board of Visitors authorized granting the Master of Arts degree, which throughout most of the nineteenth century remained the University’s most prestigious academic award. The M.D. degree was awarded to the first graduates of the School of Medicine in 1828, and the LL.B. was first awarded for law school graduates in 1842. The bachelor’s degree was awarded beginning in 1849, but did not become the standard undergraduate degree and a prerequisite for the master’s degree until 1899, bringing the University into conformity with other institutions of higher learning. The Ph.D. has been awarded since 1883.

Information Technology Services (ITS) (in.virginia.edu/its) provides a full range of central information technology services for most areas of the University, as well as the network infrastructure and telephone system for the entire University. ITS supports UVA’s instructional, research, and administrative activities by facilitating communication and transmission of information for all University departments.

ITS provides services to faculty, staff, and students including: access to the Internet and the UVA network; centralized email, calendaring, and other computing accounts; file storage, including UVA Box and Microsoft OneDrive cloud storage for those who are eligible; UVACollab, the online course management and collaboration system; the UVA Hive, a virtualized software delivery system; Qualtrics, for survey creation; and high-performance computing for support of computational research. ITS also supports the Integrated System for Finance and Student Information, and is a partner with UVA Human Resources for Workday.

ITS supports the software available in several computing labs located on Grounds, offering access to specialized academic software packages that are not available virtually. For-fee printing around Grounds is provided by Printing and Copying Services. Wireless access is provided in most buildings around Grounds including all student residence complexes, in the libraries, on the Lawn, and in most classrooms.

Faculty, staff, and students may download software, most at no cost, including licensed, self-updating antivirus software, from in.virginia.edu/software. Undergraduate and graduate students may get one copy of the latest full version of the Microsoft Office® suite and the Windows operating system at no cost through UVA’s Campus Agreement with Microsoft.

The UVA Help Desk (434-924-HELP; in.virginia.edu/helpdesk) provides technical computing support at no cost to members of the University community 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Additional information about services provided by ITS, may be found on ITSWeb (in.virginia.edu/services). 

The University of Virginia is a public institution of higher learning guided by a founding vision of discovery, innovation, and development of the full potential of talented students from all walks of life. It serves the Commonwealth of Virginia, the nation, and the world by developing responsible citizen leaders and professionals; advancing, preserving, and disseminating knowledge; and providing world-class patient care.

We are defined by:

• Our enduring commitment to a vibrant and unique residential learning environment marked by the free and collegial exchange of ideas;
• Our unwavering support of a collaborative, diverse community bound together by distinctive foundational values of honor, integrity, trust, and respect;
• Our universal dedication to excellence and affordable access.

The University of Virginia’s mission extends beyond the lives of its students, faculty, and staff to the surrounding community, the Commonwealth, the nation and the world. From professional development for elementary and secondary school teachers to leadership training for local governing bodies across Virginia, the University is committed to sharing its resources of expertise and scholarship in ways that improve the well-being of individuals and communities.

That commitment to sharing resources is evinced by the growing number of community-engaged courses. Designed by faculty in collaboration with community partners from around the world, community-engaged courses challenge students to apply classroom content to real-world issues identified by their community partners. These courses are complemented by a diverse selection of courses centered around discussing the underlying ideas of “community” and aspects of authentic engagement. In the 2017-2018 academic year, over 4,500 students enrolled in one of 282 community-based courses. Faculty help to advance the University’s mission of public service and engagement in other ways. As of the 2017-2018 academic year, over 180 faculty members, as well as 41 staff and 1,375 students took part in sustained collaborative work with organizations locally and internationally. These partnerships result in research, scholarship, and creative activity that is beneficial to the community partner, faculty, and to participating university students. Partnerships exist in areas ranging from local k-12 arts enrichment, to legal clinics for area residents, to community health in South Africa and Guatemala.

Students play an important role in fulfilling the Institution’s commitment to service. As an example, in 2017-2018, over 4,296 students in Madison House engaged in weekly community service during the regular academic session, giving over 106,168 hours of service to 185 community partners. Through the Office of Undergraduate Research, 22 student received grants to participate in local or international community-based research projects.

These many volunteer hours, community-based learning opportunities, and partnerships are foregrounded against the October 2018 inauguration of University President James Ryan. This administration has been clear its aim to support service at the University of Virginia and to guide the institution toward practices that benefit its neighbors near and far. In the fall of 2018, the Office of the President convened a Community Working Group which conducted a survey capturing what local community members saw as areas of concern, and of potential collaboration, with the University.

Research

Noted for its world-class research capabilities, the University of Virginia is engaged in a wide range of research in medicine, engineering, education and the arts and sciences. Cutting-edge research and scholarship by the University’s outstanding faculty bring opportunities to learn about the latest advances in the classroom as well as the ability to become involved in research work in many fields.

Research is an integral part of the educational process at the University. Opportunities to participate in research are available for both graduates and undergraduates and may result in published papers for graduate and some undergraduate students.

Since 1946, students and faculty of the University of Virginia have benefited from its membership in Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU), a consortium of colleges and universities and a management and operating contractor for the United States Department of Energy (DOE) located in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Through the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education, undergraduates, graduates, postgraduates, and faculty enjoy access to a multitude of opportunities for study and research. Students can participate in programs covering a wide variety of disciplines including business, earth sciences, biomedical sciences, nuclear chemistry, and mathematics.

A distinct feature of the University’s research community is the extent to which it fosters interdisciplinary research. A number of research centers and institutes have been established in recent years to facilitate collaboration among faculty from different academic units who have common research interests and objectives. One outcome of this interdisciplinary emphasis has been the growth of joint academic programs leading to joint degrees.

Exciting research is undertaken jointly by faculty from both engineering and medicine in the Department of Biomedical Engineering and the Program in Engineering Physics. Other engineering faculty members have research ties with faculty in environmental sciences, physics, and other fields. Faculty in medicine and biology work closely on a variety of research projects, as do those in physics and chemistry.

Research collaborations are common among non-scientists as well. Faculty members from the schools of law and business have launched a center jointly with faculty in psychology. Professors in business and various humanities departments bring their separate viewpoints and research strategies to bear on common issues. Interdisciplinary research provides opportunities for shared use of facilities and for synergism in research efforts and augmented funding.

In fiscal year 2018-19, research at the University was supported by over 2150 separate awards totaling over $412 million dollars from federal and state agencies, industry, and foundations.

The University demonstrates its commitment to research by providing internal financial funding in certain circumstances. The University provides funding for particularly meritorious research which might otherwise have brief funding interruptions, thus maintaining continuity in important, ongoing projects. Through the Bankard Foundation endowment, year-long research grants support research in political economy. Another program provides grants for faculty research in the humanities and social sciences.

The knowledge being disseminated and the technology being developed today at the University of Virginia will play a vital role in how we live in the future. More detailed information about research and funding at the University is available on-line from the Office of the Vice President for Research, https://research.virginia.edu.

The quality of the student body is evident, and the University pours resources into supporting student success in numerous ways. In addition to a world-class academic experience, the University complements classroom learning through various high-impact educational practices, such as undergraduate research, study abroad, internships, entrepreneurial endeavors, and professional placement. The Office of Citizen Scholar Development is the fellowships office of the University and supports students to compete for national and international opportunities.

The University has graduated fifty-three Rhodes Scholars, among the highest number for universities nationwide. During the 2018-2019 academic year, students and alumni are among the Astronaut Scholars, Churchill Scholars, Goldwater Scholars, Knight-Hennessy Scholars, Luce Scholars, Marshall Scholars, NSF Graduate Research Fellows, and Schwarzman Scholars. The University has been named a Top-Producer of Fulbright US Student Award recipients in each of the last three years.

The Office of Citizen Scholar Development uses the process of pursuing fellowships as a catalyst to further the personal, social, intellectual, and professional development of all students and alumni as citizens and scholars, people who are thoughtful, ethical, and mutually connected to their communities.

The arts programs at the University are dedicated to building on innovative research and fostering inspired expression that equips the School for the future. The University contributes to Charlottesville’s lively arts scene with a wide range of events sponsored by academic departments and student groups.

Music events include concerts by faculty and student groups and performances as well as master classes by visiting artists in music styles ranging from classical to bluegrass.

In its seven years of operation, John Paul Jones Arena has hosted performances by Dave Matthews Band, Bruce Springsteen, Cirque du Soleil, Elton John, the Eagles, Jimmy Buffett and many others.

The Betsy and John Casteen Arts Grounds comprises The Fralin Museum of Art; Campbell Hall for the School of Architecture; the UVA Department of Drama building, which includes the Culbreth, Helms and the brand-new Ruth Caplin Theatres; Ruffin Hall for studio art; Fayerweather Hall for the McIntire Department of Art; the Fiske Kimball Fine Arts Library; the Hunter Smith Band Building; and Culbreth Road Parking Garage.

The Fralin Museum of Art houses fine art collections from ancient to contemporary times that are supplemented by innovative and changing exhibitions. Ruffin Hall features student and faculty shows every month, and the McIntire Department of Art sponsors public talks and presentations by visiting artists.

The UVA Department of Drama presents productions year-round in the Culbreth, Helms and new Ruth Caplin Theatres, including dramatic works, musicals, workshops, and dance performances. During the summer, the Heritage Theatre Festival provides entertainment for drama fans with a blend of musicals, comedy and classic drama.

In late fall, the Virginia Film Festival offers a four-day celebration of the art of filmmaking, featuring first-run features, classic cinema, documentaries and shorter works.

During early spring, the Virginia Festival of the Book, supported by the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, features readings, signings and talks by novelists, poets, nonfiction writers, journalists, editors, scholars, and representatives of the publishing industry.

Each year, the area attracts hundreds of thousands of tourists who come to see the Grounds of the University, visit Monticello, Montpelier, and Ashlawn-Highland, tour local breweries, distilleries, and wineries, and hike through the Shenandoah National Park, just 20 miles west in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Locals and visitors also enjoy water activities on the Rivanna and James Rivers.

Charlottesville has long-standing traditions, including spring’s Dogwood Festival and New Year’s Eve’s First Night Virginia. Every spring, runners in the Charlottesville Ten-Miler rush through town toward the finish line at University Hall.

A pedestrian-friendly downtown mall offers locally owned restaurants and shops, art galleries, movies and live theater, and a steady line-up of live music performance in a historic section of the city. Fridays After Five is a series of free summer concerts at the nTelos Wireless Pavilion at the east end of the Downtown Mall, and nationally known groups also perform there. Saturdays April through November find crowds at the nearby City Market, where local fresh food and crafts are on sale.

In the Court Square area, lawyers and business people occupy offices in buildings dating back to the 1700s. Charlottesville also boasts a rich resource in the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center, which offers a robust program of events throughout the year. Lastly, Charlottesville has an extraordinary array of non-profits and volunteer organizations that contribute to our community life in the arts, but also pursue issues of social justice and community wellness.

Charlottesville is located 120 miles from Washington, D.C., and 70 miles from Richmond. The Charlottesville-Albemarle Airport (CHO), a non-hub, commercial service airport, offers more than 50 daily non-stop flights to and from Charlotte, Philadelphia, New York/LaGuardia, Washington/Dulles, Atlanta, and Chicago. CHO is served by Delta Connection, United Express, American Eagle, and US Airways Express. Major highways convenient to the city include Interstate 64 and U.S. Route 29. Nationwide bus and railway service for passengers and freight is provided by Greyhound, Amtrak, Norfolk Southern, and the CSX Corporation. The Charlottesville Area Transit service and the University Transit Service provide bus service on Grounds and around the city, free for University students, faculty, and staff. Visitors to the University are always welcome. On-street parking is limited, so visitors are encouraged to park at the paid hourly Central Grounds Parking Garage off Emmet Street.

 Maps of the University are available for visitors on-line at www.virginia.edu/Map/.

The Honor System has been a defining dimension of life at the University for more than 175 years. Under the Honor System, University students have pledged to adhere to a common baseline of honorable behavior; that is, not to lie, cheat, or steal. This ideal of Honor is not imposed upon students; rather, by choosing to enroll at the University of Virginia, students commit themselves to a community that shares this ideal. Specifically, each student at the University signs a pledge to abide by the Honor System as part of their application for admission. Students also commit themselves to governing the system; the Honor Committee, as well as its support officer pool and hearing panels, is composed entirely of students. The Honor Committee and its operations are governed by the Committee’s Constitution and By-Laws, which can be found on the Committee’s website at http://honor.virginia.edu.

Although the University of Virginia has expanded to encompass more than one thousand acres, it retains the intimacy that characterized the original 42 acre Academical Village. Jefferson, a self-trained architect, enthusiastic builder, and inveterate tinkerer, chose a former farm over a mile away from the little town of Charlottesville for the site of his University.  Architectural precedents from the Roman Republic inspired his buildings at the University, as he believed them to be appropriate models for the new American Republic.

This educational community was built around a rectangular, terraced green — the Lawn — flanked by two continuous rows of one-story student rooms. Interspersed among the student rooms are the Pavilions, designed as residences and classroom buildings for the original faculty. Each pavilion has a unique façade in one of the classical orders. The student rooms and the Pavilions open onto colonnaded walkways fronting the Lawn. Behind the Lawn Rooms and Pavilions are gardens enclosed by serpentine brick walls. The gardens and alleys between them lead to another row of rooms on each side called the Ranges. These are broken up by larger buildings called Hotels, which were the original dining halls at the University. The Rotunda, inspired by the Roman Pantheon, is at the north end of the Lawn, while the south end was originally left open to a vista of the mountains.

Jefferson’s design integrates housing for students and faculty as well as classroom, dining, and library space – a truly mixed-use community. Students lived on the Lawn and in the Ranges and dined in the Hotels. Faculty members lived and taught in the Pavilions, while the Rotunda housed the library, classroom space, and gymnasia. The Lawn remains the intellectual and spiritual heart of the University and continues to serve many of its original purposes. Select students are awarded Lawn rooms in their fourth year; senior faculty and their families live in the Pavilions, where classes are also held; and graduate students live in the Ranges. The Rotunda contains classrooms and study space, and hosts meetings of the Board of Visitors, dinners and other ceremonial events, as well as many student activities.

The originality and importance of Jefferson’s design are widely recognized. Pulitzer Prize-winning architecture critic Ada Louise Huxtable noted in The New York Times, that the University “is probably the single most beautiful and effective architectural group of its kind in the country, or in the history of American building.” In 1976, the American Institute of Architects proclaimed it “the proudest achievement in American architecture in the past 200 years” and in 1987, the Academical Village was listed along with Monticello as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The UVA Library is the foundation on which the University of Virginia built a transformative educational community. The Library partners in learning and collaborates in discovery by creating inclusive and sustainable collections, services, spaces, and infrastructure, and plays an integral role in UVA’s ability to maintain its standing as a top-ranked public institution of higher education. It provides access to a rich array of physical and digital scholarly materials that includes more than 20 million manuscripts and archives, about 5 million printed volumes, more than 187,000 journal subscriptions, and millions of non-text materials such as images, audio, video, data sets, and more.

Ten facilities and a sophisticated online environment serve the entire University community and support all academic programs. The Charles L. Brown Science and Engineering Library, open 24 hours a day/5 days a week, and its satellites (Astronomy, Mathematics, and Physics) serve the research needs of the University’s scientific community. The University’s world-renowned collection of manuscripts and rare books is located in the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, in the same building where public programs and exhibitions are hosted by the Mary and David Harrison Institute for American History, Literature, and Culture. Clemons Library, also open 24/5, contains video materials and provides advanced technology and digital media services in the Robertson Media Center, which has recently added a 3-D printing studio. Clemons also houses the Dathel and John Georges Student Center, a space with academic, professional, and personal advising resources for students. The first floor of Clemons Library has been recently renovated and now contains compact shelving for collections and seating for 350.

Additional collections and services supporting Art, Architecture, Music, and related disciplines are available in the Fiske Kimball Fine Arts Library and the Music Library. The Library also maintains Ivy Stacks, an off-Grounds shelving and preservation facility containing over 1 million items. Items in Ivy Stacks are fully cataloged in Virgo, the Library’s catalog, and brought to Grounds when requested by patrons.

Alderman Library, which houses materials in the social sciences and humanities as well as the Library’s depository collections of state, federal, and international documents, is undergoing a major renovation that will see the building close completely in May of 2020, with an expected reopening by spring of 2023. In the fall of 2019, materials will begin to leave the building and construction activity will start on a small scale. Materials in Alderman will be moved to their temporary locations in either Clemons Library or Ivy Stacks by December 2019, and preliminary ­construction work will begin in January 2020. The Scholars’ Lab, Alderman’s center for the digital humanities, will be housed on the third floor of Clemons during the renovation. Other Library services will remain consistent, but any changes will be noted on the Library website and with signage in Alderman Library. Additional useful information can be found on the renovation FAQ page.

In addition to the University Library system, the Claude Moore Health Sciences Library, the Camp Library in the Darden Graduate School of Business Administration, and the Arthur J. Morris Law Library serve the University’s professional schools.

The Library provides access to extensive collections and varied spaces for research and study, but the heart of the Library system is the knowledgeable and experienced staff who contribute daily to the academic endeavor, from helping students manage research to building innovative programs for the digital humanities. Librarians with subject expertise are available to collaborate on research and teach students how best to use and evaluate information, and the Scholars’ Lab, Robertson Media Center, and Research Data Services offer specialized expertise and tools for technology-intense scholarship. In addition to face-to-face services, the University Library provides virtual services that maximize access to web-accessible content, and ensure the preservation of born-digital material. Virgo can be used to search the Library’s collections as well as online article content. The research portal connects scholars with resource databases, subject guides, and online help and instruction. Libra is the University’s scholarly repository, where faculty and students deposit their theses, dissertations, and articles.

The Library is open to everyone, and all are welcome.

Appointed by the Board of Visitors at the recommendation of the president, University Professorships are conferred on a small number of accomplished faculty who are distinguished in more than one discipline. They report directly to the president and have considerable freedom to teach across disciplinary and administrative boundaries university-wide.
Current University Professors are:

• Mr. Robert F. Bruner, B.A., M.B.A., D.B.A., Business Administration, Distinguished Professor of Business Administration
• John T. Casteen, B.A., M.A., Ph.D, English
• Mark W. Edmundson, B.A., Ph.D., Arts and Sciences
• Robert E. Freeman, B.A., Ph.D., Philosophy, Elis and Signe Olsson Professor of Business Administration
• K. Ian Grandison, B.S., M.L.A., Architecture and Arts and Sciences
• Harry Harding, Jr., B.A., M.A., Ph.D., Public Policy
• Donald F. Hunt, B.S., Ph.D., Arts and Sciences
• Jagdish K. Kumar, B.A, M.S. Ph.D., Sociology
• Jerome J. McGann, B.S. M.A., Ph.D., English
• Mr. R. Jahan Ramazani, B.A., M.S., M.S., Ph.D., English, Edgar F. Shannon, Jr. Professor of English
• Larry J. Sabato, B.A., D.Phil., Arts and Sciences, Robert Kent Gooch Professor of Government and Foreign Affairs
• Michael Suarez, B.A., M.A., M.S., Arts and Sciences
• Elizabeth H. Turner, B.A., M.A., Ph.D., Arts and Sciences
• Sarah E. Turner, B.A., Ph.D., Education and Economics
• Haydn N. G. Wadley, B.S., Ph.D., Engineering and Applied Science, Edgar A. Starke, Jr., Research Professor of Materials Science