University of Virginia Diploma: Contemporary Public University
The University of Virginia (UVA) is a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university was created on his principle that higher education should foster intellectual freedom, public service, and the interchange of ideas. Jefferson was deeply involved in the planning of the institution, from developing its curriculum to recruiting faculty and designing its distinctive campus. Officially classes started in March 1825. More about the university’s beginnings can be found on the University of Virginia’s official history page.
The most recognizable part of the University of Virginia is perhaps its Academical Village, a collection of buildings arranged around a long central Lawn. Jefferson envisioned the university as a place where professors and students would live and study close to one another, encouraging interaction beyond the classroom.
In front of the Rotunda on the lawn is a monument to the founders of the university. Jefferson had intended the building to serve as the library for the university, placing learning, rather than a chapel, at the center of academic life. In 1987, the Academical Village was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site along with Jefferson’s nearby home, Monticello.
The early history of the university also shows the inequalities of nineteenth-century Virginia. Enslaved African Americans were instrumental in constructing and maintaining the early university and enslaved domestic workers labored at the university for decades. UVA has been researching and writing about this part of its history more and more publicly.
Academic and Research Development
In the next two centuries, UVA transformed from Jefferson’s relatively small institution into a major research university. Today you can obtain a University of Virginia Diploma from 12 schools in Charlottesville, the University of Virginia’s College at Wise, research institutes and a sprawling academic health system. Its programs include the humanities, sciences and engineering, law, medicine, architecture and business.
The university now has more than 26,000 undergraduate, graduate and professional students enrolled on its Charlottesville Grounds. A strong tradition of student involvement and community life exists, including the student-run Honor System that dates back to 1842.
The University of Virginia was founded more than two centuries ago, and continues to combine the architectural and educational ideals of its founding with its role as a modern public research university. The Lawn and Rotunda are still powerful symbols of UVA and its complex past and of a university that has grown far beyond Jefferson’s original vision.