Thomas+Jefferson+and+the+University+of+Virginia

Thomas Jefferson and the University of Virginia

 * Thomas Jefferson was a graduate of the College of William and Mary. He was, however, a proponent of an education that would be based less on religion and more on the sciences. As early as the 1770s, Thomas Jefferson advocated for schools for the common man, including state colleges. He was one of a group who developed the plan and obtained a charter for a college in central Virginia in 1816, initially called Central College. In 1818, the state of Virginia allotted $15,000 to built a state university on the same ground. Thomas Jefferson was appointed to the committee charged with making sure a public college came to fruition. On March 7, 1825 it opened as the University of Virginia.
 * UVA was unique because it was the first to offer study in the sciences (e.g., astronomy, botany) and political science. It's main campus building was a rotunda, not a church, and the curriculum was designed to be separate from any church theology. Additionally, the campus was comprised of a group of buildings, rather than a single building as planned by other colleges in the era.
 * Students were allowed to create their own plan for learning through the selection of electives.
 * Thomas Jefferson considered his work on the development of the University of Virginia to be the greatest accomplishment of his life.

Sources: [|Thomas Jefferson's Plan for the University of Virginia] [|Jefferson's Vision of the Academical Village] [|Founding of the University of Virginia]



[|Sketches of the University of Virginia and Princeton] (Sketches of UVA and Princeton)