Campaign for the College targets the undergraduate experience

Our faculty is first-rate. Our graduation rates are among the best in the nation. Our students go on to top graduate and professional schools, rewarding careers, and positions of leadership in their communities. So why a comprehensive fundraising campaign?

Strengthening the College is central to strengthening the University of Virginia and keeping it in the top tier of universities in America — public or private, north or south, east or west. Arts & Sciences stands as the University’s core.

No other public university in the nation sees as many of its students graduate on time. No other university sustains as high a level of student self-governance or sends as high a percentage of students into public service in their communities and abroad.

The College is healthy. We use our resources wisely and efficiently. New faculty members are reducing the student-faculty ratio, and we boast world-class research in a collaborative atmosphere recognized around the globe. Wonderful students keep choosing to come to Charlottesville, and an impressive nine out of 10 leave with a degree in four years. Students thrive here; the ratio of their success to our academic resources is astounding.

Yet we face fundamental challenges. Ideas for new programs outstrip our resources. Offices, labs, and classrooms are stretched to the limit. The best graduate students are attracted to Arts & Sciences, but they often head to places that can offer better fellowships and research support.

The College and Graduate School turns to alumni, parents, and friends for help. Gifts to the campaign will lift Arts & Sciences and the University to a new level. Imagine up-to-date classrooms and gathering spaces for students and faculty. More opportunities for students to learn and live in other cultures. Better facilities for a broader range of courses in fine and performing arts. New labs and research initiatives and more faculty in the sciences.

Campaign Priorities

In setting campaign goals, the University’s leaders have acknowledged the centrality of the College to the institution’s future. At $500 million, the Campaign for the College sets out to raise more money than Darden, Law, and McIntire combined.

$150 million for the undergraduate experience:
Gifts will strengthen undergraduate research, creativity, and discovery. Fifth-year programs will allow students to explore targeted subjects more deeply than they can in conventional majors. The College will enhance first-year advising, encourage study abroad, and create new courses. The South Lawn and other construction and renovation projects will alleviate our space crunch — a 350,000-square-foot deficit — with offices, classrooms, and informal spaces that promote the sense of community that has characterized the University of Virginia since its founding.

$100 million for integrative research initiatives:
New research initiatives that cut across traditional disciplines will strengthen outreach and expand knowledge about significant contemporary issues such as globalization and social justice, sustainability, and the influence of media on democracy. Campaign gifts will help establish centers for digital scholarship, for critical languages and cultures, and for the humanities and social sciences. Gifts also will support new faculty hires and graduate student teaching and research fellowships.

$100 million for scientific education and research:
Many of our undergraduates go on to earn doctoral degrees in the sciences, and our graduate students work at the forefront of scientific innovation. Investment in faculty, graduate students, laboratories, and research will strengthen our ability to produce the scientists and mathematicians on whom our society depends. Gifts to the campaign will fuel discoveries in fields ranging from quarks to quasars.

$100 million for fine and performing arts:
Our programs have blossomed, but the demand from students continues to surpass what we can offer. Campaign gifts will fund the additional resources the arts deserve and need: good production facilities, materials, technical support, faculty, graduate fellowships, and new buildings and spaces for exhibition and performance.

$50 million for international opportunities:
With each passing day, the need for our students to understand and experience other cultures grows. Through their research and scholarship, our faculty members help interpret our global community and improve the lives of people around the world. Gifts to the campaign will support a center for international studies, more study-abroad programs, and international research.