VIRGINIA, UniVersity of, the State uni versity located at Charlottesville, Va. As early as 1779 Thomas Jefferson presented to the Vir ginia assembly his plans for public education, v.hich included a university. This scheme was not, however, iminediately carried out; and after 1814 Jefferson devoted himself largely to the work of founding a university in accord ance with his ideal. It was finally established by act of the State legislature in 1819; and was first opened to students in 1825. grout 1850 to 1861 was a time of especial prosperity and large attendance; during the war the coUege suffered a large loss of students, but neverthe less continued in session; after that its work continued successfully with gradually iricreas ing attendance. In 1895 the Rotunda, Annex and some adjacent smaller buildings were de stroyed by flre, but the Rotunda, restored ex actly and three other large buildings were for mally opened in 1898. Since this several othet important buildings have been added. The government of the university is vested in a board of visitors of nine members appointed by the governor with the approval of the senate for terms of four years. The organization of the university. comprises five departments: (1) The Academic Department; (2) the Depart ment of Engineering; (3) the Department of Agriculture; (4) the Department of Law; (5) the Department of Medicine. The work in these departments is grouped iti 22 distinct schools, each offering an independent course, under the direction of the professors who are responsible to the board of visitors alone for their work. The work in the Academic De partment is entirely elective; the courses are arranged in seven groups from each of which one course must be elected; the other courses required may be elected from these seven, or from an eighth, including courses in law, medi cine, engineering, etc. The degree of B.A. is conferred for the completion of 10 under graduate courses chosen from the eight groups; the degrees of ALA. and Ph.D. are conferred
for graduate work, suitable graduate courses being offered in each sclool. The •Depart ment of Engineering offers four courses lead ing respectively to a degree in civil, mining, mechanical and electrical engineering; the de grees conferred are civil engineer, mming engi neer, machanical engineer and electrical engi neer. The faculty numbers 70; the average annual attendance of students is over 770. The students maintain an athletic association, hav ing charge of athletic sports, two literary so cieties, several department and graduate soci, ties and a Young Men's Christian Association, The original buildings of the university were planned by Jefferson and are purely classic in style; the more recent additions have been made to harmonize with and complete his plan. The central group encloses a quadrangle, 1,000 feet in length and 300 feet wide. The dominant structure of this group is the Rotunda, the library. building at the north end, modeled from the Roman Pantheon; other buildings around the quadrangle are the main academic building, the physical laboratory, the mechanical labora tory and original buildings designed by Jeffer son. Parallel with the latter are the eastern and western "ranges° of dormitories; outside the quadrangle group are the chapel, the natural history museum, the chemical laboratory, the medical building, the observatory, the infirmary, several dormitories and the gymnasium. The empus also contains an athletic park, recently laid out, comprising 21 acres. Tuition in the Academic and Agricultural departments is free to Virginia students; the university awards scholarships to accredited schools; and there are several alumni scholarships, and a number of special scholarships. The general library contains over 90,000 volumes; and in addition there are law and other departmental libraries.