University of Virginia campus

University of Virginia

Type	Public, Flagship
Established	1819
Academic affiliations	AAU APLU ORAU URA SURA
Endowment	$8.621 billion (2016)
Budget	$1.39 billion
President	Teresa A. Sullivan
Academic staff	2,102
Students	22,391
Undergraduates	15,891
Postgraduates	6,500
Location	Charlottesville, Virginia, United States
Campus	Small city (Rural/Suburban) 1,682 acres (6.81 km2) World Heritage Site
Colors	Orange and Blue
Nickname	Cavaliers Wahoos
Sporting affiliations	NCAA Division I – ACC
Mascot	Cavalier
Website	www.virginia.edu
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Official name	Monticello and the University of Virginia in Charlottesville
Type	Cultural
Criteria	i, iv, vi
Designated	1987 (11th session)
Reference no.	442
Region	Europe and North America

Coordinates: 38°02′06″N 78°30′18″W / 38.035°N 78.505°W / 38.035; -78.505

The University of Virginia (U.Va. or UVA), frequently referred to simply as Virginia, is a public research university and the flagship for the Commonwealth of Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Declaration of Independence author Thomas Jefferson, UVA is known for its historic foundations, student-run honor code, and secret societies.

UNESCO designated UVA as America's first collegiate World Heritage Site in 1987, an honor shared jointly with Jefferson's nearby homestead, Monticello. The university's original governing Board of Visitors included Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe. Monroe was the sitting President of the United States at the time of its foundation. Earlier Presidents Jefferson and Madison were UVA's first two rectors, and Jefferson conceived and designed the original courses of study and Academical Village.

UVA is the first elected member of the research-driven Association of American Universities within the American South, since 1904, and remains the only AAU member in Virginia. The university is classified as a Research University with Very High Research by the Carnegie Foundation, and is considered Virginia's flagship university by the College Board. Its recent research efforts have been recognized by such scientific media as the journal Science, which named UVA faculty as discovering two of its top ten global scientific breakthroughs for 2015. UVA faculty and alumni have also founded a large number of companies, such as Reddit, that produce more than $1.6 trillion in annual revenue, equivalent to the 10th-largest economy in the world.