The
University of Virginia (
UVA) is a
public research university in
Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by
Thomas Jefferson and contains his
Academical Village, a
UNESCO World Heritage Site. The original governing Board of Visitors included three
U.S. presidents: Jefferson,
James Madison, and
James Monroe, the latter as sitting president of the United States at the time of its foundation. As its first two
rectors, Presidents Jefferson and Madison played key roles in the university's foundation, with Jefferson designing both the
original courses of study and the university's
architecture.
