2005-06 2005–06 President’s Report An award-winning rail transporta- tion plan for the Washington, D.C./ Richmond Rail Corridor. Designed by Warren Boeschenstein, the Merrill D. Peterson Professor of Architec- ture, this illustration shows the potential for transit-oriented devel- opment around a major intersection in Northern Virginia in work funded by the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation. 2005-06 Contents 2 From the President: The Power of Knowledge Mr. Jefferson’s University supports a community dedicated to the public good. 4 The Year at a Glance September 2005 – September 2006 12 Achieving Vision through Leadership Art in the President’s Leaders across Grounds and the nation are today’s Report architects of the University and builders of its future. School of Architecture faculty created the art featured in this 16 Students: Minds of the First Order year’s report. The projects represent the variety of design, Students have many opportunities to develop analytic, and planning work of their intellectual passions. the school’s faculty members. One of the premier architecture schools in the United States, 22 International Experience: the University’s School of Archi- A Global University tecture offers programs in archi- tecture, landscape architecture, Thirty-six percent of undergraduates study abroad. history of architecture, preser- vation, and urban and environ- 24 A Faculty of Distinction mental planning. The school promotes architectural design The University provides the time and resources to of the public realm, focused cultivate the life of the mind. on innovative aesthetic, envi- ronmental, and social themes. 27 Research and Public Service: The home of the Architecture School, Campbell Hall, is being Remaking the World expanded to accommodate Successful researchers must be leaders as well as experts. growth in faculty and student populations, as well as changes in the curriculum. The new addi- 30 Health System: tions were designed by promi- Designing the Next Decade of Health Care nent architects and landscape architects on the faculty, work- The U.Va. Health System is moving forward to take its ing in coordination with SMBW place on the national stage. Architects in Richmond. The expansion is scheduled for com- pletion in the spring of 2008. 36 Athletics: Striving for Excellence In the past four years, the University has won twenty The Cover ACC titles. Students build the first eco- MOD house constructed at the 39 2005–06 Financial Report University-owned Milton Airport hangar. The house was sited in Charlottesville’s Fifeville neighborhood in September 2005. Directed by John Quale, assistant professor of archi- tecture, the ecoMOD project is integrated in the school’s cur- riculum. Teams of architecture, engineering, and landscape students and faculty are cre- ating a series of affordable, sustainable, and prefabricated housing units through partner- ships with Piedmont Housing Alliance and Habitat for Human- ity. The second ecoMOD house, preHAB, was constructed and sited in Gautier, Mississippi, an area devastated by Hurricane Katrina. President’s Report 1 The Power of Knowledge Mr. Jefferson’s University supports a community dedicated to the public good. The University’s founder was both visionary and pragmatic. With great confidence and ambition, Mr. Jefferson described the institution he created as “the future bulwark of the human mind in this hemisphere.” At the same time, he grounded the curriculum in what he called the “useful sciences.” He believed in teaching practical knowledge that ordinary citizens could use to organize and govern a Republic. Our mission today is the same as Jefferson’s. Both the bold vision and the sound pragmatism that he first articulated nearly 200 years ago guide our pursuit of excellence in a new global century of unprecedented opportunity. With our Virginia 2020 goals providing direction, and with rigorous academic planning now in progress to chart the University’s course for the future, we are working to create centers of excellence in the fine and performing arts, to expand our international activities, to fulfill our obligations in service to the people of Virginia and the nation, and to create science and technology programs that rival the best in the nation and the world. This report documents recent progress in these and many other areas. Our students continue to be our strongest asset, just as they continue to set new standards for achievement. During the graduate and graduate students, lifelong learners, and those who 2005–06 academic year, University students received six Ful- benefit directly from the fruits of their research. bright Scholarships, two Mitchell Scholarships, two Goldwater We witnessed the dawn of a new era when the Restructured Scholarships, and one Truman Scholarship. Many stories of Higher Education Financial and Administrative Operations Tsuperb student performance appear in the pages of this report. Act went into effect last summer. This landmark legislation These stories are singular examples of the broad excellence establishes a framework for a new model in the financing and that defines the work of the young women and men who come operation of public universities in Virginia. Within this frame- here to learn. work, the University and the state’s other public colleges and In the year before classes began at the University, when Jef- universities will have the ability to plan for the future and ferson was seeking professors to fill faculty positions, he wrote manage operations more efficiently. With these responsibilities that he was “anxious to receive none but of the highest grade.” come systems of accountability, as written into management The University’s eminence continues to depend upon the quality agreements with the state. These management agreements are of its teachers. Among our faculty we count one Nobel Prize based on six-year operating plans involving financial, academic, winner, three MacArthur fellows, and twenty-five fellows of and enrollment data. the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. The National Institutions that participate in the new framework must com- Academy of Sciences includes three University faculty members, mit to increasing financial aid programs to keep tuition costs the National Academy of Engineering includes twelve, and the from becoming a barrier to access for students of lesser means. Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences has Through AccessUVa, the University has promised to meet 100 inducted sixteen of our faculty. The teaching, scholarship, and percent of the need of all undergraduate students who qualify research produced by our faculty influence many lives—under- for financial aid. In the past year, we signed a new agreement 2 University of Virginia President’s Letter with the Virginia Community College System that guarantees admission, based on fulfillment of standard requirements, to Dreams of the future guide graduates of Virginia’s twenty-three community colleges. Cou- our work as we generate pled with AccessUVa, this agreement should attract students who may have thought previously that they could not qualify strategies to sustain the or that they could not afford to attend. In his Bill for the More General Diffusion of Knowledge, Jefferson wrote that education University for tomorrow and should be made available to the nation’s citizens to equip them for leadership “without regard to wealth, birth or other acci- beyond. dental condition or circumstance.” With AccessUVa and with the VCCS agreement, we uphold that principle. foundation. This planning project addresses University-wide Diversity continues to be a signature trait of this University. priorities and strategies, drawing from school-based planning, In 2006, for the twelfth straight year, the University posted the Virginia 2020, and emerging initiatives and interests across highest six-year graduation rate for African-American students Grounds. I have appointed a Commission on the Future of the among major public institutions. In 2005–06, 54 percent of University, co-chaired by Leonard Sandridge and Tim Garson, students were women, and 23 percent of total undergraduates to carry this planning work forward and to begin the process were African American, Native American, Asian, or Hispanic. of implementation. William B. Harvey joined us in 2005 as the University’s first In September 2006, the Board of Visitors launched the Uni- vice president and chief officer for diversity and equity, and he versity’s new campaign, with one-third of the $3 billion goal has had an immediate and substantial impact on the culture already raised. The campaign theme, “Knowledge is Power,” is here. Mr. Harvey is leading our efforts as we continue to cre- derived from the words of Thomas Jefferson, who wrote about ate a welcoming and supportive environment for all who work, “the important truths, that knowledge is power, that knowl- live, and study at the University. edge is safety, and that knowledge is happiness.” With this As part of the 2020 initiative, the University made a com- campaign, we will provide the best resources for the creation mitment to expanding its international activities. We took a of our most important product: women and men of exceptional major step in that direction last year when the University part- achievement who leave here as broadly knowledgeable citizens nered with the Institute for Shipboard Education to become the ready for effective engagement in public life. academic sponsor for Semester at Sea. Each year, during the As I look back on a year in which the University achieved fall and spring semesters, some 670 students from colleges and new autonomy to chart its own course to excellence, the notion universities across the country will take an around-the-world of freedom resonates in especially meaningful ways. With new- voyage on the floating campus, the MV Explorer. A shorter trip found momentum, we will continue to teach and produce useful with slightly fewer students is held during the summer session. knowledge in this place where Mr.