The University of Virginia (also The University, Mr. Jefferson's University, or Virginia; often abbreviated as U.Va. / UVa / UVA) is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, founded by Thomas Jefferson.

Conceived by 1800 and established in 1819, it is the only university in the United States to be designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, an honor it shares with nearby Monticello. The University is notable in U.S. history for being the first educational institution to offer academic programs in disciplines now common, such as astronomy and philosophy. Its School of Engineering and Applied Science was the first engineering school in the United States to be attached to a comprehensive university.

Officially, the University of Virginia is incorporated as The Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia. The early Board of Visitors was filled with former Presidents of the United States: Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe. Although Jefferson undertook all planning of the University, the land underneath it was once a farm belonging to Monroe.

His farmhouse was located on Monroe Hill, which today is the site of one of three undergraduate residential colleges.

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