Workers are making some final tweaks, but classes have begun at the Fairfax campus of the University of Virginia. The new campus covers two floors in the Inova Center for Personalized Health complex.
UVA also has a campus in Arlington run by the Darden Business School, with classes from Darden and the McIntire School of Commerce. But the Fairfax campus is the first all-UVA satellite campus in Northern Virginia, with programs from nine of the university’s 12 schools. Julie Sara Boyd, executive director of UVA Northern Virginia, says the goal is to “bring UVA education and excellence to the Northern Virginia area, and connect the learners and organizations up here with all 12 schools.”
Special Programming
The new 55,000-square-foot facility features a learning space comprising six classrooms, two multipurpose rooms and a seminar room. A separate “living space” is intended for special events and to allow staff and students to mingle and network.
The new campus will offer programming in master’s programs as well as nontraditional undergraduate programs such as the RN-to-BSN program in the nursing school. “We just launched a certificate in public health with the School of Medicine. And in those programs, they will do 100 percent of their coursework on campus here. Or part of it will be hybrid,” Boyd says. The new campus will also host the UVA Inspire Summer program for rising high school students in grades 10 to 12.
Much of the programming is hybrid, Boyd says. But all the in-person components of the programs offered at the Fairfax campus can be completed onsite. “The Charlottesville [UVA] main grounds is a wonderful campus. And it’s sacred and it’s beautiful. It is where our undergraduate work will be and will always be. But in higher ed, we know that, past that, you really need to connect people closer to where they’re working, where they’re living. We model the curriculum based on the learners’ needs up in this area, which tend to be people that are busy. They’re professionals,” she says.
Tailored to Northern Virginia
There are already other college campuses in Northern Virginia. But Boyd says UVA is confident they’re “very well suited to be up here.” She points out that Northern Virginia is home to the largest base of UVA alumni. And that, “We’re not offering [just] one piece of UVA. We’re really looking at the learners up here, looking at the sector, seeing what they need.”
For example, “If organizations need to understand AI better, we’re going to work with our School of Data Science to bring professors and experts in AI to accommodate the educational needs,” she says.
The campus will hold its grand opening on February 28. The event will include a 30-minute ceremony with an address from President James Ryan, followed by an open house. “And I really emphasize open house,” Boyd says. “Because that’s really part of our mission — to be open to the Northern Virginia community.”
Feature image courtesy Halkin Mason Photography, Perkins & Will
