A Message From the Dean

Every August, when I welcome new students at Old Cabell Hall for their First Lecture, I encourage them to take a moment to walk the Lawn at night. As they look up to the stars, I hope they experience not only a sense of peace in the beauty of the night, but also a sense of belonging. 

I remind them that those same starry skies were scanned 200 years ago by Thomas Jefferson as he envisioned the launch of a great university. The enslaved Africans who built this University also looked up into these same starry skies, and I encourage our new students to trace their steps as well. From those contradictory beginnings, this University was born to advance the democratic experiment. 

Our democracy depends on a free and educated society, and constantly expanding the American social contract has been a key part of the story of UVA and the College. I encourage all of our students to study the entire history of our Grounds. In the last 75 years alone, our community has been shaped by the signing of the GI Bill, the Civil Rights Movement, and the first cohort of 450 women who graduated from UVA in 1974.

From that foundation, I ask them to study what delights them, to question what they need to question, and to bring all of their passions, energies, convictions, and individual talents to the history and tradition of this place — to conserve it and to make it new. I urge them to use their unique and substantive UVA experience as a springboard into the world. 

To deliver on the promise of a UVA education for our students, to expand knowledge for the Commonwealth, and to serve the global common good, we need your participation. It is my sincere hope that you join us, to conserve UVA and make it new as we Honor the Future with this campaign. 

Ian Baucom
Buckner W. Clay Dean of Arts & Sciences