50 Fun Facts About University of Virginia

Thomas Jefferson modeled the domed Rotunda at the University of Virginia on which ancient temple?

The Pantheon in Rome set the proportions, but the Rotunda's dome is only half as wide. Jefferson is thought to have worked from a drawing in his copy of Palladio.

Which American writer studied languages at the University of Virginia in 1826 but left within a year, short of money?

Edgar Allan Poe lived at 13 West Range, a room still maintained by the Raven Society, a campus group named for his most famous poem.

Which No. 16 seed beat top-seeded UVA in 2018, the first such upset in the men's NCAA basketball tournament?

UMBC won 74–54 after a first half tied at 21, ending a run of 135 straight defeats for No. 16 seeds against No. 1 seeds.

Which future Saturday Night Live head writer graduated from the University of Virginia in 1992 with a degree in drama?

Tina Fey studied playwriting and acting in Charlottesville and won the university's Pettway Prize before she graduated.

University of Virginia fans are called Hoos, short for which nickname that grew out of a school rallying cry?

Wahoos comes from the cheer Wah-hoo-wah, and it was a student term well before local sportswriters began using it beside the official Cavaliers.

Which Union general did University of Virginia faculty persuade to spare the campus as his cavalry took Charlottesville?

George A. Custer and his men camped on the Lawn and rode away four days later without bloodshed, so classes carried on until the fighting ended.

The Good Old Song, which University of Virginia fans sing after every football score, is set to which traditional tune?

Auld Lang Syne carries words that students made up more or less on the spot in 1893, and fans embrace and sway as they sing the first verse.

Which office did the University of Virginia lack for its first eight decades, until Edwin Alderman filled it in 1904?

President was a post Jefferson left out on purpose, sharing power between a rector and the Board of Visitors. Alderman then stayed 27 years, still the longest tenure.

Where did Thomas Jefferson insist on being named Father of the University of Virginia, with no word of his presidency?

On his gravestone Jefferson allowed only three achievements: the Declaration of Independence, Virginia's statute for religious freedom and the university. The Louisiana Purchase is missing too.

Which website did University of Virginia roommates Alexis Ohanian and Steve Huffman found after graduating in 2005?

Reddit was not the first plan: fresh out of college, the pair pitched the Y Combinator accelerator a food-ordering app called MyMobileMenu.

Which secret group at UVA reveals its members only after death, with a wreath of black magnolias at the grave?

The Seven Society also gives money in sums full of its number, including a grant of $777,777.77 that pays for professors to teach their dream classes.

Which 7-foot-4 University of Virginia center won three straight Naismith Awards and went first in the 1983 NBA draft?

Ralph Sampson was only the second player named national player of the year three times, after Bill Walton, and he grew up in Harrisonburg, Virginia.

Which team did UVA beat 85–77 in overtime in 2019 to win its first men's basketball national title?

Texas Tech was 12.9 seconds from the title when De'Andre Hunter's three-pointer tied the game, and an 11–0 Virginia run in overtime settled it.

Which future co-host of the Today show worked at The Cavalier Daily and lived on the Lawn at the University of Virginia?

Katie Couric enrolled in 1975, graduated in 1979 with a degree in American Studies, and returned in 2012 to give the graduation speech.

Which celebrated New York architect redesigned the University of Virginia Rotunda after a fire gutted it in 1895?

Stanford White gave the building two floors instead of three, and his interior lasted until 1976, when it was torn out and Jefferson's design rebuilt.

Which type of garden wall did Jefferson use at the University of Virginia so thin brickwork could stand unsupported?

Serpentine walls draw their strength from their curves, and Jefferson did not invent them: he adapted a style from England, where it is known as the crinkle crankle wall.

Which Princeton graduate studied law at the University of Virginia in 1879 and later led America through World War I?

Woodrow Wilson joined the Virginia Glee Club as a law student and led the Jefferson Literary and Debating Society, but poor health forced him to leave before finishing the degree.

By tradition, students at the University of Virginia avoid the word campus and call the place what instead?

The Grounds is one of several local quirks of speech: there are no freshmen or seniors either, because students are known by their year, from first to fourth.

In which sport did University of Virginia men win NCAA titles in 2019 and 2021 under head coach Lars Tiffany?

Lacrosse is a Virginia stronghold: the men's first NCAA crown came back in 1972, and the women's team won national titles of its own in 1991, 1993 and 2004.

Which coach brought his father's pack line defense to UVA and won the 2019 men's basketball national championship?

Tony Bennett stunned college basketball by retiring in October 2024, less than three weeks before the season opener, and Virginia's home court now carries his name.

Which UVA defensive end, the second pick of the 2008 NFL draft, went on to win Super Bowls with two different teams?

Chris Long, son of Hall of Famer Howie, won titles in successive years with the Patriots and the Eagles, and he gave his entire 2017 salary to charity.

Which UVA point guard, twice national player of the year, later coached South Carolina to NCAA titles?

Dawn Staley, the first in her family to go to college, left Virginia as its all-time leading scorer and its league's all-time leader in assists.

Which University of Virginia guard became NBA Rookie of the Year in 2017 despite being a second-round draft pick?

Malcolm Brogdon, taken 36th by the Milwaukee Bucks, was the first second-round pick to win the award since 1965.

Which University of Virginia football ground, built in 1931, is the oldest active FBS venue in the state?

Scott Stadium is named for Frederic Scott, a donor who chaired the university's board, and it opened with room for 25,000 fans in place of old Lambeth Field.

Which Charlottesville act played the two-night grand opening of UVA's John Paul Jones Arena in 2006?

Dave Matthews Band ended a tour with the two shows, in a building named for the father of donor Paul Tudor Jones and not, as many assume, for the naval hero.

Which Virginia plantation house shares a UNESCO World Heritage listing with UVA's Academical Village?

Monticello, Jefferson's own home nearby, was listed together with the university in 1987, and he used to host Sunday dinners there for its professors and students.

Which Founding Father succeeded Jefferson in 1826 as rector of the University of Virginia's governing board?

James Madison had been at the inaugural banquet in 1824, when the Marquis de Lafayette toasted Jefferson as the father of the university.

The University of Virginia was built on farmland once owned by which Revolutionary War veteran and future statesman?

James Monroe's former house and law office still stand on the hill that bears his name, where they now form part of a residential college.

The University of Virginia honor code, in force since 1842, binds students not to lie, cheat or do what else?

A promise not to steal completes a code that for 180 years expelled students for a single offense, until a 2022 student vote cut the penalty to a two-semester suspension.

UVA chose orange and navy blue in 1888 after a student waved which item a star athlete had brought back from Oxford?

A scarf from a summer rowing trip to Oxford replaced the old grey and cardinal red, colors that had shown up badly on muddy fields.

The Cavaliers nickname of University of Virginia teams recalls Royalist supporters of the king in which conflict?

The English Civil War's defeated Royalists were said to have fled to the Virginia colony for protection, and the university's teams have carried the name since 1923.

Which label did a 1985 book coin for top universities outside the Ivy League, listing UVA among its original eight?

Public Ivy was the phrase of Richard Moll, a former Yale admissions officer, whose first list also named William & Mary, Michigan and Vermont.

Which Northern Virginia university began in 1949 as a branch of the University of Virginia before going its own way?

George Mason began as an extension center for working adults in the capital's suburbs and stayed under Charlottesville's control until the state separated the two in 1972.

Which painter, later known for large flower canvases, took summer art classes at the University of Virginia from 1912?

Georgia O'Keeffe came back for two more summers, and the watercolors she made in those classes were an early step toward a style of her own.

Which Nobel Prize-winning novelist was paid simply to live among students as writer-in-residence at UVA from 1957?

William Faulkner had no teaching duties at all, and he left most of his papers to the university, which now holds the world's largest archive of his work.

Which Army doctor, who later showed that mosquitoes spread yellow fever, was UVA's youngest ever medical graduate?

Walter Reed led the Army team in Cuba that confirmed the mosquito theory in 1901, and thousands of documents from that work are now kept at the university.

Which small Honolulu school beat top-ranked UVA in 1982 in what was then called college basketball's biggest upset?

Chaminade belonged to the small-college NAIA when it won, and the shock helped give rise to the Maui Invitational, a tournament the school has hosted since 1984.

Which football powerhouse lost to UVA in 1995 after winning its first 29 games against league opponents?

Florida State had won every league game since joining, and the upset came under George Welsh, the coach who took Virginia to its first No. 1 ranking in 1990.

Which defending champion did UVA beat in the 2015 College World Series final to win its first baseball national title?

Vanderbilt had beaten Virginia in the final a year earlier, and this time the Cavaliers took the deciding third game 4–2 in Omaha.

Jefferson set the Rotunda at the heart of the University of Virginia to house what, where other colleges put a chapel?

A library at the center was Jefferson's way of keeping learning apart from religious doctrine, and the university opened with no divinity school.

Which athletic league did the University of Virginia join in December 1953 as its eighth member?

The Atlantic Coast Conference gained Virginia only after the Board of Visitors overruled a university leadership that wanted to play down big-time sports and argued against joining.

Lighting of the Lawn, the University of Virginia's winter light and music show, began as a tribute after which event?

The September 11 attacks prompted the first show in 2001, and it has since become one of the most popular traditions of the university's year.

Which University of Virginia graduate business school is named for a former governor who also led the university?

Darden honors Colgate Darden, who was governor of Virginia during the Second World War, ran the university from 1947 to 1959 and pushed for years to get the school founded.

Which district of bars, restaurants and bookstores sits across University Avenue from the University of Virginia?

The Corner began as a literal corner, where the university's main entrance met the road between Staunton and Richmond, and it now runs for several blocks.

The Foxfield Races, a spring ritual for UVA students in Albemarle County since 1978, are what kind of horse race?

A steeplechase meeting is held at Foxfield twice a year: the spring date draws the college crowd, while the fall one is pitched more at families.

Which UVA politics professor founded its Center for Politics and publishes the Crystal Ball election forecasts?

Larry Sabato's newsletter called 433 of the 435 House races correctly in the 2002 midterm elections, along with 32 of the 34 Senate contests.

Who became the first woman to lead UVA in 2010 and was swiftly reinstated after the board forced her out in 2012?

Teresa Sullivan was restored by a unanimous vote after faculty, students and alumni protested and the governor threatened to replace the entire board.

Moses Ezekiel's 1907 statue in front of Old Cabell Hall at the University of Virginia depicts which ancient poet?

Homer stands in a quadrangle formed when three new academic buildings closed off the Lawn's southern view, which Jefferson had left open to the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Which poet, who joined the University of Virginia faculty in 1989, was named US Poet Laureate in 1993 at age 40?

Rita Dove was then the youngest person to have held the post, and in 2016 she gave the university's commencement address.

Which University of Virginia ribbon society, set up in 1878, is the oldest of the secret groups still surviving there?

Eli Banana drew its members from the fraternities and marked them with a ribbon worn on the lapel, which is how the ribbon societies got their name.