NoVA Academic/Research Opportunities

The expansion of a UVA | Northern Virginia presence is featured in UVA’s 2030 Plan as Key Initiative #10, Broadening Our Horizons. This initiative will be symbiotic between UVA and the Northern Virginia metropolitan area, which includes Washington, DC, and Maryland. As stated in the 2030 Plan, UVA | Northern Virginia “provides a significant opportunity to increase our impact by growing our research footprint, reaching more learners, and developing new partnerships.” Further, UVA | Northern Virginia will offer academic programming that meets the learning and skill-building needs of professionals in the Northern Virginia region, including technology, government, policy, education, and engineering. Programming will feature all learning modalities – in-person, online, and hybrid instruction – and engage in a One and All UVA ethos, which emphasizes UVA as a university with presence in Northern Virginia but also underscores the uniqueness of each entity at UVA.  Programming will include a range of educational programs – professional master’s degrees, executive education programs, and certificate programs – with direct integration of global private and public sector leaders as well as individual learners (with an emphasis on UVA alums).

The goals of UVA | Northern Virginia SIF award are to:

1. Developed a strategic marketing brand for UVA in the Northern Virginia metropolitan area.
2. Increase UVA educational programs in Northern Virginia.
3. Engage with business and government entities in Northern Virginia.
4. Expand UVA’s research footprint in Northern Virginia.

UVA | Northern Virginia was announced publicly in September 2021, coincident with the appointment of Dean and CEO Gregory Fairchild. This began the SIF funding, and we are now beginning of 4th year (Y4). The milestones below represent the work the team has done up to Y3 (FYs 22-24) as well as our work priorities as we begin Y4 (FY25). 

UVA | Northern Virginia made exceptional progress on our goals in Y3:

From our marketing launch in Y2 and with the hiring of an Assistant Director of Marketing and Communications in Y3, we now have placed ads featured in over 10 outlets as well as earned media placements in the Washington Business Journal and Daily Progress (with extensive follow-on coverage across local networks). These strategically placed advertisements expand brand awareness for UVA | Northern Virginia and have had positive influence on enrollments for NOVA-based degree programming across UVA Schools. Most notable from NOVA branding in the commencement of the renovation of UVA | Northern Virginia’s Fairfax home that will open for operation in January 2025.

In Y3, we added an additional six corporate clients in our custom-designed executive programming. We also launched two open enrollment programs: the Customer Experience Leadership Institute (CELI) for customer service leaders in the government sector (an initial partnership with Darden’s executive education unit), and the Military Master Planning Institute for military planners (a partnership with the School of Architecture). We also launched the Northern Virginia Summer Inspire Program, a non-residential suite of educational programs for rising 10th-12th graders. For Y3, the above programs accrued $1.2M in revenue.

After the successful launch of our first degree program (Accelerated Master’s System Engineering, School of Engineering) in Y2, we utilized Y3 to solidify commitments for new School programming in NOVA. In Fall 2025, we will launch 4 new non-degree, for-credit certificates: Real Estate Design and Development (A-School), Public Health (Medicine), Public Leadership (Batten) and Public Policy (Batten). By the end of Y4, we are expected to have programming in NOVA from 10 out of 12 UVA Schools.

Finally, the budget and program plans have been revised to reflect a five-year timeline. These dates have been reframed to July 2021 – June 2026, as we are requesting a no-cost extension.  This will allow us to utilize the SIF monies to provide support for Schools in a focused manner as we begin operations of our new campus.