2.1

University Administrative Structure

To better understand the University’s administrative structure, it is helpful to consult a graphic presentation of its plan of organization.

The Board of Visitors

In 1819 an act of the General Assembly of Virginia established the University as a public corporation with the name “The Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia.” The governing body of this corporation is styled the “Board of Visitors.” The seventeen members of the Board of Visitors are appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Senate and House of Delegates of Virginia for four-year terms. At least twelve members must be from the Commonwealth at large and at least twelve must be alumni or alumnae of the University; at least one must be a physician with administrative and clinical experience in an academic medical center. Each year, the Board also appoints a full-time student at the University of Virginia as a nonvoting representative. The Board may also appoint a faculty member at the University as a nonvoting representative of the Board for a term of one year. 

The Officers of the Board of Visitors are: the Rector of the University of Virginia, the Vice Rector, the President of the University, the Chief Operating Officer of the University, the Provost of the University, and the Secretary to the Board of Visitors.

The duties and powers of the Board are exercised in order to advance the University’s mission; see section 1.1, “Mission Statement of the University of Virginia.” For more information on the major powers and duties of the Board, see the Manual of the Board of Visitors of the University of Virginia. 

The President

The president is responsible to the Board of Visitors as the principal administrative officer of the University and the chief executive officer of the Academic Division. The president is also:

  • a member of the General Faculty and of the faculty of each of the schools and serves as the president of the Faculty Senate;
  • responsible for operating the University in conformity with the purposes and policies determined by the Board of Visitors; 
  • an adviser to the Board and recommends policies and programs, including educational programs and new degrees, that will best promote the interests of the University; and
  • active in determining the internal administrative structure of the University, appointing or providing for the appointment of all administrative officers (except the vice presidents and the chancellor of the University of Virginia’s College at Wise, who are nominated to the Board by the president for election).

A full list of the president’s duties can be found in the Manual of the Board of Visitors of the University of Virginia.

Senior Administrative Officers

The president delegates authority to senior administrative officers who are responsible for the major functional areas. In the University’s organizational structure, offices associated with athletics, budget, development, health affairs, student affairs, and technology report to the president through different vice presidents. When possible, subtitles are hyperlinked to the webpages belonging to each senior administrative office.

Executive Vice President and Provost

The executive vice president and provost (provost) is the chief academic officer of the University. The provost is charged by the Board of Visitors and the president with overseeing education, research, and public service in the schools of the University, in the University’s libraries and museums, and in numerous other academically related units of the University.

The budgets of these units flow through the Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost. The provost also oversees the recruiting, hiring, retention, performance, promotion, and tenure of faculty members.

The provost charges vice provosts with oversight of various aspects of the office’s role and mission, as follows:

  • Vice Provost for Academic Affairs
    The vice provost for academic affairs provides leadership and oversight for academic programs, planning and compliance, and the core academic functions of the University. In collaboration with executive and school leadership, the Faculty Senate, and Student Affairs, the vice provost works to advance institutional objectives, including those identified in the University’s strategic plan. Responsibilities include program review and approval; academic enhancement programs for undergraduate, graduate, and professional students; University-wide academic advising and support; academic accessibility, and all aspects of state and federal academic compliance, as well as accreditation by the Southern Association of College and Schools, including the Quality Enhancement Plan. The vice provost for academic affairs manages the following areas, among others: Institutional Research and Analytics; Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs; the Office of Undergraduate Research; the Office of Citizen Scholar Development; The Dathel and John Georges Student Center; Office of Summer and Special Academic Programs; University Press; Contemplative Sciences Center; the Institute for Practical Ethics and Public Life; and the Rare Book School.  
     
  • Vice Provost for Academic Initiatives
    The vice provost for academic initiatives is charged with advancing select University-wide strategic priorities that enhance the academic mission of the University of Virginia. The vice provost collaborates with a broad array of academic, administrative, and operational units to develop and implement University-wide academic initiatives. In partnership with the vice president for research, senior leaders, school leaders, and provost office colleagues, the vice provost works to advance the University’s culture of research, especially in relation to the University’s strategic plan. The vice provost for academic initiatives also manages special projects in response to emerging needs or priorities for the University and the provost’s office.
     
  • Vice Provost for Academic Outreach 
    The vice provost for academic outreach plans and leads a distinctive University-level outreach program tied to the University’s mission of public citizenry and service. The vice provost undertakes this work in four ways: fostering transformative public interest research, collaborative public partnerships, strategic public service, and the training of tomorrow’s civic leaders. The vice provost collaborates with deans and faculty on incorporating public interest research, service, and experiential learning into the undergraduate curriculum, and hosts programs with public and private partners to envision and enact future research needs. The vice provost for academic outreach manages the following areas: Virginia Humanities, the Center for Liberal Arts, and Morven. The University’s ROTC programs also report through the vice provost. Additionally, the vice provost oversees the Public Service Pathways program. 
     
  • Vice Provost for the Arts & Director of the Virginia Film Festival
    The vice provost for the arts advocates for the arts departments and programs throughout the University, advancing the arts as an essential and strategic component of the University's mission. The vice provost facilitates research, creative production, teaching, and service in the arts departments and programs of schools, in two museums, with the Virginia Theater Festival, and by student-driven arts organizations, initiating and coordinating cross-disciplinary collaborations. Significant outreach efforts include the Speaker for the Arts series, artistic residencies, and special appearances and public facing programs designed to augment and enrich the community’s artistic offerings, which have significant economic as well as cultural impact in the region. The vice provost for the arts manages the following units: the Fralin Museum of Art at the University of Virginia; the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection; the UVA Arts Box Office; and WTJU, the University’s radio station, and is also the director of the Virginia Film Festival, the Commonwealth’s official film festival and the premier festival in the region. 
     
  • Vice Provost for Enrollment
    The vice provost for enrollment develops and implements enrollment management and student support strategies. With other leaders and staff members in the offices of Student Financial Services, Undergraduate Admission, and the University Registrar, the vice provost for enrollment provides an enhanced and cohesive enrollment experience for students throughout all phases of the student lifecycle. The Virginia College Advising Corps also reports to the vice provost.
     
  • Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs
    The vice provost for faculty affairs is the liaison between the provost's office and the schools in areas of faculty recruitment and retention, promotion and tenure, professional and leadership development, and strategies for achieving faculty diversity. The vice provost collaborates with deans on school faculty hiring plans, facilitating cluster and targeted hiring in areas of strategic importance, and works closely with human resources to ensure that faculty recruiting and hiring are supportive of schools’ needs. This includes chairing the provost’s promotion and tenure committee and assuring that school and institutional policies for promotion and tenure are consistent with the strategic direction of the University. The vice provost for faculty affairs manages the following areas: Faculty Development; the Center for Teaching Excellence; the Dual Career Program; and UVA Acts.
     
  • Vice Provost for Global Affairs
    The vice provost for global affairs is the primary lead of global relations, developing and overseeing global initiatives and partnerships. The vice provost is responsible for advancing the international profile and reputation of the university, collaborating with leaders in research, advancement, education abroad, financial aid, and departments, programs, centers, and administrative units that have significant global components. The vice provost is focused on increasing the number and improving the quality of international students attending UVA; working with schools to attract distinguished international faculty and staff; fostering global research and engagements; collaborating with global education units to build a continuum of educational offerings; and developing a wide array of services, programs, experiences, and strategic partnerships that promote global imagination within the university community. The vice provost for global affairs manages the following areas: International Studies, Global Internships, the Center for Global Health Equity, the University’s China Office, and the Center for Global Inquiry and Innovation.
     
  • Vice Provost for Online Education and Digital Innovation
    The Vice Provost for Online Education and Digital Innovation (VP-OEDI) is a newly created  position with primary responsibility for developing and implementing UVA’s digital education strategy. The VP-OEDI will help to shape UVA’s vision for online education. The VP-OEDI will partner with academic units to develop and deliver online offerings that serve undergraduate, graduate, and professional students, as well as alumni and lifelong learners, across the Commonwealth, the nation, and the world. The VP-OEDI will also work with the schools and the Center for Teaching Excellence to pilot and assess curricular, pedagogical, and scheduling innovations enabled by digital technology. 
     
  • Vice Provost for Planning
    The vice provost for planning provides the provost and the senior members of the provost’s office with collaborative leadership, counsel, and capacity on matters of comprehensive academic, financial, and operations planning. The vice provost for planning is responsible for supporting the provost and collaborating with senior provost’s office staff across a wide range of functional domains, with the aim of building a robust culture of academic governance and leadership, as well as corresponding structures and processes to direct resources effectively, efficiently, and accountably in service of the academic mission.

Executive Vice President for Health Affairs

The executive vice president for health affairs is responsible for the School of Medicine, the School of Nursing, the Claude Moore Health Sciences Library, and the UVA Medical Center. The executive vice president oversees the clinical enterprise that includes clinical faculty and staff of the UVA Medical Center, UVA Children’s Hospital, the Transitional Care Hospital, multiple ambulatory clinics, home health care, and regional clinical programs throughout Virginia. The EVP for health affairs is also the chief executive officer of UVA Health. 

Additional UVA Health leadership roles are described on its website, and include:

  • Chief Executive Officer, UVA Medical Center
  • Chief Executive Officer, UVA Physicians Group
  • President, UVA Physicians Group
  • Chief Financial Officer, UVA Health
  • Dean, School of Medicine (also Chief Health Affairs Officer, UVA Health)
  • Dean, School of Nursing
  • Director, Claude Moore Health Sciences Library

Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer

The executive vice president and chief operating officer (COO) is charged by the Board of Visitors and president with overseeing the non-academic support areas of the University and supporting special initiatives that have a University-wide impact. 

The COO charges numerous vice presidents with oversight of particular aspects of the organization’s operations, including but not limited to the following:

Vice President for Research

The Vice President for Research (VPR) is responsible for the integration and enhancement of research activities across UVA’s twelve schools and multiple research centers. The VPR leads university-wide strategic growth activities, including multidisciplinary groups in environmental sustainability, innovation, energy systems, and biosciences. The VPR also coordinates the various University units that comprise the research infrastructure, including the acquisition of research funding, the planning and development of academic research space, research commercialization, the incubation of new companies and recruiting of corporate research partners to local research parks, and public outreach.

Offices overseen by the VPR include, but are not limited to, the following:

Vice President for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Community Partnerships

The vice president for diversity, equity, inclusion and community partnerships assists and monitors all units of the University in their efforts to recruit and retain faculty, staff, and students from historically underrepresented groups and to provide affirmative and supportive environments for work and life at the University of Virginia. The office provides leadership, information, consultation, coordination, and assistance to the various units and constituencies within the University in an effort to embrace diversity and equity as pillars of excellence, synergize actions at all levels of the institution, and cultivate inclusiveness and mutual respect throughout the community. This office also reaches beyond the University to establish beneficial relationships with individual and institutional partners who share mutual goals and interests. The vice president oversees the Office for Equal Opportunity and Civil Rights (EOCR), Business Operations and Grants Management, and University and Community Relations and Development. In 2020, the vice president launched the Inclusive Excellence (IE) framework to synergize and support the University’s collective diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging efforts.

Additional Vice Presidents include the:

Other Senior Administrative Officers

In addition to these vice presidents, other senior officers and University Counsel report to the president and serve as members of the president’s senior cabinet. The chief audit executive reports directly to the Board of Visitors. Other officers who report directly to the president include the:

  • chancellor of the University of Virginia’s College at Wise,
  • director of the White Burkett Miller Center of Public Affairs, and the 
  • secretary to the Board of Visitors.

Divisions

The president and vice presidents manage a diverse enterprise that is organized for budgeting purposes into three operating divisions:

  • The Academic Division is responsible for the central functions of instruction, research, and public service.
  • The Health System provides health care services. 
  • The University of Virginia’s College at Wise is a four-year residential college located in southwestern Virginia. 

Academic Division 

Approximately 3,000 full-time faculty members are employed by the University to conduct research, care for patients, and teach in programs leading to bachelor’s, master’s, doctoral, and first professional degrees. The twelve schools of the University are as follows: 

The University also has many institutes and centers, among these are: the Biocomplexity Institute, the Brain Institute, the Environmental Institute, the Paul and Diane Manning Institute of Biotechnology, the Karsh Institute of Democracy, the Center for Politics, and the White Burkett Miller Center of Public Affairs. 

UVA|Northern Virginia is the University’s campus in Northern Virginia. 

The University hosts two academic organizations with statewide, regional, and national affiliations: Virginia Humanities and the University of Virginia Press. Several federal and state centers of professional activity are also located in the University community. They include the state’s Division of Forestry, the Division of Mineral Resources, the Virginia Highway and Transportation Research Council, the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, and the Federal Executive Institute. The U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center and School teaches military law to lawyers in the armed forces. 

Health System

Comprehensive health care services are provided by the University of Virginia Health System, which consists of the University of Virginia Medical Center, School of Medicine, School of Nursing, University Physicians Group, and Claude Moore Health Sciences Library. The UVA Health System operates more than forty clinics at numerous sites within and distant from the main precinct of the Medical Center. The Medical Center (originally called University Hospital) was established in 1901 to complement the teaching and research activities of the School of Medicine and to provide hospital and related services to a broad region.

University of Virginia’s College at Wise 

This four-year undergraduate college was opened in 1954 as a two-year branch of the University under the name Clinch Valley College. In 1999, the General Assembly changed the name of Clinch Valley College to the University of Virginia’s College at Wise. It functions to some extent as an independent institution, although its chancellor reports to the president of the University of Virginia and its Board of Visitors. It currently enrolls approximately 2,000 students.