2010 - Jefferson Scholars Foundation

2010
“I really feel a Fellows
community now.”
Lanier Sammons, Edgar
Shannon Fellow
Rick Kellogg (left) and Jimmy Wright officially open the new Jefferson Scholars
Foundation buildings.
Over five years ago, the leaders of the Jefferson Scholars
Foundation realized that if it were to succeed in attracting the most qualified
Ph.D. students to the University, it must create an intellectual community that
fostered interdisciplinary research and dialogue. One way to strengthen this
community was to build it around a Jefferson Fellows Center.
The Foundation immediately began to
search for a suitable site. After exploring
the possibility of locating the center next
to Alumni Hall, the Foundation purchased
property on the corner of Maury Avenue and
Clarke Court, near the Carl Smith Center
and Scott Stadium. The property had been
home to a series of fraternities over the last
half-century, most recently Beta Theta Pi.
The house, designed by local Charlottesville
architect Eugene Bradberry, had been vacant
for three years and had suffered extensive
structural damage and neglect.
The Foundation engaged VMDO, an
award-winning local architecture firm, to
design the center. After extensive analysis,
VMDO and the Foundation determined
that the existing structure would not meet
the needs of the Foundation and determined
“Every detail of this building was being
tailored to our needs as students. We
were frequently asked how we plan to
use the space and how our academic
and social needs could be met there.”
Carolyn Beans, Terrence D. Daniels Family
Fellow (Biology)
to build an entirely new facility. VMDO
turned to the Foundation’s Architecture
Committee and current Jefferson Fellows to
The canopies that extend from Foundation Hall provide shelter on
the patio as well as artistic shadows.
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