The University administration is considering how to make use of more than 4,000 acres of farmland south of Charlottesville, and they've asked students and faculty for help.
Administrators are asking faculty and students to submit proposals for how to use Morven Farms, the property donated in 2001 by University patron and media mogul John W. Kluge.
Faculty should submit their proposals by Jan. 3, and students by the first day of class next semester, Jan. 15, for consideration in this round of planning, said Clo Phillips, associate provost for institutional advancement.
But there will be many more opportunities to submit proposals in coming years, Phillips said.
"We expect an ongoing process for many years," she said.
Officials haven't received many suggestions to date, she said.
"We know of some ideas that are out there" circulating among faculty, she said. "We've also had some ideas from students" via e-mail.
In their discussions with Kluge, the University suggested the land could be used for facilities for environmental science, landscape architecture, arts, public service or international outreach, Phillips said.
Administrators will look favorably on proposals that would address the priorities of the Virginia 2020 report, the University's 20-year planning agenda prepared in 2001, she said. Those areas are science and technology, the arts, international activities and public service.
The property includes gardens with 10,000 plant species.
"We'd love to see interdisciplinary or cross-school initiatives," Phillips said.
After a committee of administrators reviews suggestions from students and faculty, they will make recommendations to University President John T. Casteen III.
Morven Farms is located about 20 minutes outside of town, near Ashlawn.
Valued at over $45 million, it is one of the largest gifts ever given to the University.
The property originally included about 7,400 acres, an area larger than the city of Charlottesville. In comparison, the University's contiguous Grounds take up a little over 1,000 acres.
Kluge stipulated when he donated the land that the University must use 749 acres of it for academic purposes, rather than selling it. The University has sold about 2,700 acres so far, generating an $8 million endowment that will be used to support the operation of the rest of the property.
The University is trying to decide how much of the remaining property it should keep, said Tim Rose, CEO of the University of Virginia Foundation.
The U.Va. Foundation owns the University's real estate off Grounds. It controls about $200 million worth of property, ranging from research parks to the Boar's Head Inn to other nearby farms. But Morven Farms is larger than all the other land under the University's control combined.
Students and faculty can submit proposals at www.virginia.edu/uvafoundation/morvenfarms. They can either submit brief suggestions or fill out a more extensive, four-page "preliminary proposal" form.
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