The New Century
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| Members of the class of 1861 attend the University's centennial celebration. |
In Jefferson's original plan the faculty, counseled by a
Board of Visitors, governed the University. By the turn of
the century, the school had grown larger and more complex,
and the Visitors saw the need to appoint a president. When
Woodrow Wilson, a University of Virginia law graduate yet
to be president, declined the offer, they turned to Edwin
Anderson Alderman, well known as an innovative educator in
the South and a great orator across the nation. Alderman was
inaugurated on Founder's Day, April 13, 1905. Within
a year, Alderman had seen to the opening of a school of education
at the University.
Alderman remained president until his death in 1931. He oversaw
a university growing in size and reputation. Between 1904
and 1929, the faculty grew from 48 to 290 and student enrollment
grew from 500 to 2,450. The University celebrated its centennial
in 1921, commemorating the first Board of Visitors meeting
in 1819 but forced to delay the ceremonies two years, until
after the end of World War I. Eight hundred alumni returned
to their beloved Lawn and made a parade of more than one hundred
newfangled automobiles up Monticello mountain to pay homage
to the founder. |
434.924.0311 / 
