History and Purpose
The first reference to University Extension at the University of Virginia
appears in an early issue of College Topics, at present a student publication but
originally a publication of the General Athletic Association. Volume XI, number
26, of College Topics, issued April 18, 1891, carried an account of a meeting
of University of Virginia alumni at Columbian University Hall in Washington,
D. C., on April 13 preceding "at which the system of education known as university
extension was discussed by leading professors and learned men." A visiting
speaker on this occasion "thought it eminently fitting and proper that the
meeting in the interest of university extension should be called under the auspices
of the Alumni Association of the University of Virginia, that institution which
was founded by Thomas Jefferson who taught the true democracy of education."
Notwithstanding this early reference to and interest in extension, the work was
not formally introduced in the University until September 1912 when a system of
extension lectures was inaugurated. There followed almost immediately the appearance
of extension publications dealing with subjects which related directly to
current problems in the life of the State. These publications were early organized
into a regular series, The University of Virginia Record Extension Series, the
first number of which appeared in September 1915. In the same year the University
"desirous of extending its services beyond its academic walls to as many
people of the State as possible who cannot have advantage of the resident courses
in the institution" established "an Extension Bureau" as an administrative unit.
By 1920-1921 the activities of this bureau had been increased to include, according
to the University catalogue for that year, (1) Extension Teaching (Extension
credit courses), (2) Extension Lectures, (3) Debate and Public Discussion, (4)
Citizenship Education, (5) Package Libraries, (6) Publications, (7) Visual
Education, (8) Home Reading Courses (in coöperation with the United States
Bureau of Education), and (9) Short Courses. In 1922-1923 the title symbolizing
the service was changed from Bureau of Extension to Division of Extension to
conform to general practice in nomenclature among American universities.
There were few precedents to follow when Extension work was first organized
at the University of Virginia. Unquestionably the inspiration for the
Extension movement in America came from English universities where a system
of extension lectures had been instituted as early as 1865. But the temperament
of the English people and the conditions in the mother country are very different
from those in America. The University of Virginia, like other State universities
in America, had to deal with conditions peculiar to itself and to the State which
created it for its service. Accordingly, first the Extension Bureau and later the
Division of Extension had to experiment and explore. The results have been
constant changes in methods of off-campus instruction due to efforts to profit by
experience and to conform more closely with the University's developing ideas of
its responsibilities in the fields of adult education and university extension.
Much of the Extension Division's attention today is directed to the purpose
of interpreting adult education and of keeping the ideal of continuing education
before the people of the State, and of encouraging local communities and appropriate
organizations to establish adult education institutions, especially for those
unprepared to undertake education on a college or university level. Probably the
most clearly recognized function of the Division is that of bringing education on
the university level to college graduates and other mature adults throughout the
State who are qualified to pursue such courses with pleasure and profit. Especial
effort is also made by the Division to coöperate both with individuals and professional
groups in this State. Many features of its program prophetic of the most
far-reaching results are coöperative undertakings.
Through lectures, publications, press reports, conferences and direct correspondence
the Division discusses and defines the adult education movement
and encourages a general consideration of the problems involved. The more
specific contributions of the Division are organized under three principal bureaus
as follows: Extension Teaching, School Relations and Educational Aids.
