The University celebrated the opening of the John L. Nau III Center for Civil War History Friday.
The Center was made possible by donations from John and Bobbie Nau.
"This gift will solidify and strengthen the University's position as a preeminent leader in American history teaching and research," University President Teresa Sullivan said.
The creation of the center has been several months coming, said History Prof. Gary Gallagher, the director of the new center.
"The gift came at the end of last semester, but [the Center] was officially launched last Friday," said Gallagher. "The goal of the Center is to deepen the ways in which the University of Virginia offers instruction in the era of mid-19th century United States history."
The Nau Center will primarily exist to facilitate research and provide opportunities for both undergraduate and graduate students of history, History Prof. Elizabeth Varon said.
"It's first and foremost a research center to make it clear that undergraduates can play a very important role in our collective knowledge and give them some opportunities for hands on experience," Varon said.
The center will also provide summer internship opportunities at four historical sites across Virginia, including the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park, the Richmond National Battlefield Park, the Virginia Historical Society and the President's Commission on Slavery and the University, Varon said.
"[The internships] give you an opportunity to do first hand research, to explore career opportunities in the field and to work on preservation and public history," Varon said. "If those go well, that's something we might expand."
The Nau Center will be hugely beneficial to both graduate and undergraduate students as a means of support for academic initiatives, Gallagher said.
"It's a substantial gift that will allow us to build on a [department] strength and make it an even bigger strength," Gallagher said.
The creation of the center is a way to draw in students who share an interest in the 19th century Civil War period with donors Bobbie and John Nau.
"Bobbie and I are passionate about 19th-century American history, the American Civil War and U.Va," John Nau said. "This gift is a meaningful way to combine our interests, making sure the University will always be host to the greatest scholarship anywhere on one of the most important eras in American history."
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