"Our intention is that its professors shall be of the first order in their respective lines which can be procured on either side of the Atlantic."

--Thomas Jefferson


Jefferson's concern with the quality of education offered at the University led to the selection here and abroad of a group of able young scholars as the first professors. Through the years they were succeeded by an extraordinary contingent of outstanding scholars and dedicated teachers who were remembered fondly through the years by colleagues and former students alike. The dozen profiled in this exhibition are typical of the hundreds who shaped the education and future of thousands of students.