in 2019 to enable the university to begin expanding the study of African-American history and traditions in Virginia.
== Campus ==
Situated on 300 acres (1.2 km2) in Virginia Beach, the university is separated into five villages. Bray Village (Village I) and Allen Village (Village II) offer combined living-learning environments built on the Jeffersonian model, with multi-purpose buildings. Brock Village (Village III) and Honors Village (Village IV) are solely housing units. Coastal 61 was added as a fifth village in 2020.
The Robert "Bobby" T. Williams Trail, leading from the Blocker Youth Center to Lake Taylor, was dedicated in October 2019 in memory of the 1975 graduate who was killed in the Virginia Beach Municipal Center shooting in May 2019.
The Greer Environmental Sciences Center, dedicated in 2017, received the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s National Conservationist of the Year Award in 2018. The facility is a state-of-the-art center for teaching and research. The 18-acre Wilson Arboretum was established …
