Consisting of both a graduate and an undergraduate program, the College comprises the liberal arts and humanities section of the University.

On July 1, 2014, Ian Baucom began his tenure as the Buckner W. Clay Dean of the College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences after serving 17 years in Duke University's Department of English.

[3] Dean Baucom was a professor of English and directed the John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute at Duke.

[7] The program was designed to attract applicants deemed by the admissions committee to comprise the very top academic echelon of the prospective incoming class; the significant academic freedoms and other benefits afforded the small selection of applicants honored with the offer of an Echols Scholarship was meant to entice students likely to be accepted into Ivy League and other top schools to choose UVA in their stead.

Numerous members of the Department of English,[9] which includes the top-ranked Program in Creative Writing,[10] have distinguished themselves nationally and internationally, most notably Pulitzer Prize for Poetry recipient Rita Dove, on the faculty since 1989, who served as United States Poet Laureate from 1993 to 1995 and has garnered numerous honors, among them the 1996 National Humanities Medal, the 2009 Fulbright Lifetime Achievement Medal,[11] 24 honorary doctorates[12] and the 2011 National Medal of Arts.

[15] Also of the History Department is White Burkett Miller Professor of History Philip Zelikow, who is currently serving on President Obama's Intelligence Advisory Board[16] James Landers, a professor in chemistry and microbiology, has been recognized with the 2008 Innovation Award from the Association for Laboratory Automation.

[17] Many more recognitions, from sources such as the National Science Foundation, are awarded to individual students for their academic and research achievements in their respective fields.