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More than 300 people filled the Inova Center for Personalized Health atrium Friday to officially open the University of Virginia’s Northern Virginia Fairfax campus, �鶹�ƽ�� first satellite campus to offer advanced degrees from multiple schools all in one location.

“How exciting is this when you get a chance to cut a ribbon to open up a new gateway, a new gateway to opportunity and a new gateway to the next step in ambition and aspiration, facilitated by education?” keynote speaker Gov. Glenn Youngkin said. “That is worth celebrating.”

The Fairfax campus spreads across 55,000 square feet in the Inova complex and contains six classrooms and several meeting rooms. Nine of �鶹�ƽ�� 12 schools will offer instruction there so working professionals can gain advanced degrees and industry certificates.

UVA President Jim Ryan, right, greets the governor in the lobby of the new UVA Northern Virginia Fairfax campus.

UVA President Jim Ryan, addressing the crowd of administrators, professors, deans, students and well-wishers, said the Fairfax campus is about 106 miles from his Madison Hall office on Grounds, but the location represents a strategic investment.

“It’s no accident that we’re here. We’re not lost,” Ryan said. “This is very intentional. It’s hard to think of another location that’s better suited to host an extension of Grounds and �鶹�ƽ�� mission of serving the commonwealth. Northern Virginia has long been a hub of public service, health care and technology, just to name a few industries.”

While this is the first all-UVA facility to offer instruction from multiple schools, UVA has had a presence in Northern Virginia for decades. The Darden School of Business, for example, operates the Sands Family Grounds in Rosslyn.

Greg Fairchild, dean and CEO of UVA Northern Virginia, tells the crowd that UVA has held a presence in the Washington area for decades – even centuries, if you include University founder Thomas Jefferson’s work on the United States Capitol.

“This is exactly the right place for us to be. This is exactly the right time,” UVA Northern Virginia CEO and Dean Greg Fairchild said. “The University of Virginia has been connected to, and involved in, this region for not just decades, but I will tell you centuries. And it shouldn’t surprise you that there is a dome and a rotunda at the (U.S.) Capitol and there’s a dome and a rotunda in Charlottesville, which you may not remember were being built at the same time.”

“I am really excited,” Fairchild continued, “to hear what you think of our facility when you walk across the way.”

Across the way, the Virginia Gentlemen a cappella group serenaded visitors who ambled into the new campus where representatives of nine schools talked about the offerings in Fairfax.

“Many of our Fairfax students will be working adults with busy personal and professional lives,” Ryan said. “They will study and pursue careers in nursing, education, public safety, cybersecurity, public health, human resources, information technology and more.”