Virginia Wesleyan University

Virginia Wesleyan University is a comprehensive university of the liberal arts and sciences located in Virginia Beach, Virginia, United States. Founded in 1961 by the Virginia Conference of The United Methodist Church, the university enrols approximately 1,500 students annually in undergraduate, graduate, and online programs. An additional 510 non-credit continuing education students enrol annually through the Robert F. Boyd Institute, the Center for the Study of Religious Freedom, the Center for Sacred Music, and the Westminster/Wesleyan Lifelong Learning Institute. Virginia Wesleyan transitioned from a college to a university in 2017.

The Virginia Wesleyan University campus is also home to the Chesapeake Bay Academy, an educational institution founded in 1989 that educates and guides students with learning disabilities, including attention disorders (ADHD), dyslexia, and dysgraphia, and the Tidewater Collegiate Academy, an innovative laboratory for teaching and learning that extends from the primary grades through high school.

Through academic collaboration with local arts and sciences partners, on-site learning experiences are also provided at the Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center in Virginia Beach (the university and aquarium jointly own and operate "The Ocean Explorer," a marine science research vessel); The Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk; Busch Gardens Williamsburg; and the Norfolk Botanical Garden.

The school was chartered in 1961 as Virginia Wesleyan College under the initiative of Methodist minister Joseph S. Johnston, later the college's first president. It became a university in 2017