Mount Allison University
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Located in Sackville, New Brunswick, Canada, Mount Allison University is noted for being the first in the entire British Empire to award a baccalaureate to a woman. It also noted for the high number of graduates who went on to become Rhodes scholars.
Mount Allison's origins go back to a boys' academy founded in 1839 by a local Methodist merchant, Charles Frederick Allison. Mr Allison's grandfather had emigrated from Ireland to Canada in the late 1700s, because of the after effects of a dinner with the local government tax collector. Wanting to impress him, the family had set the table with their one valuable possession; silver spoons. After entertaining their guest, the Allisons were informed by the tax collector that if they could afford silver spoons, then they could certainly afford to pay more taxes. The Allisons left Ireland shortly thereafter. The offending spoons are now on display in the main university library.
In June 1839, Mr Allison proposed to the Wesleyan Methodists that a school of elementary and higher learning be built. His offer to purchase a site in Sackville, to erect a suitable building for an academy, and to contribute operating funds of £100 a year for 10 years was accepted, and the Wesleyan Academy for boys opened in 1843. In 1854, a girls' institution, (later known as the "Ladies College"), opened to complement the boys' academy. In July 1862, the degree-granting Mount Allison College was organised. The first two students, Howard Sprague and Josiah Wood, graduated in May 1863. In 1875, Mount Allison awarded a baccalaureate Grace Annie Lockhart, a first in the British Empire.
For nearly a century, Mount Allison functioned as three distinct, mutually enriching parts: the College proper, the Boys' Academy and the Ladies College.
The closure of the School for Girls in 1946, and the Academy in 1953, coincided with a period of expansion and provided much-needed space. In 1958, the beginning of a period of construction and acquisition of buildings eased the strain of overcrowding. At this time, it was decided to reaffirm the traditional aim of providing a high-quality undergraduate liberal arts education, along with continuing to offer professional programmes in already-established fields.
Mount Allison University is committed to the creation and dissemination of knowledge in a community of higher learning, centred on undergraduate students, in an intimate and harmonious environment. Mount Allison offers Bachelor's degrees in Arts, Science, Commerce, Fine Arts and Music, as well as Master's degrees in Biology and Chemistry and Certificates in Bilingualism. Current full time enrollment at the university is about 2,200. The student body at Mount Allison comes from every province in Canada and there are also a large proportion of international students as well. They are attracted by the university's collegiality and small class size.
Mount Allison was the first university in the British Empire to confer a Bachelor's degree to a woman; Grace Annie Lockhart received a Bachelor of Science in 1875. It was also the first university in Canada to grant a Bachelor of Arts to a woman, Harriet Starr Stewart. Mount Allison boasts the oldest university art gallery in Canada; it was the first to wire all of campus to the information highway; it was the first to offer a Canadian Studies programme; and it is a pioneer in the establishment of services for students with learning disabilities.
Mount Allison University has routinely ranked near the top of the Maclean's Magazine Annual Survey of Canadian Universities. In the first survey, it ranked third over-all out of all universities in the country. Since then, the Maclean's rankings have been broken down by the size of institution and Mount Allison has consistently ranked among the top two universities in the small undergraduate category.
Mount Allison has produced more Rhodes Scholars per capita than any other university in the Commonwealth. The latest, nominated in 2005 for the year 2006 was the school's 46th scholar.
The school's team name in Canadian Interuniversity Sport[CIS] is the Mount Allison Mounties. The football team has not fared well in recent years, and as of February 2006 has not won a game in over three years, often losing by a large margin. Many of the school's other varsity teams are not yet at the level to compete in the CIS, and compete in a league against colleges and other smaller universities.
The university has residence facilities which divide the community into social groups, although approximately half of the student body lives off-campus. Still, 85% of first-year students live in the following residences:
- Windsor Hall
- Bigelow House
- Bennett House
- Trueman House (closed as of June 2005)
- Hunton House
- Thornton House
- Edwards House
- Harper Hall
- Campbell Hall
- Bermuda House and the Satellites
Mount Allison students socialize at places like Ducky's, the Tantramarsh Club ("The Pub"), Joey's, Mel's Tea Room, and the Bridge Street Café.
Mount Allison's campus paper, The Argosy, is produced weekly by Argosy Publications Inc., an independent organization funded by the students through an annual fee. The publication dates from 1875, making it one of the oldest continuous publications in Atlantic Canada.
Mount Allison students and alumn are referred to as "Allisoninans." The official abbreviation as recognized by the campus paper is Mt. A.
Mount Allison Mounties
The Mount Allison Mounties are the athletic teams that represent the university in Sackville, New Brunswick.