mcmaster university mcmaster university mcmaster university (mcmaster or mac) is a public research university in hamilton, ontario, canada. the main mcmaster campus is on 121 hectares (300 acres) of land near the residential neighbourhoods of ainslie wood and westdale, adjacent to the royal botanical gardens. it operates six academic faculties: the degroote school of business, engineering, health sciences, humanities, social science, and science. it is a member of the u15, a group of research-intensive universities in canada. mcmaster universityarms of mcmaster universitylatin: universitas macmastrensismottoτὰ πάντα ἐν χριστῷ συνέστηκεν (greek)motto in englishin christ all things consisttypepublic universityestablished23 april 1887 (1887-04-23)affiliationacucarlcoufields instituteiauuniversities canadau15u21endowmentca$727.4 millionchancellorsantee smithpresidentdavid h. farrarprovostsusan tigheacademic staff997administrative staff12,786students37,370 (2021-2022)undergraduates32,119postgraduates5,251locationhamilton, ontario, canada43°15′48″n 79°55′8″wcampusurban, 152.4 hectares (377 acres)colours maroongreynicknamemarauderssporting affiliationsu sports – oua, cuflamascotmac the marauderwebsitewww.mcmaster.ca the university bears the name of william mcmaster, a prominent canadian senator and banker who bequeathed c$900,000 to its founding. it was incorporated under the terms of an act of the legislative assembly of ontario in 1887, merging the toronto baptist college with woodstock college. it opened in toronto in 1890. inadequate facilities and the gift of land in hamilton prompted its relocation in 1930. the baptist convention of ontario and quebec controlled the university until it became a privately chartered, publicly funded non-denominational institution in 1957. mcmaster university has over 27,000 undergraduate and over 4,000 post-graduate students. alumni and former students reside across canada and in 139 countries. its athletic teams are known as the marauders, and are members of u sports. notable alumni include government officials, academics, business leaders, rhodes scholars, gates cambridge scholars, and nobel laureates. history mcmaster university resulted from the outgrowth of educational initiatives undertaken by baptists as early as the 1830s. the predecessor institution of mcmaster was established in 1881 as toronto baptist college. canadian senator william mcmaster, the first president of the canadian bank of commerce, bequeathed funds to endow a university, which was incorporated through a merger of toronto baptist college and the faculty of theology in woodstock college, woodstock, ontario. the merger was formalized in 1887 when the act to unite toronto baptist college and woodstock college was granted royal assent, with the newly incorporated institution being named mcmaster university. in 1887, the widow of william mcmaster, susan moulton mcmaster, conveyed a former family residence to the university for the purpose of establishing a preparatory school for girls. the ladies' department of woodstock college transferred control of its ladies' department to the university, and the building was reopened as moulton ladies' college in 1888. the preparatory school operated until 1958, when it was closed by the university. mcmaster hall, located in toronto, was the original location of the university. the building is currently used as the headquarters for the royal conservatory of music. the new university, housed in mcmaster hall in toronto, was sponsored by the baptist convention of ontario and quebec as a sectarian undergraduate institution for its clergy and adherents. the first courses—initially limited to arts and theology leading to a ba degree—were taught in 1890, and the first degrees were conferred in 1894. as the university grew, mcmaster hall started to become overcrowded. the suggestion to move the university to hamilton was first brought up by a student and hamilton native in 1909, although the proposal was not seriously considered by the university until two years later. by the 1920s, after previous proposals between various university staff, the hamilton chamber of commerce launched a campaign to bring mcmaster university to hamilton. as the issue of space at mcmaster hall became more acute, the university administration debated the future of the university. the university nearly became federated with the university of toronto, as had been the case with trinity college and victoria college. hamilton hall was constructed in 1926 in preparation for the university's move to hamilton. instead, in 1927, the university administration decided to move the university to hamilton. the baptist convention of ontario and quebec secured $1.5 million, while the citizens of hamilton raised an additional $500,000 to help finance the move. the lands for the university and new buildings were secured through gifts from graduates. lands were transferred from royal botanical gardens to establish the campus area. the first academic session on the new hamilton campus began in 1930. mcmaster's property in toronto was sold to the university of toronto when mcmaster moved to hamilton in 1930. mcmaster hall is now home to the royal conservatory of music. professional programs during the interwar period were limited to just theology and nursing. by the 1940s the mcmaster administration was under pressure to modernize and expand the university's programs. during the second world war and post-war periods the demand for technological expertise, particularly in the sciences, increased. this problem placed a strain on the finances of what was still a denominational baptist institution. in particular, the institution could no longer secure sufficient funds from denominational sources alone to sustain science research. since denominational institutions could not receive public funds, the baptist convention of ontario and quebec decided to reorganize the university, creating two federated colleges. the arts and divinity programs were reconstituted as university college and science was reorganized under the newly incorporated hamilton college as a separate division capable of receiving provincial grants. hamilton college was incorporated in 1948 by letters patent under the companies act, although it remained only affiliated with the university. the university traditionally focused on undergraduate studies, and did not offer a phd program until 1949. through the 1950s increased funding advanced the place of sciences within the institution. in 1950, the university had completed the construction of three academic buildings for the sciences, all designed by local architect william russell souter. public funding was eventually necessary to ensure the humanities and social sciences were given an equal place. thus, in 1957 the university reorganized once again under the mcmaster university act, 1957, dissolving the two colleges. its property was vested to mcmaster and the university became a nondenominational institution eligible for public funding. the historic baptist connection was continued through mcmaster divinity college, a separately chartered affiliated college of the university. also in 1957, phd programs were consolidated in a new faculty of graduate studies. construction of the mcmaster nuclear reactor also began in 1957, and was the first university-based research reactor in the commonwealth when it began operating in 1959. in 1965, with the support of the ontario government, the university established a medical school and teaching hospital, graduating its first class of physicians in 1972. in 1968 the university was reorganized under an amended act of the mcmaster act into the divisions of arts, science, and health sciences, each with its own vice-president, while the divinity college continued under its existing arrangement. in 1974 the divisional structure of the university was dissolved and reorganized again under the mcmaster university act, 1976 and the vice-presidents were replaced by a single vice-president (academic). the faculties of business, engineering, health sciences, humanities, science, and social sciences were retained, each under the leadership of a dean. campus mcmaster's oldest buildings are examples of collegiate gothic architecture, with architectural elements such as carved ornamentation, bas-reliefs, recessed arched entryways, and ashlar found throughout these buildings. mcmaster university is in the city of hamilton, ontario, in the golden horseshoe along the western end of lake ontario. the main campus is bordered to the north by cootes paradise, an extensive natural marshland; to the east and west by residential neighbourhoods; and to its south by main street west, a major transportation artery. its northern boundaries are a popular destination for walkers who use the many trails that connect the campus to royal botanical gardens. while the main campus is 152.4 hectares (377 acres), most of the teaching facilities are within the core 12.1 hectares (30 acres). in addition to its main campus in hamilton, mcmaster owns several other properties around hamilton as well as in burlington, kitchener, and st. catharines, ontario. in 2017, the university owned and managed 58 buildings, including both on and off campus housing. the buildings at mcmaster vary in age—from hamilton hall which opened in 1926, to the university's new bertrand russell archives and research centre, which opened 25 june 2018. mcmaster's main campus is divided into three main areas: the core campus, north campus and west campus. the core campus has most of the university's academic, research and residential buildings, while the north campus is made up of the university's athletic precinct and a small amount of surface parking. the west campus is the least developed area of the main campus, containing only a few buildings, surface parking, and undeveloped land. security at the university is provided by special constables employed by mcmaster university security service, a department of the university. panoramic view of mcmaster university's main campus from the southwest, taken in june 2008. this campus has the majority of the university's facilities. academic facilities university hall is one of the oldest facilities still used by the university. the university's campus has gone through continuous development since 1928. the main campus's six original buildings are of collegiate gothic architecture, designed by william lyon somerville, who also laid out the initial campus plan. they are now flanked by over fifty structures built predominantly from the 1940s to 1960s. the largest facility is the mcmaster university medical centre, a multi-use research hospital that is home to the second-largest neonatal intensive care unit and the third-largest child and youth mental health unit in the country. it is connected to the life sciences building and the michael degroote centre for learning & discovery, which houses many well-funded research groups in areas of genetics, infectious diseases, and several specific conditions. the mcmaster nuclear reactor (mnr) has been the largest university reactor in the commonwealth since it began operation and is the second largest research reactor in north america. it is a "pool-type" reactor with a core of enriched uranium fuel moderated and cooled by distilled water. while the mnr's primary purpose is research and the production of medical isotopes, the mnr serves students in nuclear engineering, medical and health physics, and other applied radiation sciences. the university provides a wide range of irradiation, laboratory, and holding facilities, which include a cyclotron, an accelerator, a small-angle neutron-scattering detector, and wide-angle neutron scattering facilities. the cyclotron is used for the production of fluorine-18, and is used for research purposes, particularly the development of novel molecular imaging agents. library and museum the mcmaster museum of art holds the highest attendance figures for a university-affiliated museum in canada. the university's library system is a member of 31 organizations, including the association of research libraries. around 2.8 million articles were downloaded from the library system's electronic journal collection during the 2016 academic year. the university library employs 138 professional, and support staff. the library's resource expenditure for the 2016–2017 academic year was approximately $11.5 million, with 81 per cent of the budget allocated to serial and e-resource subscriptions, 9 per cent on hard copy acquisitions, and 10 per cent to membership and collections support. the library system include four libraries housing 1,274,265 paper books and 3,689,973 total resources, including videos, maps, sound recordings, and microfilm. mills library houses the humanities and social sciences collections, with a wide range of print and digital resources. innis library houses content which supports the academic and research interests of the degroote school of business. thode library houses academic material of various disciplines of science and engineering, while the health science library houses books pertaining to medical sciences. the william ready division of archives and research collections at mcmaster university consist of papers of canadian publishers; british personalities and of canadian literary figures such as farley mowat, pierre berton, matt cohen, and marian engel. it includes the archives of bertrand russell, and of labour unions. the mcmaster museum of art's (mma) principal role is to support the academic mission of mcmaster university and to contribute to the discourse on art in canada. the museum has the highest attendance figures for a university-affiliated museum in canada, with 30,000 visitors in 2016. established in 1967, the museum houses and exhibits the university's art collection. as of 2015, that collection of 5,971 pieces holds a value of $98.7 million. the collection includes works by gustave courbet, claude monet, camille pissarro, walter sickert and vincent