Acadia College

Acadia University

Former names	Queen's College (1838–1841) Acadia College (1841–1891)
Motto	In pulvere vinces
Motto in English	"By effort (literally: in dust), you conquer"
Type	Public Liberal Arts University
Established	1838
Affiliation	currently non-denominational; initially founded by Baptists
Endowment	$96 million
Chancellor	Libby Burnham
President	Ray Ivany
Administrative staff	211 full-time, 37 part-time (as of 2008)
Students	3,765
Undergraduates	3,574
Postgraduates	191
Location	Wolfville, Annapolis Valley, Nova Scotia, Canada
Campus	250 acres (101 ha)
Colours	Garnet and blue
Athletics	CIS – AUS
Nickname	Axemen and Axewomen
Affiliations	AUCC, IAU, CUSID, CBIE, CUP
Website	http://www.acadiau.ca

Acadia University is a predominantly undergraduate university located in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada with some graduate programs at the master's level and one at the doctoral level. The enabling legislation consists of Acadia University Act and the Amended Acadia University Act 2000.

The Wolfville Campus houses Acadia University Archives and the Acadia University Art Gallery. Acadia offers over 200 degree combinations in the Faculties of Arts, Pure and Applied Science, Professional Studies, and Theology. The student-faculty ratio is 15:1 and the average class size is 28. Open Acadia offers correspondence and distance education courses.

Acadia began as an extension of Horton Academy (1828), which was founded in Horton, Nova Scotia, by Baptists from Nova Scotia and Queen's College (1838). The College was later named Acadia College. Acadia University, established at Wolfville, Nova Scotia in 1838 has a strong Baptist religious affiliation.

It was designed to prepare men for the ministry and to supply education for lay members.

The two major Universities of the day in Nova Scotia were heavily controlled by Denominational structures. King's College (University of King's College) was an Anglican School and Dalhousie University, which was originally non-denominational, had placed itself under the control and direction of the Church of Scotland. It was the failure of Dalhousie to appoint a prominent Baptist pastor and scholar, Edmund Crawley, to the Chair of Classics, as had been expected, that really thrust into the forefront of Baptist thinking the need for a College established and run by the Baptists.

In 1838, the Nova Scotia Baptist Education Society founded Queen's College (named for Queen Victoria). The College began with 21 students in January 1839. The name "Queen's College" was denied to the Baptist school, so it was renamed "Acadia College" in 1841, in reference to the history of the area as an Acadian settlement. Acadia College awarded its first degrees in 1843 and became Acadia University in 1891, established by the Acadia University Act.