Elmer Gray Stadium

Abilene Christian University

Type	Private
Established	1906
Religious affiliation	Churches of Christ
Endowment	$380 million
Chancellor	Royce Money
President	Phil Schubert
Provost	Robert L. Rhodes
Academic staff	200
Students	4,427
Location	Abilene, Texas, U.S.
Campus	Urban, 208 acres (84 ha)
Colors	Purple and White
Athletics	NCAA Division I – Southland
Nickname	Wildcats
Mascot	Willie the Wildcat
Affiliations	CCCU NAICU
Website	www.acu.edu

Abilene Christian University (ACU) is a private, non-profit university in Abilene, Texas, affiliated with Churches of Christ. ACU was founded in 1906, as Childers Classical Institute. Abilene Christian University's fall 2014 enrollment was 4,427 students of which 777 were graduate students.

Abilene Christian University grew from an idea held by A.B. Barret and Charles Roberson to form a school in West Texas. The Churches of Christ in Abilene agreed to back the project. J.W. Childers sold Barret land and a large house west of the town and lowered the price with the stipulation that the school would be named in his honor. Childers Classical Institute opened in the fall of 1906, with 25 students. It initially included a lower school starting in the seventh grade.

When Jesse P. Sewell became president of the institute in 1912, the school began using "Abilene Christian College" on all its printed material. In 1920, the school paid the Childers family $4,000 and formally changed the name.

The Optimist, the university's student-produced newspaper, was founded in 1912. The Prickly Pear, the school yearbook, was founded in 1916. The JMC Network, a converged student media operation, was created in 2008 to produce all student-led news media. The campus literary-arts magazine (now The Shinnery Review, formerly The Pickwicker) has been in production since 1933.

In 1927, with the help of a $75,000 contribution from the city of Abilene, the board of trustees purchased 680 acres (280 ha) northeast of Abilene. In addition, residents donated 75 acres (30 ha) of adjoining land. The new campus opened in the fall of 1929.

From the time of its founding to the present, the university has been governed by a board of trustees made up of members of the Churches of Christ. Abilene Christian University has historically been the largest organization in the United States that has time set aside each class day for chapel. Chapel attendance is required, absent an approved exemption, and those students failing to meet the requirement over a period of more than one semester may be subject to suspension.

Abilene Christian College first received school accreditation in 1971 when it became an accredited member of the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.