File:00 00006 1a.jpgMcMaster University is a medium-sized research-intensive university located in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. 2004 enrollment was 16,771 full-time and 3,599 part-time students.
McMaster, or Mac, is a well-known institution with respected programs in six diverse faculties: science, health sciences, engineering, humanities, social science, and business. The campus is located on 300 acres (1.2 km²) of land in the residential neighbourhood of Westdale adjacent to the Royal Botanical Gardens lands in Cootes Paradise.
McMaster is particularly renowned for its academic strengths in the health sciences; the University has been named Canada's most innovative "medical-doctoral" university eight times in the past 11 years in Maclean's annual ranking of Canadian universities. A recent C$105m donation to its medical progam from billionaire Michael G. DeGroote means that it may soon have one of the top two or three medical schools in the nation.
History
McMaster was founded in 1887 by Senator William McMaster, the first president of the Canadian Bank of Commerce and the person for whom the university is named. It was founded as Ontario's Baptist university.
The University was originally located in Toronto. The school came very close to becoming affiliated with the University of Toronto, much as other schools, such as Victoria College and Trinity College did. A large donation of money and land in Hamilton allowed it to maintain its independence and it moved to its current location in 1930.
McMaster has been a secular public institution since 1957, although the separately-incorporated McMaster Divinity College continues the institute's religion heritage on a portion of the campus.
Miscellany
The University's colours are maroon and grey, and have been since 1912.
Its sports teams are named the Marauders.
Student government is provided by the McMaster Students Union.
See also: List of Ontario Universities