HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY (Founded in Toronto in 1887)
Historically, McMaster University is the outgrowth of educational work initiated by Baptists in central Canada as early as the 1830's. Named after Senator William McMaster (1811-1887), who bequeathed substantial funds to endow a university which was incorporated under the terms of an act of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in 1887, the new University, housed in McMaster Hall in Toronto, offered courses in arts and theology. The first courses leading to the BA degree were taught in 1890, and the first degrees were conferred in 1894.Changed conditions led to the transfer of the University from Toronto to Hamilton in 1930 and the forty-first academic session opened on the present site. The University's lands and new buildings were secured through gifts from graduates, members of the churches of the Baptist Convention of Ontario and Quebec, and citizens of Hamilton.
Until 1957, the Governors of the University were elected by the Baptist Convention of Ontario and Quebec. In that year, the University became a non-denominational institution "which, while recognizing the Judeo-Christian tradition in which it was founded, ... (is) free in its management and discipline from the control of any religious body". The historic Baptist connection was continued through the separate incorporation and affiliation of a theological school, McMaster Divinity College.
The McMaster University Act (1976) established a Board of Governors with thirty-seven members. While the Act provides that the management and control of the University's property, revenue, business, and affairs are vested in the Board and places the University's academic work primarily under the aegis of the Senate, each body may make recommendations to the other on matters under its jurisdiction. Grants from the Province of Ontario and student fees constitute the major portion of the University's operating budget. While the Federal Government provides the lion's share of funding for the University's research activities, significant support is received from the Provincial Government, and private corporate sectors. Other sources of funding are derived from endowments and investment income as well as grants from the Hamilton-Wentworth Region and gifts from corporate and private donors in the general community.
While the work of the University during its first decades was, for the most part, concentrated on undergraduate education, a strong emphasis on graduate work developed in the 1950's and burgeoned during the decade that followed. Doctoral programmes first in Science and Engineering and later in the Humanities and Social Sciences reflected the University's growing strength in research and advanced studies. Since 1969 the School of Graduate Studies has administered the work offered for the degrees MA, MSc, MEng, MBA, MHSc, and PhD. The University is organized into six active faculties: Business, Engineering, Humanities, Science, Social Sciences (which includes the School of Social Work) and Health Sciences (which comprises the School of Medicine, the School of Nursing and the School of Rehabilitation Science), as well as a Faculty of Theology. McMaster also offers a wide range of part-time degree and non-degree programmes and thus provides an additional service to members of the community who are unable to devote themselves to full-time studies.
The University's current enrolment of full-time students is approximately 13,650 of whom over 1,580 are graduate students. This high proportion of candidates for advanced degrees reflects McMaster's commitment to research which has gained so many of our departments national and international recognition through the excellence of their scholarly work. The Faculty of Health Sciences has also attracted much interest because of the innovative elements of its educational programmes.
McMaster is one of Hamilton's major employers with a complement of approximately 1,100 full-time faculty and 1,700 support staff and 300 hourly staff. We are also one of the larger purchasers of goods and services in the community. Thus, in addition to the University's educational and cultural programmes, it contributes significantly to the economy of the metropolitan Hamilton-Wentworth area.
The University's activities are concentrated on an attractive campus adjoining the Royal Botanical Gardens and yet within easy reach of downtown Hamilton. The central campus is reserved for pedestrian traffic. There are over forty-six buildings providing classrooms, laboratories, seminar rooms, libraries, and administrative and faculty offices.
Board of Governors
June 24, 1996
MUFA - pdk
October 1999