alma mater

Alma mater (Latin “nourishing/kind”, “mother”; pl. [rarely used] ) is a term that was used in ancient Rome as a title for various mother goddesses, especially Ceres or Cybele, and later in Christianity for the Virgin Mary. In many modern languages, it is principally heard as a term of academia. It may also refer to the school, college or university from which an individual has graduated or which they have attended, and is usually the one from which one has received a bachelor’s degree or associate degree– i.e., where one is considered an alumnus/alumna. The term may also refer to a song or hymn associated with a school. (nourishing mother of studies) is the motto of the University of Bologna, the oldest continuously operating university in Europe. Other European universities, such as the Alma Mater Lipsiensis in Leipzig, Germany, or Alma Mater Jagiellonica, Poland, have also used the expression in their names. The College of William and Mary, located in Virginia, has been called the “Alma Mater of a Nation” because of its ties to the founding of the United States. Alma Mater Europaea is an international university founded by the European Academy of Sciences and Arts in 2010. Its headquarters are in Salzburg, Austria, but most of its 800 students study at university’s Slovenian campus called Alma Mater Europaea – Evropski center, Maribor. At Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, and the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, British Columbia, the main student government is known as the Alma Mater Society.