For other uses see Alma mater (disambiguation). Alma mater statue in front of Low library of Columbia University in New York City Alma Mater statue at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Alma mater (Latin: "nourishing mother") pronounced UK: /lm metr/ US: /lm mtr/) was used in ancient Rome as a title for various mother goddesses especially Ceres or Cybele1 and in Christianity for the Virgin Mary. General term

In modern times it is often a school college or university attended during one's formative years1 which is often interpreted to mean from where one earned one's first degree or doctorate or both.2 The term may also refer to a song or hymn associated with a school.2

The expression is almost always used in the singular but the Latin plural is almae matres.

Alma Mater Studiorum ("Nourishing Mother of Studies") is the motto and original name of the University of Bologna3 the oldest continually operating university in the world and other European universities such as the Alma Mater Lipsiensis in Leipzig Germany have also used the expression in their names.

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. Monuments

On the campus of Columbia University on the steps of Low Library there is a well known bronze statue of Alma Mater by Daniel Chester French. The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign also has an Alma Mater statue by Lorado Taft. A mural in Yale University's Sterling Memorial Library depicts alma mater as a bearer of light and truth standing in the midst of the personified arts and sciences painted in 1932 by Eugene Savage. Outside the United States there is another sculpture of Alma Mater on the steps of the monumental entrance to the Universidad de La Habana in Havana Cuba. The statue was cast in 1919 by Mario Korbel and installed in its current scenic location in 1927 under the direction of architect Raul Otero. See also Alumnus Notes a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary 3rd edition a b Definition of alma mater at Merriam-Webster Online University of Bologna External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Alma mater Look up alma mater in Wiktionary the free dictionary. Definition of alma mater at Merriam-Webster Online