Hollins University is a four-year institution of higher education

Higher education

Higher, post-secondary, tertiary, or third level education refers to the stage of learning that occurs at universities, academies, colleges, seminaries, and institutes of technology...

, a private university located on a 475 acres (1.9 km²) campus on the border of Roanoke County, Virginia

Roanoke County, Virginia

Roanoke County is a county located in the U.S. state of the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is part of the Roanoke Metropolitan Statistical Area and located within the Roanoke Region of Virginia. As of the 2000 census, the population was 85,778. As of 2010, the population was 92,376...

 and Botetourt County, Virginia

Botetourt County, Virginia

As of the census of 2000, there were 30,496 people, 11,700 households, and 9,114 families residing in the county. The population density was 56 people per square mile . There were 12,571 housing units at an average density of 23 per square mile...

. Founded in 1842 as Valley Union Seminary in the historical settlement of Botetourt Springs

Botetourt Springs, Virginia

Botetourt Springs is a mineral spring and was a historical settlement on the border of Roanoke County, Virginia and Botetourt County, Virginia, United States. The spring is located from Fincastle...

, it is one of the oldest institutions of higher education for women

Timeline of women's colleges in the United States

The following is a timeline of women's colleges in the United States. These are institutions of higher education in the United States whose student populations are comprised exclusively or almost exclusively of women. They are often liberal arts colleges...

 in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

.

Hollins has since evolved into a full university with more than 1000 enrolled undergraduate and graduate students. As Virginia's first chartered women's college

Women's Colleges in the Southern United States

Women's colleges in the Southern United States refers to undergraduate, bachelor's degree-granting institutions, often liberal arts colleges, whose student populations consist exclusively or almost exclusively of women. Salem College is the oldest female educational institution in the South and...

, all undergraduate programs are female-only.