Baylor University is a private, Baptist-affiliated university. Located in Waco, Texas, it is the world’s largest Baptist university and the state’s oldest institution of higher learning. The campus is spread over 735 acres on the banks of the Brazos River. The university’s origin dates back to 1841, when the suggestion of Reverend William Milton Tryon and District Judge R.E.B. Baylor for a Baptist university in the state was accepted by 35 delegates in a Union Baptist Association meeting. As a result a co-educational institution was opened and named in honor of the District Judge. Chartered in 1845 by the Republic of Texas, the university merged with Waco University and moved to the present location, in 1886. Baylor University is made up of 11 academic units - College of Arts and Sciences, George W. Truett Theological Seminary, Graduate School, Hankamer School of Business, Honors College, Law School, Louise Herrington School of Nursing, School of Education, School of Engineering and Computer Science, School of Music, and School of Social Work. It offers baccalaureate, master’s, specialist, and doctoral level programs. Baylor Interdisciplinary Core, Global Christian Ventures, International Masters in Environmental Studies, lifelong learning, and study abroad and exchange programs are some of the special programs available at the university. Prominent among the centers and institutes of the university are the Center for Astrophysics, Space Physics and Engineering Research, Center for Religious Inquiry across the Discipline, Allbritton Art Institute, and the J. M. Dawson Institute of Church-State Studies. Museums on campus include the Martin Museum of Art and Mayborn Museum Complex. In addition, the campus is graced by the Armstrong Browning Library, which with other holding facilities on campus, contains a collection of about 1.5 million bound volumes as well as numerous periodicals, microforms, government documents, and audiovisual materials. Thd Baylor Collections of Political Materials, and the Strecker Museum Library are among the special libraries. Further, Baylor is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, and is one of 274 institutions in the nation, and one of the 10 institutions in the state, with a Phi Beta Kappa chapter.