Hollins University

Hollins University is a four-year private institution of higher education located on a 475-acre (1.92 km2) campus on the border of Roanoke and Botetourt counties in the U.S. state of Virginia. Founded in 1842 as Valley Union Seminary in the historical settlement of Botetourt Springs, it is one of the oldest institutions of higher education for women in the United States.

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, all undergraduate programs are female-only. Men are admitted to the graduate-level programs.

Hollins is known for its undergraduate and graduate writing programs, which have produced Pulitzer Prize-winning authors Annie Dillard, current Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey, and Henry S. Taylor. Other prominent alumnae include pioneering sportswriter Mary Garber, 2006 Man Booker Prize winner Kiran Desai, Goodnight Moon author Margaret Wise Brown, Lee Smith, photographer Sally Mann, and Ellen Malcolm, founder of EMILY's List.

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