In the long history of StFX, a lot has changed—but the important things, the things that make us who we are, have stayed the same. During the first half of the 19th century, close to a million farmers, labourers and tradesmen came from the British Isles to the shores of Nova Scotia to seek a better life, joining the Acadians and Aboriginal peoples already settled there. StFX was born to serve this mixed bag of people who had ambition and little else. StFX offered the only university-level education in the region at that time and, partnered with the Roman Catholic diocese, maintained strict academic standards in order to give those who wanted it the best education possible.

Over the course of the following decades StFX flourished, expanding its curriculum and bringing the mission of service across Canada and abroad. You might say the school was finding its identity. In the 1930s, that identity was solidified with The Antigonish Movement—a program whose mandate aligned perfectly with StFX’s original principles of community outreach and service to society. In 1959, the Coady International Institute was formed, allowing those principles to be taken to all corners of the globe.

StFX has since grown into a renowned institution that works hard to maintain the qualities it was founded on. We’ve seen numerous changes—changes in faculty, changes in the student body, changes in our academic programs. But, while most of Canada's smaller universities have either abandoned their roots or consolidated into larger institutions, we’ve vigorously maintained our autonomy, guarded our character, and upheld the same traditions of freedom and service that inspired the men and women stepping onto the eastern Nova Scotian shores a century and a half ago. At StFX, we’re excited about where we’re headed. But we also like to remember where we came from.