Arcana University is a university in Silver Hollow, Vermont, serving students from different worlds and supernatural traditions. It brings the study of magic and other abilities together with conventional academic subjects. The university replaced College Arcane in 2024, moving to Silver Hollow and broadening its teaching to magical traditions from different worlds. It is affiliated with the University of Vermont (UVM) in Burlington.1 3 5

History

The university's origins lie in College Arcane, a primarily teaching institution offering study through the bachelor's level. In 2024 it became Arcana University and moved to Silver Hollow, extending its teaching to a wider range of magical traditions and adding graduate study and research. The former College Arcane building remains in use, although it no longer serves as the university's main campus.5

Gina Morgan became president in 2024. The university's development brought together a growing student population, increasingly permeable boundaries between worlds, and teachers able to contribute traditions from beyond a single world.2 5

Admission and UVM affiliation

Admission is limited to people who are aware of the supernatural. Students do not have to be supernatural themselves. The university's teaching accommodates both those with supernatural abilities and those who study alongside them.5

All classes are taught on Arcana's campus. Through its affiliation with UVM, every degree program leads to two degrees: a conventional academic degree from UVM and a magical degree from Arcana University. A student receiving a BS in Chemistry alongside a BA in Alchemy completes the full coursework for the chemistry degree as well as the magical studies.5 6

To people unaware of the supernatural, the university appears to be a UVM satellite campus. Its public presentation does not identify magical study or disclose the additional degree.5

Academic role

Arcana's teaching combines conventional scholarship with the practical and theoretical study of supernatural abilities. Its academic catalogue brings together subjects such as ancient languages, anthropology, chemistry, ecology, business, and nursing with fields including alchemy, divination, healing, magical history, and interdimensional studies. Students develop an area of study around their interests, abilities, and talents.4

The catalogue places magical and conventional subjects alongside one another: alchemy with chemistry, healing with nursing and alternative health, and interdimensional studies with physics. The pairings give students a way to approach their abilities through more than one field of study.4

Students may also return to worlds where magic remains hidden. The university therefore teaches with both the supernatural and ordinary parts of their lives in mind, rather than assuming that every world acknowledges the same abilities or traditions.2 4

The motto, Scientia · Potentia · Disciplina Propria (Knowledge · Power · Self-Control), joins academic learning to the responsible use of abilities.5 6 The student body described in the president's letter includes witches, lycanthropes, psychics, sorcerers, and elven and eldritch beings.2

Graduate study and research

Arcana University offers master's and doctoral programs as well as undergraduate degrees. Graduate work places greater emphasis on magical research, supported by teachers from different worlds and traditions. Programs whose work has an appropriate conventional academic application also produce publishable research under UVM.5

Silver Hollow

The university stands within the Green Mountains, in a city whose earlier prosperity came from milling and industry. Silver Hollow's more recent growth began with tourism and the arrival of artists. The university's establishment in 2024 added another source of activity to that economy, although the growth also contributed to increasing home prices.1

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