The University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, or simply "The University of Vermont,  is a public university located in Burlington, Vermont. The university was chartered at the impetus of Ira Allen in 1791, under the name "University of the Green Mountains," or in Latin Universitas Viridis Montis (UVM), and is the sixth oldest college in New England, after Brown University, Castleton State College, Dartmouth College, Harvard College, and Yale University. Ira Allen founded the University the year Vermont achieved statehood and ceased being the Vermont Republic. In 1865, the university merged with Vermont Agricultural College (chartered November 22, 1864, after the passage of the Land-Grant College Act). The official name of the combined entity has been "The University of Vermont and State Agricultural College" ever since. UVM is known for its programs in the biological, environmental, agriculture and life sciences, and in its past was referred to as a "Public Ivy."