I first posted this elsewhere, but I feel like sharing it here too. I should note that this academy is for a more modern setting than most fantasy. On top of that not all students of this school become actual adventurers. Some become occult investigators, detectives, soldiers or elite guards. This institute even serves as an officer training for the surrounding municipalities' law enforcement agencies. I'd alos make the academy relatively new, having been established within life of it's youngest professors.
As for the big, red, axe-wielding guy, I'll base him off Exalted's
Stern Whip of Industry. Basically he's a golem made from magical red jade, melted and cast into a large man-like shape and infused with the soul of a righteous and willing warrior. He acts as a defender and the weak, especially exploited laborers, a slayer of supernatural evil and friend of workers the world over. The war golem's magical construction grants him easier use of supernatural combat styles than the mere mortals he teaches.