The college was founded in 1935 on the estate of namesake William S. Hofstra (1861–1932), a lumber entrepreneur of Dutch ancestry, and his second wife Kate Mason (1854–1933). It began as an extension of New York University (NYU) under the name Nassau College – Hofstra Memorial of New York University. It became the fourth and most recent American college or university named after a Dutch American, and the only one that occurred in the 20th century.[9]
The extension had been proposed by a Hempstead resident, Truesdel Peck Calkins, who had been superintendent of schools for Hempstead. In her will, Kate Mason provided the bulk of their property and estate to be used for a charitable, scientific or humanitarian purpose, to be named in honor of her husband. In the spring of 1934, the estate was offered to be converted into a sanitarium for those suffering with polio by the Georgia Warm Springs Foundation, specifically offering to President Franklin Roosevelt, but nothing had materialized from it.[10] Two friends, Howard Brower and James Barnard, were asked to decide what to do with the estate. Calkins remarked to Brower that he had been looking for a site to start an institution of higher education, and the three men agreed it would be an appropriate use of the estate. Calkins approached the administration at New York University, and they expressed interest.[11]
The college was founded as a coeducational, commuter institution with day and evening classes. The first day of classes at Nassau-Hofstra Memorial College was September 23, 1935, with 150 students enrolled and an equal divide between men and women.[12] The first class of students was made up of 159 day and 621 evening students. The tuition fee for the year was $375. The college obtained provisional charter status, and its official name was changed to Hofstra College on January 16, 1937.
Hofstra College separated from New York University on July 1, 1939, and was granted an absolute charter on February 16, 1940.[13]
In 1939, Hofstra celebrated its first four-year commencement, graduating a class of 83 students. The first graduates had strong feelings for the new institution. When they were allowed to choose whether they would receive degrees from New York University or Hofstra, they overwhelmingly chose Hofstra degrees. Academic recognition of Hofstra was affirmed when the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools accepted Hofstra for membership on November 22, 1940. Early in 1941 the college was elected to membership in the American Association of Colleges.
In 1950, Calkins Gymnasium was the site of the first Shakespeare Festival. It was performed on a five-sixths-sized replica of the Globe Theatre. The festival is now performed on the Globe Stage, the most accurate Globe Theatre replica in the United States.[14]
With the approval of the New York State Board of Regents, Hofstra became Long Island's first private university on March 1, 1963, thus becoming Hofstra University. Also in that year, the Board of Trustees resolved to make Hofstra architecturally barrier-free for individuals with physical disabilities, stating that all students should have access to higher education. This later became federal law, and Hofstra was subsequently recognized as a pioneer. Other forward-thinking programs and events followed, including the New Opportunities at Hofstra (NOAH) program, which was established the following year. NOAH is Hofstra's Arthur O. Eve Higher Education Opportunity Program.
In 1963, Mitchel Air Force Base was closed by the military and declared surplus property. The university asked for part of the area to be used for educational purposes, and was subsequently granted 110 acres (0.45km2). Remnants of the concrete runways from the Air Force base are now parking lots for Hofstra's North Campus. The Hofstra University Museum was also established that year.
In 1968, a three-bank Aeolianpipe organ was donated to Hofstra by John T. Ricks and Jane Ricks King, in the name of their late parents, Mr. and Mrs. Jesse Ricks.[15] The organ was originally located in the former Ricks estate, Chanticlare, in Flower Hill, New York.[15] Jesse Ricks was the former president and chairman of Union Carbide, and Mrs. Ricks was a volunteer church organist who often held organ performances at the estate for friends on Sundays.[15][16] The organ was scheduled to be installed in the Hofstra Playhouse the following fall, and enabled organ music majors at Hofstra to practice on-campus - as opposed to at the nearby Episcopal Cathedral of the Incarnation.[15]
The university reorganized its divisions into “schools” in the 1960s. Hofstra was authorized by the Board of Regents to offer its first doctoral degrees in 1966. In 1968, the Hofstra Stadium became the first to install Astroturf outdoors in the East, and the New York Jets began holding their summer training camp to the North Campus, until 2008, when the Jets moved to Florham Park, New Jersey.
Dutch heritage
The university's founder, William S. Hofstra, was proud of his Dutch roots and that is reflected throughout Hofstra University's campus.
Hofstra's original logo was a seal created by professor of art Constant van de Wall in 1937. The insignia was derived from the official seal of the reigning house of the Netherlands, the House of Orange-Nassau. Used with the permission of the monarch of the Netherlands, the seal also included the Dutch national motto Je Maintiendrai, meaning “I stand steadfast” (literally “I shall maintain”) in French.[19]
Hofstra's logo flag
Hofstra's flag is modeled after the Netherlands' Prince's Flag, and its orange,-white-and-blue pattern was altered to feature the school's colors of gold and navy blue. In 1939, the Dutch ambassador to the United States left behind a flag of the Netherlands before he returned to his country for World War II, which influenced Hofstra's school colors, university seal and coat of arms.[20]
Hofstra also pays homage to its Dutch heritage with a miniature windmill structure near the admissions building and the planting of thousands of tulips in the springtime. In 1985, the commissioner to the Queen of the Netherlands presented the university with the Hofstra University Tulip, a flower hybrid named after the school. It is a focal point of Hofstra's annual springtime Dutch Festival.[21]
Joan and Donald E. Axinn LibraryThe Unispan and dormitory towersJohn Cranford Adams PlayhouseHofstra Hall
The Arboretum and Bird Sanctuary at Hofstra University has a collection of diverse trees and reflecting its Dutch origin, and displays an array of rare and colorful tulips in the Spring.[24]
The campus has approximately 117 buildings on 244 acres (99ha), and is located in the Uniondale section of Hempstead, a mile east of the town center.[25] The part of the campus located south of Hempstead Turnpike (NY Route 24) and west of California Avenue is located in Hempstead Village. Hofstra also offers an MBA program as well as other classes in New York City from a center in Manhattan.[26][27] The campus is roughly 7 miles (11km) from the Borough of Queens in New York City, and you can see the entire New York City skyline from the 10th floor of the library.[28][29]
Hofstra University is accredited in 28 academic areas and 32 total areas.[37] Hofstra University offers 185 undergraduate and 170 graduate program options.[25]
Hofstra was ranked tied for 160th among national universities and named the 92nd 'best value school' by U.S. News & World Report for 2020, with its undergraduate engineering program ranked tied for 33rd among schools where doctorates are not offered.[38]U.S. News also rated the part-time MBA program tied for 154th and the graduate programs in education as 133rd, among others.[39]
The Stuart and Nancy Rabinowitz Honors College,[40] whose admissions policy is more selective than that of the university as a whole,[41] offers rigorous educational opportunities for high-achieving students. The School for University Studies provides a program for students whose abilities are not reflected in standardized test scores; while New Opportunities at Hofstra (NOAH) is designed for students whose educational progress to date has been restricted by limited educational opportunities or economic status.
In the fall of 2011, the university welcomed the first class of students to its new Hofstra Northwell School of Medicine. In 2012, it established its school of engineering and applied science, featuring programs that partner with regional industry leaders,[42] and its school of health sciences and human services, housing a new master of public health program.[43] In August 2017, after a $61 million donation to the school, it was renamed the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell.[44]
The Zucker School of Medicine was ranked No. 55 in primary care and No. 71 in research, according to U.S. News & World Report, despite only being 2 years since its first class graduated.[45]
Hofstra's successful bid to host this presidential debate in 2008 provided the springboard for a broad, campus-wide program called "Educate '08," featuring a year of free lectures, conferences and other events about politics and public policy. The program featured national media and political figures as guest speakers, including George Stephanopoulos, Maureen Dowd, Ari Fleischer, James Carville and Mary Matalin. "Educate '08" gave way to "Define '09", a program which brought to campus various speakers to examine the impact of the historic election of the nation's first African-American president and the policy challenges facing the Obama Administration.
In September 2009, Hofstra University President Stuart Rabinowitz announced the appointment of two senior presidential fellows at the university's Peter S. Kalikow Center for the Study of the American Presidency: Republican strategist and former presidential advisor Edward J. Rollins and former Vermont governor, presidential candidate and Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean. In October 2011, the Commission on Presidential Debates announced it had chosen Hofstra for its second 2012 presidential debate on October 16, 2012, the "town hall" debate (between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney).[46] Hofstra University hosted the first 2016 presidential debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton on September 26, 2016.[47]
Members of the press in Hofstra's filing center ahead the first presidential debate of 2016
Admissions
Hofstra maintains that standardized tests are not the most important predictors of academic success at the university and it is test optional for admission. For the class entering in 2023, 35% of enrollees submitted test scores and the average scores for the SAT were 1230-1410 and for the ACT were 27-33.[48] Hofstra admitted 62% of applicants with enrolled students having an average 3.7 GPA.[49]
Schools and colleges
Hofstra College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, also known as Hofstra College, or Hofstra College of Arts & Sciences[50]
Peter S. Kalikow School of Government, Public Policy, and International Affairs
Hofstra University teams were nicknamed the Flying Dutchmen from 1935 until 2001.[23] The school's official team name became "The Pride" in 2001, referring to a pair of lions which became the school's athletic mascots in the late 1980s. The Pride nickname evolved from the Hofstra Pride on- and off-campus image campaign that began in 1987, during the university's dramatic recovery and growth. This followed a financial crisis in the 1970s that forced the layoff of more than 100 employees. In 1977 Hofstra wrestler Nick Gallo won the 126 lb weight class at the NCAA National Championship and was a member of the 1976 and 1980 U.S. Olympic Freestyle Wrestling teams, he was also given the title "Most Outstanding Wrestler" in the 1977 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships.[37] The school's revival was credited in large part to the man who led the university from 1976 to 2001—educator, government official and former Hofstra football star Dr. James M. Shuart. Hofstra Stadium, the school's main outdoor athletic facility, has been named James M. Shuart Stadium since 2002.
Prior to 2008, the New York Jets held summer training camp at their on-campus headquarters before moving to their new headquarters in Florham Park, New Jersey. The area has since been used for the construction of the medical school building, which was completed in 2015.[53]
On December 3, 2009, the university announced it was terminating the football program. Under NCAA rules, any football players who chose to transfer to other schools were eligible to play immediately, and not subjected to normal residency waiting periods. Scholarship-holders who wished to stay at Hofstra were permitted to keep their scholarships.[54] Funds previously used for the football program went into the creation of the medical school, and enhancing a variety of programs, including hard sciences and engineering.[55]
On February 26, 2011, Hofstra Senior Day, the university retired the basketball jersey number 22 to honor senior Charles Jenkins before the end of the season. Jenkins, the school's all-time leading scorer, ranked fifth in the nation at 23.3 points per game last season (as of 22February2011[update]) and was the front-runner to win Colonial Athletic AssociationPlayer of the Year honors. "I think it's very rare," head coach Mo Cassara said by phone to reporter Jeff Eisenberg. "We have 25 other athletes that have had their numbers retired here at Hofstra, but none of them have ever been retired while they were still here at their last games. He's been such an integral part of this university on so many levels that we thought that was the highest honor we could give him." No other Hofstra athlete in any sport has received the same honor.[56]
The Hofstra Chronicle is the only student newspaper at Hofstra University. Established in 1935 and supported by the student activity fee and advertising,[57] it is published in tabloid format every Tuesday evening each semester, with additional content available online.[58]
Student radio station
The university operates Long Island's oldest public radio station, WRHU-FM (88.7). The non-commercial station was founded in 1950 as WHCH, a campus-limited station, and received its broadcast license on June 9, 1959, using the call letters WVHC. The station became WRHU (for Radio Hofstra University) in 1983. WRHU currently serves as the radio home of the Long Island Nets and New York Islanders, producing over 675 NHL broadcasts since 2010.[59] It is the only student-run radio station to receive four Marconi Awards from the National Association of Broadcasters.[59][60]
The University of Rochester is a private research university in Rochester, New York, United States. It enrolls approximately 6,800 undergraduates and 5,000 graduate students. It was founded in 1850 and moved into its current campus, next to the Genesee River in 1955. With approximately 30,000 full-time employees, the university is the largest private employer in Upstate New York and the 7th largest in all of New York State.
Brandeis University is a private research university in Waltham, Massachusetts. Founded in 1948 as a non-sectarian, coeducational institution sponsored by the Jewish community, Brandeis was established on the site of the former Middlesex University. The university is named after Louis Brandeis, the first Jewish Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.
Hempstead is a village located in the Town of Hempstead in Nassau County, on Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 59,169 at the 2020 census, making it the most populous village in New York.
Belmont University is a private Christian university in Nashville, Tennessee. Descended from Belmont Women's College, founded in 1890 by schoolteachers Ida Hood and Susan Heron, the institution was incorporated in 1951 as Belmont College.
Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn in New York City, United States. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls over 17,000 undergraduate and over 2,800 graduate students on a 35-acre campus as of 2019.
LIU Post is a private university in Brookville, New York. It is the largest campus of the private Long Island University (LIU) system.
Centre College is a private liberal arts college in Danville, Kentucky. It is an undergraduate college with an enrollment of approximately 1,400 students. Centre was officially chartered by the Kentucky General Assembly in 1819. The college is a member of the Associated Colleges of the South and the Association of Presbyterian Colleges and Universities.
Chapman University is a private research university in Orange, California. Encompassing eleven colleges, the university is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity". The school maintains its founding affiliations with the Christian Church and the United Church of Christ, but is a secular university.
The David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex, also known as Mack Sports Complex, or just "The Mack" for short, is a 5,023-seat multi-purpose arena in Hempstead, New York. Replacing the Hofstra Physical Fitness Center, the arena opened on January 2, 2000, as Hofstra Arena and was renamed for Mack in 2006.
The Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University is a law school located in Hempstead, New York, on Long Island, affiliated with Hofstra University. Founded in 1970 and accredited by the ABA in 1971, the school offers a JD, a joint JD/MBA degree, and LL.M degrees in American law and family law. It also offers online LL.M and MA degrees in Health Law & Policy, an online LL.M in American Law, and an online MA in American Legal Studies. The Law School is on the southern portion of the 244-acre (0.99 km2) Hofstra University campus. The school was renamed to the Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University in September 2011.
Long Island Jewish Medical Center is a clinical and academic hospital within the Northwell Health system. It is a 807-bed, non-profit tertiary care teaching hospital serving the greater New York metropolitan area. The 48-acre (19 ha) campus is 15 miles (24 km) east of Manhattan, on the border of Queens and Nassau Counties, in Glen Oaks, Queens and Lake Success, New York, respectively.
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by a group of New Yorkers led by Albert Gallatin as a non-denominational all-male institution near City Hall based on a curriculum focused on a secular education. The university moved in 1833 and has maintained its main campus in Greenwich Village surrounding Washington Square Park. Since then, the university has added an engineering school in Brooklyn's MetroTech Center and graduate schools throughout Manhattan. NYU has become the largest private university in the United States by enrollment, with a total of 51,848 enrolled students, including 26,733 undergraduate students and 25,115 graduate students in 2019. It is one of the most applied-to schools in the country and admissions are considered selective.
Staten Island University Hospital (SIUH) is a member hospital of Northwell Health. It is a major tertiary referral center in Staten Island, New York City.
North Shore University Hospital is a part of Northwell Health, New York State's largest healthcare provider and private employer. It is a primary teaching hospital for the Zucker School of Medicine, offering residency programs, postgraduate training programs and clinical fellowships. It is located in Manhasset, New York, in Nassau County, on Long Island.
The history of New York University begins in the early 19th century. A group of prominent New York City residents from the city's landed class of merchants, bankers, and traders established NYU on April 18, 1831. These New Yorkers believed the city needed a university designed for young men who would be admitted based on merit, not birthright or social class. Albert Gallatin, one of the founders of the university, described his motivation in a letter to a friend: "It appeared to me impossible to preserve our democratic institutions and the right of universal suffrage unless we could raise the standard of general education and the mind of the laboring classes nearer to a level with those born under more favorable circumstances." For the school's founders, the classical curriculum offered at American colonial colleges needed to be combined with a more modern and practical education. Educators in Paris, Vienna, and London were beginning to consider a new form of higher learning, where students began to focus not only on the classics and religion, but also modern languages, philosophy, history, political economy, mathematics, and physical science; so students might become merchants, bankers, lawyers, physicians, architects, and engineers. Although the new school would be non-denominational – unlike many American colonial colleges, which at the time offered classical educations centered on theology – the founding of NYU was also a reaction by evangelical Presbyterians to what they perceived as the Episcopalianism of Columbia College.
Stuart Rabinowitz was the 8th president of Hofstra University. Before assuming the presidency, he was dean of Hofstra Law School for over a decade and before that was a distinguished professor of law.
The Frank G. Zarb School of Business, located at Hofstra University in Hempstead, NY, is noted for its dual AACSB accreditations in business and accounting. The school is named after alumnus Frank Zarb, '57 B.B.A., '62 M.B.A., who was the chair and CEO of the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) and a senior partner of Lazard Freres & Co. The current dean of the business school is Dr. Janet A. Lenaghan.
Rabbi Moshe Gottesman was born in Canada and has worked in Israel, Chicago and Long Island, New York. He held the position of dean for the Hebrew Academy of Nassau County for almost 20 years. Gottesman was also the director of tours for Camp Sdei Chemed International for over 35 years. Gottesman has received many awards, including, the Honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from Yeshiva University.
The Zucker School of Medicine is the medical school of Hofstra University in the town of Hempstead on Long Island, in the U.S. state of New York. The academic institution was established in 2008 by Hofstra University and the North Shore-LIJ Hospital system which was rebranded as Northwell Health in 2015. The Zucker School of Medicine enrolls 99 students each year and offers an MD and PhD. It also offers a joint MD—PhD degree; joint MD—MPH ; joint MD—MBA ; and joint MD—OMS. It also offers a dual-degree "4+4" program comprising an undergraduate degree followed by automatic matriculation to the School of Medicine.
The Lawrence Herbert School of Communication is the communications school at Hofstra University. It has 11 distinct degrees ranging from Journalism and Public Relations to Filmmaking and Radio Production.
↑ As of June 30, 2020. PRESIDENT'S STATE OF THE UNIVERSITY (Report). National Association of College and University Business Officers and TIAA. February 19, 2021. Retrieved February 20, 2021.
↑ "N.Y.U. TO ESTABLISH BRANCH IN NASSAU: Purchase of 16-Acre Tract in Hempstead, With 28-Room Mansion, Revealed. CENTRE TO OPEN IN FALL Courses to Lead to Degrees -- Site Once Offered to Warm Springs Foundation". The New York Times. April 14, 1935. ProQuest101533093.
↑ "150 START STUDIES IN NASSAU COLLEGE: Student Body Evenly Divided Between Men and Women in New N.Y.U. Branch. FACULTY HAS 15 MEMBERS Football and Its 'Commercialism' Taboo -- Rugby Will Be the Game, Says Dean". The New York Times. September 24, 1935. ProQuest101349036.
↑ "DR. CALKINS ELECTED HOFSTRA'S PRESIDENT: Hempstead College Ends Link With N.Y.U. Today". The New York Times. July 1, 1939. ProQuest101349036.
↑ Stein, Joshua David (September 16, 2016). "Dinner at TAO with the 'FoodGod' Jonathan Cheban". GQ. Retrieved December 30, 2017. Cheban was born in Russia [sic] in 1974 but grew up across the George Washington Bridge in Fort Lee, New Jersey.
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