Hofstra University

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Hofstra University
Hofstra University Logo
Motto Je maintiendray
Archaic French meaning “I stand steadfast”
Established 1935
Type Private, nonsectarian, coeducational university
Endowment US$257.2 million
President Stuart Rabinowitz
Faculty 1,256
Students 13,000
Undergraduates 8,067
Postgraduates 4,933
Location Hempstead, New York, United States
Campus 240 acres (1.0 km²)
Athletics NCAA Div. 1(A)
Colors Hofstra Blue and Hofstra Gold
Nickname The Pride (formerly Flying Dutchman)
Website www.hofstra.edu
Hofstra Seal

Hofstra University is a private insitution of higher learning located in Hempstead, Long Island, New York (USA) founded in 1935 on the basis of the estate of wealthy lumber magnate William Hofstra and widow Kate Williams Hofstra. The school began as a college of New York University and became an independent school, Hofstra College, several years later. It became Hofstra University in 1963.

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[edit] Academic programs and the campus

In addition to its core Liberal Arts offerings, Hofstra University includes schools of business and law and an emerging School of Communication. Hofstra's Department of Journalism, Media Studies and Public Relations [JMSPR] is among the fastest-growing in the country, training and educating students to work in a rapidly changing media world. In 2001, the prestigious Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications granted its accreditation to the program - one of the youngest departments to be so accredited. The School of Communication boasts a highly regarded Audio/Video/Film Department (AVF) which offers top notch education in the fields of radio, film, and television theory, production, performance, and development. It is also hosts a renowned annual festival of William Shakespeare plays,which have been held for more than half a century. The regular Shakespeare productions are performed in Hofstra's own Globe Theatre replica in the John Cranford Adams Playhouse (named for the educator who served as Hofstra University president during its first period of major growth.) The Joan and Donald E. Axinn and the Hofstra Law Libraries have over 1.2 million volumes and are accessible through an automated on-line catalog. Axinn Library is housed in a ten-floor tower and twin three-story pavilions. Students have free access to the circulating and reference book collections, which are in open stacks.

Hofstra University campus also comprises an arboretum, one of only 430 in the United States. The grounds host over 635 different species and varieties of trees. The campus also features a two acre (8,000 m²) bird sanctuary. Hofstra's campus has become a registered member of the American Association of Botanical Gardens and Arboreta.

In the 1960s, the onetime commuter school acquired land on the north side of Fulton Avenue in Hempstead, part of Mitchel Field, a former Air Force base. The new north campus became the home of both the school's new student center and six high-rise residence halls -- Alliance, Bill of Rights, Constitution, Declaration of Independence (now Estabrook) Hall, Enterprise, and Freedom (now Vander Poel) Hall The original towers were simply named "Tower A", "Tower B", etc. They were officially renamed in 1982 with their patriotic titles but referred to by the initials by some veteran Hofstra staffers. Other Hofstra residence halls include the Netherlands (for freshmen), Liberty/Republic (for honors students), Nassau/Suffolk, Colonial Square, the New Complex and Twin Oaks Apartments (located a half-mile west on Fulton Avenue).

The New York Jets football team has its corporate headquarters at Hofstra and holds its summer camp there. It uses privately owned fields at Hofstra to practice and train. In 2005, the Jets announced a preliminary deal to move its offices and training facilities to New Jersey.

The university operates Long Island's oldest public radio station, WRHU-FM (88.7). The noncommercial broadcaster 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.

[edit] Athletics and Mascots

Hofstra University long had the unofficial nickname of the Flying Dutchmen (or Dutchmen or just Dutch); the school's official team name is now "The Pride", which started out referring to the school's booster organization, but has become linked to the collective term for lions, starting when a pair of lions became the school's athletic mascots in the late 1980s. The official change of the name came in the summer of 2005 as a way to keep pride in the school's roots and its steps toward the future.

The Pride nickname evolved from the Hofstra Pride on-and off-campus imaging campaign that began in 1987, during the university's dramatic recovery and growth. That had followed a major financial crisis in the 1970s that forced the layoff of more than 100 employees. The school's revival was credited in huge 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.

The school has featured a pair of lions on its heraldic logo since at least the 1940s -- first two male lions, then (since 1987) a male and female, informally known as Kate and Willy. The school's marketing logo (unveiled in 2004) for its advertising campaigns subs out a shield and an H for the lions, but retains the school colors of blue and gold.

The New York Jets hold summer training camp at their on-campus headquarters, but the team will be leaving for a new complex in New Jersey in 2009.

[edit] Greek Life

About five percent of the male student population of the university are members of a fraternity, and about six percent of the female students are members of a sorority. Greek lettered organizations were established early in the university's history in the 1930's. Several local and regional fraternal organizations were formed at the university including: Crown & Lance, Epsilon Sigma, and Manchester House fraternities, along with Alpha Theta Beta, Delta Chi Delta, Phi Epsilon and Wreath & Foil (nationally Phi Sigma Sigma in 1989) sororities. The first chapter of national, historically African American, Greek lettered were charted in the mid-1970's and they included Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. and Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. Latino Greek lettered organizations established chapters at the university in the 1990's, starting with Phi Iota Alpha Fraternity.

Panhellenic Council

Alpha Epsilon Phi, Alpha Theta Beta, Alpha Phi, Delta Gamma, Delta Phi Epsilon, Delta Chi Delta, Delta Gamma, Phi Epsilon, Phi Sigma Sigma, Sigma Delta Tau, Sigma Sigma Sigma.

Inter-Fraternity Council

Alpha Epsilon Pi, Alpha Kappa Psi, Delta Chi, Delta Sigma Phi, Kappa Sigma, Phi Delta Epsilon, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Sigma Alpha Mu, Sigma Pi, Tau Epsilon Phi, Tau Kappa Epsilon, Theta Tau, Zeta Beta Tau (inactive), Pi Kappa Alpha

African-Latino Fraternal Sororal Alliance

Alpha Kappa Alpha, Alpha Phi Alpha, Delta Sigma Theta, Malik, Phi Beta Sigma, Phi Iota Alpha, Sigma Iota Alpha, Sigma Lamda Beta,

[edit] Presidents of Hofstra University

1. Truesdel Peck Calkins 1937-1942

2. Howard S. Brower 1942-1944

3. John Cranford Adams 1944-1964

4. Clifford Lee Lord 1964-1972

5. James H. Marshall 1972-1973

6. Robert L. Payton 1973-1976

7. James M. Shuart 1976-2001

8. Stuart Rabinowitz 2001-Present

[edit] Notable alumni and staff

[edit] Alumni

[edit] Academia

[edit] Business

  • Chris Albrecht, Chairman of HBO
  • Avi Arad, CEO Marvel Comics
  • Joseph L. Dionne, Former President, CEO and Chairman of the Board-McGraw Hill.
  • Joseph M. Gregory, President and Chief Operating Officer of Lehman Brothers
  • Robert (Bob) M Gutkowski, Marquee Group Inc President, CEO and Director of the Company since December 1995. Former President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Madison Square Garden Corporation, Former Vice President-Programming for ESPN.
  • Charles Kushner, Noted billionaire real estate developer.
  • David S. Mack, Senior Partner- The Mack Company Developers, Vice Chairman of the MTA and a Commissioner of the Port Authority of NY & NJ.
  • Salvatore Soldano, Former Chairman of the American Stock Exchange and Vice Chairman of the NASD. Current Dean of the Frank G. Zarb School of Business at Hofstra University.
  • Frank G. Zarb, former Chairman of NASD, Inc. and the Nasdaq Stock Market. Current Chairman of Insurer AIG.

[edit] Government and politics

[edit] Film, theater, and broadcasting

[edit] Literature and print media

[edit] Sports

[edit] Notable Faculty, Past & Present

  • Robert Sobel, noted professor and prolific author
  • Herbert A. Deutsch, composer, inventor of the Moog synthesizer (Hofstra Alum)
  • Oscar Hijuelos, best selling author, Pulitzer Prize winner
  • Dr. James A. Berger, National Endowment for the Humanities Fellow for American Literature
  • Dr. Sharryn Kasmir, National Endowment for the Humanities Fellow for Anthropology
  • Dr. Lisa Merrill, National Endowment for the Humanities Fellow for Theater History and Criticism
  • Dr. Frank Bowe, Schloss Distinguished Professor
  • Dr. Laurie Johnson, Fulbright Scholar (Hofstra Alum)
  • E.R. Shipp, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist
  • John Louis Kern, Fulbright Scholar
  • Dr. Carolyn Dudek, Fulbright Scholar
  • Rustin Carey McIntosh, Fulbright Scholar
  • Dr. Robert A. Leonard, Ph.D, Linguistics. Noted linguist of Swahili; one of four main translators in the United States.
  • Dr. Paul Levinson, author of The Plot to Save Socrates, media commentator on The O'Reilly Factor and other tv and radio
  • Dr. Meena Bose, holder of the Peter S. Kalikow Chair for Presidential Studies

[edit] See also

[edit] External links


Colonial Athletic Association
Delaware • Drexel • George Mason • Georgia State • Hofstra • James Madison • Northeastern • Old Dominion • Towson • UNC–Wilmington • Virginia Commonwealth • William & Mary
Atlantic 10 Football Conference
Delaware • Hofstra • James Madison • Maine • Massachusetts • New Hampshire • Northeastern • Rhode Island • Richmond • Towson • Villanova • William & Mary
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