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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 businessman and heiress William and Kate Hofstra. The school began as a branch of New York University and became an independent school, Hofstra College, several years later. It became Hofstra University in 1963. 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. 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, 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. ATHLETICS AND MASCOTS Hofstra University long had the official Nickname of the Flying Dutchmen (or ''Dutchmen'' or just ''Dutch''); the school's new nickname is now what was the increasingly-used informal nickname has become " Pride ", which started out referring to the feeling, but has become linked to the collective term for Lion s, starting when a pair of lions became the school's athletic Mascot s 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 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. 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 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, KDA (Changed to Delta Gamma), Phi Epsilon, Phi Sigma Sigma, Sigma Delta Tau, Sigma Sigma Sigma (inactive). Inter-Fraternity Council Alpha Epsilon Pi, Alpha Kappa Psi, Crown and Lance (inactive), Delta Chi, Delta Sigma Phi, Epsilon Sigma (inactive), Kappa Sigma, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Sigma Alpha Mu, Sigma Pi, Tau Epsilon Phi, Tau Kappa Epsilon, Theta Tau, Zeta Beta Tau (inactive). 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, NOTABLE ALUMNI AND STAFF Alumni
Notable Faculty, Past & Present
POINTS OF INTEREST
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