Hofstra University

Hofstra University is a coeducational institution located in Hempstead, Long Island, New York (USA) founded in 1935 on the basis of the estate of William (Willy) 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 a university in 1963.

Related Topics:
Hempstead - Long Island - New York - 1935 - William - New York University

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Hofstra University 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 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.

Related Topics:
Nickname - Flying Dutchmen - Pride - Lion - Mascot - 1980s

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It evolved from the Hofstra Pride on-and off-campus imaging campaign that began in 1987, which started during the university's dramatic recovery and growth in the mid '80's, after a major financial crisis that forced the layoff of more than 100 employees.

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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.

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Hofstra is known not only for its liberal-arts offerings, but for its schools of business and law and its emerging School of Communication. It is also world-renowned for its annual festival of William Shakespeare plays, which have been held for more than half a century. Hofstra also has its very own Globe Theatre which has been used every spring for the Shakespeare productions.

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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.

Related Topics:
Arboretum - United States - Bird sanctuary - American Association of Botanical Gardens and Arboreta

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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 Nassau Coliseum also occupies part of Mitchel.) 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. Because their original names corresponded with the alphabet, they've long often referred to simply by Tower A (for Alliance) or Tower C (Constitution).

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Other Hofstra residence halls include the Netherlands, Liberty/Republic, Nassau/Suffolk, Colonial Square, the New Complex and Twin Oaks Apartments (located a half-mile west on Fulton Avenue).

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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.

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The university operates Long Island's oldest noncommercial radio station, WRHU-FM (88.7). The public broadcaster was founded in 1951 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.

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