History and Traditions

Adelphi University’s roots reach back to 1863 and the founding of the Adelphi Academy, a private preparatory school in Brooklyn, New York. The Academy was incorporated in 1869 and its Board of Trustees was charged with establishing a first class institution for the broadest and most thorough training, and to make its advantages as accessible as possible to the largest numbers of our population. The school quickly gained a reputation for its innovative curriculum, particularly in physical culture and early childhood education.

Adelphi Academy in Brooklyn, New York.

The appointment of Charles H. Levermore, PhD, as the head of the Academy in 1893 was an important moment in Adelphi’s history. Realizing the city of Brooklyn was without a liberal arts college, Levermore seized the opportunity to establish Adelphi College. Through the efforts of Timothy Woodruff, former lieutenant governor of New York State and future president of Adelphi’s Board of Trustees, Adelphi College, with 57 students and 16 instructors, was granted a charter—one of the earliest charters granted to a coeducational college by the Board of Regents of the State of New York—on June 24, 1896. Henceforth, degrees issued bore the seals of Adelphi College and of the University of the State of New York and were signed by the officers of the College and by the chancellor and the secretary of the University. For the next 25 years, the Academy remained intact yet separate from the College.

Adelphi University 1928 groundbreaking, Garden City NY.

Over the course of the next 100 years Adelphi grew and changed significantly. In 1929, Adelphi University became the first private, coeducational institution of higher education on Long Island. Since that time, more than 100,000 students have passed through our doors, leaving their mark on the University and the world beyond.

Today, Adelphi is thriving. Our colleges and schools include the College of Arts and Sciences; the Gordon F. Derner School of Psychology; the Honors College; the Robert B. Willumstad School of Business; the College of Education and Health Sciences (comprised of the Ruth S. Ammon School of Education and the School of Health Sciences); the College of Nursing and Public Health; the School of Social Work; and the College of Professional and Continuing Studies. We have reinvigorated our academic community and invested in our future. Our faculty is leading the way to ensure that our students receive the finest education in the region and that Adelphi continues to serve as a vital resource to our local communities. As we turn our strategic plan into a vision for our future, the campus community has come together to accomplish mutual goals centered on scholarship and student achievement.

虽然全国各地的大学都在裁员，但自2001年以来，阿德尔菲大学已经聘请了280多名新教授。现有专兼职教师956人，师生比例为10:1。为了确保我们的学者有达到他们目标所需的资源，我们已经在基础设施上投资了数百万美元。我们翻修了我们的设施;升级技术，打造智能教室;极大地改善了我们的图书馆——设施和馆藏;投资新设备，包括用于两个新物理实验室的最先进的激光器、用于化学项目的原子扫描显微镜和核磁共振机、来自施坦威父子公司的新钢琴，以及用于支持我们的音乐和表演艺术项目的增强的数字音乐设施。在过去的十年中，一个雄心勃勃的校园扩建项目导致了Adele和Herbert J. Klapper美术中心的建成和开放，该中心为绘画、版画、雕塑和陶瓷提供空间;娱乐和体育中心，包括健身房和室内跑道;表演艺术中心(AUPAC)包括一个可容纳500人的音乐厅，以及用于音乐、戏剧和舞蹈的额外表演、排练和教室空间; an outdoor sports complex; a complete renovation of Woodruff Hall with a modern exercise room, pool, teaching gym and classroom; the Alice Brown Early Learning Center; and additional parking.

Scholars throughout the University are making significant contributions to their disciplines. In recent years, Adelphi faculty members have been recognized as Fulbright and Hartford Scholars, and have received funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. The School of Social Work is accredited for the maximum time that the accrediting agency grants. In fact, our School of Social Work was reaccredited with no recommendations for improvement by the Council on Social Work Education’s site evaluation committee, and the School’s self-study document so impressed the council that it is now used as a model in reaccreditation training sessions for other programs.

A view of Levermore Hall through the interior window of the renovated Ruth S Harley University Center at Adelphi University’s Garden City Campus

Currently, more than 8,100 students are thriving in our classrooms, in our programs, on our sports fields at the mainGarden City campusand at centers inManhattan,Hauppauge, andPoughkeepsie. Our students have gone on to achieve awards and national recognition for their scholarship, service and leadership.

Adelphi also seeks to serve its locality, state and nation through the research and practice of its faculty; the strengthening of ties between the professional schools and community; the staging of distinguished cultural events at its campuses; and most essentially, the education of a generation of future leaders and informed citizens, professionals, and community members.