Mar 19, 2024  
2007-2008 Undergraduate Bulletin 
    
2007-2008 Undergraduate Bulletin [ARCHIVED BULLETIN]

Hofstra and You


Hofstra and You

When the challenges of higher education are viewed from different, though complementary, vantage points, the goals of the University and its students are similar: both seek a learning experience that will match the resources of students to the needs of the community.

At Hofstra, students will find a commitment to the belief that college is not merely a preparation for but also a fundamental and enduring part of adult life. Students come here, not to find an agreeable retreat from their current and future responsibilities but to actively, energetically and enthusiastically shape the values, interests and talents that will give their lives direction.

Hofstra students are assisted in this purpose by teachers highly proficient in their fields, by strong counseling and guidance services, by a dynamic student activities program and by a sound physical fitness program. They are free to choose among the University’s broad range of programs of study with many different majors and minors and the nearly infinite interdisciplinary possibilities presented by the University’s extensive curriculum.

Students come to Hofstra as freshmen from their high schools, as transfer students from other colleges and universities, and as adults seeking new meanings and/or careers. It is noteworthy, in terms of the University’s educational quality that about 35 percent of new students entering Hofstra each year have completed some previous college study.

Hofstra welcomes students without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age, national or ethnic origin and extends to all students the opportunity to develop the initiative and responsibility required for effective participation in a democratic society.

Founded in 1935 as Long Island’s first coeducational college, Hofstra has evolved into a major independent university. Originally established to provide a firm foundation in the liberal arts and sciences, Hofstra today offers more than 2,150 undergraduate courses in approximately 140 possible majors, plus distinguished graduate programs in law, business, education, allied human services, and the liberal arts and sciences. Significant indicators of Hofstra’s excellence may be seen in the fact that, among private Island colleges, Hofstra is currently the only one deemed worthy of granting the Phi Beta Kappa distinction and is the Island’s private school with the most students going on to earn graduate and professional degrees, an important yardstick for rating the academic capabilities of a university’s graduates.

Hofstra’s commitment to learning means that, in and outside the classroom, the emphasis is on developing judgment, flexibility of mind, powers of self-education and insight into human behavior, as opposed to mere acquisition of skills. The University’s administration and faculty believe these are the most hardy and permanent seeds to sow in the rapidly shifting environment of the present and future.