Adelphi University

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.

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.

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 Ruth S. Ammon College of Education and Health Sciences (comprised of the 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.