Guide to Student Life - Campus Life - Adelphi University

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THE ADELPHI STORY
ADELPHI UNIVERSITY • GUIDE TO STUDENT LIFE
Adelphi’s roots reach back to 1863 with the founding of the Adelphi Academy, a private
preparatory school located at 412 Adelphi Street, Brooklyn, New York, charged with
establishing “a first-class institution for the broadest and most thorough training, and...as
accessible as possible to the largest numbers of our population.” Thirty years later, former
classmates Charles H. Levermore and Timothy Woodruff joined the Academy as principal and
chairman of the board respectively. Under their leadership, on June 24, 1896, Adelphi College
was born and received one of the earliest charters granted to a coeducational college by the
New York State Board of Regents.
Over the course of the next 100 years, Adelphi grew and changed in response to institutional
and community needs. In 1912, Anna E. Harvey was appointed dean, and the board of trustees
voted to make Adelphi a women’s college. Enrollment soared and, with it, the need for more
space. One month before the stock market crash of October 29, 1929, Adelphi College relocated
to Garden City. Despite the financial hardship that followed, Adelphi was able to survive
and thrive under the leadership of President Paul Dawson Eddy by offering programs that,
while rooted in the liberal arts and sciences, met the demands of the community for practical
education. His strategy would dominate Adelphi’s development for the next half century. For
example, Adelphi responded quickly to the pressing need for nurses created by the entry of
the United States into World War II by founding the School of Nursing—the first such school
established by a college in New York State.
By 1944, enrollment had expanded to 1,200 students and, as American soldiers returned home
from WWII, Adelphi again opened its doors to men and expanded into new areas, including
business. The admission of men also spurred the creation of basketball, football, swimming,
wrestling, baseball and track teams. Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, Adelphi continued to
grow with the founding of the School of Social Work and later the Gordon F. Derner Institute
of Advanced Psychological Studies, which has the distinction of being the first university-based
graduate school for psychotherapy.
In 1963, 100 years after the founding of Adelphi Academy, and 67 years after the Academy
became a college, Adelphi was granted university status by the New York State Board of
Regents, becoming Adelphi University. One year later, the School of Business was established as
a distinct unit, conferring bachelor’s and master’s degrees.
By the 1970s, our Garden City campus had expanded from its three original buildings—
Blodgett, Levermore and Woodruff Halls—to 22 buildings on 75 acres, including the Leon
A. Swirbul Library. University College was also established during these years, offering degree
programs for working adults.
How did your class get its colors
Each incoming undergraduate class takes as its colors those of the preceding senior class. The
Class of 2014 has jade and white, the Class of 2015 has navy and white, the Class of 2016 has red
and white and the Class of 2017 has purple and white.