Five-Year Anniversary

Five years after President Stuart Rabinowitz began his tenure as president of Hofstra University with the start of the fall 2001 semester, many of the changes that he called for at his inauguration have come to pass, helping to transform Hofstra University into the institution it is today.

In his October 19, 2001, inauguration address, President Rabinowitz posed the following questions:

• How can we enhance our use of new information technology without diminishing our commitment to in-person, human interaction between faculty and student and between student and student?

• How shall we adapt our curriculum to prepare our students to work and live in an increasingly global economy and interconnected world?

• How can we increase our success recruiting the best students and faculty in a highly competitive environment that will include not only equally ambitious private institutions, but aggressive public and forprofit entities as well?

• In light of constant rising costs, how can we obtain the resources necessary not just to maintain our position in the nation's academic hierarchy, but to enhance it?

Working with senior administrators, alumni and the Board of Trustees, President Rabinowitz was able to respond to these questions in a manner that took a university with a sound regional reputation and a student body that hailed mostly from the metropolitan area and the Northeast, and transformed it into a nationally known institution that is attracting higher quality students from across the country.

Over the past five years, President Rabinowitz:

• Crafted a five-year academic plan that has added a significant number of new full-time faculty lines, created endowed chairs in Catholic and Jewish studies and in presidential studies, and academic centers for the study of the American presidency, suburbia and civic engagement.
• Doubled the University's endowment to $200 million, allowing for additional student scholarships, faculty hires and programs.
• Significantly increased the use of technology to enhance the student experience, including renovations to existing buildings, a vastly expanded wireless network, access to free software packages and an expansion of online student services.
• Led Hofstra to a Moody's upgrading to A3 (from Baa1), an indication of strong financial performance.

The results of these changes can be seen across campus in new building projects and renovations of existing structures, in added faculty and programs, and in the student body. A snapshot of the first-year class for the 2006-2007 academic year shows:

• An average SAT of 1169, up 107 points from fall 2000.
• An average first-time freshman high school GPA of 3.26, up from 2.80 in fall 2000.
• Selectivity – the number of students who are accepted to Hofstra as a percentage of all of those who apply – of 62 percent, up from 80 percent in fall 2000.
• Broader geographic diversity. For the second year in a row, 48 percent of first-year students come from outside New York state, up significantly from just 31 percent in fall 2000.