Undergraduate Men 1999-2000

Yeshiva University Overview

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Yeshiva University, in its second century, is an independent institution under Jewish auspices chartered by the State of New York. It is accredited by the Commission on Higher Education of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools and by specialized professional agencies. It offers programs leading to associate's, bachelor's, master's, doctoral, and professional degrees.

In addition to its extensive teaching programs, the University maintains a network of affiliates, conducts widespread programs of research and community outreach, and issues publications. It is also the home of the Yeshiva University Museum.

The University's thousands of graduates are found throughout the US and overseas, in every profession. Among its alumni are judges, university professors and presidents, religious leaders, business executives, government officials, artists, writers, doctors, and scientists. The University's roster of honorary degree recipients includes Nobel laureates, world political leaders, philanthropists, and other individuals committed to the betterment of society.

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Mission

The University's guiding vision is the confidence that the best of the heritage of contemporary civilization--the liberal arts and sciences--is compatible with the ancient traditions of Jewish law and life. On the undergraduate level, this belief is embodied in the dual curriculum under which students pursue a full program of Jewish studies while taking college programs in the liberal arts and sciences and business and receiving specialized preparation for advanced work in a discipline or profession. On the graduate level, this special mission is embodied in emphasis on the moral dimensions of the search for knowledge and the ethical principles that govern professional practitioners.

Yeshiva University is also committed to the love of learning for its own sake (known in Jewish tradition as Torah Lishmah) and to teaching and research that stress a striving for excellence.

A third goal of the University is to serve the general and Jewish communities of the city, the nation, and the world by preparing well-trained professionals in several fields and providing pioneering resources for community service.

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History

Yeshiva University traces its origins to Yeshiva Eitz Chaim, founded in 1886 on New York's Lower East Side. In 1896 Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS) was founded there; it was chartered in 1897 by the New York State Board of Regents. In 1915 the two schools merged.

Under the leadership of Dr. Bernard Revel, who served as President from 1915 until his death in 1940, the institution embarked on a plan of educational development and growth. In 1929 the institution moved to its Main Campus in Manhattan's Washington Heights. Liberal arts programs began with the establishment of Yeshiva College in 1928, and the first graduate curriculum (in Jewish studies) was introduced in 1935.

The election of Dr. Samuel Belkin as President in 1943 inaugurated a new era of expansion. University status was granted in 1945 by the New York State Board of Regents. The institution initiated programs of general and professional studies, research, and special projects to benefit many constituencies. These included a college of liberal arts and sciences for women and graduate schools of medicine, law, social work, and psychology.

Dr. Norman Lamm was elected President in 1976, following Dr. Belkin's death. He undertook a complete review of the University's structure and operations and significantly expanded undergraduate study opportunities to include, among other things, a new undergraduate school of business. He has also enriched graduate and professional school resources and established a carefully monitored fiscal system and development program to further the University's goals.

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Facilities

The University's undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools are located in Manhattan (Main Campus, 500 West 185th Street; Midtown Campus, 245 Lexington Avenue; Brookdale Center, 55 Fifth Avenue) and the Bronx (Jack and Pearl Resnick Campus, Eastchester Road and Morris Park Avenue). All campuses have residence facilities; the Main, Midtown and Resnick campuses have dining and athletic facilities as well. While part of a mutifaceted University community, each school retains the intimate character of smaller institutions.

Yeshiva University's frequent van service provides Main and Midtown Campus students ready access to transit connections and other YU campuses.

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Libraries

The University's four-campus library system houses some 1.1 million volumes, 1.2 million microforms, and 10,350 journals and serial publications in the arts and sciences and Judaica. It is a selective depository for US Government publications.

At the Main Campus, the Mendel Gottesman Library--a six-story, block-long central library building--houses the Pollack Library, Landowne-Bloom Library, and Mendel Gottesman Library of Hebraica-Judaica.

At the Midtown Campus, the Hedi Steinberg Library serves undergraduates, Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education and Administration, and some programs of Wurzweiler School of Social Work.

The Dr. Lillian and Dr. Rebecca Chutick Law Library of Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law is at the Brookdale Center, and the D. Samuel Gottesman Library of Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology at the Resnick Campus.

Special collections of Rare Books and Manuscripts, the University Archives, and the Sephardic Reference Room are located in the Gottesman Library.

All Yeshiva University students may take advantage of these resources in person or through interlibrary loan arrangement by making a request at the library serving their particular school.

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Technology

YULIS, the Yeshiva University Library Information System, serves the Main and Midtown Campus libraries. The YULIS catalog contains information about 250,000 titles held by the Pollack Library, Hedi Steinberg Library, Mendel Gottesman Library of Hebraica-Judaica, Landowne-Bloom Library, and University Archives. Data about newly acquired items is added continually and information from catalog cards for older materials is being converted.

Undergraduate and graduate programs, in general as well as Judaic studies, are supported by a wide range of CD ROM and Web resources accessed via YULIS computers in the libraries. Electronic resources include bibliographical and statistical databases, indexes and abstracts, and the full texts of articles. Among these are the MLA Bibliography, Social Work Abstracts, databases of First Search, UMI Proquest, Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe, Stat-USA, Judaic Classics, Responsa, and Talmudic Encyclopedia, to name a few.

Media collections, microfilm, microfiche, audiocassettes, compact discs, and videocassettes supplement the libraries’ print and online resources. In 1997 the Hedi Steinberg Library acquired the Jewish Heritage Video Collection--approximately 200 videos on Jewish issues. Although located there, the videos may be used by students throughout the University.

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Special Collections

The University's Rare Books and Manuscripts Division contains several thousand rare Judaica and Hebraica volumes, 39 Hebrew incunabula (books printed before 1500), and over 1,000 literary and historical manuscripts. The University has acquired an illuminated Bible manuscript completed in Prague in 1489.

Through the beneficence of the Jesselson Family Trusts, the University has acquired a number of rare materials (including Jewish Americana), published a catalog of its incunabula and, in general, made its Judaica collections more accessible to students and scholars.

In addition to Yeshiva University records, the University Archives contain private and organizational papers relating to modern Jewish history and culture. The archives focus on records of Jewish institutions and individuals, and include files, letters, memoirs, clippings, posters, and photographs. Some important collections are: Central Relief Committee, Vaad Hatzalah, Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry, Jewish Defense League, and National Council of Jewish Women.

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Affiliations

Since 1974 the University's libraries have participated in OCLC, a computerized bibliographic network of more than 30,000 libraries in 65 countries. Members of this shared online system have access to 38 million catalog records and can borrow materials from OCLC libraries by generating online requests.

The library system is a member of METRO, the Metropolitan Reference and Research Library Agency. Students with legitimate research needs may gain entry to all METRO member-libraries by requesting a METRO card.

Through special membership in the Research Libraries Group, the libraries participate in RLIN, the Research Libraries Information Network, in cooperative projects among libraries with Hebraica collections and in programs for preservation of library materials.

Each University library maintains affiliations with agencies devoted to its particular specialty, such as Jewish studies, social work, law, and medicine.

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Yeshiva University Museum

The Yeshiva University Museum, at the Main Campus, presents innovative exhibits reflecting Jewish life through the humanities--art, architecture, music, literature, science, history, and anthropology. It fulfills its mission as a teaching museum through community outreach programs, satellite galleries, and cultural events, including crafts festivals, concerts, and children's workshops.

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Computer Facilities

Yeshiva University, recognizing the increasing role of high technology, continually enhances its computer facilities and services. Through IBM and IBM-compatible computer workstations located in the Hirsch/Polackoff Computer Centers, undergraduate students have access to software applications in business, computer sciences, humanities, mathematics, and the natural, physical, and social sciences on a local area network (LAN), and a number of CD ROM-based databases on workstations in the Gottesman Library building and the Hedi Steinberg Library. A wide area network (WAN) links computer resources on all YU campuses, yielding access to such resources as the online catalog and mini-MEDLINE systems at Albert Einstein College of Medicine as well as all internet-based resources worldwide, with library computers offering menu-driven search capabilities.

In 1996 the University began building a computer network infrastructure designed to meet the institution’s computer technology needs well into the 21st century. Its core is a structured cable plan to support all academic and administrative computing services. A network of fiber optic cables and high-speed telephone lines will connect buildings on each campus and bridge the campuses themselves.

The cabling will make possible the operation of a new automated, networked information

system--with Internet access--at the Mendel Gottesman and Hedi Steinberg libraries, and the BANNER system for registration, financial aid, and other administrative departments. It will also support systems providing access to e-mail, the World Wide Web, and the University’s academic applications and internal general-purpose servers.

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Facilities Improvement Programs

Through ongoing renovations, the University offers state-of-the-art facilities and technologies--providing a supportive environment for each student’s academic and personal growth. Recent projects have added, upgraded, and redecorated buildings; refurbished common areas; and expanded comprehensive security services.

The Main Campus’ Max Stern Athletic Center, constructed through major gifts by Leonard N. Stern and the Max Stern Foundation, is a fully equipped facility for the University's sports programs. It houses the regulation-size Melvin J. Furst Gymnasium, a fully equipped weight training/fitness studio, a track, locker rooms, an athletic treatment center, a game/T.V. lounge, and bleacher seating for 1,100 spectators.

The Benjamin Gottesman Pool, adjoining the Max Stern Athletic Center, was made possible by a major gift by David S. Gottesman in memory of his father. In addition to the six-lane pool, the building includes a whirlpool, sauna, steamroom, and a shower-locker room.

With the aid of a major gift by the late Jerome Schottenstein of Columbus, Ohio, and other members of the family, a building was acquired for renovation and renamed the Schottenstein Center. The center houses Philip and Sarah Belz School of Jewish Music; Mr. and Mrs. Harry A. Gampel Communications Center, with offices for student publications, radio station WYUR, and student government; offices for other student activities; Schottenstein Theater; Florence and Sol Shenk Facility; and galleries housing innovative art from North America and Israel.

Transforming the bustle of New York into a more suburban setting, two blocks of Amsterdam Avenue and an adjoining block of 185th Street have become "limited-use" streets, with colorful street banners, a pedestrian mall, widened sidewalks, plantings, and handsome redwood street furniture.

The Herbert and Florence Tenzer Garden provides the campus community an elegant, open-air setting for study and quiet relaxation. Its Benefactors Wall of Jerusalem stone honors YU's outstanding supporters.

The Main Campus dining hall has been modernized and expanded, through a gift from the Reiss Foundation, and renamed the Furman Dining Hall.

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Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching

The Universities long-standing commitment to undergraduate education was further demonstrated in 1995 with the establishment of the Gottesman Program for Academic Excellence. The program enhances an already strong faculty by bringing to campus Nobel laureates and other acclaimed scholars to teach semester-long undergraduate courses in the arts and sciences. Inaugural participants included Nobel laureate in chemistry Dr. Roald Hoffmann, John A. Newman Professor of Physical Sciences, Cornell University; and philosopher Dr. Robert Nozick, Arthur Kingley Porter Professor, Harvard University.

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Last Updated 07/23/2002 � Yeshiva University