Map of Yeshiva University

Categories: Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools > National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities members > Educational institutions established in 1886 > Washington Heights, Manhattan > Universities and colleges in New York City

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Yeshiva University is a private university in New York City

, with six campuses in New York and one in Israel. Founded in 1886, it is classified as a very high research activity university and it ranked as 50th in the US

among national universities by U.S. News & World Report in 2008 and among 400 in world by THES—QS World University Rankings.

Yeshiva University’s undergraduate schools—Yeshiva College, Stern College for Women, and Sy Syms School of Business "offer a unique dual curriculum inspired by the Modern Orthodox Judaism philosophy of Torah Umadda ("Torah and secular knowledge")" — self-claimedly “combining the finest, contemporary academic education with the timeless teachings of Torah.”

Yeshiva University’s Albert Einstein College of Medicine

, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, and other graduate and professional schools promote a “dual emphasis on professional excellence and personal ethics.”

Yeshiva University is an independent institution chartered by New York State. It is accredited by the Commission on Higher Education of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools and by several professional agencies.

History

Yeshiva University is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States combining Jewish scholarship with studies in the liberal arts, sciences, medicine, law, business, social work, Jewish studies and education, and psychology.

In the past 122 years, Yeshiva University has expanded to comprise some twenty colleges, schools, affiliates, centers, and institutions, with several affiliated hospitals and health care institutions. It has campuses and facilities in Manhattan

(Washington Heights

, Murray Hill, Greenwich Village

), the Bronx

, Queens

, and Israel

.

Yeshiva University has its roots in the Etz Chaim Yeshiva founded in 1886 on the Lower East Side

of Manhattan, a cheder-style elementary school founded by Eastern European immigrants that offered study of Talmud along with some secular education, including instruction in English.

Today, Yeshiva University enrolls approximately 3,100 undergraduate students, 3,500 graduate students, and 1,000 students at its affiliated high schools and Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary. It conferred 1,822 degrees in 2007 and offers community service projects serving New York, Jewish communities, the United States and Canada.

Richard M. Joel is Yeshiva University's president, while Rabbi Dr. Norman Lamm serves as chancellor. The university's past leaders include Dr. Bernard Revel, Dr. Samuel Belkin, and "The Rav," Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik.

Schools, affiliates, and divisions

245 Lexington Avenue is a campus hub of Stern College for Women, home to a beit midrash (study hall), science labs, a library, and other facilities.

Undergraduate Schools

Separate undergraduate programs for men and women combine traditional liberal arts and sciences studies with extensive Jewish studies programs.

For undergraduate men (Yeshiva College and uptown branch of Sy Syms School of Business), there exist four separate tracks for Judaic studies: The James Striar School of General Jewish Studies (informally Mechinah Program), Isaac Breuer College of Hebraic Studies (IBC), Irving I. Stone Beit Midrash Program (SBMP), and Mazer Yeshiva Program of Talmudic Study (MYP). They offer varied approaches to the study of Torah, catering to the students with different levels of ability and areas of interest in Judaic studies.

Graduate and Professional Schools

Affiliates

Scholarly and cultural resources

Academic centers and institutes

In Israel

Student Life

Yeshiva University maintains four campuses in New York City

:

The Resnick Campus in the Morris Park neighborhood of the eastern Bronx contains the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and the Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology, along with dormitories, a library, a hospital and other medical facilities.
The Brookdale Center in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of downtown Manhattan contains the Benjamin Cardozo School of Law, law clinics and office, and a dormitory. The Center for Jewish History, which includes the Yeshiva University Museum along with other institutions, is nearby in the Chelsea neighborhood.
The Beren Campus in the Murray Hill neighborhood of Midtown Manhattan is home to the undergraduate schools for women, including Stern College for Women and the Midtown branch of the Sy Syms School of Business, along with dormitories and other facilities. The Azrieli School has classes on this campus as well.
The Wilf Campus in the Washington Heights neighborhood of upper Manhattan is considered the main campus; it is home to the undergraduate schools for men, the rabbinical seminary, the Belz School of Jewish Music, the high school for boys, the Azrieli Graduate School for Jewish Education and Administration, the Wurzweiler School for Social Work, and the Bernard Revel Graduate school, along with other divisions, offices, libraries, dormitories, and other facilities.

The high school for girls is located in New York City as well, in the Holliswood neighborhood of eastern Queens

.

The campus in Jerusalem

, in the Bayit VeGan

neighborhood, contains a branch of the rabbinical seminary and an office coordinating undergraduate study by YU students at various schools throughout Israel.

Student Government

Numerous clubs and activities are maintained by the students in each school, generally under the auspices of a student government. Activities are funded by a student activities fee collected by the school but freely distributed by the elected council. (Athletics are usually an academic department.) Each graduate school maintains a student council, such as the Student Bar Association at Cardozo, which, in turn, supports the many clubs and publications in each school.

At the undergraduate level, there are separate student governments on the two campuses. Although the two student governments are separate, they work closely in coordinating joint events. The men's schools are represented overall by the Yeshiva Student Union, and specifically by the Yeshiva College Student Association, the Sy Syms Student Council, the Student Organization of Yeshiva (SOY, which represents both undergraduate MYP students as well as RIETS students), and student councils for SBMP, IBC, and JSS. The latter four run most Jewish-related activities on campus, including holiday celebrations and the famed SOY Seforim (Jewish book) sale annually around February, which is open to the general public and attracts large crowds from near and far. There are also individual councils for each class, council committees, a Student Court, and clubs.

The women's schools are represented by the Stern College and Sy Syms Student Councils; there are also a Torah Activities Council, which coordinahtes Jewish-related events, and individual class councils, along with various clubs.

The various positions on all councils are chosen by elections open to all students (both as voters and candidates) generally held in the Spring (for the following year's councils), although Freshman and Sophomore class councils are elected in the Fall, the latter owing to the large number of students spending the freshman year abroad in Israel.

The undergraduate men's newspaper is The Commentator, and the undergraduate women's The Observer; there is also a student newspaper (in addition to a number of law journals) at Cardozo. There are numerous other publications on a wide range of topics, both secular and religious, produced by the various councils and academic clubs, along with many official university publications and the university press. The call letters of the student radio station are WYUR.

Dormitories and student housing

There are dormitory and dining facilities on each campus. Cardozo has a single dormitory building a block south of the classroom building, while Einstein has a number of student housing buildings on campus for single and married students.

Approximately 90% of the undergraduate student populations live on campus.

The Wilf Campus includes three main dormitory buildings: Morgenstern (nicknamed "Morg") Rubin, and Muss Halls. Many upperclassmen and some graduate students live in the surrounding independent housing that is run by the university or in other nearby buildings; there is also a small high school dormitory on campus, Strenger Hall, which houses some older students as well who serve as counselors.

The Beren campus includes four dormitory buildings: Brookdale, Schottenstein, 36th Street and 35th Street Residence Halls. Many students live in university-administered independent housing nearby.

Athletics

Yeshiva University is home to a variety of NCAA level sports teams. The teams, nicknamed "The Maccabees", include: Men's Baseball, Basketball, Cross Country, Fencing, Golf, Soccer, Tennis. Volleyball, and Wrestling; and Women's Basketball, Cross Country, Fencing, Soccer Tennis, and Volleyball.

One of the most successful team in Yeshiva University sports history is the fencing team, known as the "Taubermen", named after the illustrious and beloved coach of the team, Professor Arthur Tauber, who served as the head coach of the team from 1949 through 1985.

Because of Yeshiva's dual curriculum, most of the sports teams practice at night, sometimes even as late as 11:00 PM. A few of the sports teams have been known to get in an early morning practice or workout before classes begin at 9:00 AM.

One of the unique aspects of Yeshiva Athletics is the way it connects with communities around the country. It is not rare for a team to participate in a weekend tournament outside of New York City and for the athletes to stay with local families in the area. Most recently this has taken place in Boston with the Basketball and Fencing teams, and in Hollywood, Florida with the Baseball team in 2008. Yeshiva even maintains an international connection through the many international students who participate in NCAA sports. While some teams may only have one or two nationalities, others have as many as nine different nationalities representing the school on the sports field.

Yeshiva has seen a few of its student-athletes go on to professional level competition. Two members of the Yeshiva Maccabees Baseball team were drafted out of college by professional teams of the Israeli Baseball League. One of them, pitcher Aryeh Rosenbaum, even celebrated a championship with his team in the IBL's first year.

Yeshiva's Men's Basketball team is an annual playoff contender. The best era for Yeshiva Basketball in recent history has been the first few years and last few years of the 1990s. Banners hang in the Max Stern Athletic Center commemorating seasons from both eras. The 2007 - 2008 season had particular note as Yeshiva was home to the NCAA Skyline Conference's Rookie of the Year.

The 2008 - 2009 season saw the Men's NCAA Volleyball team have its best season ever. Other teams that are quickly becoming contenders are the Men's Soccer, Baseball, and Tennis teams.

Rankings

Yeshiva University has been recognized for academic excellence throughout the state, country, and the world at large.

The U.S. News and World Report's 2009 "America's Best Colleges" ranked Yeshiva University as the 50th best national university rising from the 2008 rank of 52nd. YU was also ranked 41st "Best Value" Colleges, and 5th in percentage of students studying abroad (90% of the class of 2007). It also placed among the three top universities in the New York City area, together with New York University

and Columbia University. The Biological Sciences Program of its Albert Einstein School of Medicine was ranked 48th in the nation.

The Washington Monthly 2007 College Rankings placed Yeshiva University 94th nationally. In a similar list, The Center for Measuring University Performance found Yeshiva University 45th nationally among the Top American Research Universities.

YU has also received worldwide recognition. The Times Higher Education Supplement of the UK put Yeshiva University as the 172nd top world university of 2006; a substantial jump from the 254th ranking the school received in 2005. According to Shanghai Jiao Tong University

, the university is ranked in the 151-200 category among world universities and 76-98 among universities in the Americas.

The university's national research impact has also been evaluated. The university's rank of research impact in Biology & Biochemistry placed 5th in the US by Thomson Reuters, surpassing Washington University, Stanford, Duke, and UCSF.