City University of New York (CUNY)

Multiple Campuses
The City University of New York, or CUNY, is the nation’s largest urban university, comprised of 11 senior colleges, 6 community colleges, a graduate school, a law school and a medical school. Nearly 200,000 students are enrolled in degree credit cou... more
The City University of New York, or CUNY, is the nation’s largest urban university, comprised of 11 senior colleges, 6 community colleges, a graduate school, a law school and a medical school. Nearly 200,000 students are enrolled in degree credit courses, and another 204,000 are enrolled in adult and continuing education courses at campuses located in all New York City boroughs. CUNY traces its beginnings to the founding in 1847 of the Free Academy, which later became The City College, the first CUNY College. According to New York State Education Law, CUNY is "supported as an independent and integrated system of higher education on the assumption that the university will continue to maintain and expand its commitment to academic excellence and to the provision of equal access and opportunity for students, faculty and staff from all ethnic and racial groups and from both sexes." The law requires CUNY to "remain responsive to the needs of its urban setting and maintain its close articulation between senior and community college units." The facilities at CUNY’s 19 modern campuses throughout the five boroughs of New York City include the traditional and the innovati... more

The City University of New York, or CUNY, is the nation’s largest urban university, comprised of 11 senior colleges, 6 community colleges, a graduate school, a law school and a medical school. Nearly 200,000 students are enrolled in degree credit courses, and another 204,000 are enrolled in adult and continuing education courses at campuses located in all New York City boroughs.

CUNY traces its beginnings to the founding in 1847 of the Free Academy, which later became The City College, the first CUNY College. According to New York State Education Law, CUNY is "supported as an independent and integrated system of higher education on the assumption that the university will continue to maintain and expand its commitment to academic excellence and to the provision of equal access and opportunity for students, faculty and staff from all ethnic and racial groups and from both sexes." The law requires CUNY to "remain responsive to the needs of its urban setting and maintain its close articulation between senior and community college units."

The facilities at CUNY’s 19 modern campuses throughout the five boroughs of New York City include the traditional and the innovative. More than 270 buildings on close to 23 million square feet of space include state-of-the-art computer centers, science and language laboratories, gymnasiums, theaters, greenhouses, astronomy observatories, and many more features. The new Baruch College Vertical Campus on East 25th Street is the largest vertical campus facility in the city—approximately 800,000 gross square feet. The College of Staten Island’s bucolic 204-acre park-like campus is the largest college campus in New York City. The York College campus is the site of the $85 million Food and Drug Administration’s Northeastern Regional headquarters, where students are offered opportunities for study and internships.

CUNY has programs to strengthen academic skills and provide advanced placement courses. They include College Now ( currently operating in 200 New York City public high schools) the free pre-freshman Summer Skills Program, remedial classes in community colleges, English as a Second Language classes, SEEK and College Discovery (for economically and educationally disadvantaged students) and an intensive low-cost Language Immersion Program for entering freshmen who need to improve their English.


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SoHo Description

City University of New York (CUNY) is located in the SoHo neighborhood of Manhattan. The historic SoHo neighborhood ("South of Houston") is bounded by Houston Street to the North and Canal Street to the South. Originally known as the Cast Iron District due to the many buildings with such façades, SoHo's historic roots date to the mid-19th Century, when cast iron was discovered as an architectural material that was cheap, flexible, yet sturdy enough to use to build decorative building facades. Craftsmen transformed what had been rather bleak looking industrial buildings made of brick and mortar into structures of architectural splendor and grace. SoHo today still exhibits the greatest concentration of cast iron architecture in the world. SoHo's decorative facades, along with its ornate fire escapes, Corinthian columns, oversized windows, and beautiful lobbies, are the signature features of a neighborhood that first-time visitors often instantly fall in love with. For the bulk of the 20th century, this neighborhood remained a relatively quiet and unassuming manufacturing district. The SoHo we know today emerged in the 1960's and 70's when artists discovered that the cheap factory spaces vacated by departing businesses could be converted into lofts and studios. The wide spaces and tall ceilings the factories had required were especially appealing to artists as they could create and store large pieces of artwork there. The New York Loft Board, charged with regulating and resolving issues regarding the legalization and use of certain loft buildings converted to residential use, assisted artists-in-residence in negotiating the complex legal issues. After the SoHo Cast Iron Historic District became synonymous with the inflated art prices and lavish exhibits of the 1980s, more and more artists sought out other areas to work and reside, such as Long Island City, Williamsburg, and Chelsea. In turn, SoHo loft prices skyrocketed, and multimillion-dollar prices for full-floor lofts became rather common in the new millennium. Rents rapidly increased, and galleries moved north to the old garages of far-west Chelsea. In an ironic twist of fate, now galleries are leaving overpriced far-west Chelsea for the Lower East Side in the wake of the New Museum of Contemporary Art building its permanent home on the Bowery. While western SoHo fortunately is largely protected from the current spate of building ugly large glass towers, Donald Trump's massive hotel on its westernmost fringes as well as forthcoming projects on the Bowery will permanently change the historic character of this fragile neighborhood. Architecture buffs will want to take our walking tour of the new architecture of Manhattan, which takes in a number of recent SoHo creations. Now that SoHo has flourished and grown for over 35 years—ever since it gained credibility and status as a neighborhood when New York City officially recognized this up and coming district in 1973—visitors marvel not only at the architecture, but also at the vibrant cultural and commercial life on the neighborhood's historic streets. During the day, the sidewalks in this district are generally teeming with tourists, shoppers, and vendors selling t-shirts, jewelry, and original works of art. Shopping addicts know the area has some terrific vintage clothing stores that are true SoHo shopping experiences and bargains. Lower Broadway is home to everything from Bloomingdale’s to Calypso (whimsical, gorgeous clothing and furnishings) to Pearl River Mart (Asian housewares and gifts.) Many of SoHo's famous stores and boutiques are found on Prince and Spring streets, with Prada, Chanel, Kid Robot, and two relatively new additions, Jill Sander (at the corner of Crosby and Grove Streets), and an Apple Computer Store (in a former post office on Prince Street) all located in this vicinity. In fact, there are so many cool boutique, vintage and consignment stores in SoHo to choose from. Add, a spacious accessories shop, caters to handbag connoisseurs who worship designer bags but would rather not drop thousands at a luxury boutique like Prada or Louis Vuitton. West Broadway, the Champs-Elysées of SoHo, also features an impressive list of boutiques across a broad spectrum of choices. Tag Heuer Boutique presents an impressive collection of Swiss luxury sports watches. Cleo & Patek, also on West Broadway, deserves mention for its fine accessories collection, and if men's fashion is what you're looking for you'll find high quality clothing at Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger, and Reiss of London here, or just around the corner and down Spring Street, you can check out the latest J. Lindeberg collections. Great restaurants are literally everywhere you turn in SoHo, and they are well-known for both the fine cuisine they serve and their stylish milieus. The French bistro Balthazar, and the authentic Raoul's for Italian fare are both highly recommended. Along West Broadway you'll find celebrity hotspot, Cipriani Downtown, and the inviting, often open-windowed façade and lively atmosphere at Felix. For Japanese cuisine two blocks over on Sullivan Street you can dine at Blue Ribbon Sushi. Beloved for its neighborly old world beauty and charm, and its nearly skyscraperless skyline, SoHo has also become a favored choice for luxury hotel dwellers, especially among those who wish to escape the hustle and bustle of midtown Manhattan. The Mercer Hotel is SoHo's foremost luxury boutique hotel and the first of its kind to offer an authentic taste of loft living. At the lower end of West Broadway near Canal Street sits the noble SoHo Grand, a popular overnight choice for visiting celebrity clientele, and on the western side of SoHo lies SIXTY SOHo, a boutique hotel designed by famed interior designer, Thomas O'Brien. Notable landmark architecture in the SoHo neighborhood, aside from the approximately 250 cast iron buildings (such as the E.V. Haughwout Building at 488 Broadway), include The Little Singer Building on Broadway, designed by Beaux-Arts trained New York architect Ernest Flagg in 1902; the six-story iron front building at 112 Prince Street designed in 1889 by Richard Berger; and lastly, New York's most peculiar subway map, an 87-foot long work of art consisting of concrete rods embedded in the sidewalk at 110 Greene Street which was created by Belgian artist, Francoise Schein, in 1986. You might also admire the five-story trompe l’oeil mural at 114 Prince Street, which is a longstanding two-dimensional cast iron façade—in paint. If you want to stay in a historic neighborhood where great restaurants abound, where the stores are boutique chic, and hotels marvelously accommodating, SoHo is simply the place to be.

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Multiple Campuses
New York, NY 10031
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Nearby Subway

  • to Prince St
  • to Spring St -- 0.2

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