Daemen University is a private university in Amherst and Brooklyn, New York. Formerly Daemen College and Rosary Hill College, the now-nondenominational school was founded by the Sisters of St. Francis in 1947. As of fall 2020, 2,536 students were enrolled at Daemen (1,631 undergraduate, 905 graduate). 64 degree majors were offered In March 2022, the New York State Board of Regents approved a name change to Daemen University.

Main campus

Located in Western New York, Daemen's main 46.5-acre campus is in a suburban setting in Amherst, New York in the Buffalo Niagara Region. Daemen is on Main Street in Amherst and close to the New York State Thruway and I-290 and the Buffalo Niagara International Airport. The Amherst campus contains 19 buildings or complexes with classrooms, laboratories, residential and athletics facilities.

History

In 1947, Rosary Hill College was established by the Sisters of St. Francis of Penance and Christian Charity as an institution of higher education for women offering studies in the liberal arts. The institution has admitted men since the mid-1960s and graduated its first male student in 1965. In 1976, Rosary Hill became a secular and independent institution and was renamed Daemen College, in honor of the founder of the Sisters of St. Francis – Mother Magdalene Daemen, of Holland. In 2015, Daemen opened the Academic Wellness Center after a $5.6 million renovation of the former YMCA building on Main Street in Amherst. In 2017, to mark its 70th anniversary, Daemen installed Founders Bell, which was forged in 1858 and restored by the Class of 1967. Each year, the bell is the centerpiece of Founders Celebration, an annual tradition to recognize the institution's history. In 2020, Daemen opened the Center for Interprofessional Learning and Simulation (CILS), which has eight examination rooms, a counseling room and a space for telehealth counseling and is used by students in the university's nursing, social work, physical therapy, physician assistant studies and other programs.

Presidents

Daemen has had six presidents since its founding in 1947: The president works with an administrative council called the president's cabinet. Daemen also has a faculty senate, a student government association, and an alumni board. The current president is Gary A. Olson. For many years during his tenure as president, he has been named one of Western New York's most influential leaders by Buffalo Business First, the region's weekly business newspaper.

Academics

Daemen offers 65 academic majors and programs in a variety of disciplines and subject areas, including physical therapy, nursing, visual and performing arts, the liberal arts, business, and education. Since 2018, Daemen has been classified among "Doctoral/Professional Universities".

Rankings

Since 2007, Daemen has been named a national College of Distinction. Daemen's paralegal studies program is currently the only American Bar Association (ABA)-approved program in Western New York. In 2017, Daemen became the only state-approved applied behavior analysis graduate program in New York.

Accreditation

Daemen is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. Daemen has specific academic programs accredited by:

Colleges

Academic programs at the university are administered in three colleges: Daemen is designated as a multi-campus institution by the New York State Department of Education, in recognition of the university's campuses in Amherst and Brooklyn.

Libraries

The first library at Daemen was housed in Rosary Hall. In 1952, Marian Library opened and served the institution until 2008. The structure was renovated into the Nancy Haberman Gacioch, William T Gacioch & Family Center for Visual and Performing Arts in 2012. The current Daemen library, in the Research and Information Commons (RIC), opened in 2008. The RIC manages an archival collection that includes publications, photographs, and other materials documenting the history of the university, in addition to hardcopy books, journal and media volumes and other digital titles.

Athletics

The Daemen Wildcats represent Daemen in intercollegiate athletics. Daemen is a member of the East Coast Conference (ECC), competing at the NCAA Division II level. The university's official colors are royal blue, black, white, and gray. Men's sports include basketball, cross country, volleyball indoor track and outdoor track, soccer, and tennis. Women's sports include basketball, bowling, cross country, cheerleading, indoor and outdoor track, soccer, tennis, triathlon, and volleyball. A co-ed team competes in esports. The athletic department announced the addition of women's lacrosse beginning in 2023-24. During his presidency, Olson has also served as chair of the NCAA Division II Presidents Council and served on the NCAA Board of Governors, and NCAA President Mark Emmert has visited campus numerous times, serving as commencement speaker and holding town-hall discussions with student-athletes.

Housing

Daemen supports multiple student housing complexes and affiliations: Daemen also maintains a partnership with Collegiate Village, an independently operated housing complex, which typically houses upperclassmen students in two- and four-bedroom apartments.

Media

A variety of student-sponsored and institutional-sponsored newspapers, magazines and periodicals have been published at Daemen. The Summit yearbook was published from 1952 until 2012. The Ascent student newspaper began printing in 1949 and was published until 2009. The Insight is Daemen's current student newspaper; it publishes twice a year. Daemen Today is the alumni periodical published once a year

Traditions

Every fall Daemen hosts its annual Founders Celebration, which is a campus-wide event honoring the institution's origins and commemorating its history of scholarship. Events include the ringing of Founders bell where representatives of the university ring the bell, the Distinguished Alumni Awards Dinner, Daemen Day in Amherst in partnership with local businesses, key athletics events, and other student-centric events. The university conducts white coat ceremonies for health-related degrees. The ALHANA (African, Latinx, Hispanic, Asian, Native American) program and graduation celebrates individual student and class-wide accomplishments. Springfest is an annual music festival hosted by the Daemen Student Government Association. Artists have included Drake. Daemen Tradition Keepers complete a list of "50 Things to do Before You Graduate".

Notable people

Alumni

Faculty