Syracuse University . . . A campus powerhouse in upstate New York!
Theatre and the performing arts have long been strong features of the university. It’s not surprising that several well known actors and celebrities have roots back to the Syracuse campus. Peter Falk, better known as the original “Columbo”, Vanessa Willams, the first African American “Miss America” and current star of “Ugly Betty”, and legendary rock and roll DJ Dick Clark are all Syracuse alumni. It shouldn’t be surprising then to discover that Syracuse also owns one of the world’s largest collections of 78 RPM vinyl recordings. This amazing and valuable collection includes nearly 400,000 records!
Ernie Davis, nicknamed the “Elmira Express” during his extraordinary football career at Syracuse was the first African American to win the Heisman Trophy! His remarkable and tragic story is the subject of the Universal Pictures release, “The Express”.
In an attempt at political correctness, the long used term to describe Syracuse athletes as “the Orangemen” or more recently “Orangewomen” has been technically replaced by term “the Orange”. Finding sportscasters in the media or students on campus who actually use the new term can be a challenge!
There is one particularly tragic chapter of Syracuse history. Pan Am flight #103 which crashed in Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988 after a terrorist bomb exploded on board carried 35 Syracuse students returning from a study abroad program. There is a memorial to their memory on campus.
Syracuse is committed to building a diverse national and international student body. The university features students from all 50 states and more than 100 foreign countries. But . . . more than 40% of students are from New York State. This makes Syracuse particularly attractive to talented students from anywhere other than New York. The university’s commitment to geographic diversity could be a lucky applicant’s ticket to an acceptance letter!
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