About Touro College

President and Founder Dr. Bernard Lander

Touro College is a Jewish-sponsored independent institution of higher and professional education. The College was established primarily to enrich the Jewish heritage, and to serve the larger American community. Approximately 17,500 students are currently enrolled in its various schools and divisions. Touro College is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education [ 3624 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104, Tel. no. (267) 284-5000 ].The Middle States Commission on Higher Education is an institutional accrediting agency recognized by the United States Secretary of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation.

This accreditation status covers Touro College and its branch campuses, locations and instructional sites in the New York area, as well as branch campuses and programs in Berlin, Jerusalem, Moscow, and Florida.

Touro University International and Touro University California and its Nevada branch campus are accredited by the Accrediting Commission for Senior Colleges and Universities of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC), 985 Atlantic Avenue, Alameda CA 94501 (Tel: 510-748-9001). The Commission has also approved the creation of Touro College Los Angeles (TCLA), as a separately accreditable unit of Touro College New York, within the WASC region. Touro College Los Angeles opened in Fall 2005.

The Physician Assistant program is accredited by the Committee on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP). The Physical Therapy program is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education (CAPTE). The Occupational Therapy program is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education (ACOTE). The graduate program in Speech and Language Pathology is accredited by the American Speech-Language Hearing Association (ASHA).

The Master of Science in Acupuncture and Master of Science in Oriental Medicine programs of Touro College: Graduate Program in Oriental Medicine are accredited by the Accreditation Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (ACAOM), which is the recognized accrediting agency for the approval of programs preparing acupuncture and Oriental medicine practitioners. ACAOM is located at Maryland Trade Center #3, 7501 Greenway Center Drive, Ste. 820, Greenbelt, MD (Tel. 301-313-0855; Fax 301-313-0912).

Touro College was chartered by the Board of Regents of the State of New York in June 1970. Under the leadership of its founding president, Dr. Bernard Lander, the College opened with a class of 35 Liberal Arts and Sciences students in 1971. Since 1971, the College has continued to demonstrate dynamic growth. A Women’s Division was added to the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and Schools of General Studies, Law and Health Sciences were subsequently organized. The College organized sister institutions in Israel and Russia. The School for Lifelong Education, offering a non-traditional contract-learning-based program, was organized in Fall 1989. The Institute for Professional Studies (IPS) – Machon L’Parnasa was established in early 1999 to provide higher education with practical applications for the ultra-orthodox community. The Graduate School of Education and Psychology and the International School of Business were established.

Subsequently, the Touro University College of Osteopathic Medicine and Touro University International (both based in California) added to the professional options available to Touro students. An upper-division College offering programs in other professional areas (e.g. Physician Assistant, Public Health) opened at the Vallejo, California campus in 2002. A branch of the Touro University College of Osteopathic Medicine was opened in Henderson, Nevada in Fall 2004. An overseas branch of the College, Touro College-Berlin, offering both Jewish studies and professional courses, was opened in Fall 2003. Touro College-Los Angeles, a liberal arts college modeled after the program of the Lander Colleges, was opened in Fall 2005 in West Hollywood, California. Touro College South, based in Miami Beach, Florida, opened in Fall 2006.

The College experience, however consists of more than classroom instruction. Touro seeks to foster an atmosphere of warmth, in which close faculty-student relationships, student camaraderie and individualized attention are nurtured in many ways.