Closeup of a person holding a book standing in front of a rack of books.

Daemen College’s highly successful Brooklyn-based extension center, which has graduated more than 2,000 students over the past 15 years, has been advanced to branch campus status, the highest level in off-campus instruction granted by the New York State Department of Education.

The approved branch campus oversees academic resources and provides support for students in the college’s well-established Brooklyn program, a unique educational offering customized to fit the needs of the Orthodox Jewish community.

“Advancing from an extension center to a branch campus is a major step forward in Daemen’s evolution and sophistication as a college of national distinction,” said Daemen President Gary Olson. “We are now officially a multi-campus college.”

The branch campus offers dual certification master’s degrees in early childhood and childhood/special education

Since its inception in 2003, Daemen’s Brooklyn program has made it possible for more than 2,000 students to graduate with a master’s degree in special education. Classes are offered in a culturally appropriate format and tailored to meet the special needs of the community’s religious tenets, including class structure and schedules.

Dr. Michael Brogan, senior vice president for academic affairs and dean of the college, noted, “As a key educator in Brooklyn’s Orthodox Jewish community, Daemen is well-positioned to establish a branch campus that provides valuable academic resources and tools to our students. We have taken our graduate programs beyond our main campus and into a community where there is a great demand for higher education options.”

In addition to the programs offered in a traditional classroom setting, Daemen’s fully online master’s degree in applied behavior analysis is available to students in Brooklyn.

With Daemen’s new branch campus status, the college plans to draw on its strengths and reputation in the health sciences to add degree offerings in these areas in Brooklyn, which typically enrolls 120 nontraditional students each year. To best serve the needs of students, the college’s Brooklyn branch accommodates evening and Sunday class schedules that have been established in accordance with the Jewish calendar.