Fort Towson

The Hellenic American University was founded in 2004 in Manchester, New Hampshire, United States as a private degree-granting institution of higher education by an act of the New Hampshire State Legislature. The university has instructional locations in Nashua, New Hampshire and Athens, Greece.^[1] The Athens campus shares buildings with the Hellenic American Union (HAU) and the Hellenic American College (HAEC), a Greek affiliate. Hellenic American University is a member of the New Hampshire College & University Council (NHCUC), a non-profit consortium of 17 public and private institutions of higher education in the state of New Hampshire.

Description

Hellenic American University began with a small and focused program, a Master's in Business Administration, launched in November 2004, following approval by the New Hampshire Postsecondary Education Commission (NH-PEC), now the New Hampshire Department of Education Division of Higher Education—Higher Education Commission. The university's leadership, including its first president, Chris Spirou, and most faculty members, reside in Greece. Initial funding for the university came from the Hellenic American Union (HAU), a non-profit Greek association established in 1957 with U.S. government encouragement to promote U.S.-Greek educational and cultural relations, including through English-language teaching and testing. Spirou served as president of the HAU board from 1994 until 2020, and as president of the university until 2012, when he was replaced as university president by Leonidas-Phoibos Koskos, who served concurrently as managing director of the HAU. The university shares use of the classrooms, library, cafe, and other facilities of the Union in central Athens.^[2]

Article 16 of the Greek Constitution prohibits the establishment of university-level institutions by private persons.^[3] However, foreign universities can operate Greek affiliates, provided they do not use the word "university" in their name. Therefore, the Hellenic American University conducts most of its academic programs in Greece through an entity called the Hellenic American College, while degrees are awarded by the university through its Nashua offices.

Over the ensuing six years, the institution evolved steadily from its initial identity as a business school to its beginnings as a fully developed university: with NH-PEC approval, it developed and implemented twelve more degree programs: a Professional Master's in Business Administration (PMBA), a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (BSBA), a Bachelor of Science in Information Technology (BSIT), a Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics (MAAL), a Bachelor of Arts in English Language and Literature (BAELL), a Master of Science in Information Technology (MSIT), a Master of Arts in Translation (MAT), a Bachelor of Music (BM), a Bachelor of Science in Psychology (BSPSY), an Associate of Science in Enterprise Network Administration (ASENA), and a Master of Arts in Conference Interpretation (MACI). In September 2008, the university launched its first doctoral program, a Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics. In 2017 the university moved its U.S. offices from Manchester to Nashua, New Hampshire.

In September 2011 the university started two new associate programs, the Associate of Science in General Engineering (ASGE) and the Associate of Science in Hospitality Management (ASHM). In fall 2012, the Master's of Science in psychology (MSPsy) was launched.

The State of New Hampshire Post-Secondary Education Commission has granted the Hellenic American University the authority to grant the following degrees:

The Undergraduate Program at Hellenic American University incorporates the following major concentrations: