HAMPTON ROADS:
Cultural and Recreational Environment of
Old Dominion University
| Old Dominion University is supported by the Commonwealth of Virginia and is located in the historic seaport of Norfolk in southeastern Virginia. |
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Rollins Hall, Old Dominion University
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Old Dominion offers degrees in 145 programs including 49 at the master's level and 15 at the doctoral.
It has an enrollment of approximately 18,000 students of whom 15% are in doctoral programs.
Although most of the students are Virginians, the student body is ethnically and culturally diverse with a strong international influence. |
Norfolk is hub of the seven cities that constitute the region of Hampton Roads. With a population of approximately 1.5 million people, Hampton Roads is built around the world's largest natural harbor and was the site of the first permanent English settlements in America. The area has since been the site of some of the most important events in American history. Presently, Hampton Roads is one of America's largest seaports. It serves as an active center of international commerce and is host to several major military commands for both the United States and NATO.
It is also a center of research and development in marine science, aerospace, ship design and construction, advanced electronics and nuclear physics. Of particular interest to physicists are NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton and the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (Jefferson Lab) located in Newport News. Both of these facilities have substantial relationships with the Old Dominion University Physics Department and offer a wide variety of opportunities for doctoral research.
The region is home to two other doctoral granting universities, Hampton University and the College of William and Mary. These universities, in conjunction with Old Dominion, Jefferson Lab and the other doctoral granting universities of Virginia, have formed the Virginia Physics Consortium to provide a means of sharing the resources of these institutions to further enhance the educational opportunities of doctoral students at the member universities. |
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ODU has a nationally ranked sailing program
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Hampton Roads affords the cultural and recreational amenities typical of a major metropolitan area. The area is home to several art museums, including the nationally recognized Chrysler Museum, to the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, The Virginia Opera and several other theater companies.
The area boasts a number of arenas (including the newly completed Ted Constant Convocation Center at ODU), that host a variety of special events including rock concerts and and jazz festivals. |
Hampton Roads is also home to minor league baseball and hockey teams. The area affords outstanding facilities for water sports with Virginia Beach, the Chesapeake Bay and a large number of rivers and inlets. In addition, the Carolina outer banks, the Blue Ridge mountains and Washington, D.C. are all within a three hour drive of Old Dominion University.
