New York University

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New York University (NYU) is a large research-oriented university in New York City, and is among the most prestigious post-secondary institutions in the United States. Its primary campus is in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan. With a total enrollment of 38,188 (as of the fall of 2003), 18,628 of which are undergraduates and 18,522 of which are graduate or professional students, NYU is one of the largest private universities in the United States. The University comprises 14 schools, colleges, and divisions, which occupy six major centers across Manhattan.

Contents

1 About NYU 2 History 3 Student life 4 Faculty and staff 5 List of schools and colleges 6 Noted alumni 7 Noted faculty 8 Further reading 9 External links

About NYU

Apart from noted strengths in mathematics, computer science, neuroscience, public administration, and the performing arts, NYU's Stern School of Business ranks among the top 15 business schools in the country, while its School of Law regularly ranks in the top five of US law schools in education and research. NYU's Medical School also ranks among the best in the country. NYU also has one of the largest and most diverse international student populations of any university in the United States, with nearly 4,000 students representing over 100 different countries.

NYU has also grown more selective in its undergraduate admissions in recent years, in light of the growing popularity of an "urban" education and the perceived decrease in crime in New York City. NYU has seen a continuing trend of increasingly greater numbers of applicants, lower acceptance rates, and higher average SAT scores for freshmen. In 2000, applications to NYU increased by more than 300 percent from 1991, while the acceptance rate declined from 65 percent to 29.3 percent, the lowest in the University's history [1]. Such a trend is expected to continue at NYU as it improves its standards, its faculty, and its resources.

The University is a very "national" school, with over 60% of its incoming freshmen coming from outside of the Tri-State Area. In addition, 15% come from one of New York City's five boroughs, and 25% come from the surrounding 17 counties. Nevertheless, NYU's main feeder schools reflect a strong New York City influence; the top five are Stuyvesant High School, Benjamin Cardozo High School, Brooklyn Technical High School, Townsend Harris High School, and the Bronx High School of Science.

NYU's aggressive recruitment of renowned professors and Ivy League graduates has been a large factor in the University's growing prestige. It has often been involved in bidding wars to lure top faculty in an attempt to boost its academic reputation. NYU is remarkable in that it went from being a near-bankrupt commuter school to becoming one of the country's most prestigious research universities, in large part due to the fact that, instead of building its endowment, the University spent its money on building new facilities and hiring more faculty.

NYU's "campus" is fractured and decentralized, with buildings spread over much of the neighborhood. However, there is often tension between NYU and other neighborhood residents and businesses over real estate issues. In spite of this, NYU is the fourth largest landowner in the city (the largest being the City itself, the second the Catholic Church and the third Columbia University).

NYU's sports teams are called the Violets. They participate in the NCAA's Division III and the University Athletic Association. The school's official color is violet. Its mascot is called Bobcat.

History

Originally called the University of the City of New York, it was founded by a group of prominent New Yorkers in 1831 as an alternative to the Episcopalian-dominated and "aristocratic" Columbia College (now Columbia University). Notable among NYU's founding fathers is Albert Gallatin, after whom one of the University's schools is named. In the beginning, the University, which had always known as New York University (the name changed officially in 1896), focused primarily on teaching Latin and Greek, though it was also a progressive school, offering coursework in modern languages, engineering, agriculture, and other pragmatic subjects. In 1832, NYU held its first classes in rented rooms in four-story Clinton Hall, located near City Hall. In 1835, NYU's first professional school, the School of Law, was founded. While NYU has had its Washington Square campus since its inception, the University purchased a campus at University Heights in the Bronx, as a result of overcrowding on the old campus. NYU's move to the Bronx took place in 1894, spearheaded by the efforts of Chancellor Mitchell MacCracken, who is credited with turning the school into a modern university. The University Heights campus was far more spacious than its predecessor, and housed the bulk of the University's operations, along with the undergraduate College of Arts and Science (University College) and School of Engineering.

During the 1960s and 1970s, feeling the pressures of imminent bankruptcy, then-President of NYU, James Hester, negotiated the sale of the University Heights campus to the City University of New York, which took place in 1973. While University Heights alumni fought to keep the campus, some suggest that the sale was a "blessing in disguise" as the Uptown campus was losing money and the management of two campuses was impossible for NYU, financially. Chancellor Sidney Borowitz said on the matter, "There was so much pressure from Uptown alumni to preserve the Heights that it was only under the threat of possible financial ruin that the campus could be sold. With two campuses, NYU could never have prospered as it has." After the sale of the University Heights campus, University College merged with Washington Square College (founded in 1914), which was the Arts and Sciences division of the University based in Greenwich Village. NYU's School of Engineering was shut down, and most of its students transferred to Polytechnic University in Brooklyn.

Student life

NYU is largely a reflection of the population of New York City, having a mostly progressive and liberal-minded student body. According to the Princeton Review, NYU ranks #2 as most accepting of gays and lesbians.

NYU's location in Greenwich Village -- a vibrant and creative neighborhood that has attracted generations of artists, writers, intellectuals, and musicians -- provides a unique perspective in which to study. The Village -- and the rest of New York City -- acts as an extension of NYU's campus. Being that NYU's "campus" is a patchwork of buildings and structures across much of the Village, it is indeed an "urban university" that has embraced the city as an essential element of the academic experience.

That said, NYU is often criticized for its lack of a "campus life" and it has been said that the University lacks a strong sense of community, particularly amongst undergraduates. This fact was put into perspective when a string of six highly publicized suicides took place at (or around) the University during the 2003-2004 academic year. NYU responded by offering free counseling to all enrolled students.

Faculty and staff

NYU is frequently criticized for its hiring of adjunct teaching staff over full-time tenure track professors. The university has significantly fewer full-time staff than other universities of the same size. Adjuncts are preferred over full-time teaching staff because of the lower cost, and the fact that they do not have to offer their adjuncts any benefits. A large adjunct strike in 2004 resulted in a tentative agreement offering adjuncts some benefits and wage increases over a multi-year period.

As a result of the large adjunct-to-tenure-track staff ratio at NYU, research is not a serious priority in many faculties at the university.

List of schools and colleges

• Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences
• College of Arts and Science
• College of Dentistry
• Ehrenkranz School of Social Work
• Gallatin School of Individualized Study
• Graduate School of Arts and Science
• Institute of Fine Arts
• School of Continuing and Professional Studies
• School of Law
• School of Medicine
• Steinhardt School of Education
• Stern School of Business
• Tisch School of the Arts
• Wagner Graduate School of Public Service

Noted alumni

• Julius Axelrod - 1970 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine laureate
• Adolph Green - lyricist and playwright
• Alan Greenspan - Chairman of the Federal Reserve
• Rudy Giuliani - Mayor of New York City (1994-2001)
• Marcia Gay Harden - Oscar Award winning actress
• Martin Hellman - co-inventor of the Diffie-Hellman protocol for public-key cryptography
• Meir Kahane - leader of the Kach political party in the Israeli Knesset, founder of the Jewish Defense League in the US
• John F. Kennedy, Jr. - lawyer, journalist, son of President John F. Kennedy
• Edward I. Koch - Mayor of New York City
• Tony Kushner - Tony Award winning playwright
• Fiorello H. LaGuardia - Mayor of New York City (1934-1945)
• Ang Lee - film director
• Spike Lee - actor and film director
• Ira Levin - author
• Frank McCourt - author
• Debra Messing - actor
• Martha Nussbaum - philosopher
• Frederick Reines - physicist, recipient of 1995 Nobel Prize in Physics
• Meg Ryan - actor
• Adam Sandler - actor, comedian, producer
• Martin Scorsese - film director
• M. Night Shyamalan - writer and film director
• Maura Tierney - actor

A list of other notable alumni from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts can be found at NYUview.

Noted faculty

• Robert F. Engle - economist (econometrics), recipient of 2003 Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel
• Niall Ferguson - historian
• Mikhail Gromov - mathematician
• Thomas Nagel - philosopher
• Adam Penenberg - freelance writer and investigative journalist
• Alan Sokal - physicist, known for the Sokal Affair
• Martha Rogers - nurse theorist, created the Science of Unitary Human Beings

Further reading

• Frusciano, Tom and Marilyn Pettit, New York University and the City, an Illustrated History. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1997.
• Potash, David M. The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at New York University: A History. New York: NYU Arts and Sciences Publications, March 1991.

External links

• New York University
• NYU Weblog Portal - A directory of New York University webloggers
• NYUview.com - The view from NYU. NYU news, events, and opinion.
• Washington Square News - NYU's daily student newspaper
• WNYU 89.1 FM - NYU's student radio station

ja:ニューヨーク大学