We welcomed two new faculty members to our team in spring 2015. Dr. Jim Zogby taught Politics of the Near and Middle East and is President of the Arab American Institute. President Obama appointed him to the US Commission for International Religious Freedom, which monitors the universal right to freedom of religion or belief abroad. Dr. Zogby received his Ph.D. in Islamic Studies from Temple University’s Department of Religion and later was a Postdoctoral Fellow at Princeton University. Dr. Greg Metcalf taught Expressive Cultures: Film and is also a Lecturer at the University of Maryland. He recently published The DVD Novel: How The Way We Watch Television Changed the Television (2012). He has an M.F.A. in Painting and Graphics from Bowling Green State University and a Ph.D. in Art and Culture from the University of Maryland.
The students in Dr. Zogby’s course attended the Democratic National Committee winter meeting where President Obama addressed the party. Our students were placed in several impressive internships including the White House, Senator Jeanne Shaheen’s office and the Center for American Progress. Our second scholar in the Weissberg Forum for Discourse in the Public Square was Dr. Gary Barker, Founder and International Director of Promundo, which is a leading voice on engaging men and boys in gender equality and ending violence against women. NYU faculty Dr. Pat Egan and Dr. Niobe Way served on a committee to identify the scholar. A World at School, in collaboration with civil society organizations and the UN Special Envoy for Global Education, hosted a daylong “Countdown to 2015 Summit.” UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon provided remarks as well as Gordon Brown, former Prime Minster of the United Kingdom. President Sexton also visited our site and hosted the ambassadors to the United Arab Emirates and China at a dinner to honor NYU alumni Representative Dianne DeGette and Senator Lamar Alexander. We collaborated with several NYU faculty on a variety events as well as the National Endowment for the Humanities for a series of Black History Month events. We also teamed with NYU London for a shared panel on legislative bodies in the USA and UK.
A member of our local steering committee made a generous gift to establish the Directors Fund. With these funds, students were able to attend a variety of performances and events throughout the semester. For our required class, students were given a private tour by the curator of Made in the USA, a new exhibit at the Phillips Collection, and attended Camp David, a world premier play at Arena Stage. Other student life highlights included the White House Easter Egg Roll, Valentine’s Day at the French Embassy and a conference with the Dalai Lama.