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Month: March 2024

NYU Paris Staff Spotlight: Martina Faltova

Posted on by Katie L
Martina Faltova in a coat and hat stands in front of a flower stand

Martina Faltova at Paris’ Bastille Market

In 2001 Martina Faltova was a study abroad student in Cambridge, England, when a chance encounter with an NYU professor led her to becoming his family’s au pair in New York City. Since her visa required a language course, she enrolled in Intermediate French at NYU. She loved the University so much that, when she returned home to the Czech Republic, she applied to work at NYU Prague. Now, more than 20 years later, she’s the assistant director for student life at NYU Paris.

Your job starts before students even arrive: organizing events, arranging housing, and prioritizing everyone’s safety and wellness. What inspired you to work with study away students?
I was a guest in another culture, and when I was leaving New York City, the family I lived with told me there was an NYU site in Prague and I should apply to it. And I loved that because I just came out of New York, I knew who the students were, and I felt like I could give back. Also, I love traveling, languages, meeting new people, and helping people learn more about Czech culture.

What role does language have in a student’s success at NYU Paris and NYU Prague?
In Paris the language course is required, so everyone has to take French. And it really makes your life easier. It’s a wonderful feeling when you can communicate, and it’s a really big sense of accomplishment. In Prague, though language courses are not required, learning Czech helps you make connections with the local people and understand the culture better too. Other language courses are offered at NYU Prague as well.

What are additional ways students can connect to local communities?
In Paris students can take courses at partner universities and hold internships. I also see students who choose to stay in a homestay, where they meet local families and become more connected to the place. In Prague I saw a lot of connections for the music students because they were performing in local places like pubs and would practice at other schools around Prague.

Three people seated at a table

An NYU Paris student interning at a nonprofit organization

What attracts students to each site?
In Prague there’s centuries and centuries of history around you. It’s also very affordable. You really can do anything: easily buy tickets to the opera, go to nice restaurants, or live on a budget. In Paris the arts scene is incredible for anyone taking art or film courses. Here, students leave the classroom and see the paintings they discussed, and they wander the streets featured in famous movies.

You mentioned that NYU Paris is also branching out from the arts.
NYU Paris has changed a lot in the past six years. When I arrived, the majority of our courses were in the humanities. Now we have more and more science, technology, engineering, and mathematics courses. So we see a lot of students studying computer science and mathematics.

Which initiative are you most proud of?
At the beginning of the semester, we bring in people from local communities like nongovernmental and volunteer organizations and promote our cultural activities and trips. We invite all of our student and club leaders to promote their work. Students just mingle and learn about these opportunities, then they sign up for clubs. They talk to organizations about volunteering and helping. I just love that day.

Written by Marti Trgovich

NYU Students Can Study at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology

Posted on , modified on by Maxine P
Sleek silver building

KAIST’s Lyu Keun-Chul Sports Complex

NYU science and technology students who want to study abroad but stay on track with their majors will have another option starting this year: the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology. KAIST is “an innovative and dynamic institution, and it is among the top science and technology universities in the world,” says Nyoka Joseph, the assistant director of student services for the NYU International Exchange Program. “NYU students will join 3,600 KAIST undergraduates and 3,000 graduate students who live and learn on a 350-acre campus in Daejeon, a city of 1.5 million people in central South Korea.”

The exchange program is part of a partnership between NYU and KAIST that was launched in 2022 to combine each university’s distinctive strengths and drive advances in research while forging new industrial collaborations and investments. The partnership also lays the groundwork for KAIST’s first campus in the United States, which will be a joint venture with NYU in New York City. Students who are interested in studying abroad at KAIST must first apply to be nominated. Once they are nominated, they will receive access to the KAIST application.

NYU students can choose from a wide variety of preapproved courses at KAIST or seek approval from their academic adviser or dean to take other courses at the institute. The preapproved courses take advantage of KAIST’s strengths in industrial design, technology and culture, artificial intelligence, and Korean language. For students who want to focus on science and technology courses while building their Korean skills, the Korean International House provides one-on-one Korean language tutoring and is one of many resources for NYU students.

Statue of Jang Yeong-sil in front of trees and glass building

Statue of Korean scientist, Jang Yeong-sil, on the KAIST Daejeon campus

“Nearly everything that a student needs can be found, including academic facilities, nearly 30 dorms, athletic facilities, dining, and international student support services,” says Joseph, who recently visited the KAIST campus to tour the facilities and surrounding city. “There are 60 undergraduate clubs and organizations that NYU students can join. When I spoke to international students on campus, they talked about how that helped them feel they were settling into the school socially and that it was a great way to meet people outside of the classroom.” 

Repurposed from Global Notebook

Meeting Point

Posted on by Kristin Law

Connecting NYU and the public through the NYU Abu Dhabi Institute

NYUAD campus at night with a building lit-up purple

In 2008—two years before NYU Abu Dhabi welcomed its inaugural class—NYU established a presence in the city to begin building awareness about the type of events and dialogues the local community could expect the institution to host. The NYU Abu Dhabi Institute was a chance to create a relationship with the public, offering a space to address global challenges and contribute to a growing ecosystem of cultural institutions in the area.

Today, the institute is a center of advanced research as well as scholarly and creative activity. Its public programs and academic conferences bring together academics, professionals, and leaders from around the world to discuss research areas and topics of local and global significance. With some 45 public discussions and more than 25 academic conferences over the course of the year, the institute offers NYU a unique chance to give back to the intellectual culture of Abu Dhabi.

“We feature a range of topics that reflect the diversity of this global university, and we offer a space to talk about these complex problems from a variety of different perspectives,” says Senior Director of the Institute Maurice Pomerantz. “It’s a chance for our colleagues in Abu Dhabi to connect with colleagues from around the world and also speak not only to the standard academic audience but to professionals and policymakers from the larger community. A key part of our mission is to show the world the relevance of the modern university.”

AD Institute event in an auditorium with panelists seated on stage

Programs typically center on a theme connected to the global challenges of the moment; many of last year’s lectures focused on the environment, and upcoming ones will address artificial intelligence. Presenters often have multidisciplinary backgrounds, with knowledge that bridges fields, as well as experience in both academia and the broader world. Some discussions are in English and some are in Arabic, and the audience often includes NYU students and faculty, professionals, local school members, and families with children. The institute also hosts a series of lectures and events at NYU’s Washington Square campus. Last year alone, the institute led more than 30 events there.

Lectures encompass a variety of subjects and perspectives—one week a Booker Prize winner and an expert on Afghan music traditions may present, then the next week may feature a filmmaker who focuses on refugees’ stories. The institute archives past discussions on its YouTube channel, so anyone in the world can join the conversation. There are also numerous opportunities for students to participate, such as recommending faculty, helping with question and answer sessions at events, and much more.

View from above of AD Institute event with people standing, mingling, and getting food

In addition, the institute hosts peer reviewed academic conferences that can be proposed by faculty anywhere across NYU’s global network. The conferences advance NYU’s culture of research and offer a venue to many annual meetings of scholarly and academic societies from around the world. Regional and international conferences across most academic fields turn to the institute for specialized academic forums that discuss cultural, historical, artistic, and scientific themes.

“The institute is a rare opportunity to directly combine a public mission and a research mission,” Pomerantz says. “It’s a luxury to have a series of live talks and conferences today, especially ones that are relevant locally and meaningful on a global scale. I think this has really become something of a treasure here in Abu Dhabi.”

Written by Sarah Bender