In 1777, the English writer and lexicographer Samuel Johnson said “when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford.” Certainly, NYU London has been socially rich over the last few months. We have added to our curriculum new courses on epidemiology, Irish history, childhood and adolescent development, fashion texts, fashion history, and the fashion industry. We now have 85 different courses including the sciences, and a great range in arts, social science, humanities and business.
To our splendid array of 90 internationally distinguished faculty, who also teach at London University or other universities and are eminent in their fields of business, journalism, and the arts, we recently said hello to several new colleagues.
- Dr. Jan Knoerich holds a PhD in Economics from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. He teaches at King’s College London and NYU London, having taught Chinese economy and research methods at the University of Oxford’s School of Interdisciplinary Area Studies.
- Dr. Costanza Russo is Lecturer in International Banking Law and in Business Ethics at Queen Mary, University of London. She is also the Academic Director for the LLM in International Banking and Finance in Paris, France. She has held teaching and research positions at the Universities of Bologna and Trento, Italy; and Zurich, Switzerland.
- Dr P.J. Henry is an associate professor of psychology at New York University’s campus in Abu Dhabi. He received his Ph.D. in 2001 from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and has since held research and teaching positions at the American University of Beirut, Yale, UCSB, and DePaul University. His main research area is on the social psychology of prejudice.
On the facilities front, we have just comprehensively adapted our premises to ensure that we can accommodate students who use wheelchairs.
Last semester we had 1,312 participations on our cultural programme events – a 52 per cent increase in the take-up of our activities and events. Our extensive cultural program last semester included visits to the London Philharmonic Orchestra in concert, Stonehenge, Word Cup Soccer, and a tour of the Harry Potter studios.
Our most recent public symposium was on Race in Modern Britain and featured nationally eminent speakers. Over 300 students participated. We also innovated a series of lunchtime talks by our own renowned faculty – the first two of which were on media portrayals of the leader of the Labour Party, and the organisational operation of the National Health Service.
NYU London supported two book launches for faculty members this semester. NYU London’s Writing Tutor, Emma Sweeney, launched her poetry collection, The Memoir Garden, and Julia Pascal launched her book Political Plays.