On December 11, 2019, NYU Florence will host a talk with Professor Philipp Ther entitled The Outsiders: Refugees in Europe since 1942. Professor Ther is a Professor of History at the University of Vienna, winner of the 2019 Wittgenstein Prize, and will speak about his new book. Professor Ther will discuss the long history of refugees in modern European history, and will reflect on how that history might shape our understanding of current crises of displacement, at a moment when the movement of labor migrants and refugees has become a deeply polarizing political preoccupation in contemporary Europe.
Global Dimensions
News and notes from across NYU's Campuses and Sites
NYU London Professor Meenu Guar Honored at SOAS
NYU London Professor and filmmaker Meenu Guar, who teaches “British Cinema: London on Film” at NYU London, recently had her portrait hung at SOAS University of London. SOAS is the leading higher education institution in Europe specialising in the study of Asia, Africa and the Near and Middle East. Professor Guar is a SOAS graduate and the school recently launched an initiative featuring “portraits for notable alumni who have had admirable careers”. It is wonderful to see Professor Guar featured in the SOAS Alumni Series.
NYU Top US University for Both International Students and Study Abroad 5 Years in a Row
The annual “Open Doors” Survey by the Institute of International Education ranks NYU #1 among all US universities for sending students to study abroad for the 17th year in a row, and reported an 11% year-over-year increase in international students on campus.
For the fifth year in a row, NYU was ranked No. 1 in both the number of international students studying at NYU and the number of NYU students studying abroad.
NYU, which is widely known for its extensive global presence, was again ranked No. 1 in both the number of international students studying at NYU and the number of NYU students studying abroad, according to the “Open Doors” report released today by the Institute of International Education (IIE). “Open Doors” is released annually by the IIE; NYU has topped the rankings in both categories since 2014.
According to the report, NYU hosted more than 19,600 international students during 2018-2019—a record. That number is approximately 2,000 students greater than in 2017-2018. NYU also sent 4,793 students to study abroad in 2017-18, more than any other American college and university, a distinction NYU has held for 17 consecutive years.
According to the 2019 Open Doors Report on International Educational Exchange, the number of international students in the United States set an all-time high in the 2018/19 academic year, the fourth consecutive year with more than one million international students. The total number of international students, 1,095,299, is a 0.05 percent increase over last year. International students make up 5.5 percent of the total U.S. higher education population. According to data from the U.S. Department of Commerce, international students contributed $44.7 billion to the U.S. economy in 2018, an increase of 5.5 percent from the previous year.
The Institute of International Education has conducted an annual statistical survey of campuses regarding international students in the United States since 1919, and with support from the US Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, since the early 1970s. The census is based on a survey of approximately 3,000 accredited US institutions.
10 Years in Tel Aviv
Photos by Avi Duek
NYU Tel Aviv (NYUTA) marked its 10th anniversary earlier this month with a series of events that brought together faculty, students, and administrators from across NYU’s global network, as well as alumni, and members of NYU’s leadership team, including President Andrew Hamilton, and several members of NYU’s Board of Trustees. On November 10th, participants toured Tel Aviv and the surrounding area, and also had the opportunity to meet with NYUTA lecturers, students, and staff.
The group also visited the offices of one of NYUTA’s key internship partners, The Floor, a financial technology company located at the Tel Aviv stock exchange where they met with co-founder, Moises Cohen. Deyang Sun, a senior CAS major in Economics and student at NYUTA, and intern at The Floor, presented to the group his experience working with an international team to create an innovative tool that fosters connections between big banks and startups offering sought-after telecom and cybersecurity expertise. He explained, “this project is very meaningful because on the one hand, it increases the efficiency of the banks, and on the other hand, it also creates business for the Israeli startups.” Having studied away at three of NYU’s global locations, Sun noted that Israel’s thriving entrepreneurial and fintech arena was one of the reasons he chose to weave a fourth study away experience into the final year of his degree.
The tour, led by Benjamin Hary, Professor of Hebrew and Judaic Studies and Site Director of NYUTA, and Zvi Ben-Dor Benite, Associate Vice Chancellor for Global Network Faculty Planning, and professor in NYU’s departments of History and Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, led a walking tour of Tel Aviv’s Rothschild Boulevard, the old city in Jaffa, and then finished the afternoon at Caesarea, where NYUTA has launched a new program in archaeology. In the evening, the group attended a reception with over 200 members of the NYU Alumni Club of Israel and local partners at the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation in Jaffa.
On day two, the site hosted an international symposium, entitled International Higher Education in the Digital Age. Bringing together leading scholars, educators and administrators from Israel and across NYU’s global network, more than 130 attendees heard from and engaged with speakers who analyzed a number of critical challenges facing higher education today, including diversity, equity, and inclusion, academic freedom, and global mobility. The presentations brought to the fore “why we are doing Global Education”, explained Hary, and discussions “tackled difficult questions such as, how do you teach contested issues in the Global classroom? or how do you deal with the new challenges of growing diversity in the academy?”
Highlighting the shared goals of a liberal arts education and a global education, Hamilton pointed out that, “[t]he mission of every major US university is to teach as many excellent students as it can, to create new knowledge through research, and to provide a foundational liberal arts education. The most important thing to understand about global education is that it is in furtherance of these goals. It’s not a diversion. It’s a new development in the way we fulfill our mission.”
Those in attendance included representatives from many Israeli universities — including Tel Aviv University, Hebrew University, Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya, Shenkar College of Engineering, Design and Art, and the Technion — as well as from other local partners such as organizations hosting internships for NYUTA students, the NYU Alumni Club of Israel, and more.
International Viola Competition at NYU Prague
Over the weekend of November 1-3, the halls of NYU Prague’s Richter Palace were flooded with music performed by 65 violists from 25 countries who were competing in the inaugural Oskar Nedbal International Viola Competition for musicians under 30. The top prize? A coveted inter alia, a virtuoso bow made by master craftsman Luboš Odlas whose bows are used by the world’s top musicians.
The winner was MinGwan Kim (South Korea) who studied at Universitat der Kunst in Berlin and currently plays for the Philharmonic Orchestra in Dortmund, Germany. At the awards ceremony, Kim performed a Vieuxtemps sonata along with second prize winner Yuri Yoon (South Korea) who performed a Bach suite and and third prize winner Evgeny Shchegolev (Russia), who performed a Nedbal composition. The prize for the best Czech participant went to Daniel Macho, a student at the Prague Music Faculty (HAMU).
The competition was founded by Kristina Fialová, one of Europe’s leading young violists and a teacher at NYU Prague. It was named after the Czech composer Oskar Nedbal, who was (along with Josef Suk and Vitezslav Novak) one of the most successful students of Antonin Dvorak. Nedbal founded the Czech Quartet with Suk and played with him for fourteen years; later he became the conductor of the Czech Philharmonic from 1896-1906. He is known for his compositions for ballet and operettas.
“The skill of the competitors was tremendous and it was difficult to choose only one winner,” Fialova said. She was on the jury with six other internationally renowned violists: Stephanie Baer (USA), who is the head of the music performance program at Steinhardt at NYU, Tim Frederiksen (Denmark), Jan Pěruška (Czech Republic), Jensen Horn – Sin Lam (Austria) a Sheila Browne (USA/China).
There was a huge amount of interest in the contest – the organizers had to turn down applications six weeks prior to the initially projected deadline, as there were no more places available in the competition’s first round. ‘We hoped that our new competition would elicit a positive response, yet this extraordinary – the wave of interest exceeded all expectations,’ said Fialova. “It shows that we have succeeded in launching a new, successful project for young violists.”
The competition was supported by Gewa Strings, Wittner, the Czech Musical Instruments, the Prague Municipal Government, the ‘Life of the Artist’ Foundation, and the Czech Music Fund.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Whether celebrating in New York or Sydney, Tel Aviv or Buenos Aires, NYU communities will be giving thanks this week. Happy Thanksgiving!
Jazz and Pop Courses Add New Dimension to Music at NYU Shanghai
Three new jazz and pop music courses have joined NYU Shanghai’s music lineup this year, giving students new avenues to pursue creative expression and engage with Shanghai’s vibrant and global contemporary music scene.
The courses in songwriting, jazz performance, and 20th century music history – all taught by new Clinical Assistant Professor of Arts Murray James Morrison – are open to students with a variety of musical backgrounds and talents. Morrison’s “Jazz Ensemble” course includes a flute player and a violinist alongside more traditional jazz instruments like piano, saxophone and bass. Meanwhile, his songwriting students range from musicians formally trained in classical conservatories to self-taught electronica enthusiasts who learned their musical skills by watching YouTube videos.
“Creative environments thrive on people from different backgrounds all being in one place, and the story of the most important kinds of popular music that developed in the 20th century – including in Shanghai – happened because of collisions of this type,” Morrison explains.
“Our music classes here bring people from different artistic backgrounds and cultures together to experience how the very musical development processes we’re studying are things that they’re experiencing in their daily lives in Shanghai.”
Morrison (center on saxophone) plays along with ensemble members Johnny Hu ’23 on guitar, Gavin Qin ’23 and Alex Wang ’22 on drums, Maya Wang ’20 on bass, and Ingrid He ’23 on piano.
In “20th Century Music and Its Meanings,” students use both texts and music recordings to study the musical impacts of technological developments from the phonograph to commercial air travel to online music streaming services like Spotify. The course examines not only how these technologies shaped musical styles throughout the 1900s, but also how social change and technology continue to intertwine to transform the way that human societies interact and share knowledge.
Students in Morrison’s “Songwriting” course build on similar foundations, diving deeply into music theory and structure that they apply to weekly music writing exercises in their individual preferred genres of popular music. The budding songwriters are encouraged to collaborate on long-term writing projects that will culminate in the Songwriters’ Coffeehouse showcase on November 27 (held in the Academic Building’s 2nd floor cafe), where special guest keyboardist Huang Jianyi (黄健怡) will join several of the students as an accompanist.
Shanghai-based fusion keyboardist Huang Jianyi will join students from Morrison’s “Songwriting” and “Jazz Ensemble” classes in performances of new original works at the Songwriters’ Coffeehouse on November 27.
“I really appreciate the merging of musical worlds in this class that let me see even simple pop songs with a new perspective,” says Songwriting student Nathalie Jarman ’23 of Costa Rica, who trained as a classical harpist for nearly 6 years.
“I love being on the stage and sharing with people what I’ve felt and what I’ve written, and that’s why I took this songwriting class even though I don’t want to pursue a music-related career,” Jarman says. “This class gives me a little breathing space to just share with people, and to try to hear about their own experiences through their songwriting.”
Although NYU Shanghai doesn’t offer a music major, around one in five students take music courses each year, says Affiliated Associate Professor of Arts Dianna Heldman, who leads the university’s music programming. Many students take music classes simply for the joy of pursuing a lifelong interest or for the unique combination of discipline and creativity that the study of music requires, but “there are also a lot of aspects of NYU Shanghai’s philosophy that the arts facilitate in a unique and special way,” Heldman says.
“Music is in every single culture in the world, and it has an amazing way of breaking down all kinds of physical and social barriers. Music has the capacity to resonate with all peoples, and this inclusive and global discipline has an integral role to play in fulfilling the university’s mission to create global citizens and active learners.”
Alex Wang ’22, a New Jersey native who grew up primarily in Shanghai and who plays drums and percussion in Morrison’s “Jazz Ensemble” course, says that ability to break down barriers and move beyond individual incentives is what he enjoys most about playing and studying music at NYU Shanghai.
“So much of music is just about the joy of people coming together and interacting, and interacting is such a big part of jazz,” says Wang. “It’s really magical when so many different people and different instruments are able to be in the same spot and just play and react to each other.”
“Once everyone is in that zone, the music just sounds different – it sounds so good.”
Morrison directs the full Jazz Ensemble during Thursday evening’s class.
Morrison’s Jazz Ensemble has 10 members, several of whom have never formally studied jazz. That can be challenging, Morrison says, but with a little creative arrangement, a dash of historical context, and a lot of practice playing with and responding to their fellow ensemble members, the students are able to build something both original and true to the foundations of jazz. Every class meeting also includes a round of improvisation, something that many ensemble members had never tried before.
With trips to major local jazz venues and Jazz at Lincoln Center, the Jazz Ensemble is also taking their musical practice outside the classroom. Their first public show will be at the Songwriters’ Coffeehouse, where together with Huang Jianyi and Morrison, they will perform one of Morrison’s new original songs. They’ll also perform at the university’s annual arts showcase in December.
According to Wang, there’s a lot that a project like the Jazz Ensemble can teach to the NYU Shanghai community. “The beauty of jazz is that it’s really inclusive and diverse. Jazz is really for everyone, whatever your background is, whatever your instrument of choice is,” he says.
“It’s pretty crazy that all of these things that are blocking us from being a good band – or a good community – could all be broken down by the power of how music adapts to each of us.”
NYU Abu Dhabi Students Win at World’s Most Comprehensive Student Cybersecurity Games
Two NYU Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) students have won first place in the Hack3D competition as part of CSAW, the world’s most comprehensive student-led cybersecurity competition.
Organized by the NYU Center for Cybersecurity, the competition pushed the boundaries of the world’s most accomplished security students with contests that reflect the world’s rapidly changing threat landscape. The cyber challenge was held in six international CSAW hubs and employed contests to advance research in the areas of cybersecurity that are yet to be explored.
NYUAD Computer Science undergraduate students, Cole Beasley and Pedro Velasquez, won the Hack3D event that focused on anti-counterfeiting methods in 3D printing. Competitors were first tested in reverse engineering a 3D CAD model, and during the final round, teams were given a plastic female connector object to an unknown piece and an STL file which contained information for a 3D printer.
Beasley and Velasquez were able to identify critical geometrical points and create a piece which would match and connect with the initial object. Beasley commented, “This competition was a great experience. Through the extent of the challenge, we had to think and approach the presented problem with differing skill sets to complete one single task. Between the actual challenge presented to us as well as the interactions with the sponsors through the business fair and technical talks, Hack3d and CSAW as a whole was a valuable learning tool for anyone interested in the cybersecurity field.”
Velasquez added, “CSAW 19 was full of rewarding moments after every problem solved. We still have a lot to learn about cybersecurity and we are very excited for next year.”
To earn spots in the coveted final rounds, this year’s contestants bested 1,225 teams from 90 countries. At the finals for the United States and Canada, students won cash prizes, and NYU Tandon offered more than $1 million in scholarships to high school competitors. Additional prizes were awarded to contestants at the other academic hubs.
NYU Tandon Professor, leader of CSAW 2019 and NYU Center for Cybersecurity Ramesh Karri, said, “The finalists’ creativity, dedication, and mettle put them on a trajectory to become leaders in a field whose importance to our institutions and economies cannot be overstated. Our congratulations go out to them and to the faculty and mentors who encouraged and helped educate them.”
CSAW started as a contest for NYU Tandon School of Engineering students nearly two decades ago. It has since grown to include simultaneous final competitions at schools in France, India, UAE, Mexico and beyond.
This post comes to us from NYU Abu Dhabi. The original can be found here.
NYU Sydney Instructor Featured on Australian Radio
NYU Sydney Instructor Petronella Vaarzon-Morel was recently featured in an Australian radio program. Ms. Vaarzon-Morel talks about her work in the Central Australian town of Willowra, where locals are archiving their ancestral songlines on maps to ensure their survival.
When elders in the Central Australian community of Willowra get lost in the bush, they don’t reach for a map, they start singing a song. Songlines, as they’re known, help people in the remote town find water, tell stories, and navigate through space. In recent times though, these songs had started to be forgotten, so the people in the town have taken it upon themselves to start archiving them.
Hear more about the project on the ABC radio PM.
NYU Berlin Hosts Workshop on Creating a Career in Music Abroad
On 13 November, NYU Berlin hosted a workshop with composer, vocalist, multi-instrumental electronic musician, and multimedia artist Christina Wheeler. The workshop, GO WEST! OR EAST, SOUTH, OR NORTH! MOVING ABROAD AND CREATING A NEW LIFE AND CAREER IN MUSIC, addressed numerous practical components regarding relocating to a new country, including specific issues for women, non-binary people, and people of color.
Multimedia artist Christina Wheeler has experienced first-hand how the native land of birth and upbringing frequently informs the cultural context and professional background in which artists develop. A new land and a new artistic community can offer inspiration and fresh resources for creative new work, and even for reinventing oneself aesthetically and professionally. Christina was able to lead the workshop in an effective and inspiring manner.