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Faculty Spotlight: Justin Randolph Thompson

Posted on by Maxine P
Three students of color talking with the Florence Duomo in the distance.

NYU Florence students enjoying the view of the Duomo from Piazzale Michelangelo

One marker of success when spending extended time in a new place (especially as a student) is how comprehensively one engages with the local culture. At NYU Florence, students are immersed in Italian and, specifically, Florentine culture through a range of courses and activities. And for over six years, Global Lecturer Justin Randolph Thompson has worked to ensure that experience includes the rich history of Black people in Italy.

In addition to his role as a lecturer at NYU Florence, Thompson, an artist, cultural facilitator, and educator, is the cofounder and director of Black History Month Florence, a multifaceted exploration of Black histories and cultures in the context of Italy. He also works with faculty and students to provide support for study abroad programs, offer internships and workshops, and share a space to connect with Black culture abroad. As a young man living in Italy, Thompson, who has lived between the United States and Italy since 1999, found that his relationship to Blackness was very much shaped by his environment.

Black History Month Florence

The first Black History Month Florence was created in 2016 to inspire much-needed connection—as a way to link Thompson’s projects to institutions in Florence and elevate his message. “Blackness extends into antiquity; there has never been a time in Italian history when there were not Black people here. But the country needed a framework to engage in more expansive conversations about Blackness.” Therefore, Thompson and cofounder Andre Thomas Halyard worked to build a network of like-minded people, artists, and writers to engage people with this history.

“In 1926 historian Carter G. Woodson established Black History Month because there was a need to tell a more complete story about the United States. And 90 years later, there was a need to tell a more complete story about Italy,” Thompson explains. This year’s celebration, which began on February 1, has expanded to include about 50 events, and its network now stretches across Italy and beyond. “It’s a huge cultural moment,” Thompson says. “Every single time we’re able to pull this together thanks to a range of partners, it is an incredible demonstration of what’s possible.”

The Recovery Plan

Now that Thompson’s work has grown, Black History Month Florence is but one piece of a much more comprehensive puzzle. The Recovery Plan, which developed from the success of Black History Month Florence, is a Black cultural center that examines the history and contemporary legacy of Blackness in a global context. The center hosts a range of exhibitions, performances, lectures, seminars, workshops, and residencies designed to reflect upon Italy as a historic site for cultural exchange.

The Recovery Plan collaborates with organizations and institutions throughout and beyond Italy, supporting young Black Italian artists. The center also nourishes an archive and library for the study of Afrodescendent cultures while helping to provide training and support to its partners.

“This is the work that really needs to happen in order to safeguard layers of history that have been consistently excluded,” Thompson says. “These absences impact all of society.”

The Work Together Is the Reward

Thompson has exhibited and performed at institutions all over the world, including the Contemporary at Blue Star art institution in San Antonio, Texas; Villa Romana in Florence, Italy; the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, New York; and the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid, Spain. He has also won a number of awards, including a 2022 Creative Capital Award, a 2020 Italian Council Research Fellowship, and a Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Biennial Competition award.

These awards have given Thompson the freedom to experiment and push the boundaries of his work, beginning projects and bringing on new partners even if he doesn’t know the outcome from the start. As an educator, he follows a similar philosophy: “My teaching—and the way I live my life—is about developing a relationship where we can question everything and exchange what it is that we do know,” he says. “Together, we create a more complete picture. Every one of us can contribute such important things to this world.”

Written by Sarah Bender

The Mission for Mental Health

Posted on by Katie L

Illustration of a hand reaching to a person in despair through a brain drawingBrian Hall is a world-renowned expert in global mental health, and he’s also the director of the Center for Global Health Equity and a professor of global public health at NYU Shanghai. According to Hall, the mission of the Center for Global Health Equity is to develop evidence around interventions that improve public mental health services and, in particular, respond to populations who experience adversities, including complex emergencies and disasters.

How does it fulfill its mission? “NYU Shanghai has given its full support to develop a leading center in global public health, and that commitment has already led to the center’s publication of more than 30 papers within 2022,” Hall says. Among its admirable output of work this year is a study on China’s existing literature in English and Chinese on mental health and psychological support (MHPSS) during calamities in the country from 2000 to 2021. The paper, “Mental health and psychosocial interventions to limit the adverse psychological effects of disasters and emergencies in China: A scoping review,” aims to understand the country’s MHPSS intervention research, policies for disasters and emergencies, and the efficacy of these interventions.

Hall’s research reveals that China’s experience in postcrisis psychosocial support was limited prior to the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. Since then, China has rapidly mobilized trained professionals to provide psychiatric and psychosocial services in affected communities, as demonstrated in the responses to the 2008 earthquake in the Sichuan Province and the COVID-19 outbreak in the Hubei Province in early 2020. In spite of these improvements, however, the study shows that critical gaps remain. For example, a lack of integration of MHPSS responses into the current national and local emergency response system, missing supervision and rigorous evaluation of the effectiveness of mental health services, and regional imbalance in the quality and coverage of these services persist.

“It is critical to understand how China responds to disasters as this sets the stage for future development in the field domestically and provides the world a key vantage point to learn from successful implementation of MHPSS in our country,” says Hall. As senior author of the research and a commissioner of the Lancet Commission on Mental Health in China, Hall worked closely with notable scholars from Shanghai Mental Health Center, Sichuan University’s Institute for Disaster Management and Reconstruction, Fudan University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and Columbia University for over a year to complete the project. The paper is part of the preparatory work for the Lancet Commission of Mental Health in China, cochaired by Central South University professor Xiao Shuiyuan and Columbia University professor Michael Phillips. The paper was recently published in The Lancet Regional Health–Western Pacific, a leading journal dedicated to advancing clinical practices and health policies in the Western Pacific region.

Repurposed with permission from NYU Shanghai News and Publications

NYU and KAIST Celebrate New Partnership

Posted on , modified on by Maxine P

A visit by South Korea’s president and the New York City mayor to NYU marks an important global academic partnership

KAIST President Lee Kwang Hyung with NYU President Andrew Hamilton

KAIST President Lee Kwang Hyung and NYU President Andrew Hamilton celebrate the NYU-KAIST partnership. ©Chandler: Courtesy of NYU Photo Bureau

New York University and KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology) recently celebrated their new partnership at an event that included South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol, New York City mayor Eric Adams, NYU board of trustees chair William R. Berkley, NYU president Andrew Hamilton, and KAIST president Lee Kwang Hyung. The event included the City of New York and the KAIST delegation signing a cooperation agreement as well as unveiling signage for the anticipated joint New York City campus.

Collaboration Through Research

The partnership will focus on science, technology, engineering, arts, humanities, and mathematics, commencing with a series of research collaborations involving some 50 faculty members from the two institutions in areas such as biomedical engineering, AI convergence, neuroscience, next-generation wireless communications, cybersecurity, and sustainability, among other areas. In addition, discussions have begun between faculty of the two institutions regarding the possibility of establishing a joint undergraduate engineering degree program, as well as a study away program that would include intensive practical learning and industry experience in both countries.

Joint Programs and Student Exchange

The two universities have already identified dedicated space on each campus for their nascent joint collaborations. In New York City, the NYU-KAIST offices will be located at One MetroTech Center, at the heart of NYU’s Downtown Brooklyn campus specializing in engineering, tech, new media, and arts. KAIST will provide space for NYU personnel on their campus. With the goal of establishing a campus in New York City by 2025, KAIST has also been in discussion with New York City officials about its plans.

A Beneficial Partnership

“We’re proud to have helped facilitate this partnership between KAIST and New York University, which will be a real win for students and help drive continued innovation in our city,” said New York City’s Mayor Eric Adams. “From the time that senior members of our administration learned about this opportunity during a recent trip to South Korea, we have worked closely with KAIST to develop strategies for increasing their presence and investments in New York City. This is the start of a relationship that I am confident will bring even more academic, business, and technological opportunities to the five boroughs.”

“We’re delighted by our newly established partnership with KAIST,” said NYU’s President Andrew Hamilton. “We see great potential in the opportunities to collaborate on the development of courses, research, cutting-edge technologies, entrepreneurship initiatives and industrial partnerships, and exchanges. We believe this partnership is very much in line with NYU’s commitment to global engagement and will make important contributions to New York’s tech sector. It’s exciting to think how much NYU and KAIST have to learn from one another, and how much we may accomplish together.”

“We are very excited to have our institution come together with NYU to begin pursuing a common vision: joining forces to advance technology-based research and education; playing a leading role in addressing global challenges and problems through science and technology; and building stronger ties between Korea and the United States,” said KAIST’s President Kwang Hyung Lee. “This partnership with an institution that shares our sense of cutting-edge research and global social responsibility recalls the spirit of international partnership and assistance that led to the creation of KAIST in 1971.”

Content repurposed with permission from NYU News.

Minds and Machines at NYU Paris

Posted on by Maxine P

In this philosophy course, students learn the art and science of debate

 

A Twist on a Traditional Philosophy Course

Dr. Frédérique de Vignemont sitting at a desk

Dr. Frédérique de Vignemont

In her philosophy course called Minds and Machines at NYU Paris, Dr. Frédérique de Vignemont merges concepts from the humanities and the sciences to offer a unique and interactive experience for her students. “I’m a philosopher who likes to talk about science,” she says. “I’m not just hard-core humanities. In my class I try to get the two sides talking, which can sometimes be a challenge. My class is open to all majors, and that makes it interesting because each student brings a unique perspective to the table.”

Philosophy in Practice

Dr. de Vignemont’s course is a series of lectures on philosophical concepts coupled with interactive debates about thought-provoking questions like: Can machines think like humans? Do all animals feel pain? Are humans different from machines?

“I choose debate topics that students can feel deeply about,” Dr. de Vignemont says. “This class is all about practicing philosophy, not just reading or listening to lectures about it. During debates, I help students find their way of thinking and formulate their objections.”

According to Dr. de Vignemont, the ability to debate is an important skill for students to have regardless of their major. “Students need to learn how to listen to each other, even when they disagree. They also need to learn how to present their arguments in a way that the other side can understand.”

For Xichen Li, a College of Arts and Science Class of 2023 Philosophy major, the course’s weekly debates were her favorite part because they exposed her to different perspectives and allowed her to recognize the flaws in her own arguments.

“During the debates, I was able to broaden and diversify my perspectives on philosophical issues and life in general,” says Xichen. “As the class went on, we learned how to think and debate in more creative, rigorous, and nuanced ways. The habit of debating continues to benefit me to this day.”

Beyond the lectures and debates, Dr. de Vignemont teaches students more general skills like how to analyze a paper, how to defend a viewpoint, and how to synthesize their findings.

 

Two students seated in the foreground in discussion with Dr. de Vignemont seated in the background

Dr. de Vignemont listens to students debate in her NYU Paris course, Minds and Machines.

Gaining Unexpected Life Skills

When students complete the Minds and Machines course at NYU Paris, they leave with an appreciation for life’s quiet complexities. They know how to think critically about topics, ask probing questions, and find comfort in the unknown. “As an undergraduate, I was told the ability to be surprised is the main philosophical skill,” says Dr. de Vignemont. “We take so many things for granted. It’s the philosopher’s job to be picky and ask questions. While I’m not sure students will get many answers from this class, I’m certain they’ll learn how to ask new questions.”

And that’s exactly what happened for Xichen Li—she felt the power and beauty of questioning for the very first time.

“I realized questioning existing answers can open up new possibilities,” says Xichen. “Sometimes asking questions can point out flaws in our past understanding and push our mindsets forward. But even when our mindsets don’t move forward (because many philosophical questions seem to have no clear answers), asking questions can reveal how ignorant and finite we are. In this class I learned that questioning is a fantastic way to explore the world and feel the depth of the unknown.”

Written by Samantha Jamison

Modern Dissent in Prague

Posted on , modified on by Kristin Law

In the late 1980s, revolution was stirring in Communist Czechoslovakia, and Jan Urban was at the center of it. While reporting for Radio Free Europe and the BBC, he was also secretly working with underground newspapers and leading a fledgling dissident network called the Eastern European Information Agency. His efforts helped bring the country to the 1989 Velvet Revolution, a nonviolent uprising that toppled the Communist regime and brought democracy to his homeland. Because of his pivotal role in the revolution, Urban became the leader of the Civic Forum, a political, anti-communist movement he helped found.

Jan Urban gesticulates to his class

Professor Jan Urban giving a lecture

In the first free elections in June 1990, the public turned its attention to Urban as a natural choice for prime minister, but he declined. The reason? He says, “I was too good at giving speeches and mobilizing crowds. It was frightening to have such power, and I gladly gave it up.”

Teaching from Personal Experience

Urban turned away from politics and spent several years as a war journalist in the former Yugoslavia and Iraq. He began teaching courses about political dissent and civil disobedience at the Czech Republic’s Charles University. At NYU Prague, too, he teaches its most popular course, Modern Dissent in Central Europe: The Art of Defeat. In the classroom Urban uses his personal history as a case study.

Students, seated in desks, listening to Professor Urban

NYU Prague students in the Modern Dissent in Central Europe course

He knows it’s far more compelling to experience a personal account of what happened than to read about it in a textbook. His goal is to help students understand how civil disobedience led to positive changes for the people of the Czech Republic—and what it can also do for movements like Black Lives Matter and Occupy Wall Street.

“To act outside of what is mainstream and fashionable is more important today than ever before, and political dissent is a tool we can use to dismantle ideas that no longer work. Sometimes it’s our civic responsibility to be different.”  —Jan Urban

Students Explore Obedience and Resistance

In class discussions students work through topics like obedience and dissent, the media and propaganda, and government and civic responsibility. Urban challenges them to think by being the dissenters in the room. “Young people often say what they’ve been taught without questioning it deeply, so it’s necessary to provoke them, expose their prejudices, and destroy their ready-made conclusions,” he says. Though he makes his students uncomfortable at times, he also broadens their thinking. “Television has changed our lives and democracies into entertainment and emotional games,” Urban says.

Repurposed from NYU Global Notebook. 

NYU Sydney Finds a New Home and a Trusted Partner at University of Sydney

Posted on , modified on by Katie L

A student walks into a building with a larger University of Sydney sign

Come July, NYU Sydney will welcome its first cohort of study away students to its new home at the University of Sydney (USYD), one of Australia’s leading universities. NYU and USYD recently signed a new partnership agreement, which will give students from both universities the opportunity to share courses, live together, and participate in a reciprocal exchange program.

“We’re excited to join the academic community at the University of Sydney and work together to explore future opportunities for collaboration,” says Megan Carrigy, NYU Sydney associate director for academic programs. “The suspension of our site during COVID-19 created space to review our program and reflect on where we might take it in the future. This new partnership, and our move to the University of Sydney campus, offers us an unprecedented opportunity to deepen our connections with the local academic community.”

Coming Together for a Historic Partnership

When NYU made the decision to relocate its campus in The Rocks precinct of Sydney, they sought opportunity. By partnering with an Australian university, NYU students could engage with Australia’s vibrant university culture while “also retaining the programming, curriculum, and community that has made the NYU Sydney program so successful to date,” explains Carrigy. USYD, with more than 400 areas of study and a reputation as one of the world’s top-rated universities, seemed like an ideal partner.

During a virtual ceremony, the USYD vice-chancellor and principal, Professor Mark Scott; NYU’s president, Professor Andrew Hamilton; and NYU’s vice-chancellor and senior vice provost for global programs and university life, Professor Linda Mills, signed an agreement to finalize the partnership. “This new partnership between two of the world’s leading universities opens up a wealth of extraordinary opportunities for collaboration across teaching, research, and industry engagement,” said Professor Scott at the time. “As the world begins to open up after the COVID-19 crisis, we’re thrilled to be offering students an immersive international experience.”

A Distinctly Australian Experience

University of Sydney's Great Hall from above

The Great Hall at the University of Sydney

Now NYU Sydney students will have access to everything that USYD’s Camperdown/Darlington campus has to offer. Founded in 1850, the campus is USYD’s largest and oldest, known for its stunning old-world architecture and rich history. The Great Hall, inspired by London’s Westminster Abbey, is the centerpiece of the campus’ world-famous quadrangle. Over the years, it’s hosted hundreds of events, from graduation ceremonies to grand banquets. Other notable facilities include six libraries, four art galleries, and the new Chau Chak Wing Museum.

“One of the reasons I wanted to go to NYU in the first place was because of their outstanding study abroad programs. When I heard that Australia was allowing travelers again after the pandemic began, I immediately knew I had to take this opportunity,” explains Serena Lau, a Global Public Health/Nutrition and Dietetics major. “The University of Sydney campus location looks beautiful, and I’ll be within walking distance of the water. The culture and the people seem amazing, and I cannot wait to see everything in person—minus the spiders!”

New Opportunities for Education and Collaboration

As part of the agreement, NYU students can take selected USYD courses alongside local students, while USYD students can enroll in classes taught by NYU Sydney faculty members. Additionally, USYD students will have the opportunity to study at NYU’s campus in New York City or one of its additional global locations. “This innovative model aligns with the University of Sydney’s strategic goal to provide more international experiences for traditionally underrepresented student cohorts, such as low-socioeconomic-status, first-in-family, and Indigenous student populations,” adds Bonnington. Furthermore, all NYU Sydney students will enroll in a USYD Industry and Community Projects Unit, which offers them the singular opportunity to partner with leading corporate, government, and community organizations to craft innovative solutions to real-world problems.

In the years ahead, both students and faculty members will benefit from the partnership. USYD faculty will have the opportunity to come to New York City as visiting scholars while NYU faculty can conduct research at USYD. “Both NYU and the University of Sydney intend for this to be a starting point for a much greater level of collaboration between our institutions, including joint research, co-teaching, industry engagement, and much more,” explains Bonnington. “There’s a lot we can learn from each other, so this is really just the start of our collaborations. The sky’s the limit!”

Written by Dana Guterman

NYU London Professor Valerie Wells Published in Cancer Gene Therapy

Posted on by Katie L

βGBP cytokine, a naturally occurring molecule in the human body, has the ability to induce cell death in cancer cells, finds a new study from NYU London professor Valerie Wells and King’s College London professor Livio Mallucci. Published in Cancer Gene Therapy, their coauthored paper on the mechanisms of cell signaling and gene expression reports that the molecule can regulate cell proliferation by either controlling an intrinsic S phase (DNA replication) checkpoint in normal cells or inducing apoptosis (programmed cell death) in cancer cells. Their findings provide a rationale for understanding how a process that naturally controls cell proliferation has extended anticancer potentials.

Collaboration with King’s College London

According to Wells, her research has progressed over many years while working with Professor Mallucci and the King’s College London Cell Signalling and Growth Laboratory. Their recent paper is an extension of previous work, including their 2019 publication in the British Journal of Cancer, where they report that the βGBP cytokine is a “physiological inducer of procedures that lead to immunogenic cell death.” Unlike chemotherapy treatments, which carry associated toxicity, Wells and her team showed that the βGBP cytokine is a safe immune molecule that acts as a tumor suppressor with the potential for long-term protection against cancer. This paper provides “direct experimental evidence for a rationale to explore the potential of a strategy based on the use of a natural immunomolecule with no innate toxicity.”

Professor Valerie Wells, a Brief Biography

Valerie Wells

Professor Valerie Wells

Professor Valerie Wells is a research scientist and lecturer at NYU London who studies the operation of signaling pathways in different cell types. After the βGBP cytokine was found to selectively induce apoptosis in cancer cells, Wells continued her research by investigating the molecular signaling pathways the βGBP cytokine controls to regulate the normal cell cycle and cause programmed cell death and immunogenic cell death in tumor cells.

During her time at NYU, Wells has fused her passion for research and teaching into one meaningful career. “The combination of research and teaching is both enjoyable and valuable,” she says. “NYU students’ commitment to their studies, their ideas, and their discussions and their interest in relating their studies to the wider context provide an interesting and stimulating atmosphere for the teaching aspect of my career.”

To read the full paper by Wells and Mallucci, titled “Intrinsic S phase checkpoint enforced by an antiproliferative oncosuppressor cytokine,” visit Cancer Gene Therapy. To read their 2019 paper, titled “Sourcing the immune system to induce immunogenic cell death in Kras-colorectal cancer cells,” visit the British Journal of Cancer.

Written by Samantha Jamison

Professor Li Li Unpacks the Mysteries of the Brain

Posted on by Katie L

Professor Li Li’s career has taken her across the globe, from Lanzhou to Beijing and Rhode Island to Hong Kong. As a professor of neural science and psychology at NYU Shanghai, she’s worked in academia, at NASA, and in the private sector all while raising two daughters. Recently, she met with the NYU Shanghai News team to reflect on her journey across continents and industries—and share how she found her way back to academia in Shanghai.

You started your academic career as a Psychology major at Peking University (PKU). How did you settle on neuroscience as your field of study?

I followed a very typical growth path of a good Chinese student back in high school in Lanzhou, Gansu. I was good at taking exams and got a good grade on the gaokao [the national college entrance exams] to get into PKU. When deciding on my major, I picked Psychology because it seemed the most interesting and could provide me with opportunities to interact with people.

Psychology has many subareas, and I felt most interested in using experimental and computational methods to study rules and mechanisms underlying our cognition, which is also known as cognitive psychology. I still remember the shock I experienced when I entered the Perception, Action and Cognition Lab at Brown University for the first time about 20 years ago. Researchers in the lab were using these visual displays and virtual reality techniques to conduct scientific experiments and expand the boundaries of knowledge with so much passion. It made me say, “Wow, this is so cool!”

As a typical “science person,” the most attractive aspect of scientific research for me is that it allows data to speak for itself. I initially focused on memory and representation, but later on, I found that it was not strongly driven by data in many ways. So I shifted my focus to perception and action. I enjoy using scientific methodologies to study brains, and I am obsessed with the beauty of the logic, precision, and scientificity of research. I’m always searching for the keys to unaddressed questions through research.

You’ve worked in both academia and industry. How did you finally settle on university research and teaching as your life’s work?

After obtaining my PhD from Brown University and working as a postdoctoral researcher at Harvard Medical School, I gradually lost confidence in my career as an academic. I foresaw the entire career path, which lacked surprises and dampened my enthusiasm. I wanted to explore more possibilities, so I went into industry.

I worked as a human factors scientist at an engineering and scientific consulting firm in the Bay Area of California. But I soon became bored with the simple and repetitive procedural work I was assigned to do every day. More importantly, I felt I was wasting my graduate and postdoctoral training. Though the university salary was not as competitive as that in industry, I realized my true joy comes from figuring out the essence of the world and deciphering the mystery of the brain.

While making all these job shifts, I constantly asked myself what on earth I was working for. Did I work for intellectual challenges or monetary reward? The majority of people will choose to go into industry, leaving only a small group of people who can endure loneliness and stick to research. I eventually realized that the “lonely” research path fits me better.

Since joining NYU Shanghai, you’ve spent a lot of time and effort on building three different labs. Could you tell us more about them?

The first lab, the Perception and Action Virtual Reality Lab, focuses on using virtual reality techniques to study perception, control of self-motion, and eye–hand coordination. The second lab is the Perception and Action Neural Mechanism Lab, which focuses on examining the related underlying neural mechanisms. The third lab is the Neuropsychology Lab at Shanghai Ruijin Hospital. We study visuomotor and locomotion control in patients with neurodegenerative motor deficits, such as Parkinson’s disease.

Recently, we conducted a series of fMRI experiments and identified the areas of the brain where motion and form information are integrated for the perception of self-motion. We also examined baseball players’ basic visuomotor abilities and found that their basic eye-tracking ability could predict their potential to hit baseballs. Moreover, we discovered that visuomotor control ability becomes impaired and brain structure changes during the incubation period of neurodegenerative diseases.

As a teacher, what particular skills and traits do you encourage your students to cultivate to become more successful in the classroom or lab?

I’d like to share two things. First, the details are of paramount importance and play a decisive role in yielding extraordinary results in scientific experiments. As rigor and credibility lay the foundation for scientific research, I always ask students to pay more attention to the details, put more effort into the experimental design and the comprehension of logic, take the initiative to explore the reasons behind each step in the experiment, and prevent themselves from forgetfulness, carelessness, and taking anything for granted.

Second, long-term development in research should be supported by proficient academic writing skills. I urge my students to read more and practice their writing as much as possible so they can strengthen their sensitivity in using the English language and improve the logic and organization of their writing.

Lastly, what advice do you give to aspiring neuroscientists?

I think students who aim to study neuroscience should have intrinsic curiosity and thirst for knowledge about the nature of the brain. Thinking critically about the relationship between experiments and theory is also necessary. I suggest all students who want to make a career in science never give up or give in. In all areas of life, a successful person is not always the smartest person, but they are certainly the one who can stick it out until the end. As a perfectionist myself, I always hold an “excelsior” attitude toward work and research, and I hope that students will not be satisfied with their current situation. Only excellence can make endless progress.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Content repurposed with permission from NYU Shanghai News and Publications

The Return of Study Away—An International Education Week Program

Posted on , modified on by Katie L

Last fall during International Education Week, NYU hosted an array of events that explored the benefits of international study away programs. One of those programs—a virtual roundtable discussion featured four NYU site directors. NYU Tel Aviv’s Benjamin Hary, NYU Accra’s Chiké Frankie Edozien, NYU Berlin’s Gabriella Etmektsoglou, and NYU London’s Catherine Robson discussed the lessons COVID-19 taught them, how they used those lessons to reconstruct their programs, and their hopes for future study away students. NYU’s Associate Director of Study Away Student Support Alejandro Marti moderated the panel.

Enlarge

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Site directors, Chiké Frankie Edozien (top left), Gabriella Etmektsoglou (top right), Catherine Robson (bottom right), and Benjamin Hary (bottom left)

Using the Past to Reshape the Future

When the pandemic first began in 2020, the faculty and staff at NYU’s global sites quickly adjusted. They adopted Zoom technology for virtual classes, planned online events for cultural immersion, and reimagined the scope of their curricula. Unsurprisingly, the lessons they learned in 2020 influenced the trajectory of their programs in 2021. For Chiké Frankie Edozien (NYU Accra), this meant creating new experiential learning trips and adopting new wellness guidelines for students.

“We tried a lot of things during the time of restrictions with our Go Local students who were primarily Ghanaian,” said Edozien. “We tried new excursions based on topics like climate change, taking students to the sea defense wall construction site. We weren’t able to (and we’re still not able to) do overnight trips, so we tried to think of ways we could teach students about Accra outside of the classroom—ways that allowed them to come back safely without the need for excessive travel or hotels. Sometimes we held classes outside so students and professors could be out in the sun, rather than in a confined space, and feel a bit more safe. We also encouraged our faculty to implement what we call ‘mask breaks’ so students can remove their masks for a short time before continuing their work.”

Similar to NYU Accra, Benjamin Hary and his team at NYU Tel Aviv spent the first part of the pandemic redesigning their curriculum to accommodate COVID-19 regulations. They now invite a range of guest lecturers to the classroom, and they developed a robust orientation for students who might need to quarantine upon their arrival in Israel.

“As we prepared for last semester, we created ways to connect students with one another and staff,” said Hary. “What my staff did for orientation, which was totally online because students were in quarantine, is a good example of this. We usually take the students to the famous Tel Aviv market, but since we couldn’t do that, my staff created a video of the market instead. They went to each specific ethnic food place and actually bought all the same food for the students. We delivered it to their doors so when they were watching the video, we could tell them about the food, and they could follow along. They loved it.” In addition, he noted, “With Zoom, it is very easy to invite people, such as guest lecturers and other experts, to participate in our programming, regardless of their physical location.”

Preparing Intentional Coursework for All Circumstances

During the early months of the pandemic, NYU’s global staff worked hard to create a future curriculum that could span multiple formats: in person, online, and/or hybrid. By preparing for various circumstances, NYU’s global locations worked to ensure students never missed a beat in their education.

“Without our faculty, we would not have been able to offer such a good experience for our students,” said Gabriella Etmektsoglou (NYU Berlin). “They showed adaptability and flexibility. They developed so many different options for their courses within a semester. In Berlin, for example, we had times when we were teaching in person and hybrid, and we had times when we had to lock down the site for a few weeks. If you had planned trips to museums or nongovernmental organizations during those weeks, you had to totally rethink your class. The faculty really embraced, very intentionally, the values of equity, diversity, belonging, inclusion, and accessibility when rethinking their sessions. It wasn’t simply, ‘I can’t go to this museum. What do I do now?’ It was, ‘Why was I going to this museum to begin with? Is there any way I can bring this museum to my class?’”

Eagerly Awaiting Cultural Immersion

The pandemic forced educators across the globe to rethink and reimagine the ways in which students learn. While some tactics will remain in place moving forward, such as expanded access to guest lecturers, increased collaboration between study away sites, and new experiential learning opportunities, other tactics will likely fall to the wayside, like learning a new language online or participating in a remote internship—both of which are challenging to accomplish without full-blown cultural immersion.

“In orientation we always talk about immersion in your new culture,” said Catherine Robson (NYU London). “Only by doing that do you start to think deeply about the place you come from. When you’re remote, you’re still in your usual place. You don’t have that experience of sort of turning inward, of being challenged to think about your own country, your own region, your own locality. Only by being in that different environment do you really start to reflect because it defamiliarizes what was deeply unquestioned by you before. And so that is why actually being in person in that different country is so key to what we do.”
And that’s why NYU’s global staff are eager to welcome more and more students back to their centers this year in 2022.

What’s Ahead: Embrace the Unexpected

For students preparing to study abroad in the coming semesters, all four site directors encouraged them to maintain an open mind and a positive attitude.

“Right now I think students need to be adaptable and have a little bit of trust in the future,” said Etmektsoglou. “Twelve years ago when I started at NYU Berlin, it was so much more about traveling. Now it’s about your professional career and your development as a young researcher. Yes, you might miss some traveling, but it’s not the key. Because of the pandemic and because of the way we used the time, the quality of our classes increased. They’re much more focused on addressing the career skills and needs for professional competencies. They’re about applied research; they’re about becoming entrepreneurial young professionals. Students will benefit from the diversity, the guests, and all the things we embraced during the pandemic.”

Written by Samantha Jamison

The Silence of Others: A Best Documentary Award for Robert Bahar and Almudena Carracedo

Posted on , modified on by Chelsea Robles
 

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Almudena Carracedo (left) and Robert Bahar (right)

Award-winning filmmakers and lecturers at NYU Madrid Robert Bahar and Almudena Carracedo’s documentary, The Silence of Others, won an Emmy for Best Documentary at the virtual awards ceremony last week. The film, executive produced by Pedro Almodovar, examines the experiences and traumas of victims of Spain’s 40-year dictatorship under General Franco and the decades-long journeys of individuals seeking justice for egregious crimes committed under the General’s rule. The Silence of Others sheds light on the amnesty law created two years after Franco’s death in 1975 that protects the perpetrators of crimes and prevents victims from pursuing justice in Spain.

Bahar and Carracedo followed several victims and survivors for a period of six years as they organized the “Argentine Lawsuit” in order to fight the amnesty law. The legal battle illuminates  the country’s fascist history and how the crimes against humanity perpetrated by Franco’s regime continue to affect victims and their families. 

Along with receiving the Emmy for Best Documentary, it was also awarded an Emmy for Outstanding Politics and Government Documentary. “We are incredibly happy,” wrote Bahar and Carracedo in an email. “These two awards help culminate the 2.5-year impact campaign of The Silence of Others and show that the issues we highlight in Spain resonate powerfully all over the world. We dedicate these awards to the protagonists in the film and to everyone, all over the world, who have fought and are fighting for truth, justice and redress.” 

The Silence of Others premiered at the 2018 Berlinale (widely considered to be one of the top 5 festivals in the world) where it won both the Panorama Audience Award and the Berlinale Peace Film Prize. The film’s awards and prizes include being shortlisted for Best Documentary Feature for the 91st Academy Awards and it won a 2020 George Foster Peabody Award for Documentary and a 2019 Goya Award for Best Documentary Film. It has been seen by more than 1.5 million viewers and has been credited for increased dialogue about the past and the legacy of crimes. The Silence of Others has generated press across the political spectrum and has been acknowledged in op-eds, essays, books and other sources as helping to change public opinion, generate support for the victims, and reframe the debate around “historic memory” issues.

Read more about Bahar and Carracedo’s Emmy win here, and watch the film here.