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The Global Liberal Studies Course Taught Around the World

Posted on , modified on by Maxine P
A group of students smile at the camera on a city sidewalk

Students in Cecilia Palmeiro’s “City as Text” class in Buenos Aires’ La Boca neighborhood. The class studies its traditional tenements—painted in different colors—in reading the history of Buenos Aires through its architecture. Photo credit: Daniel Espinoza

Global Liberal Studies (GLS) majors have the unique opportunity to take the course City As Text during the fall semester at most locations in NYU’s global network. The course, part of the GLS junior-year learning sequence, selects location-specific texts to immerse students in the setting where they’re living and learning. “Across all City As Text courses, emphasis is placed on the importance of primary sources. Students academically investigate their present geographic setting but also experience its profound intricacies on-site. The classroom work, alongside the field trips, is designed to facilitate the framing and contextualization of the study away experience,” says Philip Kain, the director of academic engagement and experiential learning and a clinical professor at Liberal Studies.

For example, at NYU Buenos Aires, readings and lectures are enhanced with visits from local government officials and activists. And, of course, excursions throughout the city to places like the Palace of the Argentine National Congress, Plaza de Mayo, and La Boca neighborhood, an artists’ haven that many 19th- and 20th-century European immigrants called home, provide further insight for students. “We produce a kind of knowledge that fosters reflection and analysis that exceeds the singularity of Buenos Aires and inspires their approach to other places,” says NYU Buenos Aires course instructor Cecelia Palmeiro, an expert on Argentine and Brazilian literature and gender issues, a researcher at the National Scientific and Technical Research Council, and the coordinator of the Interdisciplinary Center for Gender Studies and Policies at the National University of Tres de Febrero. 

A group of students stand in front of a street mural featuring Argentinian soccer player Diego Maradona

Students in Cecilia Palmeiro’s “City as Text” in front of a mural of Argentinian soccer star Diego Maradona in Buenos Aries’ La Boca neighborhood. Photo credit: Daniel Espinoza.

This fall in Palmeiro’s class, students considered the past and present of Buenos Aires through the lenses of immigration, environmental concerns, art and its role in political protest, and reproductive health. “In order to obtain the critical tools necessary to make sense and produce academic knowledge out of this experience, students read ‘Neoliberal Reform and Landscape Change in Buenos Aires, Argentina’ by David Keeling and the classic ‘The Right to the City’ by David Harvey,” explains Palmeiro.

This approach is not singular to NYU Buenos Aires, however, as students at NYU London traveled to the city’s Brixton district to learn about the area’s musical history and shifting racial makeup. And at NYU Accra, students focused on how migration and religion shaped the Ghanaian capital, visiting places of worship to learn in context.

Architect Cecilia Alvis points to a colorful mural

Architect Cecilia Alvis with “City as Text” students in front of a mural on the Nicolás Avellaneda Bridge. Photo credit: Daniel Espinoza

NYU Paris students studied the potential impacts of the 2024 Summer Olympics, learning about the social and environmental impacts of the upcoming event, and in NYU Berlin, students contextualized their learning with the history and landmarks of the Weimar Republic, the Third Reich, and the Cold War. “City As Text has played a significant role in the GLS curriculum since its inception. Our aim was to create a course centered on active engagement at the study away locations with a global perspective as its foundation,” concludes Kain.

Repurposed from NYU News 

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

Around the World in 97 Years: A Brief History of NYU’s Global Network

Posted on by Kristin Law

Cover of The Floating University bookLong before study abroad was a rite of passage for curious students, NYU recognized the many merits of an international education. While the University founded its first study away site in 1958, Professor James E. Lough took 350 NYU students on a for-credit sailing trip around the world back in 1926, an experience he dubbed the “Floating University.” Tamson Pietsch, associate professor in social and political sciences and director of the Australian Centre for Public History at the University of Technology Sydney, detailed this little known journey in her recent book, The Floating University: Experience, Empire, and the Politics of Knowledge.

“NYU actually ran the very first study abroad program for academic credit in the United States and the world,” Pietsch asserted in a recent discussion facilitated by NYU’s Dr. Jini Kim Watson, professor of English and comparative literature and faculty liaison at NYU Sydney. During their conversation, Pietsch shared her work with Dana Burde, associate professor of international education at the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, and Shirin Nadira, assistant director of the NYU Office of Global Awards.

Yellow rounded corner building

NYU Madrid

Pietsch’s book details the fascinating history of this educational experiment as well as its implications for higher education. “A contest emerged in the 1920s between expertise and experience as the foundation of knowledge claims about the world,” she explains. For eight months, 350 students and another 150 crew members traversed the globe on a ship, taking a variety of courses and disembarking at nearly 50 ports. Much like NYU’s global network today, the advertising materials lauded the voyage as an opportunity for students to “develop the ability to think in world terms through firsthand contact with places, people, and problems.” Indeed, students met recognizable figures such as Gandhi and the Pope. “The basis of the voyage was that you can teach students to be global citizens at sea—you can teach worldly-mindedness,” says Pietsch. However, the press covered students’ antics as much as their learning, and it would be some years before NYU students once more studied abroad.

Facade of NYU Paris

NYU Paris

More than three decades later, in 1958, NYU established the first academic center in its global network, NYU Madrid. There, students hone their Spanish language skills while immersing themselves in the Spanish capital’s vibrant culture. Then, in 1969, NYU Paris became the second site, founded as a center for immersive French language study. Today, students from a diversity of fields come together to visit world-renowned museums and key historical sites while getting the opportunity to supplement their coursework with classes at French universities. In the years that followed, the NYU community established a dozen additional global sites, including two degree-granting campuses in Abu Dhabi and Shanghai.

As our world fractures, reconnects, and evolves, NYU’s global network has continued to grow and change. “In a way, I think that not much has changed,” concludes Pietsch. “The form of encountering engagement with the world does that same work of helping students understand the place of their nation in the international order.”

Written by Dana Guterman

Service and Immersive Education in Calais

Posted on by Katie L

NYU London and NYU Paris students recently had the opportunity to go on a volunteer trip to the French port city of Calais. Situated on the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel, Calais is an important transfer point for people who are seeking asylum en route to the United Kingdom. The group of about 40 students supported Care4Calais, a nongovernmental organization that provides refugees with food, clothing, shelter, health care, and legal resources. Students helped out with various tasks, like sorting donations of clothing, food, and toiletries and cooking meals for volunteers. They also toured the Calais Lighthouse and WWII Museum and tasted local cuisine at Au Côté d’Argent.

People inspect tarps and tents in a large room

Care4Calais volunteers inspect donations

A Deeper Understanding of the European Refugee Crisis

For Margi DiPietro, a junior Global Liberal Studies major on the prehealth track who studied away at NYU Paris, traveling to Calais was an ideal opportunity to learn in real time the challenges asylum seekers and French citizens encounter. Moreover, she perceived an opportunity to build relevant experiences toward her goal of becoming a doctor for Médecins Sans Frontières. Prior to the trip, Margi gained insight into relevant issues in the course France and Islam. “We learned about the Calais Jungle and analyzed information about immigration in France and the French responses to the refugee crisis,” she says. “I had not realized that there are camps of this scale in Calais, or that refugees are trying to cross the English Channel on boats like you see in the Mediterranean.”

Unforgettable Personal Connections

Kaila Jones, a junior Theatre major studying away at NYU Paris, also joined the trip. Kaila has been volunteering since childhood and describes how taking part in service opportunities while studying away was a chance to find common ground with people who use different languages and come from diverse backgrounds. Care4Calais changed Kaila’s perspective on refugees. “I had some prior expectations and assumptions about what these people would be like,” Kaila admits. “I was surprised to see so many smiling faces, and how people who had so little were willing to give and share with me. Despite everything they were dealing with, they still made room for fun, laughter, and happiness. Seeing that firsthand hit my heart in ways I will never forget.”

The Importance of Education Outside the Classroom

A person leaning over a cardboard box

A Care4Calais volunteer unloads a donation box

Ahmed Nasri, communications and student engagement coordinator at NYU Paris and one of the trip’s organizers, emphasizes the importance of taking advantage of cultural immersion opportunities while studying away. “The trip offered a transformational shift in perspective that enriched students’ academic journeys, since their theoretical knowledge was grounded in a real world context.” He explains further: “There is a significant difference between learning about a subject theoretically and experiencing it firsthand. This trip to Calais aimed to bridge that gap. While we can absorb information about the refugee crisis and immigration challenge from books and lectures, witnessing it in person amplifies students’ understanding.”

Written by Auzelle Epeneter

NYU Affiliations Around the World: A Robust Network for Research and Study

Posted on by Maxine P

Students not only gain perspective and knowledge from time spent away from their home campus but also benefit from NYU partnerships with local institutions in the University’s global network. With one partnership that began before the global site itself was founded and another established over 50 years ago, it’s clear these relationships are invaluable to NYU research, scholarship, and community.

NYU Berlin

The Wilhelm von Humboldt Memorial in front of Humboldt University

Humboldt University in Berlin

NYU Berlin’s first agreement with Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin was in 1995, and the partnership remains as strong as ever. Today, students can enroll in courses at Humboldt and access its library. In addition to its partnership with Humboldt-Universität, NYU Berlin has an impressive record of establishing—and continuing—student and faculty exchange programs with other German universities. For example, in 1995 NYU established an agreement with the Freie Universität Berlin. Over 20 years later, in 2019, Freie Universität hosted Radha S. Hegde, NYU professor of media, culture, and communication, as the Dahlem International Network Professor in Gender Studies to teach two seminars. 

 

NYU London

Before NYU London was established in 1999, the University held a partnership with the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) for NYU Tisch School of the Arts students. Even as course offerings and programming expanded into the NYU London we know today, that relationship has remained steadfast for over 20 years. Each semester, a small group of NYU students audition for placement in RADA’s Shakespeare in Performance program. Students learn all aspects of performing Shakespeare as they work with a variety of RADA instructors. The intensive program culminates with the performance of one of Shakespeare’s plays. A more recent partnership with the National Film and Television School was established in 2018, with the first NYU students taking Directing the Actor: London in 2019. At the end of the course, students shoot and direct professional actors on a soundstage.

NYU Paris

A young woman on a laptop sits on the steps to the Sorbonne, a building with large columns.

The Sorbonne building houses various Parisian universities including the Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne

Over the years, NYU Paris has established a number of agreements with local universities, including Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, Université Paris Cité, Université Sorbonne Nouvelle, and Université Paris Sciences et Lettres. These agreements allow NYU Paris students to take courses at these institutions, while Paris-based students have the opportunity to study at NYU’s campus in New York City. The relationship between NYU and Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne dates back to the founding of NYU Paris in 1969. Currently, the agreement allows NYU Paris students with advanced proficiency in French to take Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne classes in subjects ranging from art and history to philosophy and mathematics. In addition, the University’s partnership with Université Sorbonne Nouvelle dates back almost as long—to 1975. Eligible NYU Paris students can take courses there in literature, cinema, theatre, and media studies. 

NYU Sydney

A building in the Victorian Academic Gothic Revival style in front of a green manicured lawn

A view from inside the University of Sydney Quadrangle

In November 2021 NYU established a new partnership with the oldest university in Australia, the University of Sydney (USYD). Through the partnership, NYU Sydney students have all the benefits of being a full-time USYD student: living on campus, enrolling in USYD courses, and participating in the Industry and Community Projects Units (ICPUs). ICPUs pair students with an industry partner and academic lead to work on real issues that industry, community, and government organizations encounter. And the partnership benefits are reciprocal—USYD students have the opportunity to enroll in Sydney-based courses taught by NYU instructors or spend a semester abroad at NYU’s campus in New York City or one of NYU’s global academic sites.

 

NYU Tel Aviv

A partnership with Tel Aviv University (TAU) further enriches students taking science courses at NYU Tel Aviv. TAU, Israel’s largest university, is just a short distance from the NYU global academic center. While NYU Tel Aviv offers science courses, including Organic Chemistry II and General Physics II, TAU offers the lab sections for those courses.

Three people in white lab coats and safety glasses in a chemistry lab

NYU Tel Aviv students take a chemistry course at Tel Aviv University’s labs.

In addition, undergraduate students can intern in a research lab through NYU Tel Aviv’s biology internships at TAU. Depending on the type of research conducted at each lab, students may learn different techniques like cell culture, gel electrophoresis, and microscopy. During the internship, students take part in the experimentation, research, and writing processes with at least one PhD student. What’s more, TAU students can also take advantage of NYU’s resources in return by enrolling at one of the University’s global academic sites for a semester.

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