PASS OR FAIL: WHAT’S NEXT FOR NEW YORK CITY’S HIGH SCHOOLS?
On June 17, the Center for New York City Affairs will host, “Pass or Fail: What’s Next for New York City’s High Schools?” The event will bring together city officials, educators, and nonprofit and parent advocates in a discussion on the transformation that has taken place in city high schools during the Bloomberg years. Specifically, the Department of Education has opened 200 small schools and closed or reshaped dozens of others. Families have an unprecedented number of choices in the high school selection process with the introduction of school competition. But how has all this worked out for the students at risk of dropping out? The Center for New York City Affairs will release an analysis of Chancellor Joel Klein’s cornerstone initiatives and ask what must be done to face future challenges to public education in New York City?
The event features a keynote speech by Joel Klein, chancellor of New York City Department of Education. A panel discussion will follow with Zakiyah Ansari, parent leader of Coalition for Educational Justice; Michael Mulgrew, vice president of Career and Technical High Schools, United Federation of Teachers; Eric Nadelstern, chief schools officer of the NYC Department of Education; Sana Nasser, principal of Harry S. Truman High School; and Pedro Noguera, executive director of the Metropolitan Center for Urban Education. The panel will be moderated by Clara Hemphill, senior editor at the Center for New York City Affairs.
This event is supported by the Milano Foundation, the Sirus Fund, and United Way of New York City.
PARSONS APPOINTS WILLIAM MORRISH DEAN OF THE SCHOOL OF CONSTRUCTED ENVIRONMENTS
Parsons The New School for Design has appointed William Morrish Dean of the School of Constructed Environments, for a term beginning July 1, 2009. Morrish is a nationally recognized urban designer whose practice encompasses interdisciplinary research on urban housing and infrastructure, collaborative publications on human settlement and community design, and educational programs exploring integrated design applied to a wide range of community-based urban projects.
“Parsons is an extraordinary place of intersecting cultures, academic scholarship, and global social consciousness,” said Morrish. “I am particularly excited to take on the role of dean at this critical moment when collaboration in urban design is so paramount.”
Drawing from the disciplines of architecture, landscape architecture, planning and architectural history, his work engages citizens and civic leaders in the act of giving visual representation and form to the complex infrastructural, cultural and ecological systems that link residents to community, city to region, and local to global. Morrish's ideas have been implemented through the Phoenix Public Art Works program, team THINK’s proposal for rebuilding the World Trade Center, and design assistance work efforts for rebuilding New Orleans. He is the author of Civilizing Terrains, and coauthored Building for the Arts, Planning To Stay, and Growing Urban Habitats. He is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, with a Bachelor of Architecture (1971) and Harvard Graduate School of Design, with a Master of Architecture in Urban Design (1978).
Prior to his appointment, Morrish's engagement with The New School included a collaboration with the Graduate Program in International Affairs, to complete a comprehensive review of the United Nations Habitat for Human Settlements Program’s global work plan, which details initiatives in the areas of sustainable urban planning, management, and governance. In addition, he contributed an article about rebuilding efforts in post-Katrina New Orleans to the Fall 2008 issue of Social Research, the quarterly scholarly journal of The New School for Social Research.
ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES SENIOR AWARDED
CLINTON GLOBAL INITIATIVE GRANT
R. Griffin Johnston, a senior Eugene Lang College Environmental Studies student at the Tishman Environment and Design Center, has just been awarded a Clinton Global Initiative University Outstanding Commitment grant to work on a field guide to New York City Trees. The field guide is part of a larger collective ecology research, design, and community outreach initiative Griffin began with the guidance of Lang College’s Assistant Professor of Urban Ecology Timon McPhearson, and Adjunct Faculty Phil Silva, and Liz Barry, called S+EM (Stewardship and Environmental Mapping).
Griffin’s focus for the tenure of this grant will be to create a field kit that local communities and individuals can use to input both ecological and stewardship data on New York City street trees. The interactive field guide is currently in a pilot stage at www.stemproject.org.
THE NEW SCHOOL’S 73RD COMMENCEMENT CEREMONY
On Friday, May 22, 2009, in Madison Square Garden in New York City, 2,840 graduate and undergraduate students received their degrees at The New Schools 73rd Commencement ceremony.
New School President Bob Kerrey addressed the graduates and conferred honorary degrees. Dean of Yale Law School, expert on international law, and advocate for human and civil rights Harold Hongju Koh delivered the commencement address. Honorary Degree recipients included philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah; playwright, performer, and activist Eve Ensler; legendary opera singer Regina Resnik; and statesman and philanthropist John C. Whitehead. The student speaker was Miles Strucker, a BA student from Eugene Lang College The New School for Liberal Arts.
A musical tribute to Regina Resnik also took place with Emily Duncan-Brown, a Mannes Master's candidate performing Puccini accompanied on piano by Francesco Lecce-Chong, a Mannes Bachelors candidate.
To read President Kerrey and Miles Strucker’s speeches, and view photos from the ceremony, visit the Commencement website.
NEWS FROM THE NEW SCHOOL FOR GENERAL STUDIES
WITNESSES TO HISTORY:
THOSE WHO SAW AND DOCUMENTED KEY GAY RIGHTS MOMENTS SINCE STONEWALL
On Tuesday, June 23, at 6:00 p.m., a panel of journalists, historians, and media advocates will offer a rare look at the defining moments of the gay rights movement. They will discuss these pivotal events; the role the media played in generating visibility for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people; and what the media accounts got right and wrong.
Panelists include historian David Carter, author of Stonewall: The Riots That Sparked the Gay Revolution, the basis for a forthcoming film for the PBS series American Experience; media advocate Joan Garry, featured writer for the Huffington Post, co-chair of the LGBT Finance Committee of Obama for America and former executive director of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation; and journalists Andy Humm, co-host of Gay USA, and Kai Wright, senior writer for the Root and author of Drifting Toward Love: Black, Brown, Gay and Coming of Age on the Streets of New York. Moderated by Eric Marcus, author of Making History: The Struggle for Gay and Lesbian Equal Rights, 1945-1990.
This free event sponsored by the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association’s New York chapter, the Department of Media Studies and Film at The New School, and Pro-Media Communications, will be held in the Theresa Lang Community and Student Center, Arnhold Hall, 55 West 13th Street, 2nd floor. Reservations are required by emailing, rsvp@pro-mediacommunications.com.
FACULTY MEMBER PUBLISHES NEW CHILDREN’S BOOK
Michaela Hertkorn, an instructor of politics who teaches in the Bachelor's Program and the Graduate Program in International Affairs, has published a children's book.
The Little Cloud Upset introduces preschoolers and young children to aspects of international relations and global affairs. Issues, such as human rights, the environment, refugee situations, war, and peace are discussed and illustrated in an age-appropriate way. The central character is a little cloud that travels, as a neutral observer, across the globe observing all sorts of global challenges. The cloud flies across melting ice caps in the polar region, watches children play in refugee camps, and remembers witnessing the fall of the Berlin Wall 20 years ago, an event that fundamentally changed the world and drew millions of people around the globe closer together. Though the book highlights problematic issues, it emphasizes the importance of cooperation and impact of individual actions.
NEWS FROM THE NEW SCHOOL FOR JAZZ AND CONTEMPORARY MUSIC
NEW SCHOOL JAZZ STUDENT ROTEM SIVAN IS SEMI-FINALIST IN THE
2009 MONTREUX JAZZ COMPETITION
New School Jazz student guitarist Rotem Sivan has made it to the semi-finals of the Montreux Jazz Festival Competition in the guitar category. On Monday, July 13, Rotem Sivan will compete, in Switzerland, against nine guitarists from around the globe for a chance to win the Montreux Jazz Prize. The Montreux Jazz Festival, now in its 43rd year is a world renowned jazz music festivals.
Rotem Sivan was born in Jerusalem, Israel. After receiving his BA in Classical Composition from Tel Aviv University he decided to expand his studies in Jazz and came to New York City to New School Jazz.
The First Prize Winner will receive a Gibson Custom Shop 1957 Authentic Goldtop and a week’s recording time at Balik Farm Studio.
NEW SCHOOL JAZZ STUDENTS HEADLINE HUDSON RIVER PARK TRUST
STARS OF TOMORROW CONCERT SERIES
New School Jazz students return to Hudson Pier to headline the Hudson River Park Trust Stars of Tomorrow concert series. Each Tuesday through August 11, at 6:30 p.m., New School Jazz students will serenade New Yorkers on the Hudson River on Pier 45, located at West and Christopher Streets. This outdoor venue is quickly becoming a Greenwich Village hot spot. The New School Jazz Line-up is:
- Tuesday, July 14, Shrimrit Shoshan Trio with Shimrit Shoshan, piano; Sam Knight, drums; and Ross Gallagher, bass.
- Tuesday, July 21, Darrell Smith Trio with Darrell Smith, drums; Rotem Sivan, guitar; Peter Yuskauskas, bass; and special guest, Ryan Anselmi, tenor saxophone.
- Tuesday, August 4, Amanda Ruzza Trio with Amanda Ruzza, bass; Collin DeJoseph, piano; and Jeff Barton, drums.
- Tuesday, August 11, Erika Kapin Trio with Erika Kapin, violin; Angelo Spagnolo, guitar; and Maiko Ono, drums.
NEWS FROM MANNES COLLEGE THE NEW SCHOOL FOR MUSIC
MANNES COLLEGE THE NEW SCHOOL FOR MUSIC SUMMER 2009
INSTITUTES, FESTIVALS, AND SEMINARS
Mannes College The New School for Music continues to present an exciting array of classical music institutes, festivals, and seminars this summer that go beyond the usual fare. These include The Institute and Festival for Contemporary Performance, June 16-24; The Ninth Annual New York Guitar Seminar at Mannes, July 8-12; and The Eleventh Annual International Keyboard Institute and Festival, July 19-August 2. For more information about all the institutes and festivals, visit www.newschool.edu/mannes/summer.
The Institute and Festival for Contemporary Performance, now in its sixth year, presents workshops, master classes, lectures, symposiums, and concerts featuring some of the most significant performers, composers, and thinkers working today in contemporary music. Performers include Joel Krosnick, cello; Rolf Schulte, violin; and Marc Ponthus, IFCP founder and pianist, and noted chamber ensemble, Speculum Musicae. Festival programming focuses on the wealth of modern repertoire for solo unaccompanied instruments as well as for chamber ensemble. This institute will also examine, through the addition of video and text elements, as well as generative works from different eras, and new directions in solo performance.
The institute aims not only to present concerts at the highest level of accomplishment, within a forum of ideas and educational support, but also to integrate the younger generation of performers within the larger New York cultural reservoir with its multifaceted possibilities.
- Tuesday, June 16, 8:00 p.m.
Mannes Concert Hall, 150 West 85th Street
Program: Territory X: continuous performance (intermittent video-collage and semiotext) music of Karlheinz Stockhausen, Pierre Boulez, Robert Schumann, and Outis
Artists: Marc Ponthus, piano.
- Wednesday, June 17, 8:00 p.m.
Mannes Concert Hall, 150 West 85th Street
Program: Richard Wernick’s Second Suite for Cello (NY premiere), Gunther Schuller’s Fantasy for cello solo, Donald Martino’s Parisonatina, Ralph Shapey’s Soli and Solo, Duo, Trio, Roger Sessions’s Six Pieces, and Elliott Carter’s Figment #1.
Artists: Joel Krosnick, cello
- Friday, June 19, 8:00 p.m.
NYU’s Frederick Loewe Theater, 35 West 4th Street
Program: Igor Stravinsky’s Élégie, Elliott Carter’s Rhapsodic Musings, Bela Bartók’s Melodia (from solo sonata), Donald Martino’s Romanza and Fantasy-Variations, Gyorgy Kurtag’s Signs Games and Messages, Steven Gerber’s Fantasy, and Earl Kim’s Seven Caprices.
Artists: Rolf Schulte, unaccompanied violin
- Sunday, June 21, 8:00 p.m
Frederick Loewe Theater, 35 West 4th Street
Program: Works by George Crumb, Anton Webern, David Sanford, Nathan Davis, Martin Matalon
Artists: IFCP Ensemble, Kolot Ensemble, and IFCP participants.
- Monday, June 22, 8:00 p.m.
Mannes Concert Hall, 150 West 85th Street
Program: Music of Peter Lieberson, Mario Davidovsky, and David Rakowski
Artists: Speculum Musicae
- Tuesday, June 23, 8:00 p.m. (Free Admission)
Mannes Concert Hall, 150 West 85th Street
Program: Solo and chamber works, program TBA
Artists: IFCP Artists
- Wednesday, June 24, 8:00 p.m. (Free Admission)
Mannes Concert Hall, 150 West 85th Street
Program: Solo and chamber works, program TBA
Artists: IFCP Artists
Admission: $20; $10 for students; $8 for individual master class or lecture; Student performances are free of charge. Tickets are available at the door beginning one hour prior to each event.
NEWS FROM PARSONS THE NEW SCHOOL FOR DESIGN
PARSONS NAMED AMONG PRESTIGIOUS UNIVERSITIES TO TAKE PART IN
SUMMER SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM
Parsons BFA Fashion Design student Kiara Walker has been named a 2009 Steamboat Scholar. Walker was awarded this honor for her promise to become a leader in the fashion design industry.
Walker along with the 12 other scholars, hailing from universities such as Harvard, Columbia, Cornell, and other notable institutions across the country, will take part in Steamboat’s Summer Scholarship Program.
With the help of grant partners, Steamboat Scholars participate in a 10-week program, spending the summer in New York and Boston. They will live with their peers while building leadership, integrity, work ethic, and risk-taking skills.
Walker will be interning with grant partner Vineyard Vines in all aspects of design and merchandising.Walker’s interest in design does not stop at fashion. In her first year at Parsons, she co-created the student-run Parsons Magazine. Currently,she is working on writing and producing a reader about fashion. She hopes to work for Burberry, Calvin Klein, and Nike among others in the business.
NEWS FROM THE NEW SCHOOL FOR SOCIAL RESEARCH
PROFESSOR CASTANO FEATURED IN SYMPOSIUM ADDRESSING ISLAM IN EUROPE.
Emanuele Castano, associate professor of Psychology was featured on a panel “Media: A Catalyst for Change,” at the New York Public Library on June 11, as part of a three-evening symposium titled Islam in Europe--Insult: Fractured States? The symposium brought together prominent speakers from several disciplines to discuss Muslim communities' integration in European society; these scholars explored different perspectives on the relations between European cultures and Muslim communities.
Professor Castano joined such renowned figures as Shamil Idriss, H.M. Queen Noor, Mohamed El-Fatatry, and Andrea ter Avest Dahm in the Media panel, which investigated what role entertainment media can play in improving cross-cultural understanding, exploring popular media images/negative stereotypes of Muslim groups and their relation to the polarization between Muslim and Western societies.
Other notable figures who participated during the three-day sympoisum included Benjamin Barber, Krzysztof Czyzewski, Paul Berman, and Tahar Ben Jelloun.
USE YOUR FREE ADMISSION TO DROP IN ON MOMA’S AFTER HOUR MONDAY NIGHTS
Monday, December 8, 2008, marks the first of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA’s) Monday Nights, a series of Monday evenings over the next six months when the Museum will remain open until 8:45 p.m. We encourage New School students and employees to drop in after work and enjoy access to the entire Museum. In order to receive your free admission, go to the lobby information desk and show them your valid New School ID. Students, faculty, and staff receive one free admission for themselves. Faculty and staff may also obtain an additional two tickets for their guests.
There will be live entertainment as well as drinks and cocktails available for purchase. MoMA is located at 11 West 53rd Street, New York City. Enjoy!
TIME OUT NEW YORK DISCOUNT OFFER
Start your year off being in the know about things free or fancy. Time Out New York is offering all students, faculty, and staff at The New School a full year's subscription for just $20! That's 51 issues for the entire year and only 39c an issue. Steal this deal for yourself or a gift to another.
THE BEST DEAL FOR AFFORDABLE THEATER, Dance, and concert TICKETS:
THEATRE DEVELOPMENT FUND
An exciting spring theater, music and dance season is under way: Why pay $100 or more, when you can pay $20-$36 for Broadway shows and Off-Broadway shows, dance performances and concerts? An inexpensive way to enjoy the best of New York culture is to join Theatre Development Fund (TDF).
To be eligible, you must be a full-time student or teacher, senior citizen (62+), civil servant, union member, staff member of a not-for-profit organization, performing arts professional, or member of the clergy or armed forces. Annual membership fee is $27.50, and you can join online.
A small sampling of performances recently available to TDF Members for $20-36 per ticket include: 33 Variations, The 39 Steps, Altar Boyz, American Ballet Theatre, The American Plan, August: Osage County, Avenue Q, Ballet NY, Beast, Big Apple Circus, Blithe Spirit, Christopher Cross at B.B. King's, Distracted, Enter Laughing, Exit the King, The Fantasticks, Forbidden Broadway Goes to Rehab, Fueerzabruta, Gypsy, Hedda Gabler, Impressionism, Irena's Vow, Joe Turner's Come and Gone, London Philharmonic at Lincoln Center; The Marvelous Wonderettes, Mourning Becomes Electra, New York City Ballet, New York Philharmonic, Next to Normal, Pal Joey, Patti Austin at Brooklyn Center; Paul Taylor Dance Company, The Phantom of the Opera, Reasons to be Pretty, Rock of Ages, Ruined, Shrek: The Musical; Speed the Plow, Spring Awakening and Uncle Vanya.
So don't miss this great opportunity to see great theater at great prices.
The New York Times is offering a 60 percent discount ($.40/per day Monday-Saturday, $2.50 on Sunday) for home or office subscriptions to all faculty, staff, and students.
Here's how it works. Unlike traditional subscriptions, the education rate can be set up by semester or in a combination that best reflects your schedules for both delivery and billing. New School faculty, staff, and students can have a subscription Monday-Friday, Sunday only, weekends only, or any combination.
To take advantage of the special discount to the Times or to change a current subscription, students, faculty (full-time and part-time), and staff should contact the customer service center at 888.NYT.COLL, to order a single subscription or a classroom subscription of up to eight copies for required reading in the classroom.
To order a classroom subscription of eight or more copies for required reading in the classroom, contact the education program's customer service center at 800.631.1222.
WOULDN'T YOU LIKE TO SAVE TIME AND MONEY ON ENTERTAINMENT?
As a member of The New School, you have access to exclusive entertainment benefits through Plum Benefits! From theater and dance to sports and comedy, you can use this benefit to save time and money when ordering tickets for great seats to the hottest events in town! Log on 24/7 to enjoy:
Exclusive offers for premiere entertainment
Discounts of up to 50% off
Access to hard-to-get seats
Cost-free service
No ticket-ordering obligations
Easy ticket ordering
Helpful Customer Service at www.plumbenefits.com, 212.660.1888, or contact@plumbenefits.com
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Log in now at www.plumbenefits.com to view this month's entertainment offers.
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Simply visit www.plumbenefits.com, click the "Sign-Up Now" button and follow the on-site instructions to create your profile and password. Registration is free and takes just a few moments-all you need is your groupwise email address.
The Weekly Observer, The New School online publication, is sent to everyone with a University email account. It is also available on the University web site. To add an external address to the email list, please send a message from the account you wish to add to majordomo@listserv.newschool.edu. In the message, on a line by itself, type "subscribe observer".
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