Contacts:

Gloria Gottschalk, New School University
212-229-5667, ext. 239
[email protected]

Lauren Erlichman, New School University
212-229-5667, ext. 215
[email protected]

 

GRADUATE FACULTY DEAN, KENNETH PREWITT, CO-EDITS SECTION
OF THE NEW INTERNATIONAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE SOCIAL AND
BEHAVIORIAL SCIENCES
(ELSEVIER PUBLISHING)

(New York, NY - January 22, 2002) - The Graduate Faculty, a division of New School University, announces that its Dean, Kenneth Prewitt, and Ira Katznelson, Ruggle Professor of Political Science at Columbia University and former Dean of the Graduate Faculty, are the co-editors of the "Public Policy" section of the new International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences (Elsevier Publishing, 2001).

The New School has an historical tie with the Encyclopedia. The idea for the Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences originated in the 1920s with Alexander Goldenweister, an anthropologist at the New School for Social Research. According to authors Peter M. Rutkoff and William B. Scott in their book, The New School: A History of the New School for Social Research, "Goldenweister conceived of the encyclopedia as a logical extension of the New School's efforts to integrate the social science disciplines and foster social exchange." In 1926, the Social Science Research Council lent its support to the project, and in 1927, it chose the distinguished scholar Edwin Seligman as editor. In 1927, the Social Science Research Council appointed Alvin Johnson to the post of associate editor of the encyclopedia. Alvin Johnson, The New School's first President, and Edwin Seligman edited the Encyclopedia of Social Sciences (1930-35), which led to the founding of the University-in-Exile (which later became the Graduate Faculty). Alvin Johnson met many European scholars in the course of editing that version and learned of their imminent peril.

Kenneth Prewitt, who served as President of the Social Science Research Council in the 1980s and 1990s, contributed articles to the International Encyclopedia on "Public Knowledge: Census" and "Public Knowledge: Foundations."

This encyclopedia will be the first attempt in a generation to map the social and behavioral sciences on a grand scale. Not since the publication in 1968 of the International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, edited by David L. Sills, has there been such an ambitious project to describe the state of the art in all the fields encompassed within the social and behavioral sciences.

Available in both print (26 volumes) and electronic editions, it comprises 4,000 articles, commissioned by 52 Section Editors, and includes around 90,000 bibliographic references as well as comprehensive name and subject indexes.

To find an introduction to the project at the Elsevier website: http://www.elsevier.nl/inca/publications/store/6/0/1/4/9/5/index.htt

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Kenneth Prewitt became Dean of the Graduate Faculty in spring of 2001 after serving as Director of the United States Census from 1998-2001. He has also served as President of the Social Science Research Council, Senior Vice President of the Rockefeller Foundation, and Director of the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago. He taught for 15 years at the University of Chicago, and he has also taught at Washington University, Stanford, Makerere (Uganda) and the University of Nairobi. He received his Ph.D. in Political Science from Stanford University.

The Graduate Faculty of Political and Social Science awards M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in anthropology, economics, philosophy, political science, psychology, and sociology. In addition, interdisciplinary M.A. programs are offered in historical studies and liberal arts. The Graduate Faculty has an enrollment of about 1,050 students. International students comprise nearly 30% of the student body and come from about 70 different countries. For further information on the Graduate Faculty, call (212) 229-5777 or go to the Web site a: www.newschool.edu

New School University, with 7,000 matriculated students and 25,000 continuing education students, is comprised of seven academic divisions: The New School, the Graduate Faculty of Political and Social Science, Parsons School of Design, Eugene Lang College, Mannes College of Music, the Robert J. Milano Graduate School of Management and Urban Policy, and the Actors Studio Drama School, as well as the University's B.F.A. in Jazz and Contemporary Music. New School Online University offers one of the largest selections of online courses in the nation. For further information about admission to New School University, call 877-528-3321 or go to the Web site at www.newschool.edu