THE NEW SCHOOL ESTABLISHES THE CENTER FOR PUBLIC SCHOLARSHIP

Continues The New School Tradition of Scholarship and Social Action

NEW YORK, October 26, 2010—The New School announces the launch of the Center for Public Scholarship (CPS), a university-wide initiative designed to foster free inquiry and public discussion. With the mission of bringing scholarship to bear on critical social and political issues, CPS draws on the humanities, social sciences, design, and public policy to create new programs that connect the academy to the public sphere. In addition, CPS serves as a resource to the university’s students and faculty, as well as intellectuals operating outside The New School, helping to devise, plan, and instigate public-facing project, events, and publications by providing institutional, administrative, and intellectual support.

“Since its founding The New School has stood for enhancing freedom of inquiry not merely as an intellectual exercise, but as a method for catalyzing positive social and political action,” said Dr. Arien Mack, Founding Director of the Center for Public Scholarship, Alfred and Monette Marrow Professor of Psychology, The New School for Social Research (NSSR), and editor of Social Research: An International Quarterly. “CPS not only recommits The New School to its founding principles but seeks to move this tradition forward by incorporating voices from the university's many disciplines to explore new ideas and methods for social involvement.”

In the coming months, CPS will launch new initiatives including a conference series on activist writers and a program examining the future of liberal democracies around the world. In addition, under Dr. Mack's direction, CPS consolidates many existing New School activities that advance social change, including:

• Social Research: An International Quarterly, NSSR's flagship journal. Publishing since 1934, Social Research devotes each issue to a single theme, often touching on a topic central to public discourse, such as “Migration Politics” (Spring 2010) or “The Religious-Secular Divide” (Winter 2009).
• Social Research conference series was launched in 1988 and aims to enhance public understanding and influence ongoing debates about current social and political issues. The 22nd and 23rd in the series will focus on “Africa's Development in the 21st Century” and “The Body and the State: How the State Controls and Protects the Body.”
• Endangered Scholars Worldwide promotes academic freedom by providing information and advocacy about threatened scholars around the world. Every year, the program creates a home at The New School for one scholar under the University in Exile Scholar-in-Residence Fellowship. The 2009-2010 fellow is Dr. Kioumars Ghereghlou, formerly of Iran.
• The Journal Donation Project serves to increase access to information by providing current, high-quality scholarly journals to research libraries in the former Soviet Union, Southeast Asia, and Latin America. Since its founding in 1990, The Journal Donation Project has sent nearly 6,000 free and reduced-cost subscriptions per year to more than 300 research libraries.

CPS is guided by a board of directors that includes representatives from Eugene Lang The New School for Liberal Arts, Milano The New School for Management and Urban Policy, The New School for General Studies and Parsons The New School for Design. Please visit www.newschool.edu/cps for more information.

About The New School—Located in the heart of New York's Greenwich Village, The New School is a center of academic excellence where intellectual and artistic freedoms thrive. The 10,500 matriculated students and 3,544 continuing education students come from around the world to participate in a wide range of undergraduate to doctoral programs in art and design, the social sciences, management and urban policy, the humanities and the performing arts. When The New School was founded in 1919, its mission was to create a place where global peace and justice were more than theoretical ideals. Today, The New School continues that mission, with programs that strive to foster engaged world citizenship. For more information, visit www.newschool.edu.

COMMUNICATIONS AND EXTERNAL AFFAIRS

PRESS RELEASE

Media Contacts:

Sam Biederman
212.229.5667 x3094
[email protected]