About Us

The New School was founded in 1919 by a group of progressive American educators as a center for discussion and instruction for adult students. By 1930, their “new school” had acquired a special place in the intellectual and cultural life of New York City and a permanent home in Greenwich Village. A leader among American colleges and universities, The New School was one of the first to offer courses in cinema studies, psychoanalysis, photography, modern dance, African American studies, women's studies, urban policy, and creative writing. In 1934, it was chartered as a university by the state of New York and began conferring degrees. Today, The New School is a major urban university of five colleges enrolling more than 10,000 degree-seeking students and with an additional 6,500 continuing education students taking courses every year.

The Schools of Public Engagement are the direct successors of the original New School and are motivated by the same progressive values that guided the university in 1919. Each of the five schools has its own history and background in the larger institution.

The Schools of Public Engagement also continue their commitment to lifelong learning by offering hundreds of Open Campus courses each year that are accessible to everyone without formal admission requirements.

The Schools of Public Engagement continue to uphold the ideals of the original New School as an institution dedicated to lifelong education and the betterment of society. On the cutting edge of the intellectual and creative life of New York City, the schools connect theory to practice, support innovation in culture and communication, and continue to build bridges between the academy and the larger community it serves.

The New School has been engaged in new ways of thinking about higher education for a hundred years. Today, we remain committed to the open exchange of ideas, engaging adult and continuing learners across the lifespan, and facilitating education that brings meaning to the lives of students, our communities, and the world at large.

Our signature approach to learning-in-action at the Schools of Public Engagement, the contemporary name for the founding college of our university, has perhaps never been so relevant or so sorely needed. As headlines proclaim the profound challenges facing higher education, we continue to develop programs and approaches to learning that reimagine its definition. Our degree programs reflect the diverse ways in which higher learning can be meaningfully put to use in the world. International affairs, creative writing, public and urban policy, media studies, management and entrepreneurship, and language learning and teaching are just a few of the fields positioned at the crossroads of design and social research. We offer degrees, certificates, and noncredit courses, including programs at the undergraduate, master's, and PhD level. Our students are challenged to truly engage: to engage with the learning process, to engage with our city, and to engage with the defining issues of our time.

Much of our curriculum is delivered through engaged learning in applied projects: the Impact Entrepreneurship Initiative, our university-wide program to support early-stage entrepreneurs, in which students develop the mindsets, skills, and sense of purpose needed to thrive in a rapidly changing world; The New Historia, a digital platform aimed at documenting and promoting the achievements of women-identified people in history that have gone unnoticed or unrecognized by society; our Engage Media Lab, which brings students together with local communities to share the power of storytelling; our International Field Program, which places students in applied fieldwork throughout the world; and WriteOn NYC, our fellowship program that connects our graduate writing students with underserved students in New York City schools through creative writing-based mentorship.

Our students are animated by the urgency of the impossible - courageously dedicated to generating ideas that transcend contemporary approaches to change. We invite you to participate.

Sincerely,