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NEWS
Recent Alumna Answers Call to Action
Recent alumna Nicole Meyer (CAS '04, WAG '06) appreciates her time as an undergraduate at NYU's College of Arts and Science. "The College played a tremendous role in my life," she said. "The programs, the professors and my classmates all helped shape me into the person I am today."
In gratitude for all that the College gave her, Meyer and her husband, Joseph, have established the Kushner Family Dean’s Scholarship at the College through her family's foundation. The scholarship will benefit deserving students in all fields of study who demonstrate academic merit and financial need.
"I saw this as an opportunity to give back to the school that has given me so much," said Meyer. "I want all students to have this experience, not just the ones who can afford it."
"We are immensely grateful to Nicole and Joseph Meyer and the Kushner family for their unyielding support of the College of Arts and Science and NYU as a whole," said Matthew Santirocco, Seryl Kushner Dean at the College. "It is our hope that this scholarship will provide students with the freedom to follow their academic interests and professional aspirations without the financial burdens that curtail so many college students' dreams."
The Meyers established a scholarship not only to help students meet the cost of higher education, but also to enable students to take advantage of New York City and everything it has to offer. "Our hope is for the scholarship recipients to explore the city and its culture while they are here and to pursue their academic interests and opportunities. It would be a shame if all of a student’s spare time were spent at work trying to pay for tuition and books," Meyer said.
"We want recipients of this scholarship to pursue a field of study about which they are passionate," she added. "If they don’t quite yet know what they are passionate about, this may give them the chance to figure it out."
In addition to establishing a scholarship, Meyer found another way to give back to the College: she presently serves as an active member of the Dean's Advisory Council.
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NYU Receiving Press for its Call to Action
Crain’s New York Business covered the launch of NYU’s Call to Action, bringing attention to the University’s efforts to raise more financial aid for students. Read the article here.
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NYU's Call to Action Receives Leadership Gift for Scholarships
NYU's Call to Action is off to a positive start, thanks to a leadership gift from alumna Steffi Berne (WSC '63).
Berne has made a contribution to establish the Steffi Berne Scholarship Fund at the College of Arts and Science. The Steffi Berne Scholarship will be awarded to needy students enrolled in the Collegiate Seminar Program, which connects students with faculty mentors who guide them throughout their academic career at NYU.
Berne intends to endow her scholarship in perpetuity by leaving a legacy in her will in support of the University. However, beginning in 2009, she will make annual contributions in support of expendable scholarships so that students can benefit now.
"Steffi's transformative gift provides essential aid in perpetuity to some of the College's most talented but needy students," said Matthew Santirocco, dean of the College of Arts and Science. "It also sends the clear message that NYU and its alumni care about our current undergraduates. Steffi's vision and generosity will not only improve the lives of students in the College, but it will also inspire others to answer the Call to Action."
"As we help current undergraduates, we hope they will continue our tradition of supporting scholarships," said Berne, a successful cookbook author who majored in comparative literature while at NYU. "Today's students are the alumni of tomorrow, and they too have an opportunity to help future generations become part of the NYU family."
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NYU and Banco Santander Announce Strategic Collaboration on Global Education
This fall, 49 NYU undergraduates studying abroad have been named Banco Santander Scholars under an agreement between NYU and Banco Santander, one of the world's leading global banks and a significant contributor to international higher education. The landmark collaboration provides immediate funding for undergraduate scholarships at NYU?s study abroad sites in London, Shanghai and Buenos Aires.
"In an age when most college graduate will change careers several times and when many companies increasingly rely on being connected to partners across the world, the opportunity to study in a foreign country is a key component of a meaningful undergraduate experience," said Ulrich Baer, vice provost for globalization and multicultural affairs. "Only by studying abroad do students acquire skills that they may then apply in different contexts. The Banco Santander agreement greatly helps NYU in its commitment to educate students to become truly global citizens and leaders."
In addition to undergraduate scholarships, the new partnership between NYU and Banco Santander, through Santander Universities Global Division, also provides for international visiting faculty, graduate fellowships in Spanish creative writing, and student internships at Banco Santander offices worldwide.
Elisa Montesinos and Carlos Vazquez Cruz have settled at Washington Square as the first Banco Santander Fellows in Spanish Creative Writing. Montesinos, a young Chilean writer, has combined her work as an independent journalist with creative non-fiction, cultivating "in between" genres such as travelogues, crónicas, and testimonials. Cruz is a young writer and literary critic from Puerto Rico who has published articles, poetry and fiction, including a book of poems, short stories, and a novel, Dos Centímetros de Mar. Last month, Cruz participated in a student reading celebrating the second year of the MFA Program in Spanish Creative Writing.
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Two Wagner Students Hone Public Service Skills as Oprah Winfrey Scholars
Thanks to an endowment gift from The Oprah Winfrey Foundations, NYU Wagner is training African women to work for rights and policies that benefit African women and African societies as a whole. NYU Today recently told the compelling story of the current Oprah Scholars. Read the article here
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Innovative Scholarship Provides Financial Aid and Opportunities
for Friendship
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From left: CAS Dean Matthew
S. Santirocco; CAS Dean's Council Member Laurie Bentson Kauth, Bentson's daughter;
and
Larry Bentson. |
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The College of Arts and Science has received a unique gift that will provide undergraduates with scholarships and also social programming to help them form greater bonds with one another and the University.
The Bentson Family Dean's Scholarship in Memory of Nancy Bentson will be awarded to undergraduate students at the College who demonstrate financial need and academic merit. Bentson Family Dean's Scholars will be selected as freshmen and receive support during their entire academic career at NYU; they will also forge meaningful relationships with one another through communal activities.
The generous gift comes from N. L. "Larry" Bentson and pays tribute to his late wife, Nancy, who passed away in 2004. Bentson is the Chairman of Midcontinent Media and has been a pioneer in broadcasting in the Midwest for over six decades, including radio, television, cable, and satellite communications. Both he and Nancy were alumni of the University of Minnesota, where they established a similar scholarship program before her death.
Speaking about the co-curricular and social programming component of the scholarship, Bentson explained, "We want it to be set up as a community so students have relevance to one another, to us, and to the University. They can connect through school-sponsored programs, but also have regular meetings on their own, even staying in touch beyond graduation."
"Nancy and I thought establishing a scholarship of this type was the most worthwhile and fulfilling thing we had ever done in our lives," he added. "It was a powerful experience for us. She would love that we are continuing that tradition in her memory at NYU."
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NYU Launches Call to Action
Fall 2008 marked the launch of NYU's Call to Action, a new initiative through which the University is asking alumni, parents and friends to increase support of scholarships, fellowships and financial aid for our neediest students. It comes at a critical time: with rising tuition and the weakening economy, more students across the country are struggling to meet the cost of higher education. According to the U.S. Department of Education, 8.9 million students applied for federal student aid during the first half of 2008—a 16.3% increase from last year.
Increasing financial aid is particularly important at NYU, an institution founded on the principle of being open to all talented and deserving students, regardless of their economic background. Several Ivy League institutions have made recent headlines for their efforts to increase financial aid by offering grants and even free tuition to low-income families. With a per-student endowment of only $62,053, NYU lacks the resources to match these offers. By contrast, Harvard has a per-student endowment over $1 million, and that figure is over $2 million at both Princeton and Yale.
Nonetheless, NYU admits more financially-needy students that its peers. For example, during the 2006-07 academic year, 16% of NYU students were Pell Grant-eligible, while only 10% of Yale students were Pell-eligible, 9% at Princeton, and 8% at Harvard. Although NYU allocates $249 million in financial aid each year, the burden falls upon students and their families to make up the difference. The lengths to which students go to attend NYU illustrate their determination: 80% of undergraduates work one part-time job, 25% work two, and almost 500 students work three. And the average debt of a graduating student is over $30,000.
Through NYU's Call to Action, the University is asking its entire community to make contributions in support of undergraduate and graduate students. Everyone has an opportunity to participate, whether they sponsor a student for four years by providing a scholarship or fellowship, join others in establishing an endowed fund to support students in perpetuity, or make a gift of any amount to The Fund for NYU, a vital source of financial aid funding. In the process, the University can narrow the tuition gap for its neediest students, reduce the burdens of student loan debt and part-time jobs, and support more graduate and post-doctoral students in the face of diminished
government funding.
And NYU's Call to Action will have an additional benefit: inspiring a new generation of students
and scholarship recipients to give back. "There is a ripple effect that goes with aiding students," explained Debra LaMorte, senior vice president for university development and alumni relations. "You influence a bright young person’s life and they, in turn, go out and influence others in their careers—and, we hope, will continue a tradition of supporting scholarships and fellowships for future students."
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Scholarship Honors Beloved Publicist and TSOA Alumnus
The list of actors Robert Garlock (TSOA '88) represented during his career as an entertainment publicist reads like a "who's who" of A-list Hollywood talent: Penelope Cruz, Hugh Grant, Clive Owen, Hilary Swank, Uma Thurman, Sigourney Weaver, and Kate Winslet, to name a few.
Sadly, Garlock's life and career were cut short when he passed away in September 2007 due to complications from non-Hodgkins lymphoma. Now, thanks to the generosity of family, friends, and many of his celebrity clients, Garlock's memory will live on through the Robert Garlock Memorial Scholarship at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.
Garlock's parents had no idea how many people admired him until after he passed away. "So many of his clients and colleagues came to the memorial service and told us that their careers would not have been the same without him," his father, Richard, said.
"It was very humbling to hear how many people loved and respected him," his mother, Betty, added. In particular, she notes that Hugh Grant was a great friend to Robert for many years and made a generous contribution to the scholarship, which will be awarded to students with financial need in TSOA's Department of Cinema Studies.
Richard and Betty note that their son was always interested in the business of entertainment. "We would drive down to the nearest news depot every Sunday to get the New York Times so he could open up the arts and leisure section and see how the movies were doing financially," Richard said.
Garlock's parents note that although their son worked with so many famous people, the glamour of Hollywood never diminished his work ethic. "Robert was always someone you could trust," Richard said. "He earned everyone's respect. That was the kind of son we raised."
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Courant Alumnus Establishes Fellowship in Financial Mathematics
When Jeffrey Rosenbluth (CIMS '99, '06) first became involved at NYU's Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, he was asked to provide his advice as a professional from the finance industry. Now, over fifteen years later, Rosenbluth is still actively involved at Courant—and has a Ph.D. He is giving back to his alma mater by establishing a fellowship for doctoral students interested in financial mathematics.
"I always wanted to pursue math further," says Rosenbluth, who was a managing director at Salomon Brothers at the time. "There were many people with Ph.D.s in my department who
dealt with higher-level mathematics, and I wanted to better communicate with them and
improve my skills."
Rosenbluth remembers an influential moment during his time as a student. "I could not fit a required course into my schedule, and someone recommended I do an independent study and borrow notes from the professor, Peter Lax," he recalls. "I contacted Peter, and he offered to meet me every week and teach me the course himself. Now I had a towering figure of mathematics, who I had never met before, teaching me one-on-one. It was incredible."
He was so moved by his experience as a student that he decided to create a fellowship for future students studying in the same program. The Jeffrey and Denise Rosenbluth Fellowship will be awarded to Ph.D. candidates who have completed their exam requirements and have begun dissertation research in financial mathematics.
"I was very pleased with my experience at Courant and I am glad to be included in their mission," Rosenbluth says. "I thought this fellowship would be a good way to help out and give back to the institution that has given me so much."
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