The Residential College at Goddard

Streams are groups of students united by interest in a particular topic.  Each stream is led by a Faculty Affiliate and Resident Assistant (both of whom with expertise in the topic). They are dedicated to helping you explore these topics in engaging, meaningful ways through exciting trips, speakers and discussions.  While students will be officially aligned with a primary stream, they are welcome to participate in other streams’ events (called ‘stream hopping’) whenever possible.

On your application, we will ask you to describe your interest in a stream from those offered in the Residential College. You may select more than one stream, but we will use your rankings to place you with students and a faculty affiliate. This faculty affiliate is dedicated to helping you explore these topics in engaging, meaningful ways through exciting trips, speakers and discussions.

*All the World's a Stage

This stream is for students who want more than just tourist-trap, commercial musicals.  The goal of ATWAS is to turn students into theater omnivores – adventurous audience members willing to see, understand and enjoy the full variety of performances that exist in the Theater Capital of the world.  We'll see everything: Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway; new plays, revivals, adaptations, musicals; operas, modern dances, improvised comedies, filmed performances, performative restaurants, burlesques, competitive poetry slams, drag shows, hipster storytellers, avant-garde art installations; we'll even throw in some sports, probably a roller derby.  Theater, dance or film training isn't required; but a desire to expand your idea of performance – of what it can be, where it can take place, and how it can bleed into your everyday life – is.

*Global New York

New York City has long been referred to as the quintessential "melting pot," an energetic and colorful urban utopia that both celebrates and thrives on multiculturalism. Practically every borough, every neighborhood, and every street in NYC possesses some cultural significance, and Global NY stream members will regularly explore the city and its offerings through an inter-national lens. From guided tours of Ellis Island and the Brooklyn Bridge, to indulging in authentic ethnic cuisine, to experiencing film, theater, and live music from around the globe, students will be actively engaged in ongoing cultural dialogues in order to learn more about each other, themselves, and the surrounding world NYC so richly represents.

*Poverty and Affluence

More than six billion humans live on the earth. Perhaps a tenth of this number are affluent and overfed, while nearly half live on a daily income of $2 or less. Such inequities are inextricably linked with, among other things, the societal constructions of race and gender. Through films, workshops, compelling conversations with professionals and community service projects, students will examine dimensions of and responses to inequality, with a special focus on the manifestation of these issues in New York City. The stream will offer a reflective space for students to consider poverty as more than just a problem "out there," as well as an empowering environment for taking action.

*Writing New York

E.B. White claimed in his seminal essay “Here is New York” that there are several ways to know this city. The first is the experience of those who have been born here. The second is the tidal familiarity of the commuter. The third is New York as it is for those who have come from somewhere else looking for something. “Of these three trembling cities,” he writes, “the greatest is the last, the city of final destination, the city that is a goal.” Is there a more exciting, more inspiring place to begin a writing life than New York City?  WNY stream members will travel through and write about this extraordinary location that has inspired hundreds of writers, past and present—as well as meet a sampling of the city’s most interesting writers today. 

(Social) Justice League Stream

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” –Martin Luther King, Jr.

In an effort to avoid that silence, the (Social) Justice League Stream exists to explore issues of diversity and social justice that lie within the exploration of race, gender, sexual orientation, ability, spirituality, socioeconomic class, ethnicity, national origin, and their intersections. (Social) Justice League Stream Members will engage in conversations about various social issues through a series of panels, speakers, and group dialogues. We will also travel through New York City, exploring social identity issues at various theatrical, musical, and artistic exhibitions. To do that, we will partner with various offices around campus including the Center for Multicultural Education and Program, the Center for Spiritual Life, the LGBTQ Student Center, the Office of International Students and Scholars, and the Moses Center for Students with Disabilities. Because a huge part of social justice is equal participation, stream members will also have the opportunity to design and propose programs about issues salient to them throughout the school year.

***Artistic New York: Past, Present, Future

There is no single path through the dynamic world of the arts in New York City. The arts scene of New York is at once historical and contemporary; it is both local and global. This city houses some of the most significant works of art produced across the globe throughout time, while at the same time it has given birth to artistic movements of intensely local origin. This stream will explore the artistic world of New York from all of these dimensions. We will venture into iconic museums – such as the Metropolitan Museum, the Rubin Museum, and the Museum of Modern Art – through the side door to speak with curators about how, and why, they bring arts from around the world to the city, and we will attend contemporary reformulations of historical theatre. We will also explore rich local artistic resources, even just around the corner from Goddard with a visit to the Fales Library “Downtown Collection,” which documents the downtown arts scene that evolved in SoHo and the Lower East Side during the 1970s through the early 1990s. We will attend events that continue to define New York as a center for the arts, including the Brooklyn Book Fair and the Whitney Biennial Show, and we will hear from writers who choose this city as the only home for their craft.

*** Note that this course is attached to the Liberal Studies course “Cultural Foundations” I and II. You do NOT have to be in LS to be a part of this stream, but LS students who are placed in Goddard may be administratively pre-registered for this special Goddard-specific Cultural Foundations Course 1 (Fall Semester) and 2 (Spring Semester).

**Attached to a Goddard Liberal Studies Writing Course, but you do not have to be an Liberal Studies student to be in this stream.

*These Streams are attached to a “Writing the Essay” Course but you do not necessarily have to be enrolled in the course to be a participant in the stream.

*All the World's a Stage

This stream is for students who want more than just tourist-trap, commercial musicals. The goal of ATWAS is to turn students into theater omnivores – adventurous audience members willing to see, understand and enjoy the full variety of performances that exist in the Theater Capital of the world. We'll see everything: Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway; new plays, revivals, adaptations, musicals; operas, modern dances, improvised comedies, filmed performances, performative restaurants, burlesques, competitive poetry slams, drag shows, hipster storytellers, avant-garde art installations; we'll even throw in some sports, probably a roller derby. Theater, dance or film training isn't required; but a desire to expand your idea of performance – of what it can be, where it can take place, and how it can bleed into your everyday life – is.

*Global New York

New York City has long been referred to as the quintessential "melting pot," an energetic and colorful urban utopia that both celebrates and thrives on multiculturalism. Practically every borough, every neighborhood, and every street in NYC possesses some cultural significance, and Global NY stream members will regularly explore the city and its offerings through an inter-national lens. From guided tours of Ellis Island and the Brooklyn Bridge, to indulging in authentic ethnic cuisine, to experiencing film, theater, and live music from around the globe, students will be actively engaged in ongoing cultural dialogues in order to learn more about each other, themselves, and the surrounding world NYC so richly represents.

*Poverty and Affluence

More than six billion humans live on the earth. Perhaps a tenth of this number are affluent and overfed, while nearly half live on a daily income of $2 or less—and more than a billion eke out a living on a dollar or less per day. Through compelling conversations with professionals and community service projects, students will examine the dimensions of and responses to affluence, poverty and hunger with a special focus on the manifestation of these issues in New York City. Poverty & Affluence stream members also will engage in provocative programs across the five boroughs designed to bring these vital issues into sharper relief.

*Writing New York

E.B. White claimed in his seminal essay “Here is New York” that there are several ways to know this city. The first is the experience of those who have been born here. The second is the tidal familiarity of the commuter. The third is New York as it is for those who have come from somewhere else looking for something. “Of these three trembling cities,” he writes, “the greatest is the last, the city of final destination, the city that is a goal.” Is there a more exciting, more inspiring place to begin a writing life than New York City? WNY stream members will travel through and write about this extraordinary location that has inspired hundreds of writers, past and present—as well as meet a sampling of the city’s most interesting writers today.

(Social) Justice League Stream

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” –Martin Luther King, Jr.

In an effort to avoid that silence, the (Social) Justice League Stream exists to explore issues of diversity and social justice that lie within the exploration of race, gender, sexual orientation, ability, spirituality, socioeconomic class, ethnicity, national origin, and their intersections. (Social) Justice League Stream Members will engage in conversations about various social issues through a series of panels, speakers, and group dialogues. We will also travel through New York City, exploring social identity issues at various theatrical, musical, and artistic exhibitions. To do that, we will partner with various offices around campus including the Center for Multicultural Education and Program, the Center for Spiritual Life, the LGBTQ Student Center, the Office of International Students and Scholars, and the Moses Center for Students with Disabilities. Because a huge part of social justice is equal participation, stream members will also have the opportunity to design and propose programs about issues salient to them throughout the school year.

**Artistic New York

This stream is designed for students who are interested in visual arts - painting, photography, sculpture, video, installations, even architecture. New York City is home to some of the world’s most important museums, and we’ll definitely take trips to The Met, MOMA, The Guggenheim and other major institutions. But we’ll also explore the city’s thriving and ever-changing private gallery scene. We’ll even delve into New York’s underground art world. In short, the goal of the stream is to introduce students to every facet of the city’s studio and visual arts and to simultaneously facilitate critical thinking about the art they see as well as how NYC itself alters and shapes the work of artists and critics. If you’ve ever wanted to go to a graffiti park or an artist’s open studio, if you like the idea of sitting in on a high-end art auction or a marathon performance art piece, then this is the stream for you.

**Attached to a Goddard Liberal Studies Writing Course, but you do not have to be an Liberal Studies student to be in this stream.

*These Streams are attached to a “Writing the Essay” Course but you do not necessarily have to be enrolled in the course to be a participant in the stream.

The following streams are affiliated with a theme-based Writing the Essay course.

• All the World's a Stage
• Global New York
• Poverty and Affluence
• Writing New York

• Artistic New York

“Writing the Essay” is a course that is required of most First-year students at NYU. Additionally, students in the Liberal Studies program are required to take a specific writing course as part of their curriculum. The sections of these courses taught as part of the Goddard Residential College experience are uniquely integrated with stream programming experiences.  

Advantages for Goddard students who take one of these courses is that these sections are taught in Goddard (our own classroom is conveniently located on the second floor) by the same Stream Faculty Affiliate – you really get to know your instructor well.  Taking the class with fellow Goddard residents (and stream-mates) leads to very rich in-class discussions!      

Experience confirms that students enrolled in these Goddard sections are more connected with their faculty members and are very satisfied with their required writing course experience.    

The streams listed above are connected to one of these courses. (Because of space limitations, not all stream members will be in the attached Goddard-specific writing course, though they'll be able to participate fully in stream activities.)  We will notify your academic advisors and academic school of your enrollment prior to your registration/academic orientation.