Unique Hallmarks of The Residential College at Goddard Hall
The Dialogue House on the Square
What are the most pressing issues of the day: global warming, funding arts and education, eliminating poverty through technology, the upcoming presidential election, and social justice? Every passion you may have intersects with the Residential College through debate and dialogue around how public policy truly affects our daily lives. The Residential College is not just for political junkies but for anyone who seriously considers what form citizenship takes in New York City and the world.
The Residential College Intellectual Streams
On your application, we will ask you to rank an intellectual stream from those offered in the Residential College. You may select more than one intellectual 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.
Writing The Essay
*These streams are affiliated with a theme-based Writing the Essay course. Writing the Essay is a course that the majority of all first-year students will take. The Goddard sections are unique in that they are tied to outside-of-the-classroom experiences that are integrated into the course. Research suggests that students enrolled in these sections are more connected with their faculty members and are very satisfied with their experience! Once you apply, you will be placed into a stream that may place you into one of these courses. We will notify your academic advisors and academic school of your enrollment prior to your registration/academic orientation!
*All the World's a Stage
New York City is stage to hundreds of performances in dance, theatre, and film each day, providing entertainment, venues of artistic expression, and enriching views of the world. From Broadway shows to the performance of every day life, this Living Learning Community will attend a series of performances that range from the traditional to the avant-garde. By tapping into this range we will explore the ways in which theatre informs our lives both on and off the stage. Erving Goffman’s claim that “All the world is not, of course, a stage” reminds us that we are all performing as we move through our hectic and demanding lives. From the moment we wake up we are always putting ourselves together in ways that often feel like we are actors starring in our own feature films. By expanding our ideas of what performance is and where it generally occurs, we will also consider how performance is a vehicle that we can personally use in defining our own identities. Training in performing arts is not required. You do, however, need to be committed to learning about dance, theater, film and the performance of everyday life. Performances attended in previous years have included: Recent Tragic Events (starring Heather Graham), Caroline or Change (playwright and director Tony Kushner), Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, Guantanamo, Ain’t Supposed to Die a Natural Death (playwright and filmmaker Melvin Van Peebles), Bad Education (filmmaker Pedro Almodovar), The New York City Ballet, Saturday Night Live, a backstage tour of Fiddler on the Roof and conversations with Norbert Leo Butz and Haviland Stillwell.
*Global New York
New York City has long been referred to as a global microcosm, a blend of vibrant cultures coming together to equal more than the sum of its parts. You will have a multicultural and international experience on this floor through peer interactions and through an exploration of the global communities in New York City. You will be able to engage in informative and interesting dialogues to learn more about each other, yourselves, and the world around you. An active desire to investigate and explore different cultures is essential.
We strongly encourage international students to be a part of The Global New York community. As an international student you will enhance the experience for all students affiliated with this stream. This community will be closely linked to the Residential International Student Engagement (RISE) program. The goal of RISE is to help international stduent experience a smooth transition into the United States by providing opportunities for peer interaction, assisting with assimilation to U.S. society, and helping students stay linked to their own culture while still connecting to the greater NYU community and New York City.
*Poverty and Affluence
More than six billion humans live on the earth. An excess of one billion are affluent and overfed, while more than one billion are hungry and are living below the poverty line. Through conversations with professionals and community service projects, students will examine the dimensions and responses to affluence, poverty and hunger with a special focus on the manifestation of these issues in New York City.
Power of Politics
You have arrived at NYU during one of the most politically charged moments in American history; New York hosts the range of politics from liberal activists to the conservative base. How does your point of view or framework of interpretation shape what you "see?" Devote this year to trying to understand American politics. Examine how it is shaped by international politics and terrorism, by globalization and job loss, by cultural wars about sex and religion, and by visions of justice and self-interest. Ask what "politics" is and why it matters, what "democracy" means, what apathy is, and why people withdraw from or get involved in politics. Look at local politics, and try out different forms of action. You will have the opportunity to explore the political dimensions of our world, both locally and on a global scale.
The Green Stream
Reversing climate change has presented itself as the defining challenge of the 21st Century. As temperatures are rising, ice caps are melting, erratic weather patterns are emerging, and water resources are depleting, the fate of our earth relies increasingly on the choices we make each day and as students, we play a critical role in the energy and climate change sector. The green stream will analyze climate change and global warming and engage in dialogue concerning energy efficiency, strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, waste management, transportation in NYC, and other relevant areas. Students will take an innovative approach to energy and climate change solutions and examine clean energy generation technologies such as carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) and solar thermal energy (CSP). To be a member of the green stream, you will need to be committed to action and to exploring the environment from a myriad of lenses. You will engage in dialogue structured around the science, history, and impact of climate change and global warming along with ways in which individuals and communities can reduce their carbon footprints. Opportunities will be available to stream members for partnerships with the NYU Sustainability Taskforce and local and state-wide environmental organizations.
*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? While no two seasons of readings are the same, in Fall 2004, students attended events which gave them special access to Pulitzer Prize winning novelist Michael Cunningham (The Hours) and the cast of the historic revival of the Melvin Van Peebles drama Ain't Supposed to Die a Natural Death at the Classical Theatre of Harlem. They attended a sold out Tribute to American poet Lucille Clifton, which also featured readings by Nobel Prize Winner Toni Morrison and former Poet Laureate Robert Hass, and a joint reading and reception by award-winning poets Sharon Olds and Philip Levine. Other events included a roundtable discussion of writing across the genres, a discussion of the religious undertones of The Simpsons, and a sketch comedy workshop with the Upright Citizens Brigade.
