What's New for Students
The Division of Student Affairs is pleased to present some of the major new programs and initiatives launching for students this year.
As was announced last year, the Student Resource Center and the Center for Student Activities, Leadership and Service have undergone a strategic merger to create the new Center for Student Life. Housed in Kimmel, on the 2nd and 7th floors, the Center for Student Life will continue to support student government, student clubs and organizations, Greek organizations, community service, new student orientation, Class Activities Boards, commuter students, graduate students, transfer students, and communications to parents of students. The merger will also allow for more intentional support, services and programming for military veterans, international students, and first generation students.
The Wellness Initiative at NYU (WIN) is a collaboration between the Office of Residence Life and Housing Services and the NYU School of Medicine. The program is designed to ease the transition into college, reduce risk-taking behavior, and enhance student resilience by teaching emotion regulation and communication skills, self-efficacy, and mindfulness, along with sleep hygiene, nutrition, and physical fitness. WIN incorporates a new class (CAMS-UA.0114: “Risk and Resilience”) and specially designed residence hall activities including yoga, mindfulness, exercise training, nutrition education and organizational skills training. WIN is being offered at Founders Hall, where the resident assistants, faculty fellows, and staff are all focused on providing interactive wellness programming.
Beginning in the Fall semester, the Student Health Center will implement a new screening protocol in all clinical areas. This self-administered screening will attempt to proactively identify and support students experiencing sexual violence and/or dating or intimate partner violence. A clinical interview and referral to resources will be provided to students in need of support. This screening is an attempt to provide more timely intervention for students in light of the findings of last year's sexual misconduct climate survey that indicated more than half of the students who experienced a non-consensual sexual incident in the past 12 months (11.4% of respondents) did not tell anyone.
A new job fair specifically for connecting University offices and students seeking on-campus employment has been added to the Job Fair menu at the Wasserman Center for Career Development.
Resulting from the efforts of an all-University work group exploring issues related to first generation college students, we are increasing our support and points of outreach to this undergraduate population, under an umbrella initiative called "Proud to Be First," which directly evolved from the successful first gen program at the College of Arts and Science. It will include the creation of a first gen student advisory board, all-University networking events, targeted outreach to parents of first gen students, and professional development opportunities for faculty and staff to better understand this cohort.
Last year, we conducted a pilot program for the distribution of free menstrual hygiene products, based on a proposal from Students for Sexual Respect and supported by student government. Free sanitary products were made available to students in five campus restrooms and in five student services offices (in both Manhattan and Brooklyn). This fall, the program will become permanent and will feature three new restroom locations in addition to those in the pilot.
Our orientation efforts for International Students continue to grow. Over the next two weeks, more than 50 events will be available during Welcome Week and Welcome (Back) Week, specifically focused on international students. Highlights include workshops on what to expect in the U.S. classroom, meet-ups for students to meet others from their home countries and regions, and especially for graduate students, International Socials will be held in both Manhattan and Brooklyn. Throughout the year, we will be expanding workshops to offer more information about employment and work options for international students.
Following last year's successful pilot, the Department of Athletics will continue to offer some unconventional fitness recreation classes for students; Pop-Up Recreation includes classes in dance, cardio-kickboxing, zumba, and other types of active exercise that can be held in non-traditional locations around campus. Additionally, IntraFit and IntraRun are opportunities for students to set exercise and fitness goals in a training environment that is competitive as well as easily adapted to individuals' own fitness levels.
The Office of Global Spiritual Life has added focused meditations for those in the People of Color community and the LGBTQ community. NYU is the first college spiritual center to offer such programming.
We are delighted to welcome our new medical director, Dr. Lewis Marshall, MS, MD, JD, FACHE, who came on board in August. Dr. Marshall's training is in emergency medicine, and he is also a recognized expert in the fields of healthcare delivery and standards of care for internal medicine, ambulatory care, community health services, emergency medicine, and disaster response. He is an alum of the Wagner School of Public Service.