Class Notes

Black and white photo collage of Gurland playing trumpet and teaching

A Class Act

“Your students are the unopened letters that you write to a time that you’ll never see,” says retired philosophy professor Robert Gurland in Bronx Socrates.

Produced and directed by Joseph Di Salvo (CAS ’94), the film recounts the major impact the trumpet-playing instructor had on his more than 25,000 students. Watch it (for free) at bronxsocrates.com/the-film.

Save The Date!

October 26–29, 2023

Join us for an incredible weekend in Washington Square connecting with NYU alumni, parents, students, faculty, and staff!

We are thrilled to celebrate the largest alumni network of any private university and welcome our new NYU families. Reinvigorate your #VioletPride and enjoy the reunion celebrations, faculty lectures, parent welcomes, and more in Fall 2023. Events will include “Remembering the Heights: 50 Years Later” commemorating the anniversary of the sale of the campus. See our story Glorious Heights in this issue

Carrying the Torch

Visionary Donors Empowering NYU to Fulfill Its Goal of Transforming Our World through Education

The four gifts showcased here will enable deserving students to pursue their passions regardless of socioeconomic background.

View of Washington Square with the Empire State in the background, lit in Violet for NYU

Photo: Vincent Tullo

NYUAA Alumni Awards

Meet the 2023 honorees:

Christy Turlington Burns (GAL ’99)
Eduardo Rodriguez (DEN ’92)
Quemuel Arroyo (CAS ’12, WAG ’20)
Jennifer Curry (WAG ’07, STEINHARDT ’14)
Alvin Kass (STEINHARDT ’76)

On the Ball

Black and white photo of Marsha Harris driving to the hoop

Marsh Harris on the court (©NYU Archives)

Hollander sits at a table, holding a basketball, surrounded by stacks of his book

David Hollander (Courtesy of Penguin Random House )

Marsha Harris (CAS ’98, GSM ’02) was one of the biggest stars of college basketball in the United States during her time at NYU. As captain of the Violets (seen in action, left), she led the team to its first national title at the 1997 NCAA Division III Women’s Basketball Championship, scoring the game-winning basket with a nail-biting 1.5 seconds remaining. Harris applied the values she learned from the sport to her practice as a respected colorectal surgeon (see our profile in this issue, Exceptional on the Court and in the OR).

This comes as no surprise to David Hollander (below), an assistant dean and clinical professor with the School of Professional Studies’ Tisch Institute for Global Sport. So convinced is he of the value offered by the game’s underlying principles that Hollander wrote the book How Basketball Can Save the World and teaches a corresponding—and wildly popular—course as well.

—Dulcy Israel

Pass Us Your
[Class] Note

Learn what other alumni have been up to in Class Notes (Share Your News) on the NYU Alumni website. While you’re there, submit a class note and let us know what’s happening in your life and career. [Opens in a new tab]

Illustration of two hands exchanging a note in front of the Washington Square Arch

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