Carrying the Torch
Visionary Donors
Empowering NYU to Fulfill Its Goal of Transforming Our World through Education
Albert Gallatin envisioned this university as an institution accessible to all, and scholarships are key to making his paramount goal a reality. The three gifts showcased here will enable deserving students to pursue their passions regardless of socioeconomic background and, in turn, to contribute to solving society’s most vexing challenges. The gifts also help NYU stay at the forefront of innovation and maintain its reputation as a center of academic and research excellence. Simply put, these acts of extraordinary generosity are cause for both gratitude and hope for the future.
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THE BENEFACTOR
Norma Tarrow
THE RECIPIENT
Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development
THE GIFT
Back in 1969, Norma Tarrow (STEINHARDT ’69) missed her hooding ceremony—a doctoral student rite of passage that denotes scholarly and academic achievement.
Now retired, Tarrow’s stellar career included two Fulbright scholarships and visiting professorships at universities in England, Spain, Israel, and Mexico. And in May 2019—50 years after her missed graduation—she commemorated the degree that changed her life by walking through Washington Square Park to the Skirball Center with 102 other Steinhardt doctoral graduates to be hooded.
“NYU unlocked my potential and changed my life. By changing my life, NYU changed three generations of my family, all of us university-educated.”
In honor of her 90th birthday, Tarrow funded an eponymous scholarship for other students of comparative and international education. Her advice to graduates: “Hopefully the foundation you have received at NYU will allow and encourage you to impact and enhance the lives of children in your community, your state, your country—and in the far distant corners of the world.”
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THE BENEFACTORS
Paul and Joan Gluck
THE RECIPIENT
Grossman School of Medicine
THE GIFT
Joan (GSM ’72) and I met in 1968 when we were both first-year students at what is now the Grossman School of Medicine (GSM). We recently celebrated our 51st anniversary. Before retiring, I was an ob-gyn and Joan was an allergist and immunologist.
When we were students, not many medical schools were as progressive when it came to admitting women. One Ivy League school told Joan that they had already met their quota of women students for that class (five!). We might never have met if NYU’s medical school wasn’t an inclusive place.
We’re both proud that our school has strengthened its commitment to providing a world-class medical education to underrepresented groups with initiatives like full-tuition scholarships for all students. When it came time to think about our estate planning, we decided to work with the GSM’s planned giving experts in order to arrange a gift that made sense for us. We learned that a charitable remainder unitrust could benefit us today, while establishing a legacy that upholds our values and will contribute to the future excellence of NYU.
—Paul Gluck (GSM ’72)
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THE BENEFACTOR
DeepMind Technologies
THE RECIPIENT
Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences
THE GIFT
Support from DeepMind helped to create the Pathways to AI initiative at Courant, a six-week summer program that provides students with the skills needed to get involved in artificial intelligence research. Pathways to AI aims to find the next generation of researchers by expanding the field to include those historically underrepresented in the sciences. As a result of the gift, in summer 2022, 10 undergraduates learned about AI from leading minds in this innovative field. “The Courant Institute is tremendously grateful to DeepMind for their generous support, both financial and scientific, of the Pathways to AI program,” says Russel Caflisch, director of the Courant Institute. “This support is enabling us to bring a cohort of talented and diverse students to Courant to work on exciting research projects in AI.”