Letter from the President
Since becoming president of NYU, one of the things that has been a source of tremendous pride for me has been the depth and breadth of the University’s service to its neighboring communities.
In addition to our core mission of promoting cutting-edge academic research, new discoveries, and inventions, each year NYU’s 77,000 students, staff, and faculty collectively spend more than 1.7 million hours participating in volunteer projects and organizing outreach programs. These efforts reach all five boroughs of the city, extend throughout New York State, and even make their way to NYU’s study away sites on six continents. In 2016, we created the Community Connections Committee, made up of representatives from all the schools and units at NYU to organize an inventory of the myriad ways in which NYU has engaged in community efforts.
This inaugural Community Impact Report is the Community Connections Committee’s first major project, and details many of the University’s most notable efforts to give back to its communities, both locally and globally. It encompasses service and volunteer projects, research targeted to our local communities, direct support to organizations, and public programming. The report chronicles NYU’s impact across seven categories: Arts and Culture, Away and Abroad, Sustainability and the Environment, Education, Technology and STEM, Health and Wellness, and Other Signature Programs.
This report showcases a wide variety of initiatives that represent NYU’s multifaceted community outreach. The following pages demonstrate that NYU is deeply committed to its motto: “A private university in the public service.”
