2005 Alumni Reunion Weekend NYU has nearly 350,000 alumni from all 50 states and 163 foreign countries.

University Heights campus (part of NYU from 1895 to 1973), Pearce’s verse praised “the archway that stands triumphant” and symbolically links NYU to the surrounding community.

Computer Center at the Courant Institute of Mathematics In 1975, NYU became a member of ARPANet, the groundbreaking, early packet-switched research network that was the basis for the modern Internet. Work at NYU’s Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences and its Mathematics and Computing Laboratory contributed substantially to the development of ARAPNet protocols and applications during the 1970s.

The first group of Chance-Vought students in their dorm, 1943 During World War II, the College of Engineering offered an eight-month program of basic training in aeronautical engineering for female graduates with majors in mathematics or physics. The Chance-Vought Aviation Company provided full-tuition scholarships and living accommodations.

Architecture class at the school's Midtown Center NYU's architecture school began in 1926 as a department within the College of Fine Arts. In 1935 the college was renamed the School of Architecture and Allied Arts. The school closed in 1941 because of a mounting deficit and the retirement of Dean Bossange. Alumni of the school include Gilbert Rohde, Harry J. Schaare, E. Maurice Bloch, Lionel Freeman, and former NYU Architect Joseph Roberto.

Studio of John Richards, a tenant in the University Building in the 1890s NYU rented many of the University Building’s rooms to local artists, adding to the literary and artistic flavor of the Washington Square area. Until its destruction in 1894, tenants of the building included: John Draper, first professor of chemistry at NYU and early pioneer of daguerreotype photography; Henry James, Sr., theologian and father of Henry Jr. and William, major American literary figure and philosopher respectively; the artists Winslow Homer and William Hennessy; Richard M. Hunt and A.J. Davis, architects; Samuel Colt, famous for his revolver; and, from 1841-1857, the New-York Historical Society.University Building’s

Brown Building, site of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire The Asch Building, now known as the Brown Building, was the site of both the first large-scale strike of women workers in the country, and one of the worst factory fires in New York City’s history. In 1910, the International Ladies Garment Workers’ Union made the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory on the 8th to 10th floors its primary strike target. More than 75% of the industry’s workers agreed to strike to support demands for union recognition, higher wages, and better working conditions. One year later on March 15, 1911, a fire erupted in the factory, killing 146 female workers, many of whom were forced out of the windows by intense flames and smoke.

Early Lacrosse Team Intercollegiate athletic competition was introduced at the Washington Square campus in the 1870s. The first NYU baseball team was formed in the early 1870s, and the team regularly challenged Rutgers, Yale, Columbia, and Manhattan College. Also in the 1870s, the University’s first football team, one of the first collegiate football teams in the United States, was formed. By 1907, the University had varsity teams in baseball, football, basketball, tennis, and track.

Opening a season in the 1920s, Coach William McCarthy talks to NYU players Baseball at NYU began as a club sport in the 1870s, became a varsity sport in the 1890s, and enjoyed its glory years under William McCarthy, who coached the Violets from 1922 to 1961. Under McCarthy, NYU compiled 476 victories and 258 losses. Among the outstanding players of the 1920s was George “Kiddo” Davis, the first NYU baseball starter to break into the major leagues. In 1927, Davis signed with the New York Yankees. Six years later, Davis achieved his childhood dream when, as a player for the New York Giants, he helped his team win the World Series.

1907 Basketball Team In 1907, basketball was introduced as a varsity sport at the University Heights campus, but unfortunately, the team did not have a coach. Despite this handicap, the team finished the 1906-1907 season with a 6-2 record.University Heights

Cartoon by Romare Bearden from the NYU publication The Medley Romare Bearden, renowned collage artist, graduated from NYU in 1945 with a B.S. in education. At NYU, Bearden regularly submitted cartoons to the campus humor magazine, The Medley, and at one point served as the magazine’s art editor. Bearden’s artistic career proved highly successful, prompting prominent scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. to call Bearden “the father of African-American modernism.”

Interior of the quadrangle at Bellevue Hospital NYU physicians have been providing care at Bellevue Hospital, the country’s oldest public hospital, for more than 130 years. Since 1968, the NYU School of Medicine has assumed full responsibility for clinical services in the hospital. NYU provides Bellevue with an attending physician staff of 1,200 and a house staff of more than 500 residents and interns.

Mrs. Vincent Astor (left) and Mrs. Albert D. Lasker (right) In 1965 Mrs. Vincent Astor and Mrs. Albert D. Lasker were the first women to be elected to the NYU Board of Trustees. Later that year Dr. Ruth Farkas was named to the board, the first alumna ever to join that body.

Ceremony to introduce BobCat, June 1983 Gail Persky, Director of Automated Services (foreground), Dean Carlton Rochell (at podium) give a demonstration for the press while authors Isaac Asimov, Robert Carol, and Joseph Lash look on BobCat (BOBst Library CATalog) was the first online public catalog in a New York City library. The database was introduced June 13, 1983. Six months later, the library stopped filing new material in its card catalog, listing them only in BobCat. The card catalogues were finally removed from Bobst Library in 2002.

Bobst Library Before Bobst Library opened in 1973, NYU owned just over one million volumes stored in 30 different locations with no central catalog. Today, the striking, 12-story Elmer Holmes Bobst Library, designed by Philip Johnson and Richard Foster, is the flagship of a nine-library, 4.5 million-volume system that provides students and faculty members with access to the world's scholarship and serves as a center for the University community's intellectual life. The Bobst Library houses more than 3.3 million volumes, 20 thousand journals, and over 3.5 million microforms, and provides access to thousands of electronic resources both on-site and to the NYU community around the world via the Internet. The Library is visited by more than 6,500 users per day and circulates almost one million books annually.

Dissecting Room at the University Medical College, Nov 1885 “At the foundation of all true medical knowledge, and without which there can be neither physician nor surgeon, is the study of anatomy. He who attempts the practice of medicine without this indispensable preliminary is an imposter. Yet there is but one means by which knowledge can be perfectly obtained – it is by the dissection of the dead.” So stated John W. Draper, president of the University Medical College faculty in his introductory lecture to students in 1853. However, dissection was illegal in New York State. That same year, University Medical College faculty petitioned the New York State Legislature for the legalization of “Dissection of the Dead.” One faculty member, Martyn Paine, MD, spent three months in Albany fighting for the “Bone Bill,” as it was then called. The bill passed in 1854.

Matthew Broderick (left) and Martin Ritt filming No Small Affair, 1981 In 1981 No Small Affair, a movie starring Matthew Broderick and Martin Ritt, was filmed in Washington Square Park. A few years later, in 1990, Broderick returned to NYU to film The Freshman, in which he played an NYU film student. Other movies filmed at NYU’s Washington Square campus include The Exorcist (1971) and In Good Company (2004).

Bronx Environmental Health and Policy Study Van In 2001, using a specially equipped van to collect air samples from throughout the South Bronx, NYU researchers began to gain a better understanding of the relationship between environmental factors, poor air quality, and the neighborhood’s extraordinarily high asthma rate. NYU and four community-based organizations teamed up to keep the community involved in the research project and are working together to build an environmental justice library for community use. With participation from community groups, the study will educate the residents of the South Bronx, equip them to better understand the problem of poor air quality, and influence policy-making efforts.

Elmer Ellsworth Brown Elmer Ellsworth Brown was the U.S. Commissioner of Education under Franklin D. Roosevelt before becoming Chancellor of NYU in 1911.

Silver Shrine containing "The Bun" Since 1885, the most spirited undergraduate class has been awarded “The Bun.” The award consisted of a bun enclosed in a silver casket. The phrase “You take the bun,” parallels the more modern saying, “You take the cake,” thus the name. Taken three times in 1921, 1971, and 1981, the Bun was last returned in 2002 and now resides in the Silver Center.

Bust of Sylvette The sculpture that adorns the courtyard of NYU's Silver Towers apartment buildings on Bleecker Street is an enlargement of a sculpture by Picasso. Norweigan sculptor Carl Nesjär executed the construction of the 60-ton concrete Bust of Sylvette in 1967.

University Building, 1850 Theodore Winthrop used the University Building for a scene in his 1861 novel Cecil Dreeme. The heroine is a young woman who, to escape marriage to the villain of the story, disguises herself in men’s clothing and hires a room in the building as a young artist. She ventures out only at night so as to escape recognition by her kindred and fashionable friends who live in the immediate neighborhood. The University Building lent plausibility to the story because it had five entrances on three different streets that made possible the heroine’s secret comings and goings.

University Charter and Tiffany Torch New York University, founded in 1831, was known as the University of the City of New-York until 1896.

Cheerleading Squad, 1946 The cheerleading squad has not always been open to women. Following World War II, NYU’s football and men’s basketball teams seemed to be in a slump. To many students the problem lay not with coaching, lack of talent, or inadequate facilities, but a lack of school spirit. To improve spectator turnout, school spirit, and, ultimately, help spur the Violets back to success, students rallied behind the perfect solution—“coed belles.” But in 1946, when the call was first made for female cheerleaders, the Board of Control for Women’s Athletics answered with a resounding “no.” Dorothy McSparran Arnold, Dean of Women, felt it unsuitable for girls to cheer, particularly in front of the large, non-NYU crowds the Violets often played to in Yankee Stadium and Madison Square Garden. The students, however, continued to push for coed cheerleaders, pointing out that most of NYU’s opponents not only had female cheerleaders but winning records as well. In 1952, Dean Arnold and the Board finally relented. The first NYU female cheerleaders were allowed to join their male counterparts, but only at home games. It was a victory nonetheless. On their October 3 debut that year, the female cheerleaders, in long violet skirts, white sweaters, and white gloves, gave NYU hope that with yelling belles, success would be right around the corner.

American Chemical Society plaque at the Silver Center The American Chemical Society was founded in the old University Building. On the evening of April 6, 1876, 35 chemists met in the lecture room of the College of Pharmacy of the City of New York to create the Society; they elected John W. Draper as its first president. A plaque commemorating this first meeting of the society resides on the exterior west wall of the present Silver Center. The society is still active and has over 158,000 members worldwide.University Building

Chemistry Lab in the old University Building By January 1854, Chancellor Ferris had developed a course in Practical Chemistry. This course later evolved into the School of Analytical and Practical Chemistry, first department within the University to award a Ph.D. degree on examination, rather than as an honorary degree.

Chess Players in Washington Square Park For more than 50 years, chess players have flocked to Washington Square Park. In 1955, a series of chess tournaments was held in the park and although a regular player, Charles Eastman, garnered the top prize (a $100 savings bond), it was a 12-year-old boy who captivated the attention of his fellow participants and onlookers. Despite his age, the young Bobby Fischer went undefeated until losing on the final day of the month-long tournament. Ultimately the Brooklyn prodigy went on to become a U.S. and international chess champion and arguably one of the greatest chess players of all-time.

NYU's exhibit at the 1893 Chicago Columbian Exposition NYU began its participation in world’s fairs and expositions at the 1893 Chicago Columbian Exposition. NYU’s popular exhibit featured important technological innovations of the 19th century by two members of its faculty, including Samuel F. B. Morse’s telegraph and John W. Draper’s photographs.

Civil War fair to raise money for the Union Army, 1864 NYU professors of medicine were instrumental in the establishment of New York City’s Health Department. During the Civil War, Dr. W. H. Martin Van Buren, Professor of Anatomy at the University Medical College since 1852, assumed leadership in the organization of the United States Sanitary Commission. Under the auspices of the Commission a series of monographs, many of which were authored by NYU surgeons, were published for the use of the Army surgeons. Following the war, many Medical College faculty members continued their efforts to improve sanitation in the city by joining the newly formed Council on Hygiene and Public Health. The report of this Council, referred to as the "Magna Carta of municipal sanitation" in the United States, led to the 1866 establishment of the New York City Health Department.

Heights alumni of the class of 1905 participate in a parade on Ohio Field on Class Day in 1914 Sometime around 1885, the NYU tradition of Class Day began. This was an occasion for the senior class to celebrate its existence in the presence of students from other classes. At these jovial events, students read their class history, the Glee Club sang, and the soon-to-be graduates presented awards to the most spirited lower-classmen. During the 1887 Class Day, freshmen blew tin horns while the class history was being read, and someone threw a cabbage at the orator! Class Day continued at University Heights until the campus was sold in 1973. In later years, Class Day became a more subdued evening convocation for graduating students at the University Heights campus and later at Washington Square.University Heights

NYU’s first classes were held in Clinton Hall on the corner of Nassau and Beekman streets, near City Hall. From its inception, the new university was different. NYU’s founders believed that the University should provide a practical education, based on modern languages, philosophy, history, political economy, and physical science, as well as the classics and religion emphasized in traditional universities.

Students in Weinstein Hall, 1967 Dormitories at NYU remained segregated by sex until 1963, when Weinstein Hall on the Washington Square campus and Silver Hill at the University Heights campus became the first co-ed dormitories. However, each dorm had separate wings for men and women as well as strict rules regarding visiting hours.University Heights

Members of Students Against Sweatshops and the Campaign Against Killer Coke rally outside Coca-Cola headquarters in midtown Manhattan, 2005 On December 8, 2005, after a two-year campaign by students, the University Senate suspended Coca-Cola sales on campus due to alleged human-rights violations by the company.

Commencement Ticket, 1846 While the University’s first Commencement in 1833 celebrated the graduation of only three students, the Class of 2005 numbered over 11,000 students.

1922 Commencement at the University Heights campus During the latter half of the nineteenth century, commencement sites included the Astor Opera House, Niblo's Garden at Broadway and Prince Street, the old Metropolitan Opera House, and Carnegie Hall. Between 1900 and 1969, the ceremony was held at the University Heights campus in the Bronx. The celebration was moved to Madison Square Garden and later returned to Washington Square in 1976. Today graduating students continue to celebrate their achievement by running through the fountain in Washington Square Park.University Heights

NYU's Supercomputer, Max The fastest computer in New York City and the 117th fastest in the world is at NYU. Installed in 2005, Max takes up 30 square feet and can perform 4.5 trillion operations per second using 512 2.2 Ghz processors. The new system, which supports NYU research with heavy computational requirements, is also the first supercomputer in the United States using Ipv6, the next generation Internet protocol.

Sir Arthur Salter, Chancellor Elmer Ellsworth Brown, and Thomas W. Lamont at the Conference of Universities, Nov. 16, 1932 From its inception, NYU has been infused and energized by the great eras of migration that have brought people to New York City from all over the world. In May 1932, Chancellor Elmer Ellsworth Brown invited educators worldwide to a Conference of Universities. The goal of the conference was to examine the changing role of universities in society, a question of significance because of the unrest in the world at that time. In November 1932, administrators and educators from such renowned institutions as Yale University, the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, and the University of Minnesota joined NYU for the three-day conference at the Waldorf-Astoria.

"Arch Conspirators" by John Sloan in John Sloan, New York Etchings (Dovers) A mock revolution was held atop Washington Square Arch in 1916. On a wintry night in January, artists Gertrude Drick, John Sloan, Marcel Duchamp, and five other friends snuck through the small side door of the arch and ascended the steep interior stairway to emerge on top of the arch. There, the band of conspirators enjoyed a midnight picnic, following which they announced the secession of Greenwich Village from the Union, stating that it would henceforth be known as the “Free and Independent Republic of Washington Square.”

Florence E. Wall NYU offered the first course in cosmetic hygiene in the country. Florence E. Wall, consulting chemist, offered the course at the School of Education in 1936. It was designed to meet the increasing demand for sound, constructive information on cosmetic preparations and treatments.

Tutoring session with C-Team volunteer and student, 1991 The President’s C-Team, formed in 1989 by then-Chancellor L. Jay Oliva and Vice President and Deputy Chancellor Debra James, places volunteers in youth programs throughout New York City. Students serve as tutors, teacher’s assistants, and recreational leaders, in preschools and after-school programs. Partner organizations include A Place for Kids, Children’s Aid Society, Educational Alliance, Grand Street Settlement, Greenwich House Preschool, Henry Street Settlement, Mentoring USA, and University Settlement.

Countee Cullen Countee Cullen, noted Harlem Renaissance poet, graduated from NYU in 1925. While a student at NYU’s University Heights campus, Cullen completed his renowned “Ballad of the Brown Girl” and published his first book of poetry, Color. Color later earned Cullen the Harmon Foundation’s first gold medal for literature in 1927. The NYU Archives still retains Cullen’s senior thesis, “The Poetry of Edna St. Vincent Millay: an appreciation.”University Heights

Weinstein Hall In the early 1980s, Rick Rubin, co-founder of Def Jam Records, lived in Room 712 of NYU’s Weinstein Residence Hall on University Place, where he collaborated with Russell Simmons on what is now one of hip hop’s most influential record labels.

1892 Commencement Program In 1892, Mary B. Dennis became NYU’s first woman to receive a Ph.D. from the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. Her dissertation was entitled “Science Teaching in the Elementary Schools.”

Dental Clinic In 1865, when the New York College of Dentistry first opened its doors, dentists were seen as little more than tooth pullers. In those painful, pre-novocaine days, the profession was still fighting for recognition and acceptance from a skeptical public. In November 1866, when the first class at the college convened, it comprised only 31 students, 10 faculty members, and rented classrooms on 22nd Street. Today, the NYU College of Dentistry is the largest dental school and the largest provider of comprehensive, affordable dental care in the United States.

College of Dentistry's "Dental Bus" In early 2000, the College of Dentistry launched "Smiling Faces, Going Places," the first dental facility on wheels to travel throughout New York City and State to treat children and adults in underserved areas. It is estimated that the van program has provided care for more than 25,000 urban and rural children since it started visiting schools and centers around New York State.

Dorothy Catherine Draper, taken by John W. Draper The earliest American attempts in duplicating the photographic experiments of the Frenchman Louis Daguerre occurred at NYU in 1839. John W. Draper, professor of chemistry, built his own camera and made what may be the first human portrait taken in the United States, after a 65-second exposure. The sitter, his sister Dorothy Catherine Draper, had her face powdered with flour in an early attempt to accentuate contrasts.

Students taking a dip in the Washington Square Fountain, 1970s Since 1900, a series of initiation ceremonies have welcomed entering NYU students. At the University Heights campus, seniors grabbed unsuspecting freshmen and led them to an early 19th century horse-watering trough. The seniors dunked the freshmen headfirst into what became known as “the fountain of knowledge.” This practice lasted until the 1970s. Other freshman activities — like cooling off in Washington Square Park — now prevail.University Heights

Isabel C. Ebel Isabel C. Ebel graduated in 1934 from the Daniel Guggenheim School of Aeronautical Engineering and was believed to be the only woman in the United States holding that degree at that time. While at NYU, she was also the only woman enrolled at the University Heights campus out of a registration of more than 2,200 students.

Eleanor Roosevelt speaking on "Politics as It Affects Public Education," March 15, 1956 Former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt was a Greenwich Village resident and frequent speaker at NYU. She lived at 29 Washington Square West from 1942 to 1949 and on more than one occasion participated in NYU events.

Academic Schedule, c. 1836 NYU’s first faculty consisted of five salaried professors and seven part-time instructors in art and the foreign languages. Not surprisingly, the faculty was divided between advocates of classical education and those who favored a more modern, “American” approach.

Hall of Fame for Great Americans, 1957 NYU’s Hall of Fame For Great Americans was the first of its kind in the country. The brainchild of Chancellor Henry Mitchell MacCracken opened in 1901 and honored distinguished Americans by creating busts in their honor. Any American-born person who had been dead for at least 10 years was eligible for nomination by citizens across the country. In 1901, 29 individuals, including George Washington, Robert E. Lee, and botanist Asa Gray, composed its inaugural class. The early success of the Hall sparked an interest in the "hall of fame" concept and eventually led to the establishment of the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, among others. Today, the Hall of Fame for Great Americans no longer inducts members, but the original architecture and busts still stand on what is now a part of Bronx Community College.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt spoke at a ceremony marking the centennial of NYU in 1931. At the event, he commented: “What impresses me most is that New York University is a positive and actual influence upon the lives of such a huge body of students. It has been and is a tremendous factor in educating not just the rich and leisure class but young people in practically every walk of life. In this it fits in with the true ideal of education in a democracy. The final aim—the giving of honorable direction to the destinies of a great city—has been carried out as exemplified by the very large number of public-spirited citizens who, graduating from New York University, have taken a useful part in shaping the destinies and in aiding the public service of the City.”

Fencing practice on the roof of one of the University buildings, January 1929 Fencing became a varsity sport in 1923. Since then, NYU teams have achieved national prominence, and NYU fencers have represented the United States Olympic teams with regularity. From the late 1950s through the mid-1970s, NYU fencing teams were among the best in the nation. From 1957-1961, NYU fencers lost only one dual match. In an eight-year span, from 1966-1974, they lost only four matches, and from 1969-1972, Violet teams were undefeated.

1965 Football Game After nearly two decades, the pigskin returned to Ohio Field in 1965 as NYU’s football club met—and lost to—the football clubs of Fordham and Georgetown. In 1967 NYU’s ailing football program died from lack of student interest.

Dr. Charles Norris in the Bellevue Violet, 1933 The first department of forensic medicine in the United States was established at NYU in 1932. Dr. Charles Norris, the Chief Medical Examiner of New York City, served as the department's first professor. The department's curriculum included undergraduate lectures and elective courses, and postgraduate courses in forensic medicine, pathology, toxicology and serology, with full time graduate courses leading to the degrees of Master and Doctor of Science in Forensic Medicine.

Founders Monument at the University Heights Campus Created at the urging of Chancellor Henry Mitchell MacCracken in 1889, Founders Day was a yearly celebration of the establishment of the University. The first Founders Day was attended by faculty, students, and guests and was held at the Washington Square campus. In 1894, a spire from the old University Building on Washington Square was transported to the University Heights campus and came to be known as the Founders Monument. The monument was rededicated at the Square in 1973 and is currently located in the center of Arnold and Marie Schwartz Plaza off Washington Square South. From the 1950s to the early 2000s, Founders Day was an occasion for honoring outstanding undergraduate students and faculty.University Heights

Washington Square Park, 1930s In 1870, the current fountain was installed in Washington Square as part of a redesign of the park under Boss Tweed. Hoping to increase the value of his lands to the south of Washington Square Park, Tweed also sent a road through the square, which caused local traffic to block walkways and allowed the fumes of Fifth Avenue buses turning around in the park to fill the air.

Members of Psi Upsilon in their fraternity house on the University Heights Campus, 1897 The Psi Upsilon fraternity, founded in 1833 by seven men at Union College, came to NYU in 1837. The NYU chapter, Delta, was the first fraternity on NYU’s campus. The Delta Chapter boasted many distinguished men, including Henry Noble MacCracken. MacCracken was the son of Henry Mitchell MacCracken (NYU’s chancellor in 1891) and went on to become president of Vassar College.

Theodore Frelinghuysen Theodore Frelinghuysen, Chancellor from 1839 to 1850, ran unsuccessfully in 1844 as the vice-presidential candidate of the Whig Party, running with presidential candidate Henry Clay. The victory of the Clay-Frelinghuysen ticket seemed inevitable, especially to the opposition Democrats who bemoaned their party’s surprise nomination of dark horse Presidential candidate James K. Polk. But abolitionist James G. Birney of New York split Whig supporters and threw the election to Polk.

Rendering of Furman Hall 2001 marked the first time NYU collaborated with preservationists, architects, and the Greenwich Village community to complete the building design for the Law School's Furman Hall. The collaborators set out to achieve a design that integrates the new academic building with the surrounding community. Specific elements of the design include preserving the view through the campanile of the historic Judson Hall, the façade of Judson House and Poe House, and the historic look of Thompson Street.

Albert Gallatin Secretary of the Treasury under Presidents Jefferson and Madison, statesman, financier, and diplomat, Albert Gallatin was instrumental in the early development of New York University and served as the first president of the University’s governing council. Gallatin believed that the mission of the new university should be to elevate standards of learning and render knowledge more accessible to the community. He proposed a school with an English-based curriculum that did not require the study of Greek and Latin.

Genius Row, 1890s By the early 1900s, artists and writers began moving into the Washington Square neighborhood. This row of houses on the south side of the square became known as "Genius Row" in honor of its talented residents, including Metropolitan Opera singer Adelina Patti, Alan Seeger, and Rose O’Neill, inventor of the Kewpie doll. The boarding house at 61 Washington Square South, pictured here at the end of the 19th century, was home to such notables as writers Stephen Crane, O. Henry, and Frank Norris. On March 17, 1948 the first building on "Genius Row" (Washington Square between West Broadway and Thompson) was demolished.

View of the top of the old University Building, 1870s In the late part of the 19th century, the towered and turreted old University Building found its way into the fireside ghost stories of many of its Greenwich Village neighbors. One legend held that the building was haunted by a young artist resident who had died in one of the building's turrets. The spirit was said to pace through the hallways and staircases. In 1880, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that “the structure has an evil repute with the servant girls of the neighborhood…They have a notion that deep in subcellars lie corpses, skeletons and other dreadful things.”

Glee Club performing in 1983 with the basketball cheerleading squad at Town Hall during its 100th anniversary celebration The Glee Club, now succeeded by the Choral Arts Society and the University Chorale, is one of the University’s oldest student organizations.

Paulette Goddard Hall The Paulette Goddard Hall, acquired in 1925, was originally an apartment building for bachelors that came to be known as "The Benedick." Apartments consisted of a living room with a fireplace and one or two bedrooms, although only some had private bathrooms. The janitor provided breakfast service and rent ranged from $250 to $500 a year. Many of the tenants were artists and illustrators.

Grad Alley, 1997 The first “Welcome to Grad Alley,” also billed as a “blast from the past,” was held on Wednesday, May 14, 1997, at West Fourth Street between Washington Square East and Mercer Street. A Commencement Eve celebration marking the accomplishments of our graduates, Grad Alley features entertainment such as jugglers, mimes, games, music, and fireworks.

Visitors to the Grey Art Gallery view a painting during the opening reception for the Walter Gay exhibition, 1980 The Grey Art Gallery, NYU's fine arts museum, was established in 1975. The gallery exists to collect, preserve, study, document, interpret, and exhibit the evidence of human culture. While these goals are common to all museums, the Grey distinguishes itself by emphasizing art's historical, cultural, and social contexts, with experimentation and interpretation as integral parts of programmatic planning. Thus, in addition to being a place to view the objects of material culture, the Gallery serves as a museum-laboratory in which a broader view of an object's environment enriches our understanding of its contribution to civilization.

Graduate School of Arts and Science's shield Founded in 1886, the Graduate School of Arts and Science was one of the first of its kind in the country. The first class consisted of 12 resident and 3 non-resident students; today the school hosts over 4,000 students in 200 fields of study within 48 different programs.

Hagop Kevorkian Center The entrance hall of the Hagop Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies, built in 1972, contains a reconstruction of the interior of the 1797 home of a Syrian merchant family, which served at one time as the British consulate in Damascus.

October 24, 1881: Rev. John Hall is appointed Chancellor

NYU representatives for the Tisch School of the Arts at the 21st Havana Film Festival (left to right) Marcia Donalds, David Irving, Pari Shirazi, Sonia Arrubla, Juan C. Martínez-Zaldívar, Arnie Baskin In December 1999, NYU became the first U.S. film school to screen works in Havana. Tisch School of the Arts was the first American film school to be invited to screen works at the Festival Internacional del Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano, a major showcase for Latin American filmmakers that draws an audience of 500,000.

University Heights Campus, early 20th Century In 1894, when Chancellor Henry Mitchell MacCracken decided to move the undergraduate college to a spacious campus in the Bronx, he hired Stanford White (whose father Richard Grant White was a 1839 graduate) to design the new campus. Relocating the actual University Building to the new campus was briefly considered but ultimately rejected due to the cost. The campus, now Bronx Community College, was sold by NYU in 1973. The original grounds remain intact and have been featured in movies such as A Beautiful Mind (2001), Mona Lisa Smile (2003), Sophie’s Choice (1982), The Thomas Crown Affair (1999), and Maid in Manhattan (2002).Stanford White

Carol Heiss receives a Presidential Citation from President Newsom, 1959 In 1960, NYU undergraduate Carol Heiss won the first gold of only three first-place medals for the United States at the 1960 Winter Olympic Games. Upon her return to New York City, the sophomore English major was greeted by a ticker tape parade on Broadway, attracting a crowd of 250,000 people.

Henry Draper Henry Draper, son of John W. Draper and fellow NYU faculty member, was one of the first astrophotographers, reproducing images of planetary bodies and numerous spectographs of the sun from around 1860. Draper also designed and perfected machinery necessary for celestial photography.John W. Draper

X-Ray of a human hand, taken Feb 5, 1896 NYU Professor of Physics Daniel Webster Hering was a pioneer in the field of x-ray radiography. He is credited with taking the first human x-ray in the United States on February 5, 1896 at Bellevue Hospital. Additionally, under Hering's direction, NYU was one of the first American universities to encourage classroom experimentation, replacing the formerly prevalent recitation of “Natural Philosophy,” with active student experience of the scientific process.

President James McNaughton Hester On October 25, 1962, James M. Hester was inaugurated as the eleventh president of New York University. During his tenure as president, the University -- along with New York City as a whole -- went through a major financial crisis. In 1972, Hester appointed a task force to come up with ways to reduce expenses without compromising the university’s standards. In July of 1973, after the passage of a special bill by the state legislature, NYU sold the city its University Heights campus for $61.9 million. University college merged with Washington Square College downtown.

Hicks-Lord House, September 1905 The Hicks-Lord house, originally located at 32 Washington Square West, was built in 1850. At the turn of the century, it was owned by Mrs. Annette Hicks-Lord, and became a center of social and political activity under the auspices of the “Progressive Party Clubhouse.” The house was razed in 1925 to make way for a 16-story apartment building, home to several NYU faculty members.

Student using NYUHome NYU’s first web portal was launched in 2000. NYUHome gave faculty, students, and staff a customizable, consolidated access point for e-mail, University information, collaboration, interaction, communication, and other Internet services. Since its release, NYUHome has been among the most ambitious, advanced, and successful web portals implemented at an educational institution.

Skylight to Edward Hopper's rooftop studio at 3 Washington Square North Artist Edward Hopper lived and worked in a fourth-floor studio at 3 Washington Square North from 1939 to 1965. Portions of his studio are preserved in that building to this day.

Markings on a column in the first-floor lounge at Loeb Student Center made during occupation by strikers in May 1970 On May 4th, 1970, several groups of "strikers" occupied the Loeb Student Center. The following day, strike groups also took over Warren Weaver Hall and Kimball Hall, the former building containing a $3.5 million dollar computer owned by the Atomic Energy Commission and leased by NYU. The "liberated" buildings became "Strike Student Centers" or "Communes,” and a strike coordinating committee set forth its demands to the University. Holding the computer as a hostage, the strikers demanded ransom money of $100,000 from the University to be used as bail money for imprisoned Black Panthers. While NYU President Hester attempted to obtain a court injunction to remove the strikers as quickly as possible, the students, in control of the University Print Shop in Kimball Hall, printed and distributed manifestoes calling for the immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Vietnam and enjoining fellow NYU students to join their "injunction party" and "make revolutionary love in the streets." Strikers evacuated Warren Weaver Hall on May 7, but set off the fuse to a bomb device before departing. University staff managed to douse the fuse just seconds before it would have destroyed the computer. After 17 days of high tension, University officials succeeded in removing the strikers from all occupied buildings.

Dorm room at the University Heights campus, 1897 Because NYU was historically a commuter school, few dormitories existed at the university. The earliest evidence of university housing is an 1840 list of six students residing in the old University Building on Washington Square.University Building

Students standing outside the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Afro-American Student Center The murder of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968 sparked the intensification of an NYU program to improve educational opportunities for minority groups. Central to the plan was the establishment of a scholarship program named for Dr. King. Also in 1968, John Hatchett was hired by Chancellor Cartter to direct the new Martin Luther King Jr. Afro-American Student Center. His appointment became controversial when it was discovered that Hatchett had authored an article accusing the New York City public school system of being dominated by “anti-black Jews and Black Anglo-Saxons.” Religious organizations on campus labeled his comments “Black Nazism.” During the controversy, Hatchett announced that certain seminars at the Center would be open only to Black students. At first, the administration vowed to keep Hatchett, an action which led to issues of racism, anti- Semitism, and freedom of speech being hotly debated on campus. However, after further review and increased pressure, Hatchett was fired. NYU President Hester responded that such policies "are not in keeping with the spirit in which the Center was created and certainly not in keeping with the spirit in which I endorsed it." The University decided that it did not wish to endorse a center that students saw as “a form of separatism,” and the Martin Luther King Jr. Afro-American Student Center came under the control of an independent board of Black students and faculty who were willing to take full responsibility for the Center in order to secure its existence. The Afro-American Studies Institute was also created to provide lectures, workshops, conferences and programs about Black identity. This is now known as the Institute of African American Affairs.

James B. Duke Mansion The Institute of Fine Arts (IFA), which is ranked first in this country among graduate programs in the history of art, can trace its origins to the founding of the University in 1831 and the painter and inventor Samuel F. B. Morse, who taught the first history of art course in this country. Art history became a dedicated field of study in 1922 when the young scholar-architect Fiske Kimball, who was appointed the Morse Professor of the Literature of the Arts of Design. In 1958, James B. and Doris Duke donated a mansion on the upper east side of Manhattan to the IFA to serve as the Institute's headquarters.

First Issue of the University Item, 1858 The earliest student publication at NYU was The University Item, first distributed in 1858.

Henry James Writer Henry James’ childhood visits to the home of his grandmother Elizabeth Walsh on Washington Square North in the 1840s formed the basis for later descriptions of the area found in his work. James was born in 1843 at 21 Washington Place, the site of the current Kimball Hall.

University Janitor with Gong and Mallet During the early 19th century, the University janitor used a gong and mallet to summon students to Chapel and to other events. Additionally, it was customary in the early years of the University for the janitor to lead the commencement procession in recognition of the important role he played in the University’s affairs.

John F. Kennedy arriving at Washington Square Park, 1960 On October 28, 1960, then-Presidential candidate John F. Kennedy addressed a crowd of 3,500 at Washington Square. Kennedy first addressed the crowd from his car, as he was traveling from one rally to another, and later went to the second-floor terrace of the Loeb Student Center. In his speech he attacked the Republican claim that “we have never had it so good,” arguing that the United States needed to focus on domestic programs.

Judson Memorial Church In 1890 the cornerstone was laid for Judson Memorial Church. Reverend Edward Judson, DD commissioned architect Stanford White to create the building as a memorial to his father, Adoniram D. Judson, who served as one of the first American foreign missionaries. In the cornerstone, the Rev. Judson placed copies of a Bible that his father had translated into Burmese.

Students in one of Judson Hall's dorm rooms, 1949 Despite the fact that women had attended the Washington Square campus of NYU since 1873, NYU did not provide housing for women until the establishment of Judson Hall in 1934. Previously, women either lived at home or in the boarding houses near Washington Square.

James Weldon Johnson In 1934, James Weldon Johnson became the first African-American professor at NYU. Johnson, already well known for his extensive writings, came to the University as professor of Creative Literature and Education. Johnson taught several courses, including one titled “Racial Contributions to American Culture.”

Tulane junior Ben Sullivan in the Kimmel Center NYU hosted 100 students from Tulane University following Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The students were not charged tuition but were responsible for their own books and expenses.

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at his February 10, 1961 lecture at the University Heights campus On February 10, 1961, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke to a capacity crowd at the Hall of Fame Playhouse located at the University Heights campus. Dr. King lectured on “The Future of Integration” and urged non-violent protest. He emphasized the need for “persistence,” and the inevitability of “sacrifice, suffering, and struggle” associated with achieving justice.University Heights

Serge Korff Serge Alexander Korff, a leading physicist in the observation of cosmic rays through the use of balloons, aircraft and mountaintop observatories, joined the faculty at the College of Engineering in 1941 and became Professor of Physics in 1946, a position which he held until his death in 1989. He helped train at least three generations of students, taking many on research expeditions as far away as the North Pole and the South Seas. In addition to his teaching and research, Korff lent his efforts to the international scientific community, participating in several professional organizations including serving as president of the Explorer’s Club (1955- 1958), the American Geographical Society (1966-1971), and New York Academy of Science (1972).

Villa Acton at La Pietra Following his death in 1994, Sir Harold Acton bequeathed La Pietra in Florence, Italy and his fortune to New York University, so that the villa and its collections could be preserved and the 57-acre estate, including four other villas, could be used for academic purposes. Currently the academic program is open to undergraduate students from NYU and other universities and covers many areas including economics, political science, business and sociology, as well as Italian Renaissance art and Tuscan gardening.

Julia Amanda Wilson, Rose Otliffe Levere, Agnes Kennedy Mulligan NYU’s School of Law was one of the first in the nation to admit women. The first three graduates -- Rose Otliffe Levere, Agnes Kennedy Mulligan, and Julia Amanda Wilson -- graduated in 1892. Of the three, only one – Mulligan – continued her pre-law-school career, in real estate finance and development, and she became the first woman elected to the New York Real Estate Exchange. Levere moved from a career in the theater to a post-law school career as pastor of the First Spiritualist Church in New York. Wilson had been a homemaker for a number of years when she started law school. When her husband died in 1891, she completed her studies and went on to private practice upon graduation in 1892.

The junior law library, in the original University Building On the evening of April 18, 1838, Benjamin F. Butler, David Graham, Jr., and William Kent, members of the faculty of the newly established law school, gave inaugural speeches in the chapel of the University Building. In 1835, Butler, the US Attorney General under Martin Van Buren, submitted to the Council a formal plan for a system of legal science. His plan was readily accepted, and he was appointed the principal professor for the new Law School. However, he was forced to postpone his plan to move to New York because of commitments in Washington. Finally, in 1838, he joined Graham and Kent in beginning instruction at the Law School on April 24, 1838.University Building

Emily Kempin Dr. Emily Kempin, a graduate of the Zurich Law School, has been credited with the formation and the success of the University's first woman's law class, held on October 30, 1890. Prior to teaching the class, she had been permitted to attend legal lectures with men in 1888 and taught Roman law to male students.

NYU Torch Logo In 1965, the University administration commissioned renowned graphic artist Ivan Chermayeff to design a new logo. The University emblem, the torch, was modernized, and its simple yet elegant lines still adorn virtually all NYU publications. From 1966 to the present, this torch has been synonymous with NYU.

Construction of the Main Building (now Silver Center), 1894 In 1894, the original University Building at Washington Square East was demolished and replaced by a 10-story commercial building designed by Alfred Zucker. The building was known as the "Main Building" until 2002 when it was renamed the "Silver Center" in honor of Julius Silver, an NYU alumnus.

NYU Mascot, the BobCat While NYU athletes still wear violet and white as their team colors, the personified Violet is no longer their mascot. The Violet mascot, clad in a skintight, green body suit with arms in the shape of green violet leaves, a necklace of large purple petals and a purple face with yellow hair was instituted in 1983, only to be replaced in 1984. After the University rejected suggestions including Vikings, Vanguards, and Victors, it adopted the BobCat from the character that symbolized the new computer catalog in Bobst Library. It represents the strong link between academic and athletic excellence at NYU.

Chancellor James M. Mathews In September 1832, during the inauguration of NYU’s first chancellor, James M. Mathews, New York City was in the grips of one of its worst cholera epidemics from which some 5,000 perished.

First Medical Faculty, 1841 Original faculty for the College of Medicine included John Revere, son of patriot Paul Revere, and Valentine Mott, the foremost surgeon of his day.

Washington Mews Prior to the 20th century, Washington Mews was referred to as “Stable Alley” because it was, in fact, a row of stables. Development of the area bordered by Washington Square North, Fifth Avenue, Eighth Street, and University Place dates back to when Robert Randall, a Revolutionary War captain and a merchant, died in 1801, leaving his farm to be used for elderly and retired sailors. When Sailor’s Snug Harbor was formed in 1801, it began leasing the land to support its Staten Island complex. In the early 1830s, the upper class residents of Washington Square North, known then as “The Row,” developed the Mews by building stables equipped with living space for coachmen and their families.

1937 Honorary Degree Recipients with Chancellor Harry Woodburn Chase, Edna St. Vincent Millay is front row, center In 1937, NYU invited Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Edna St. Vincent Millay to receive an honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters and to dine with Mrs. Harry Woodburn Chase, the Chancellor's wife, on the night before Commencement. Millay replied that she was "happy and proud" to accept both invitations. Her sentiments changed, however, when she discovered that while she dined with Mrs. Chase, the other honorary degree recipients, all men, would be the guests of honor at the the Council’s annual pre-commencement banquet at the Waldorf-Astoria. Incensed at the apparent discrimination, she wrote in a letter to Harold Voorhis, the Secretary of New York University, “on an occasion, then, on which I shall be present solely for reasons of scholarship, I am solely, for reasons of sex, to be excluded from the company and the conversation of my fellow-doctors...I register this objection not for myself personally, but for all women." She went on to ask that in the future no woman "be required to swallow from the very cup of this honour, the gall of this humiliation.” Millay won the sympathy of some committee members, including the chairman, William M. Kingsley, who even before Millay knew about the banquet, had requested that she be invited to it. Nevertheless, as Voorhis put it, the University "was not yet ready to break the tradition of the Council dinner by admitting the ladies, at least so long as we still confine our Council membership to the sterner sex."

Former Miss NYU, Marcia Weinrub, pins the crown on Diane Arvay, at the Statler-Hilton Hotel where Arvay was announced Miss NYU 1960 at the stroke of midnight In 1960, Diane Arvay became the first University Heights student to be crowned Miss NYU, beating out five women from the Washington Square Campus. The contest lasted for several years in various forms. Each pageant queen received a new spring wardrobe in addition to a free hairstyling.University Heights

Samuel F.B. Morse Samuel F.B. Morse, named professor of sculpture and painting in 1832, perfected his invention of the telegraph in the old University Building. Morse’s first successful demonstration of the telegraph occurred in Washington Square on January 24, 1838. About ten miles of copper wire was coiled on drums in the laboratory of his aide and collaborator, Professor Lewis Gale, leading out into the square, and wrapping itself around several trees, before returning inside the University Building. Although Morse’s invention would not be practically implemented until 1844, the painter and scientist had started NYU’s long tradition of innovation.University Building

Constance Baker Motley A civil rights activist, lawyer, state senator, and judge, Constance Baker Motley received an A.B. in economics from NYU in 1943. After receiving a law degree from Columbia University, Motley worked under the tutelage of Thurgood Marshall, chief counsel of the NAACP's Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., and eventually became associate chief counsel for the association. She aided in several key civil rights cases, including Brown v. Board of Education. In the early 1960s Motley continued her fight for equality, arguing ten civil rights cases on the floor of the U.S. Supreme Court. She won nine. In 1964, she left the NAACP to become the first African-American woman state senator in New York. She served in this capacity until the winter of 1965, when the New York City Council elected her the first woman to serve as President of the Borough of Manhattan. The following year, President Lyndon Johnson nominated Motley for a Federal District Court judgeship for the Southern District of New York. Confirmed in August of 1966, Motley became the first African-American woman named to the federal bench.

Main Building (now Silver Center), 1949 NYU’s motto was originally “Perstando et Praestando,” meaning “persevering and—so eventually—excelling." It was created at the request of University authorities by the Rev. Dr. Samuel Hanson Cox, a member of the University Council. Because the phrase did not allude to the utilitarian as opposed to classical aspects of NYU, Dr. Cox added “Utilati.” This phrase appears along the top of the Silver Center on Washington Square East. After the move to the University Heights campus in the Bronx in 1895, Chancellor Henry MacCracken dropped the last word of the motto and altered the construction, making it “Perstare et Praestare” (to perservere and to excel). The motto has remained the same ever since. University Heights

Construction of Loeb Student Center, 1952 The University’s motto, “A Private University in the Public Service,” has its origins in NYU’s participation in the Washington Square Southeast Redevelopment Project proposed by Frank L. Howley, Vice Chancellor for University Development in 1953. NYU bid for and purchased the southeast portion of the park for educational rather than commercial use.

Varsity Football Team, 1905 NYU was instrumental in the establishment of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). After a tragic football accident in 1905, Chancellor Henry Mitchell MacCracken declared that the game needed regulation for the safety of the players. Heeding his call, the Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States (later renamed the NCAA), consisting of 65 colleges, formed in December 1905 to regulate football. More than 80 years later, another chancellor, L. Jay Oliva, participated in the rebirth of sports at NYU by championing the transition from Division I to Division III athletics. NYU was also a founding member, with eight other institutions, of the University Athletic Association, which endorsed strong academic goals while offering student athletes the opportunity to compete.

Class in the Department of Nursing, 1952 In 1954, NYU’s Department of Nursing, which had been established as a separate department in 1947, came under the leadership of Martha E. Rogers. As Chair of the Department, Rogers led NYU to become one of the first universities to treat nursing as a science based upon distinct research and theory.

Library in the old University Building, 1894 NYU housed the New-York Historical Society (N-YHS) from 1841 to 1857 in the university’s library room on the second floor of the University Building. NYU and N- YHS combined forces again in 1993, when NYU Libraries assumed oversight responsibility for the N-YHS Library. As part of the agreement, the Dean of Libraries at NYU would oversee the Society’s library services to the public as well as propose joint programs such as a centralized computer catalogue system, book acquisitions, and educational and public outreach programs. As of March 2004, electronic records for the majority of the N-YHS Library's cataloged collections may be found through NYU’s online catalog system, Bobcat.

Computer Center at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, 1985 In 1987, NYU-Net, the University’s first campus-wide data communications network was launched as a means of accommodating the growing demand for data communications connectivity at NYU. The new network enabled terminal and high-speed computer data connections throughout the Washington Square campus.

Commencement Exercises on the University Heights campus, 1922 The first public graduation ceremony took place on July 17, 1834, just two years after the University opened. In 1835, when NYU had completed its own University Building on Washington Square East, Commencement was moved to the square.University Building Between 1900 and 1969, Commencement took place at NYU’s Universitiy Heights campus in the Bronx. At first, exercises were held inside the auditorium of the Gould Memorial Library. The ceremonies moved outdoors in the 1920s, when they were held near the Hall of Fame, adjacent to the Gould Library. From 1932 until the late 1960s, Commencement took place on Ohio Field. In 1969 Commencement was held in Madison Square Garden, and two years later, in Radio City Music Hall.Universitiy Heights In 1976, Commencement returned to the site of its early days at the Square, this time for an outdoor ceremony in the park—a tradition that continues today.

Entrance to Shimkin Hall Two of the owls that once stood on the cornice of the old Herald Tribune Building surmount the entrance to Shimkin Hall. The original bequest to NYU was made in March 1928 and consisted of the Herald clock, the figures of two bell ringers (affectionately referred to as Stuff and Guff), a statue of Minerva, and 22 owls. The figures, clock, and four of the bronze owls were incorporated into a monument at Herald Square in 1939.

Sheet music for "The Palisades" from the NYU Song Book After the University Heights campus was established, the new uptown location acquired a school song, “The Palisades,” written by Duncan M. Genns and dedicated to his class of 1900. In the song, Genns expressed that the uptown campus now held the heart and soul of the University.University Heights

Statue of Pan in Hayden Hall In 1930, a bronze sculpture of Pan was dedicated in the Minetta Room off the lobby of Hayden Hall on Washington Square West. The sculptor, Gutzon Borglum, would go on to sculpt Mount Rushmore. The statue guards the fountain from which the Minetta Brook once flowed. The underground spring originates at 21st Street and crosses the western portion of Washington Square. Originally known by Native Americans as “Devil’s Water,” the brook was first tapped at the Holley Hotel (now Hayden Hall) for drinking water and until 1985 still trickled into the building.

Dec. 18, 1892 letter from L. Pasteur to Henry Mitchell MacCracken NYU’s commitment to international student and faculty exchange began as early as 1892. Louis Pasteur wrote to Chancellor Henry Mitchell MacCracken and encouraged student exchange: “With the thought of making access to our higher education easier for young foreigners who come to France to continue or finish their studies, several men, belonging for the most part to the world of science and letters, have formed in Paris a Committee for Encouragement of Foreign Students…Convinced, Mr. Chancellor, of the sympathy with which you will welcome a project which can only reinforce the bonds of reciprocal esteem and friendship which unite our two countries…please be our interpreter to the youth of your colleges and assure them of our entire sympathy. Tell them how welcome they will be if they wish to make use of the resources which our higher education places at the disposal of science…”

Sargent Shriver (right), Director of the Peace Corps, at a Peace Corps Recruitment Drive, 1965 In 2006, the US Peace Corps ranked NYU fifteenth among large universities for the number of alumni involved in its grassroots organization, which has sent more than 180,000 people to help developing countries. NYU currently has 53 alumni working in the 76 countries that the Peace Corps serves.

Kenneth Perlin NYU's Center for Advanced Technology (CAT) is one of New York State's cutting-edge research laboratories and the incubator of a range of multimedia ventures. In 1997, Kenneth Perlin, director of CAT, received a Technical Achievement Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science for his development of Perlin Noise. Perlin Noise is a technique used to produce natural-appearing textures on computer-generated surfaces for motion picture visual effects. Examples of Perlin Noise can be found in films, including The Lion King, Batman Forever, Jurassic Park, The Abyss, True Lies, Terminator II, Independence Day, and Toy Story.

Model of Philip Johnson's plan for the Washington Square Campus In 1964 Philip Johnson created a master plan for the Washington Square campus. The plans included a new library at the southeast corner of the park, in addition to a new building for the School of Education, and a re-vamped Main Building on the east side of the park. Another feature of the new design included an arched glass roof connecting the newly created School of Education Building and the improved Main Building. The glass arch roof would have enclosed Washington Place between the park and Greene Street. The only part of the plan that came to fruition was the building of Bobst Library.

Ticket for a Philomathean and Eucleian Societies event, 1845 Edgar Allan Poe, an itinerant Greenwich Village resident, was a particular favorite of rowdy NYU students who, under his direction, assembled a cart, complete with mule, in the chapel of the old University Building. He also recited at an NYU student literary society, the Eucleian Society, on July 1, 1845.

Dummy suspended from flag pole atop the old University Building Whether they snuck horses into university buildings or swiped light bulbs from 1920s subway stations, students throughout the years have shown a distinct weakness for pranks. Perhaps the most famous student prank occurred in the early 1890s when Washington Square residents were startled to see “a body” hanging from a rope from the tower of the University Building. The body turned out to be a dummy.University Building

Washington Square Bulletin, April 22, 1937 While most people associate anti-war protests with the 1960s and 1970s, Washington Square was the site of an anti-war demonstration in 1937. An estimated 8,000 undergraduates participated in the event, touted in the student newspaper as the first time in the University's history that students, faculty, and administrators enlisted together in a coordinated protest against war.

1921-1922 Glee and Musical Club NYU’s first radio broadcast was in the spring of 1921, when station WJC aired a concert of the NYU Glee Club. A year later, in 1922, the same station began broadcasting regular courses by University professors.

Registration Line, 1980s Before the age of Torch Tone and Albert, registering for classes was usually an all-day affair. Students scurried from department to department assembling their schedule. Files were kept on index cards. Lines were long, and patience and a comfortable pair of shoes were almost as important as a student’s grade point average. In 1988, NYU began implementing the Student Information System (SIS), a comprehensive system for providing and maintaining information used by students, faculty, and staff for advisement, registration, grade reporting, billing, grant and financial aid management, class scheduling, and much more. SIS was never directly connected to any networks, including NYU-NET, so students had to wait in line while authorized NYU resources accessed student information and updated academic and financial data. In 1997, students gained access to SIS information through Albert, NYU's online registration system.

Students in the School of Retailing examining a detailed scale model store to study the effects of layout on store traffic and operating efficiency In 1916, NYU first offered courses through the School of Pedagogy for training in retail. This Training School for Teachers of Retail Selling became the School of Retailing on April 25, 1921. In 1964, NYU converted the school into the Institute of Retail Management, and made it a unit of the Schools of Business.

ROTC Field Day, May 14, 1924 ROTC field days were an annual event at the University Heights campus. At the sixth annual field day on May 14, 1924, Ohio Field was converted into a miniature battleground. Each student soldier was equipped with a helmet and gas mask. Blanks were fired.University Heights

Samuel Rubin International Residence Hall The Samuel Rubin International Residence Hall was formerly the Grosvenor Hotel. The structure was built in 1925 and was the home of Willa Cather from 1927 to 1932. Acquired by the University in 1964 for use as a student residence hall, it was named to honor Samuel Rubin, businessman and member of the New York University Medical Center Board.

Students, administrators, and faculty in Spain, June 1959 The first study abroad site was opened in Madrid in 1958. Currently, NYU operates more than 40 study abroad programs in 27 countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, and South America. These include NYU centers in London, Madrid, Paris, Florence, Prague, Berlin, Ghana, and Shanghai (beginning Fall 2006) where students may spend a summer, semester, or academic year taking courses toward their degrees and broadening their understanding of the world.

SATC members drilling on the grounds near the Hall of Fame, 1918 When enrollment declined with the outbreak of World War I, NYU worked with the Department of War to provide military training to fill the gap. In 1918, NYU established units of the National Army Training Detachment and the Student Army Training Corps (SATC). The SATC was part of a nationwide program initiated by the Committee on Education and Special Training of the War Deparrtment. In all, 1,613 men participated at NYU.

1975 September 1: John C. Sawhill becomes the twelfth president.

University Seal The University seal is composed of five emblems that embrace the goals and traditions of NYU. MDCCCXXXI is 1831, the year of incorporation. “New York University” became the legal name of the institution in 1896, although this was its popular name long before then. The motto "Perstare et Praestare"—to persevere and to excel—complements the depiction of classic runners, and, when combined, these symbols represent the continued pursuit of academic excellence. Finally, there is the upheld torch of the Lady of the Harbor, which signifies NYU in service to the “metropolis”—New York City.

Swimmers starting a race at Lake Sebago Beginning in 1919 and continuing for 46 years, the School of Education sent its students to camp for the summer. In 1919, the Department of Physical Education first offered summer school sessions at various campsites around New York State, including Chodike Lake and Chatauqua. The purpose was to give education students a chance to begin their teaching experience with youngsters in the great outdoors. In 1928, the new chairman of the department, Jay B. Nash, founded a graduate summer camp as a permanent part of the program. He chose Lake Sebago, a property leased from the State Park Commission and located near Sloatsburg, about 40 miles from the city. The success and popularity of the Lake Sebago “experiment,” designed to stimulate interest in the ”natural education that takes places in the out of doors,” grew over the years. In 1961, the Board of Trustees approved improvements in the facilities and the purchase (by gift and matching funds) of an additional 120 acres of wilderness in Dutchess County called “Camp Sanita Hills.” When the summer camp program was discontinued in 1966, over 10,000 students had attended in the four decades, and a total of about 800 bachelor’s degrees, 600 master’s degrees and 100 doctoral degrees in recreation or camping education had been awarded.

NYU Researcher collects dust samples on September 12, 2001 Following the September 11, 2001 collapse of the World Trade Centers, students at the University took in stranded New Yorkers, helped set up and run phone banks, prepared meals for emergency workers, and collected clothing for those affected.

Skirball Center for the Performing Arts The Skirball Center for the Performing Arts is the largest theatre south of 42nd Street and the only performing arts center of its kind south of Lincoln Center. The 860-seat theater, which opened in October 2003, presents a broad range of live performances, including theater, dance, music, music theater and opera, solo performance, video, film, and public affairs events.

Southeast corner of Washington Square in 1967, now site of Elmer Holmes Bobst Library In 1949 the city of New York designated the land between Houston Street and West 4th Street, bordered by Mercer Street and 5th Avenue, a slum. The city demolished existing structures and sought bids to reconstruct the neighborhood. NYU bid on the land and eventually built several structures there including the Loeb Student Center (where the Kimmel Center currently stands) and the Elmer Holmes Bobst Library.

South Side of Washington Square Mews, Looking East, 1955 (New Sailors' Snug Harbor Properties) Sailors’ Snug Harbor, the once powerful trust that owned a huge 21-acre swath of the Village east of Fifth Avenue from Washington Square North to Tenth Street, sold the last piece of its property in July 1986. A favorable court ruling had permitted the trust to sell its land in 1976 (by the original terms of the 1801 endowment, the trust could not sell its property), and the trust’s first sale in 1976 was the parcel on which the One Fifth Avenue apartment house stands. NYU currently owns much of the former property in the neighborhood.

1922 Varsity Soccer Team The year 1922 marked one of the first recorded NYU varsity soccer seasons. The players posted a 2-0-1 record, tying Swarthmore College in their first game on November 28, 1922.

Watercolor painting of Washington Square North Buildings that house the School of Social Work The School of Social Work, established in 1960, was the first school of social work in New York City authorized by the New York State Education Department to offer a Ph.D. degree.

Construction of the Management Education Center (now the Henry Kaufman Management Center) In 1988, the graduate and undergraduate business schools united under the name Leonard N. Stern School of Business, in honor of Leonard N. Stern (B.S. 1957, M.B.A. 1959), the chairman of the Hartz Group, Inc, and then a trustee of the University, who gave the largest single gift ever made to an American business school. This gift also made possible the construction of the Management Education Center (now the Henry Kaufman Management Center) to house both the graduate and undergraduate divisions at Washington Square.

NYU's exhibit at the 1904 St. Louis Exposition The 1904 St. Louis Exposition commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Louisiana Purchase featured education as the main theme. NYU exhibited a marine engine that “fit on the average mantelpiece,” developed by the Department of Mechanical Engineering. Another popular piece was a glass-enclosed scale model of the University Heights campus in the Bronx constructed by the School of Applied Sciences. Students assembled the model in New York and then shipped it by private freight car to St. Louis. University Heights

1912 Labor Day Parade In 1912, hundreds of women marched in the city's Labor Day parade rally in Washington Square to proclaim their rights as workers and citizens.

Summer school students being bused from Washington Square to University Heights campus for annual summer school frolic, 1925 NYU’s summer school began in 1895, when seven members of the faculty, with the approval of the Chancellor, offered courses in mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, experimental psychology, and the theory and practice of teaching. The faculty members received no additional salary, only the tuition fees collected from students. The University Council officially took control in 1899 and the popularity of the program quickly grew to over 500 students, both men and women, by 1907. The program mostly attracted teachers who were interested in pedagogical courses.

Dr. Floyd Zulli, Jr., taping a course for Sunrise Semester NYU hosted the first university course for academic credit ever offered on a New York metropolitan-area television station. Produced by CBS-TV in association with NYU, the Sunrise Semester series began in 1957 as an experiment and ran for almost 25 years. The first course offered in this Emmy-Award winning series was “Comparative Literature 10: From Stendhal to Hemingway,” taught by Dr. Floyd Zulli, Jr., an assistant professor of romance languages at the College of Arts and Science. The 3-point course studied the development of the novel from Stendhal’s The Red and the Black to Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises. To receive college credit, 177 students paid $25 per point. More than 700 students applied and some 120,000 others followed the course—without credit—on television. The series heralded the era of distance learning, solidified a creative partnership between CBS and NYU, and reinforced the power of television as a medium to educate.

Members of the 1928 Women's Swim Team The first women athletes to participate in the Olympics competed at the Amsterdam Games in 1928. Members of the women’s swim team included NYU swim team captain Ethel McCary Engelsen (WSC 1928), Lisa Lindstrom Olson (WSC 1934), who was still a high school student in 1928, and Mary Washburn Conklin (WSC 1928).

Members of the class of 1894 arriving at future University Heights campus, April 18, 1894 When the University Building on Washington Square was demolished in 1894, members of the graduating class hired a horse-drawn tally-ho and carried some of the stone work and several gargoyles from the old building to the new campus. The wagon, decorated in violet, proceeded up Fifth Avenue en route to their new home overlooking the Harlem River and the Palisades in the Bronx.University Building

Temporary Arch at Washington Square, 1889 The original Washington Square Arch, constructed out of plaster and wood, was built in 1889 from Stanford White’s designs to commemorate George Washington’s inauguration as President in 1789. The community enjoyed the arch so much that a resident of Washington Square North was able to collect almost $3,000 to construct a permanent arch. This arch was also built from White’s design and completed April 5, 1892.Stanford White’s

Dr. Isaac Franklin Russel, Professor of Law, holding the Tiffany Torch at the 1921 Commencement The prized silver University Torch, designed by Tiffany and Company of New York and “symbolic of academic purpose and authority,” was a gift from Helen Miller Gould in 1911. The torch and torchbearer led the academic processions in major University ceremonies. At Commencement, the torch was passed from a senior faculty member to the youngest graduating student.

Shipboard lecture during a Travel School excursion In 1927, when Charles Lindbergh landed his monoplane outside Paris after his spectacular solo flight from New York, NYU students named him “the greatest living person.” And throughout the 1920s, the University’s students arrived in France too—but by ocean liner. In 1925, Dean James E. Lough of the Extra-Mural Division headed study travel courses which offered college credit to 213 students. The S.S. Orduna was chartered for the voyage, and special student third-class accommodations were offered, along with a chaperone (often the wife of the professor) for women students. In 1926 “Travel Courses” offered students a choice of spending 66 days in Dijon, Tours, or Paris, at a cost ranging from $395 to $550. Side trips (with lectures) included trips to cathedrals, castles, and battlefields.

English Elm in Washington Squre Park Washington Square contains one of the oldest known trees in Manhattan. The great English elm located in the square’s northwest corner is over 300 years old. For years it has been known as the “Hangman’s Elm,” although no one has ever been hanged from the tree. In fact, the elm was part of a row of trees lining an English colonial farm until the square reached full size in 1828.

Statistics of the class of 1881 in the University Item In 1881, with an enrollment of only 75 students, NYU's undergraduate college almost closed its doors due to financial trouble. By the early 1880s, the University had half the undergraduate enrollment of six years earlier. Although the professional schools of law, medicine, and engineering thrived, the undergraduate school continued to struggle, with usually fewer than 100 students registered. Yet, the school managed to survive and would soon thrive. In 2005, close to 5,000 bachelor's degrees were conferred.

Chancellor Howard Crosby In 1871, NYU instituted a policy of free tuition for undergraduates in arts and sciences. In his annual report from 1871, Chancellor Howard Crosby writes that: "With these changes and improvements in the instruction of the University, we have been able to throw open the doors of these two departments of Arts and Science, and admit to their benefits freely all whose intellectual preparations warrant their admission. This position of gratuitously furnishing the higher education to our city is a proud one for our University to occupy...." The policy backfired, however, when alienated alumni viewed the now-free university as a charity institution unfit for their own children to attend.

University Building Watercolor and Engraving by A.J. Davis, c. 1833 NYU’s first permanent home, the University Building, was a neo-Gothic building located on the northeast corner of Washington Square between Waverly and Washington Places. The University’s decision to use stones quarried and chiseled by the convicts at Sing Sing resulted in a riot by local stonecutters in 1834.

East 26th Street in 1924 (the low building on the right is the former site of the Veterinary College) NYU's veterinary school was founded in 1857 as the New York College of Veterinary Surgeons. In 1899 it merged with the American Veterinary College to become the New-York American Veterinary College within the NYU School of Medicine. In 1913, it became a state institution but remained under the auspices of NYU. The school was discontinued in 1922 due to lack of funds.

NYU Victory One of the United States’ Victory ships was named for NYU. A series of cargo ships was produced in large numbers during World War II to replace losses caused by German submarines. The “NYU Victory” was launched May 16, 1945, and was furnished with books for a library donated by the NYU Society for the Libraries.

Students in Loeb auditorium, February 1965 In February 1965 the NYU Committee to End the War in Vietnam (CEWV) organized one of the earliest American anti-war teach-ins at Loeb Student Center. Topics of discussion included the Berkeley anti-Vietnam War demonstration, an analysis of the Watts riots, and the denunciation of President Johnson's domestic policies. A few weeks later, a sizeable contingent participated in the first anti-war march on Washington.

1891 Violet Yearbook, published by the Junior Class In 1963, it was discovered that the purple color long used as the symbol for NYU was, in the terminology of the Color Association of the United States, Inc., not violet, but “Pansy 70059.” In 1964, the University Senate changed the official color for University use to a particular bluish shade of violet, registered as “Mayfair Violet, 17575.”

Prince of Wales (seventh from right) in his suite at the Fifth Avenue Hotel, 1860 The Prince of Wales visited NYU on October 12, 1860. The 19-year-old bachelor prince, using one of his official titles, the Baron of Renfrew, engaged a number of eager ladies at a party and met with Professors Morse and Draper. He was the first of a long list of heads of states and dignitaries who would visit NYU.

1966 Commencement At the 1966 commencement some 100 graduating students staged an orderly walkout to protest the granting of an honorary degree to Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara.

Architectural Plans for the restoration of the second floor of the old University Building, 1895 Stanford White, principal of the architectural firm McKim, Mead, and White, designed many of the structures around Washington Square, including the Washington Square Arch, Judson Memorial Baptist Church, and the Paulette Goddard Hall. In 1895, he also drew plans for a proposed interior renovation intended to save the prestigious old University Building, one of the finest examples of Gothic Revival architecture, from demolition. Unfortunately, White's plans were not to be realized and in 1895, a new building was erected in its place. Now the Silver Center, that structure stands at the northeast corner of Washington Square.University BuildingSilver Center

MacCracken House on the University Heights campus WNYU, NYU’s campus radio station, transmitted its first broadcast on December 12, 1949. Founded by student engineers, WNYU originally broadcast from a cramped basement in MacCracken Hall at the University Heights campus, using three turn tables, three microphones, and two remote lines – and a very limited library. The first broadcast reached only MacCracken Hall and a few other buildings, but by December 15 “The Voice of University Heights” was heard all over campus. If you had tuned into that initial broadcast you might have heard strains of “Finian’s Rainbow,” a hit show of the 1940s, or a summary of recent student council meetings. An early favorite program was “Miserable Mortie” Kramer, “king of the disc jockeys” from 10 pm to midnight. Among the other radio fare were sports, news briefs, live music by University Heights bands and string quartets, Hall of Fame Players presentations, and “music to munch by” broadcast during meals.University Heights

Thomas Wolfe Thomas Wolfe, a periodic instructor in the Department of English at New York University from 1924 to 1930, published his first and most famous novel, Look Homeward, Angel, in 1929. Wolfe taught an English class at the School of Architecture at the time that his book was being published. Wolfe liked the name of one of the students in the class, Zamschnick, so much that he named a character in the book after him.

Linda Mantovani (left) and Patricia Hanusik, the only two coeds admitted to the College of Engineering for the fall 1959 term In 1959, NYU first admitted women to the undergraduate classes of its two colleges at the University Heights campus. The College of Engineering admitted two coeds, Linda Mantovani and Patricia Hanusik. The University College of Arts and Science admitted 102 coeds for the 1959-1960 fall term.University Heights

Cover of Women's Basketball Program, 1996-1997 In 1997, NYU women’s basketball team, led by Violet Marsha Harris (Number 21) won its first NCAA Division III Championship.

Watermelon-eating contest at a summer school barbecue and frolic at the Heights campus, 1929 In October 1873, the first women students at NYU enrolled in the School of Art, where they received an “instructional” form of classes with no degrees. Women were admitted to other schools in the following order: Graduate Department, 1888; School of Pedagogy, 1890; Law School, 1890; Washington Square College, 1914; University College (at the University Heights campus), 1959.

Washington Square Arch, 1980 Washington Square Arch became the site of an art project in 1980. On May 4, Francis Hines wrapped the monument in 8,000 yards of polyester net. The cloth was secured with 3/8-inch cable and hand fabricated steel fixtures. The fabric sculpture remained in place through May 10 and served as the focal point of community efforts to restore Washington Square Park and the arch.

View of Washington Square North The row houses on Washington Square North have been home to three mayors of New York City, two presidents of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, artists Rockwell Kent and Edward Hopper, and writers John Dos Passos, e.e. cummings, and Edmund Wilson. The unified group of thirteen houses were built in the Greek revival style more than 150 years ago and looks very much as it did in the days of Andrew Jackson. NYU has leased “The Row” since 1949.

Otto Boetticher's 1851 painting of Washington Square Park as a military parade ground Washington Square was a potters’ field from 1797 to 1823. The poor, indigent, and victims of the frequent yellow fever epidemics were laid to rest in the fields. In 1825, faced with overcrowding below ground and urban sprawl above, the Common Council closed Washington Square to further interments and rededicated the field as a military parade ground. Fashionable residents followed the militia to Washington Square. By 1833 handsome brick houses lined the north side of the grounds, and well-dressed spectators turned out to watch the Seventh Regiment go through its paces.

Washington Square Village In 1964, NYU purchased Washington Square Village, a 1,292-apartment development on West 3rd Street. The complex featured vertical panels of bold, primary-color glazed bricks, expansive terraces, and underground garage facilities. The complex now houses faculty members, graduate students, and other members of the community.

Esther V. Foley, one of the first women inducted into the Women's Varsity Hall of Fame In 1976, NYU established the first Women’s Varsity Hall of Fame in the country, inducting seven athletes who represented over 50 years of women’s athletics at the university.

NYU Ambulance Volunteers Following the United States' entry into World War I, NYU established units for service in the Red Cross ambulance companies. The first unit arrived in Bordeaux in 1918, immediately beginning service at the front.

Meteorological Observatory at the University Heights campus on top of MacCracken Hall During World War II, the Engineering, Science, and Management War Training Division of the College of Engineering offered war-accelerated training courses at the University Heights campus. The efforts of the College of Engineering now focused on the teaching of meteorology and engineering to cadets sent to NYU by military authorities and government agencies. By World War II’s end, more than 18,000 students had been trained in NYU’s engineering courses. University Heights

The Lyre, 1887 The first NYU yearbook was the Lyre of 1887, which was published by members of the secret fraternities of the University. The editors wrote, “For some years the students of the University have ardently desired an Annual, but as yet no work of the kind has obtained more than a shadowy existence in the minds of its originators…with ‘characteristic gall’ 87 took hold of the matter and we take great pleasure in laying before you the result of the undertaking.” This first attempt at a yearbook was basically a roster of fraternities and their members, not a complete listing of undergraduates. The next yearbook did not appear for three years. The first annual yearbook was the 1891 Violet, published in 1890 by the junior class.

3-5 Washington Place, 1964 Alfred Zucker was the architect of the brick and terra cotta structure at 3-5 Washington Place. The six-story building was completed in 1891 and used as a warehouse and factory. It was acquired by the University in 1964 and subsequently was remodeled as the University Post Office and as residential quarters for several fraternities.

Musical group ZZ Top performs as part of an event at sponsored by the Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy Center Since 1988, the Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy Center has brought artists including Neil Young, The Who, Jon Bon Jovi, John Mellencamp, ZZ Top, Ahmet Ertegun, Aerosmith, and David Foster to NYU. The Nordoff-Robbins approach to creative music therapy is based upon the belief that there is an inborn musicality residing in every human being that can be activated in the service of personal growth and development. The Foundation hosts an annual dinner and auction where it bestows the Silver Clef Award on an artist.

2005 Alumni Reunion Weekend NYU has nearly 350,000 alumni from all 50 states and 163 foreign countries.

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2005 Alumni Reunion Weekend NYU has nearly 350,000 alumni from all 50 states and 163 foreign countries.

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Presentation on theme: "2005 Alumni Reunion Weekend NYU has nearly 350,000 alumni from all 50 states and 163 foreign countries."— Presentation transcript:

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