1. PARENTS UPDATE
SPRING2015
MIGRATION AND AMERICAN CULTURE / MEET ALEJANDRO
VELASCO / GALLATIN GLOBAL FELLOWS IN URBAN PRACTICE /
SELECT GALLATIN FELLOWSHIPS / RESOURCES FOR PARENTS
WHAT’S
INSIDE
EXPLORING URBAN SPACES

2. N Y U G A L L AT I NS P R I N G 2 0152
Cover Art and Inside Cover Courtesy of Metin Fejzula
M
ichael Dinwiddie’s Migration and American
Culture course examines the immigrant and
migrant experiences of varied racial and ethnic
groups in the United States as their political,
social, and economic status alters. The course
considers expectations, coping mechanisms, the forging of in-
ter-tribal identity, the sociology of survival, and the concept
of “otherness.” Students look at the guiding family narratives
that inform their sense of self and community while developing
an appreciation for the diversity of New York City and a deeper
understanding of the impact of immigration and migration on
American culture.
Pictured on the front and inside cover are some of the field
locations that the class travels to during the semester: the Afri-
can Burial Ground National Monument, Ellis Island, El Museo
del Barrio, the Hispanic Society of America, the Islamic Cultural
Center of New York, the Lower East Side Tenement Museum, the
Museum of Chinese in America, the Museum at Eldridge Street,
the National Museum of the American Indian, and the Schom-
burg Center for Research in Black Culture.
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Crossing the BLVD by Warren
Lehrer and Judith Sloan;
How the Garcia Girls Lost Their
Accents by Julia Alvarez; How
the Other Half Lives by Jacob
Riis; The Lucky Ones by Mae
Ngai; The Warmth of Other Suns
by Isabel Wilkerson
MIGRATION AND AMERICAN CULTURE
COURSE SPOTLIGHT

3. N Y U G A L L AT I N S P R I N G 2 015 3
Even though it hardly feels it at the moment in New York,
spring is on the horizon. As this issue of Parents Update
shows, Gallatin faculty and students continue to explore
and understand urban spaces—in New York, in the case
of Michael Dinwiddie’s Migration and American Culture
course; in NYC and Buenos Aires in Alejandro Velasco’s
co-located course Art and Politics in the City; and
in Berlin and New York through the Gallatin Global
Fellowship in Urban Practice (GGFUP) Program.
On our cover is an illustration of some of the locales
students visited through Michael Dinwiddie’s course,
which offers students a taste of New York and some of the
immigrant cultures that have helped shape our city.
On page 4, you can read about Latin American scholar
and Gallatin faculty Alejandro Velasco who is teaching a
co-located course for students in Buenos Aires and New
York which brings politics, art, and urban architecture
into conversation.
We want Gallatin students and their parents to
be aware of the many funding sources the School has
available to support a wide range of scholarship. On page
6, read about our newly minted Gallatin Global Fellowship
in Urban Practice Program, and hear from former fellows
about their projects and plans. On page 5, please find
other fellowship opportunities for your student.
Also included in this issue is a list of whom parents
can contact—in Advising, Student Affairs, Student Life,
and Health and Wellness—should you or your student
need assistance.
For parents whose students are graduating in the
spring, mark your calendars for May 21st, the day of
the Gallatin graduation!
Sincerely,
Kim DaCosta
Dear Parents,
NOTE FROM THE A SSOCIATE DEAN OF STUDENT S
SAVE
THE
DATES
APRIL
2David Foster Wallace and
the Ethics of Writing: An
Interdisciplinary Symposium
Gallatin Arts Festival
Big Walk - Annual Architectural
Tour of the City
MAY
21Gallatin Graduation
Photo by Em Watson
18
13-17

4. N Y U G A L L AT I NS P R I N G 2 0154
FACULT Y PROFILE
ALEJANDRO VELASCO
FINDING HISTORY IN THE STREETS
“H
istory isn’t ‘the past’—history is change over time,”
says Gallatin faculty Alejandro Velasco.
“Thinking historically means tracking differ-
ences and continuities over time, and imagining
how those trajectories help us make sense of
issues in the present.”
In his search for these trajectories in his native Venezuela, Velasco
has focused his scholarly work on urban politics, coalition building,
resistance, and repression by closely considering the country’s largest
public housing community, the Caracas barrio known as the 23 de Enero
(January 23rd).
In the summer of 2015, his book Barrio Rising: Urban Popular Politics and
the Making of Modern Venezuela (University of California Press, 2015) will be
published. The project, which has evolved significantly since Velasco
first arrived at Gallatin in 2007, draws on the 23 de Enero barrio to trace
the history of Venezuelan democracy from the late 1950s through the
presidency of Hugo Chávez and his Bolivarian Revolution.
“The interplay between formal and informal that I see in the lived
environment of this neighborhood—in its housing, politics, even
culture—is the essence of the kind of interdisciplinary education that
we teach at Gallatin, always blending formal design and informal dis-
covery,” he says.
In a new exploration of how urban space is shaped and understood,
this time in Argentina, Velasco is currently co-teaching with NYU
Buenos Aires faculty and art historian Florencia Malbrán the co-
located course Art and Politics in the City. The course—only the second
of its kind run by NYU—is held simultaneously in both New York and
Buenos Aires via video conference, using specially designed classrooms
that accommodate professors and students at both locations.
With a total enrollment of 22 students, 11 in New York and 11 in
Buenos Aires, undergraduates are mapping and exploring urban arts
as they intersect with local politics. Students in New York consider five
neighborhoods—Bushwick, Chelsea, East Harlem, the Lower East Side,
and Williamsburg—while students in Buenos Aires look at the areas
of Chacarita, Avenida de Mayo, and San Telmo. They receive training
on mapping software and portable geographic information system
(GIS) devices to conduct field work and create an archive of murals,
graffiti, performances, and installations. The field work is supplement-
ed by readings in history, art criticism, and urban studies.
“When I came to Gallatin,” says Velasco, “I knew it was an inter-
disciplinary school, but I wasn’t really prepared for how interdisci-
plinary it would be. Even in this small space, the conversations that
happen are always generative of new ideas that I am able to draw from
and incorporate into my own research,” he says. “My students always
drive that interdisciplinary generation of new ideas.” In New York and
Buenos Aires, Velasco again has the chance to see what this kind of
collaboration may yield.
Photos by Em Watson Students in NYC join NYU Buenos Aires students via video conference

5. N Y U G A L L AT I N S P R I N G 2 015 5
GALLATIN
GLOBAL
FELLOWSHIP
IN HUMAN
RIGHTSWHO IS ELIGIBLE?
Gallatin undergraduate and graduate
students and other NYU undergraduates
and graduates in select Schools and programs
WHAT DOES THE
FELLOWSHIP SUPPORT?
Funding of up to $5,000 is given to pursue
extended research or experiential learning
projects or internships in the
human rights field.
WHAT’S THE DEADLINE?
November 30
NYU
GALLATIN
AND NYU AFRICA
HOUSE SUMMER
FELLOWSHIP
WHO IS ELIGIBLE?
Gallatin undergraduate and
graduate students
WHAT IS COVERED?
Funding of up to $5,000 is given
to pursue summer research in Africa
that is closely linked to an existing or
developing concentration; prior related
coursework is expected.
WHAT’S THE DEADLINE?
March 30
WHO IS ELIGIBLE?
Gallatin undergraduate and
graduate students
WHAT IS COVERED?
Funding of up to $5,000 is given to pursue
extended research projects in the human rights
field while working at sponsor organizations in
New York, Berlin, or Madrid. Read more about
this fellowship on pages 6-7 of this issue.
WHAT’S THE DEADLINE?
November 1
GALLATIN
GLOBAL FELLOWS
IN URBAN
PRACTICE
GALLATIN
CHINA
FELLOWSHIP
WHO IS ELIGIBLE?
Gallatin undergraduate and
graduate students
WHAT DOES THE
FELLOWSHIP SUPPORT?
Funding up to $5,000 is given to study Chinese
language at NYU Shanghai as part of the
Summer Abroad in Shanghai program.
WHAT’S THE DEADLINE?
Early March
FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE GO TO
GALLATIN.NYU.EDU AND SEARCH FOR
GLOBAL STUDY>GLOBAL FELLOWSHIPS
STUDENT FUNDING:
Gallatin students can apply for these fellowships
in order to develop research experiences that relate
to their concentrations or senior colloquium.
GLOBAL FELLOWSHIPS

6. N Y U G A L L AT I NS P R I N G 2 0156
“I
wanted to see what urban development looked like on the
ground,” says Idan Sasson (BA ’15) who won a Gallatin Glob-
al Fellowship in Urban Practice (GGFUP) to travel to Berlin
in 2014. His project considered the proposed development
of the city’s Tempelhof area and the popular movement to
keep Tempelhof Airfield undeveloped and free for public use.
Sasson was one of the inaugural group of urban fellows which also
included Sophie Lasoff (BA ’16) and Henry Topper (BA ’15), who did re-
search in New York and Berlin, respectively.
The Gallatin Global Fellowship in Urban Practice program began in
2014 in order to establish sustained, collaborative, and reciprocal rela-
tionships between universities and community organizations. Each year,
stipends of up to $5,000 are given to up to ten advanced undergraduate
and graduate students to pursue extended summer research projects
GALLATIN GLOBAL FELLOWSHIP
IN URBAN PRACTICE
FELLOWSHIP SPOTLIGHT
while apprenticing with sponsor organizations in New York and Berlin
and, beginning in 2015, Madrid.
“These three cities are, in different ways, at the forefront of exciting
developments in urban democracy,” says Gianpaolo Baiocchi, director of
the Urban Democracy Lab. “With this program, we wanted to go beyond
the traditional model of service-learning, or even internships. It was
important to us that students bring something meaningful to organiza-
tions through their research.”
In close consultation with the sponsoring partner organizations,
GGFUP fellows gain on-the-ground experience in fields such as housing
advocacy, urban agriculture, community-based arts training, and par-
ticipatory design.
“This experience was empowering and challenging and gave me a
taste of academic life that is unique and rare for undergraduate students,”

7. N Y U G A L L AT I N S P R I N G 2 015 7
Pictured (left to right): An
external view of Berlin’s
Tempelhof Airport, courtesy of
Idan Sasson; the cafe at Prinz-
essinnengarten, a community
garden in the heart of Berlin’s
Kreuzberg neighborhood,
courtesy of Henry Topper; and
an image of Sophie Lasoff’s
online project “A Grassroots
Model for Climate Resiliency,”
based in Sunset Park, Brooklyn
CONTACTS
FOR PARENTS
OFFICE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS
Can help provide answers about leaves of absence,
school/life balance, housing issues, semester
withdrawal, adjusting to college, and more
Director of Student Affairs: Rahul Hamid
212-992-7750 | rahul.hamid@nyu.edu
OFFICE OF STUDENT SERVICES
Can assist with registration and financial aid issues
Director of Student Services:
Sherese Williams-Spencer
212-998-7369 | sherese.williams@nyu.edu
OFFICE OF ADVISING
Can assist with academic planning,
developing a concentration, choosing
courses, degree requirements, policies,
academic performance, and more
First Year Class Adviser: Yevgeniya Traps
212-992-9838 | yevgeniya.traps@nyu.edu
Second Year Class Adviser: Cyd Cipolla
212-992-7758 | cyd.cipolla@nyu.edu
Third Year Class Adviser: Matthew Gregory
212-992-9830 | matthew.gregory@nyu.edu
Fourth Year Class Adviser: Meredith Theeman
212-992-7746 | meredith.theeman@nyu.edu
Transfer Student Adviser: Joshua Shirkey
212-998-7343 | joshua.shirkey@nyu.edu
Assistant Dean of Advising: Amy Spellacy
212-992-9837 | amy.spellacy@nyu.edu
HEALTH AND WELLNESS
Assists students with a broad spectrum
of wellness issues including illness,
stress, and other concerns
Director of Student Affairs: Rahul Hamid
212-992-7750 | rahul.hamid@nyu.edu
Associate Director of Student Affairs:
Nicholas Lanzieri
212-998-7375 | nicholas.lanzieri@nyu.edu
NYU PARENTS COUNCIL
Gallatin’s Director of Development:
Maureen Bannon
212-998-6996 | maureen.bannon@nyu.edu
says Sasson. “It highlighted to me the fact that this kind of urban
development is not beyond any politics and that urban sustainability
is more complicated than just protecting ourselves from a hurricane
or just planting a few more trees.”
In the spring semester of the year before they begin their research,
fellows attend a two-credit seminar during which they are trained
in research methodologies and introduced to the scholarly literature
on their cities and topics of study. The seminar culminates in a week-
to-week research plan devised in collaboration with faculty mentors
and sponsor organizations. In the summer, fellows engage in 8 to 10
weeks of full-time work on their summer research project with a
partnering community organization. The fellows create final, online
projects that are hosted permanently on the Urban Democracy Lab
site at urbandemos.org.edu.
This experience was empowering and
challenging and gave me a taste of academic
life that is unique and rare for undergraduate
students.” –Idan Sasson (BA ’15)

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