Timeline

Founded as the University Without Walls (UWW)—part of a national movement to increase access to higher education for non-traditional students—twenty-one institutions across the country form the UWW consortium. Although the institutions are distinct from each other, they share a fundamental commitment to individualized study and community-based education. NYU joins the UWW consortium in 1972 with a cohort of seventeen Bachelor of Arts students. The first offices are in Rubin Hall; Herbert London is appointed director and Laurin Raiken and Nellie McCaslin are the first faculty members.

First BA degrees are conferred by UWW on four students. UWW moves to Washington Square North. Enrollment doubles to 34 students.

UWW moves to Rufus Smith Hall at 25 Waverly Place.

The Master of Arts program begins.

Herbert London is named Dean of the Gallatin Division (1976-1992). Dean London designs the combination of internships, work in civic organizations, experiential learning, and the study of the classics of the Western canon that will become the trademark curriculum of Gallatin during his tenure. Read Remembering Herb London, a tribute to London, who passed away in 2018.

UWW, initially a part of the School for Professional Studies, becomes The Gallatin Division. At the year's end, over 200 students are enrolled in Gallatin.

Gallatin Founding Professor Emeritus Laurin Raiken launches the Gallatin Arts and Society Program and the Gallatin Arts Programs.
 

Gallatin moves to its current home on the corner of Broadway and Washington Place.

The Gallatin Review, showcasing the writing of Gallatin students, begins publication.

Enrollment reaches 700 students.

Dean London proposes that the Division be granted full school status, with support from the first five faculty members: Sharon Friedman, Laurin Raiken, Bella Mirabella, David Moore, and Steve Hutkins.

Enrollment passes the 1,000 student mark.

The Gallatin Arts Festival begins—Graduate student Barry Spanier, a student of Professor Raiken, creates an interdisciplinary arts festival to showcase the work of student artists at Gallatin. Begun as a celebration of the 20th anniversary, GAF will grow to become one of the School’s signature annual events.
 

Gallatin celebrates its 20th anniversary.
 

Sharon Friedman chairs the MA Program and serves as the MA Faculty Program Adviser for seventeen years, until 2010.

Dean Richard Koppenaal is appointed (1992-1998)—Koppenaal takes over the helm of Gallatin when Dean London retires in 1992. Koppenaal started at NYU in 1964 as a Professor of Psychology in the College of Arts and Science (CAS) and later became the Chair of the Psychology Department and Dean of CAS.

Gallatin achieves official School status within the University, designated The Gallatin School of Individualized Study.

Black History Month annual programming begins, with support from Mona Kreaden (BA ’90; MA GSAS ’93) and André De Shields (MA ’91). Each February, Gallatin invites world-renowned speakers, academics, and artists to Gallatin for major talks, panels, and showcases that also involve students, faculty, and alumni.

The Writing Program begins with Lorie Hartman and Lisa Goldfarb as co-chairs—writing is at the heart of Gallatin’s curriculum. Students develop their academic writing skills in innovative First-Year Writing and Research Seminars, explore a variety of genres in Advanced Writing Courses, and experience writing beyond the classroom through the Gallatin Writing Program’s diverse events, publications, and civic engagement projects.

Tenured faculty begins.

Dean e. Frances White is appointed (1998-2005)—When Dean Koppenaal retires in 1998, he is followed by the appointment of the School’s first female and first African American Dean, e. Frances White. Dean White prioritizes the hiring of new full-time faculty, diversifying the Gallatin faculty and the student body, and leads the School’s efforts for a major expansion of the Gallatin building that will triple the footprint of the School.
 

White founds the Dean’s Honor Society (DHS), a year-long program that allows Gallatin sophomores, juniors, and seniors who have demonstrated academic excellence and a commitment to academic and civic engagement to work together and participate in academic seminars, cultural activities, and international trips with Gallatin deans and faculty members.

Planning and fundraising for the Gallatin building renovations and expansion begins, with the first and second phases of construction completed in 2008 and Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification granted in 2009.

June Foley is named first administrative director of the Writing Program; the Program launches the Literacy Review in 2002.

When Dean White takes on the position of Vice Provost for Faculty Development in the NYU Provost’s Office, Ali Mirsepassi, author of nine books on Iranian history and Middle Eastern culture and sociology, is appointed Interim Dean (2005-2007). Mirsepassi is the Albert Gallatin Research Excellence Professor of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at NYU and served as Interim Director and Director of the Hagop Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies. In 2010, he founds the Iranian Studies Initiative at NYU, which he also directs.

The Albert Gallatin Lecture Series (AGL) begins—AGL brings a variety of notable figures from the worlds of politics, the arts, business, and academia to the University to discuss contemporary issues with students, faculty, alumni, and members of the wider community. Speakers have included Dominique Morisseau, Winona LaDuke, Edwidge Danticat, and Rev. James M. Lawson, Jr.

Dean Susanne L. Wofford is appointed (2007-present)—Under Dean Wofford’s leadership, Gallatin continues to grow as a top-tier institution in the field of individualized study. During her tenure, Dean Wofford nearly triples Gallatin’s full-time faculty, expanding Gallatin’s research profile and strengthening curriculum in ancient studies, architecture and urban design, history of science, and legal and human rights studies, among others.

Dean Wofford oversees the deepening of Gallatin’s Advising Office and the procurement of additional space within the Gallatin building, including faculty office spaces and places for students, faculty, and staff to gather and work in the Wendy and Jerry Labowitz Lounge, multiple art and performance spaces, and a 5th floor student lounge. The Gallatin building renovation is awarded LEED Gold certification, a first for NYU.

Writing Program launches Great World Texts.

The Gallatin Galleries open—The Galleries are exhibition spaces that serve Gallatin students, alumni, faculty, and the broader community through shows that engage in conversations taking place in the arts as well as in the academic, social, and political spheres.

Opening of The Jerry H. Labowitz Theatre for the Performing Arts, a 108-seat theater. The space is used in conjunction with the adjoining Gallatin Galleries to create a 285-seat multipurpose auditorium that accommodates a variety of larger-scale gatherings and signature School events, such as Convocation, the Gallatin Arts Festival, Theater at Gallatin productions, and the Albert Gallatin and Distinguished Faculty Lectures.

The Distinguished Faculty Lecture Series (DFL) begins—DFL is a forum that honors the School's commitment to interdisciplinary study and excellence in intellectual, civic, and aesthetic endeavors. The DFL features speakers whose work or practice has made an outstanding contribution in one or more of these areas. Speakers have included Hortense Spillers, Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, Naomi Oreskes, and Alfred W. McCoy, among others.

Big Walk begins—an annual “walking and talking” tour that traverses iconic New York City thoroughfares and focuses on certain neighborhoods and architecture. Led by Louise Harpman, and joined at times by the Urban Democracy Lab as well as various guest speakers, Big Walk participants have walked across and down the west side of Manhattan, visited Long Island City and Jackson Heights, and toured significant spaces and places connected to New York’s queer community.

The Gallatin Global Human Rights Fellowship begins—the Fellowship is a year-long program that supports selected NYU students with funding while working with human rights organizations across the globe. Vasuki Nesiah, director of the Human Rights Initiative at Gallatin, is the founder and director of this Human Rights Fellowship. Since its inception, over 100 Fellows have worked in 47 countries, and counting.

One of Gallatin’s showcase events, the annual Gallatin Fashion Show premieres. Designers, who are current students, alumni, and faculty, along with visual artists, debut their collections each spring.

Architecture and design finds a home at Gallatin with Global Design NYU (GDNYU)—Under the leadership of architects and Gallatin faculty members Louise Harpman and Mitchell Joachim, along with historian of science Peder Anker, GDNYU is created in order to showcase innovative practices as they relate to visionary architecture, urbanism, and ecological planning.

The Writing Program launches Confluence, an online platform for student writing, art, and research from Gallatin courses.

With a gift from the Guess Foundation, the Guess Distinguished Visiting Professorship in Fashion and Fashion Business is established. The professorship is awarded to a distinguished practitioner with expertise in fashion, design or fashion business, or a scholar with expertise in the history of fashion or the fashion business.

Gallatin celebrates its 40th Anniversary with a large-scale gala celebration that includes an alumni symposium on the arts.

Gallatin Global Faculty Symposium—Led by George Shulman, 21 NYU faculty from across NYU’s global sites gather in Berlin for the “Symposium on Ethnicity, Migration, and Citizenship,” which looks at the inner workings of globalization, sovereignty, and political identity. Since then, Gallatin-led faculty symposia have taken place at NYU sites in London, Florence, Prague, Berlin again, and Accra.

The Urban Democracy Lab (UDL) launches—led by Gianpaolo Baiocchi, Director of Civic Engagement at Gallatin, the UDL promotes critical, creative, just, and sustainable forms of urbanism through engaged scholarship, collaborative undergraduate and graduate coursework, creative public programming, and active publication.

Global Faculty-in-Residence Program begins. Each year, the School hosts several visiting faculty members who share their international perspectives on pressing social, political, and intellectual issues. Faculty-in-Residence have included Antanas Mockus, Sulayman Al-Bassam, Winona LaDuke, and Óscar Mártinez, among others.  

NYU’s Prison Education Program (PEP) launches—PEP offers credit-bearing, transferable university-level courses that enable incarcerated students to earn an Associate of Arts (AA) degree from NYU. Early leadership for PEP includes Deans Susanne L. Wofford and G. Gabrielle Starr, as well as faculty Bryonn Bain, George Shulman, and Nikhil Singh, the program’s director. After three years of planning, the initiative is led by Singh with a faculty steering committee from several NYU Schools.

The Discard Studies Collaborative is founded by Rosalind Fredericks (Associate Professor, NYU Gallatin) and Robin Nagle (Clinical Professor, NYU Liberal Studies) with a Working Group grant from NYU Center for the Humanities. Discard Studies is a growing field of inquiry within the humanities, social sciences, and design fields.

The Gallatin Climate Change Initiative kicks off with the Gallatin Climate Change Conference. Students and faculty stage a Climate Deal Now action and shine a light on renewable energy.

The Gallatin WetLab is an initiative for art-science and curatorial practice at NYU Gallatin, led by faculty co-directors Eugenia Kisin and Karen Holmberg, which partners with NYC-based programs and projects, including the Hudson River Park Estuarium and the River Project, among others.

Led by Jacob Remes, the Initiative for Critical Disaster Studies launches. The Initiative seeks to foster this emergent field both within NYU and in the broader academy and follows a major Critical Disaster Studies Conference at Gallatin in 2018 that brought together scholars of disaster—including geographers, historians, anthropologists, and sociologists—to evaluate the state of this emergent field and to chart pathways for future research.