- 11/13/2009
Michelle Obama honors Wagner alumnus Jason Yoon and his nonprofit arts organization
NYU Wagner graduate Jason Yoon (MPA 2006) and New Urban Arts, the Providence, R.I., nonprofit organization he oversees as executive director, were honored by Michelle Obama at the White House on November 4, 2009. New Urban Arts, an interdisciplinary arts studio and gallery for high school students and emerging artists, was one of 15 youth arts and humanities programs nationwide to garner the prestigious 2009 Coming Up Taller Award from the First Lady.
Coming Up Taller is a project of the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities. It recognizes and supports outstanding out-of-school and after-school arts and humanities programs for children, especially those with great potential, but limited outlets for creative expression. Coming Up Taller Awards honor programs that offer exceptional learning experiences in the arts and the humanities and that have a tangible effect on the lives of young people as evidenced through improved academic scores, enhanced life skills, and positive relationships with peers and adults.
"This award," commented Yoon, "is a testament to all the amazing people who have contributed to our community over the past 13 years, particularly the incredible artists and young people who are the foundation."
On November 12, Yoon returned to the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service at New York University to participate in a panel discussion entitled "Careers in Arts and Culture."
The engaging and helpful event was co-sponsored by Wagner's Office of Career Services, and Student Network Exploring Arts & Culture (SNEAC).
- 11/04/2009
Half the world is 'unbanked,' says new Financial Access Initiative paper
The Financial Access Initiative (FAI), a research consortium based at New York University's Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, has identified that 2.5 billion adults worldwide do not have a savings or credit account with either a traditional (regulated bank) or alternative financial institution (such as a microfinance institution). Nearly 90% of the financially un-served live in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America. FAI published the findings in a November, 2009, paper, "Half the World is Unbanked" (click below to access it).
"Until now, the margin of error when considering the world's unbanked was about plus or minus a billion-unacceptable in any other field," said Jonathan Morduch, professor of economics and policy at NYU Wagner, managing director of the Financial Access Initiative, and author of Portfolios of the Poor, a new book examining the surprisingly sophisticated financial lives of the world's poor. "These findings are a real step ahead, and they show how better data can help policymakers truly target and serve poor populations with appropriate financial services."
- 11/04/2009
At NYU Wagner talk, OMB Director Orszag describes remedies for U.S. deficit [Video]
Peter Orszag, Director of the federal Office of Management and Budget (OMB), talked extensively about the U.S. budget deficit, its principle causes, and its potential implications for health care, higher education and the career prospects of younger people in an address November 3rd at New York University sponsored by the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. Orszag was introduced by John Sexton, NYU's President, and Ellen Schall, the Dean of NYU Wagner, who served as the event's moderator and in her opening remarks noted that Orszag was the youngest member of President Barack Obama's cabinet.
Last year, Orszag told the audience of more than 400 people at NYU's Kimmel Center, the federal deficit was $1.4 trillion ,and a comparable budget gap is projected for the present fiscal year. Over the next decade, he said, the federal government is projected to generate additional red ink of $9 trillion. "Deficits of this size are serious and ultimately unsustainable," Orszag said.
The event was broadcast live by Fox Business while generating a significant amount of public interest and media coverage. To read an official text of the speech or view the NYU webcast, click on the links below.
- 11/02/2009
New York Times spotlights NYU Wagner's 'Visual Explorer' application tool
When NYU Wagner reviews applications for admission, we try to add up the many components that make up an applicant and ask ourselves: Who is this person? Two years ago, we added an optional Visual Explorer essay to our application. This essay section provides all applicants with an opportunity to offer information about themselves that is not always captured through the standard essay question on the application. They are asked to select a photograph from an archive of two dozen conceptual images and then write about it. The process draws out their creativity, while grounding them in a moment of reflection about their motivation to study and work in public service.
"Too often," notes Wagner's dean, Ellen Schall, "applying to graduate school is transactional. We added Visual Explorer because we wanted to signal that the Wagner experience is transformational. Visual Explorer calls for people to slow down enough to reflect on their own experiences, connect their passion for public service to their professional goals, and offer their own perspectives on how to change the world."
On Nov. 1, 2009, the Education Life supplement of The New York Times spotlighted Wagner's pattern-breaking application tool (the images for which are provided in collaboration with the nonprofit Center for Creative Leadership, or CCL).
View the interactive feature at the New York Times.
- 10/29/2009
At Rudin Center event, Lt. Gov. Ravitch sizes up state deficit and how to fix it
"Lt. Gov. Richard Ravitch's appearance at an NYU forum yesterday was overbooked almost as soon as it was announced, and the audience wasn't disappointed as Gov. Paterson's No. 2 let loose on a variety of subjects." So began a Crain's Insider dispatch on Ravitch's bracing, widely reported discussion Oct. 28, 2009, at NYU Wagner on New York State's huge budget challenges and the implications for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which he formerly headed, the $2 transit fare, and the controversial idea of introducing East River bridge tolls.
Ravitch, a major figure in the development of fiscal practices in the city and state since 1970s, offered his assessments with Wagner's Professor Charles Brecher (moderator) as a guest of the Rudin Center for Transportation Policy & Management, housed at the school, and the Center's director, Anthony Shorris, who previously headed the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. "The State of New York," Ravitch said, "has in the remainder of this fiscal year a deficit of $4 billion--$3 or $4; people argue about it," he said, speaking to students and transportation professionals at NYU's Rudin Center for Transportation Policy. "Next year it's between $7 and $8 [billion], assuming revenues level off. The year after that, when the stimulus bill no loner provides any one-shots for the State of New York, the deficit will be between $15 and $18 billion. These are numbers that are unprecedented."
To hear the full discussion, click the Wagner Podcast.
- 10/27/2009
UPSA Hosts Mayor Bloomberg on NYC's future
Mayor Michael Bloomberg provided an optimistic forecast of the city's future in a talk he delivered October 26, 2009, at New York University's Kimmel Center as a guest of NYU Wagner's Urban Planning Students Association (UPSA). More than 100 Wagner students attended the event and heard an introduction by UPSA chair Sandra Rothbard. Bloomberg, in his remarks, said he envisions improvements in transit service, affordable housing, education, public safety, and the environment. He said he was pleased to talk with students who attend the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, a school, he noted with a smile, that is named for a "distinguished three-term mayor." Bloomberg ended his remarks with a straight-forward nod to Wagner and its "impressive" alumni working in the public, nonprofit, and private sectors.
- 10/09/2009
All kidding aside, Newark's Mayor Booker relates his policy challenges and success
In a public conversation at NYU Wagner before more than 125 students, Newark, N.J., Mayor Corey Booker offered hard-won insight, progress reports and humor in describing how his administration's strategies to reduce recidivism are contributing to broad civic improvement.
Mayor Booker fielded questions October 8, 2009, about his pattern-breaking efforts from Ellen Schall, Dean of Wagner, and the audience on a day when, as it happened, he was attracting national attention for countering quips delivered by TV talk-show host Conan O'Brien at Newark's expense. The mayor told students that New Jersey's largest city is simply "not the butt of jokes," but conceded that matching O'Brien laugh-for-laugh is no easy challenge.
But Booker had the audience chuckling at several points, even as he described serious and substantial efforts since his election in July, 2006, to set a national standard for urban transformation. He noted he has created several public/private partnerships and brought together civic group to rehabilitate and green the city's parks and playgrounds, doubled affordable housing construction, and set up model programs to assist at-risk youth and empower ex-offenders to thrive in meeting their family obligations.
The evening event was sponsored by The NYU Wagne rStudents for Criminal Justice Reform and The Black Allied Law Students Association.
- 10/06/2009
NYU Wagner students 'Ask An Adjunct' at new Office of Career Services event
NYU Wagner's Office of Career Services held its first Ask-an-Adjunct event on September 24. The event provided students with the opportunity to have one-on-one conversations with public service practitioners who are leaders in their respective fields.
Wagner's adjunct faculty are outstanding teachers, expert practitioners, and an invaluable resource for Wagner's students both inside and outside of the classroom.
Ask-an-Adjunct was preceded by a Job Search Strategies workshop that gave students tips and tools for finding the jobs they wanted. About 75 students attended the workshop and then headed to Ask-an-Adjunct where they met with adjunct faculty members representing a wide range of fields including health policy, consulting,international development, finance, and nonprofit management.
- 10/06/2009
On counting calories: new research explores NYC menu labeling initiative
Do patrons alter their food choices when they see how many calories their selections contain? A study published October 6, 2009, in the journal "Health Affairs" by Brian Elbel, Rogan Kersh, Victoria L. Brescoll, and L. Beth Dixon examines how likely customers of restaurant chains in low-income New York City neighborhoods are to make healthier choices when the menus include prominent, now-mandatory calorie postings. The researchers collected about 1,100 cashier receipts two weeks before the city's calorie labeling law took effect and four weeks after. They found that eating habits did not change significantly in the wake of the initiative.
Brian Elbel is an assistant professor at the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service at New York University and in the Division of General Internal Medicine at the NYU School of Medicine. Rogan Kersh is an associate professor and associate dean of NYU Wagner. Victoria Brescoll is an assistant professor in the Yale School of Management. Beth Dixon is an associate professor in the NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development. The research for the study was funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Eating Initiative, the Yale Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, and the New York University Wagner Dean's Fund.
- 09/25/2009
Professor Rae Zimmerman and NYU Collaborators Receive NSF Grant
Rae Zimmerman, NYU Wagner Professor of Planning and Public Administration, was awarded along with her fellow researchers at New York University a more-than $2 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) based on the Federal Cyber Service: Scholarship For Service (SFS) program for research and teaching of security and privacy issues on the Internet and other critical information infrastructure. Zimmerman is the Director of the Institute for Civil Infrastructure Systems based at Wagner.
The three-year grant was given to Nasir Menon and Ramesh Karri of NYU-Poly, who lead the effort, and several professors from New York University - Anindya Ghose, NYU Stern Assistant Professor of Information, Operations and Management Sciences, Helen Nissenbaum of NYU Steinhardt, and Rae Zimmerman of NYU Wagner - to provide funding for their interdisciplinary program, "ASPIRE: An SFS Program for Interdisciplinary Research and Education." The grant will support faculty research and curriculum innovation. It will also provide scholarships for undergraduate and graduate students participating in the program in order to stimulate the growth of a cadre of scholars with expertise in security and privacy issues.
This NYU-wide collaboration will focus on identifying and providing practical, cost effective solutions to information security and privacy problems from technical, ethical, policy and business perspectives. Zimmerman's focus is on the connection between cyber threats and the public services that infrastructure provides.
