CUNY Graduate Center

The Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York
Established	1961
Type	Public
President	William P. Kelly
Academic staff	150 core, 1,800 consortial
Location	New York, New York,  United States
Campus	Urban
Website	www.gc.cuny.edu

The Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY) brings together graduate education, advanced research, and public programming to midtown Manhattan hosting 4,600 students, 33 doctoral programs, 7 master's programs, and 30 research centers and institutes. A core faculty of approximately 150 Graduate Center appointments is supplemented by over 1,800 additional faculty members drawn from throughout CUNY's eleven senior colleges and New York City's cultural and scientific institutions.

The thirty research centers and institutes focus on areas of social, civic, cultural, and scientific concerns. Also affiliated with the institution are four University Center programs: the CUNY Baccalaureate Program through which undergraduates can earn bachelor's degrees by taking courses at any of the CUNY colleges; the CUNY School of Professional Studies and the associated Joseph S. Murphy Institute for Worker Education and Labor Studies; the recently established CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, which offers a master's degree in journalism; and Macaulay's Honor College. In addition, the Graduate Center extends its intellectual and cultural resources to the general public, offering access to a wide range of events, including lectures, symposia, performances, and workshops.

Since 1999, the Graduate Center's campus has been housed in a nine-story landmark building at 365 Fifth Avenue in midtown Manhattan. Formerly home to the B. Altman Department Store, the building was redesigned as a new, state-of-the-art facility.

Due to the consortial nature of doctoral study at the Graduate Center, courses take place at the Graduate Center and at CUNY colleges. For the most part, courses in the social sciences, humanities, and mathematics, and courses in the sciences requiring no laboratory work convene at the Graduate Center. Science courses requiring laboratory work, courses for the clinical doctorates, and courses in business, criminal justice, engineering, and social welfare convene on CUNY college campuses.

Since 1965, more than ten thousand students have earned doctorates from the Graduate Center.

Faculty members regularly receive prestigious honors and awards. Some recent examples include the Pulitzer Prize, the National Humanities Medal, the National Medal of Science, the Schock Prize, the Bancroft Prize, Grammy Awards, the George Jean Nathan Award for Dramatic Criticism, Guggenheim Fellowships, the New York City Mayor's Award for Excellence in Science and Technology, the Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers, and memberships in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences.

History

Early Years

The City University of New York began offering doctoral education through the Division of Graduate Studies of the City University of New York in 1961,^[1] and awarded its first two Ph.D.s to Daniel Robinson and Barbara Stern in 1965. Robinson, currently a professor of philosophy at the University of Oxford, received his Ph.D. in psychology while Stern received her Ph.D. in English literature.^[2] In 1969, the Division of Graduate Studies formally became the Graduate School and University Center.^[3]

From the time of its founding in 1961, the Graduate Center was located in Aeolian Hall, located at 33 West 42nd Street.^[4] The building, now the home of the SUNY State College of Optometry, won a 1971 Bard Architectural Prize for the design of its ground-floor interior mall, which connects 42nd Street to 43rd Street.^[5] Mathematician Mina S. Rees served as the institution's first president from 1969 until her retirement in 1972.^[6] Rees was succeeded as president of the Graduate Center by environmental psychologist Harold M. Proshansky, who served until his death in 1990.^[7]

CUNY Graduate Center's current building.

Current Years

Following a national search, political scientist Frances Degen Horowitz was appointed president in September, 1991.^[8] By the mid-1990s, the Center had clearly outgrown its facilities and was renting space next door in the Grace Building. In 1999, Horowitz presided over the institution's relocation to the former B. Altman building at 365 Fifth Avenue, a move which increased the physical space of the college by about one-third.^[9] In 2005, Horowitz returned to scholarly pursuits and was replaced by the school's provost, Professor of English Literature William P. Kelly.^[10]

Library

The CUNY Graduate Center is served by the Mina Rees Library, named after former president Mina S. Rees. Situated on three floors of the Graduate Center's midtown Manhattan facility, the library houses a print collection of approximately 275,000 volumes, and subscriptions to over 1,500 print serials. The Library is also connected to the CUNY+ catalog system which allows borrowers to request items from other CUNY libraries, providing access to over 7.5 million volumes. Physical proximity to the NYPL Humanities and Social Sciences Library and the NYPL Science, Technology and Business library relieves the GC from needing as extensive a collection as other prestigious institutions: both are within a five minute walk of the Graduate Center.

Cultural Center

The CUNY Graduate Center houses three performance spaces and two art galleries. The Harold M. Proshansky Auditorium, named for the institution's second president, is located on the concourse level and contains 389 seats.^[11] The Baisley Powell Elebash Recital Hall, located on the first floor, seats 180.^[12] The Martin E. Segal Theatre, also located on the first floor, seats 70.^[13] The Amie and Tony James Fifth Avenue Art Gallery, located on the first floor with windows on Fifth Avenue, features the work of current artists,^[14] as does the Foundation Gallery, also on the first floor.

References

1. ^ About the Graduate Center
2. ^ [1]
3. ^ Mina Spiegel Rees, 1902-1997
4. ^ SUNY State College of Optometry.
5. ^ Alan S. Oser, "Residential Architecture Disurbs Awards Jury," New York Times, June 24, 1971.
6. ^ Mina Rees at agnesscott.edu
7. ^ New York Times: Harold M. Proshansky Dies at 70; Head of CUNY's Graduate School
8. ^ Women to Women: Frances Degen Horowitz
9. ^ New York Times: CUNY Graduate Center Puts Off Classes in Its Unfinished Building
10. ^ William P. Kelly at gc.cuny.edu
11. ^ Harold M. Proshansky Auditorium
12. ^ Baisley Powell Elebash Recital Hall
13. ^ Martin E. Segal Theatre
14. ^ Amie and Tony James Fifth Avenue Art Gallery

External links

• Official website
• Doctoral Students' Council: student government at the GC
  • The Advocate: GC Student Newspaper

Coordinates: 40°44′54″N 73°59′00″W / 40.74833°N 73.9833333°W / 40.74833; -73.9833333