The Nordoff-Robbins Center for Music Therapy was delighted to host a visit from Mrs. Miyuki Hatoyama, wife of Japanese prime minister Yukio Hatoyama. An admirer of music and a strong supporter of music therapy, Mrs. Hatoyama was given a tour of the Center by staff members including associate professor Barbara Hesser, director of the graduate music therapy program; Dr. Clive Robbins, founding director of the Center; Kaoru Robbins, senior music therapist; and Dr. Alan Turry, managing director.

(Mrs. Hatoyama, right, with Alan Turry, center, and a young client of the Nordoff-Robbins Center for Music Therapy)

Mrs. Hatoyama sat in on a therapy session with an adolescent client and was invited to join in a performance of a sakura, or traditional Japanese folk song. Her background as an entertainer was evident as she readily joined in the creation of a new song about music. She listened intently when the boy explained that music therapy not only helped him to grow as a musician, but to express his feelings and feel better about himself.

The Nordoff-Robbins approach to music therapy is well known throughout the world; currently there are students training at the Center from many countries including Taiwan, Korea, Japan, the United Kingdom, and Chile. The Center has a long history of cultural and professional connections with Japan in particular, dating back to Barbara Hesser's visits in the 1980s. Beginning in the early ‘90s staff members have taught annually in Japan.

Kaoru Robbins' bilingual capabilities and her familiarity with Japanese culture have enabled  her to serve this continually growing connection.

Together with Alan Turry and Clive Robbins, she has presented in Japan. As the Center's coordinator of Japanese-American communications, she maintains active liaison with Japanese graduates. In recent years, she, with Japanese colleagues, has formed JACnet, dedicated to linking the Center with the thriving Japanese-American medical community in the New York City area. Mrs. Hatoyama’s visit to the Center was mediated through this connection and the Japanese Consulate.

Posted by Timothy J Farrell on September 28, 2009 10:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Jonathan Zimmerman, professor of education and history at New York University, recently published a column in the Christian Science Monitor that reflected on the image of 1950s fatherhood that TV shows like “Mad Men” foster: that of the emotionally distant father.

After reading a trove of love letters written to his mother by various suitors in the 1950s, Zimmerman saw that not all men of the period conformed to the stereotype of the aloof, distant middle-class family man.  From the letters emerged tender snapshots of men struggling to express their most passionate feelings.

Zimmerman discussed the letters –-and the stereotype of the “1950s dad”--on NPR’s Talk of the Nation. To listen to the segment in its entirety, click on the link below.

Posted by Timothy J Farrell on August 31, 2009 4:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Marion Nestle, Paulette Goddard professor of nutrition, food studies, and public health, recently appeared on The Colbert Report to discuss the current “sugar crisis” facing the country.

As Nestle explains it, it’s a “manufactured crisis because the food companies want to have cheap sugar from other countries.”

Watch below!

Posted by Timothy J Farrell on August 20, 2009 10:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Phuong M. Do, an MA graduate of Steinhardt’s studio art program, is a photographer who delves into complex questions of self-identity and cultural displacement. The exquisite lacquered photographs that make up her exhibition, “Made in Vietnam,” present an evocative and highly personal tour of Vietnam by night.

Born in Laos to Vietnamese parents, Do came to the U.S. at 11 years old and only visited Vietnam for the first time in 1998. She embarked on the nocturnal photographic expeditions that comprise “Made in Vietnam” on various trips there between 2000 and 2008.

Below is an audio slideshow of images, narrated by Do, on the genesis of her project and her interest in night-time photography.

“Made in Vietnam” runs through May 31 at the Gallery Space at Wagner, 2nd floor of the Puck Building, at 295 Lafayette Street. The exhibition was curated by Ann Chwatsky, faculty, Steinhardt department of art and art professions.

Posted by Timothy J Farrell on May 20, 2009 2:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ross Bleckner, renowned artist and faculty member at the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, has been named Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Bleckner, well known for his large-scale paintings, joined the faculty at NYU Steinhardt in September 2008 as clinical professor of studio art.

Bleckner’s involvement with UNODC, a global leader in the fights against illegal drugs and international crime, began with an invitation by Antonio Maria Costa, UNODC executive director, and Simone Monasebian, chief of UNODC in New York, to help launch an art-based campaign against human trafficking, specifically child soldiering and the kidnapping of girls in northern Uganda. Bleckner agreed, proposing to travel to Gulu, Uganda to conduct an art workshop for victims of trafficking.

In recent years, Gulu and other areas of northern Uganda have been plagued by rebel groups abducting, recruiting, and conscripting thousands of children, forcing boys to be killers and girls to be sexual slaves. This past January, Bleckner joined UNODC and the International Criminal Court Trust Fund for Victims (TVF) on an official mission to Gulu, to assist in the rehabilitation of former child soldiers and abducted girls through art therapy.

Bleckner conducted a workshop for the Gulu children, encouraging them to confront their past through artistic expression. The mission resulted in the creation of more than 200 paintings that will be exhibited at an UN benefit this May. Proceeds from the benefit and from the sale of the artworks will benefit UNODC and the TVF work with child victims of human trafficking.

“The look of accomplishment and joy in the eyes of the children I worked with in Africa was one of the greatest gifts I've received in my years being an artist,” said Bleckner.

To read a recent NYT article on Bleckner, click here.

For a slideshow of images, click here.

Posted by Timothy J Farrell on May 8, 2009 3:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

For her first undergraduate student teaching job, Phoebe Lee faced a world history class filled with recent immigrants—some of whom older than she was—at Manhattan Comprehensive Night and Day High School. Comprised of international students, including a Chinese student who had been in New York for only six days, the class would represent a challenge even for veteran teachers. But with a passion and gusto that is reflective of her spirited personality, Lee dove headlong into the challenge.

“I really wanted the students to make the most of their experience, regardless of their English skills” she said. “So I thought a lot about how to adapt the curriculum. While I knew I needed to build their writing and reading skills, I also used a lot of visuals aids and multimedia in my instruction.”

Lee will graduate with a BS in social studies education from the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, with a minor in American Sign Language.

Lee has long been involved in advocacy efforts on behalf of communities most in need. This semester, she was selected for the Civic Leaders of Tomorrow Fellowship organized by Manhattan Borough president Scott M. Stringer. She interns with the Coalition for Asian American Children and Families, a pan-Asian children’s advocacy organization, where she focuses on projects aimed at English-language access for immigrant youth.

Growing up with a father who is a dentist, Lee loved to interact with her father’s young patients, and help teach them to enjoy going to the dentist. This experience led her to found a project, funded by a grant from MTVu, called Big O’Smile, which sends teaching volunteers into first-grade classrooms to demonstrate proper brushing using dental puppets. The project has presented in more than a dozen schools in New York City.

Lee plans to pursue graduate work in education, with an eye towards working in the field of education policy. She’s eager to craft policies that will help immigrant communities and to provide access to resources. “I’ve always had big dreams,” she said.

Posted by Timothy J Farrell on May 8, 2009 3:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ghalib Al-Jibara was a medical school student at Baghdad Teaching Hospital at the start of the U.S invasion of Iraq in 2003. He volunteered to work in the hospital’s emergency room when the war broke out, knowing the ER would need extra hands. But with security in Baghdad deteriorating by the day, Al-Jibara and his colleagues were forced to abandon the hospital. It was not until after the Iraqi government fell in April 2003 that the hospital re-opened and Al-Jibara could resume his training. He graduated with honors with a medical degree in 2004.

Today, Al-Jibara is a graduating International Community Public Health, MPH candidate at the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development. Returning to Baghdad following graduation, Al-Jibara will oversee the creation of a new public health research center, the first of its kind in Iraq.

Al-Jibara came to NYU Steinhardt in 2007 after receiving a Fulbright scholarship. Following the insurgency, security in Baghdad made it difficult for doctors and nurses to do their jobs. The rising sectarian violence, lack of medical supplies, and threats of kidnapping from militia contributed to a rapidly deteriorating health care system. Al-Jibara was forced to follow a different route to work each day, to thwart potential kidnappers. Curfew kept residents inside their homes from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m.

“It was a terrible era,” said Al-Jibara. “Safe water supply, sanitation, power supply, lack of vaccines, pollution – all worsened to a great extent because of poor security.”

Knowing that Iraq would soon confront numerous public health crises, Al-Jibara pursued the MPH degree so he could advance public health practice in his native country. His goal is to advance health care in Baghdad, especially mental health issues faced by children and adolescents following the war and insurgency.

“Thank God, the situation in Baghdad is much better now,” Al-Jibara said. He keeps in close contact with family members in Baghdad, including his brother and sister who are currently in college there. Although many challenges remain, he says, the curfew has been lifted and security is much better in the city.

Al-Jibara admits spending two years apart from his family was very difficult, but that “the activities and atmosphere at NYU really helped me cope. The way NYU puts students together to do group projects, workshops and field work makes you feel that you do have a second family here.”

Posted by Timothy J Farrell on May 8, 2009 2:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Web Extras

President Barack Obama recently unveiled an ambitious agenda for education reform, encompassing not only K-12 but also higher education. Proposed reforms include increasing the number of charter schools, experimenting with merit pay for teachers, and increased funding for early childhood education. The Obama administration’s education plans follow on the heels of the $787 billion stimulus package that will send much-needed money to states to shore up shrinking education budgets.

NYU Today sat down with three faculty members who are experts on education policy to discuss Obama’s plans and the challenges and opportunities that reformers face: Pedro Noguera, Peter L. Agnew Professor of Education; Amy Ellen Schwartz, professor of public policy, economics, and education at the Wagner Graduate School of Public Service; and Lawrence Aber, professor of public policy and applied psychology.

NYU Today: What do you think is the most effective use of federal money on education right now?

Noguera: It’s great Obama is putting stimulus money into education. What I think is troubling is the stimulus money is intended to create jobs quickly. The problem is you don’t get reforms quickly. Where I think they should be investing much more heavily is partnerships between universities and cities and schools. Schools can’t solve the big problems by themselves.

Schwartz: We should be thinking long term. Let me put in my plug for money to improve schools buildings. Buildings matter; there are lots of cities where the school buildings need work. And school construction was struck from the bill. I think you could put some good money to use there.

Aber: We would all like the stimulus money to be used for evidence based programs and policies. You just can’t do that that quickly but nonetheless it should be a major theme. Let’s spend it on things that work.

Schwartz: But the list of things for which we have really good credible evidence is extremely small. My sense is that there is promising work for which we have some nice evidence on small scale – but absolutely no evidence about what to do on a systemic level. It’s one thing to ask about what happens if you tinker with class size in a sample of schools, it’s another thing to ask about what happens if you do it on a system level.

NYU Today: Obama has signaled that he is willing to offer merit pay for teachers, something which several districts around the country have experimented with. Does merit pay improve student performance?

Noguera: I think there should be evidence that kids are learning. If the Education Department is committed to merit pay, it would be smart to find a district or two where the union is open to playing and to do it as a pilot program. Come up with a strategy both union and district can live with for evaluating teacher performance.

Aber: To provide merit pay you have to solve the problem of identifying and reliably measuring the important dimensions of what merit is. And we’re not quite there yet. There are the beginning inklings of how to identify teachers who are performing at a higher level. That sounds like a moronic task – the field of education research should be able to do that – but it is so confounded with so many factors.

Schwartz: What’s really interesting about the way merit pay has been implemented in New York City is that it’s at the school level rather than the teacher level. This is an important question for us to ask. Do we want to reward and incentivize schools to be collectively good, or do we want to pick out individual stars at the school? Merit pay could be used to pay people more who are teaching in hard to staff schools. We have a real shortage of math teachers and science teachers. Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, was a fan of school level bonuses here in New York City.

NYU Today: Obama noted that the drop-out rate for Latino students is rising faster than that of any other student population. Does Obama’s education plans offer enough support to reverse this trend?

Aber: High school is already too late to begin to think about drop-outs. I think Obama sees that and his people see that. Lack of basic reading and math skills at the end of elementary school are directly related to drop out probability. Problem behaviors and the decline of identifying as a student in middle school are probably related to drop out behavior. Falling behind in credits needed to graduate your freshman year of high school is a very strong predictor of dropping out. So way before students begin to drop out, there are programs and policies that can begin to reduce dropout rates.

Schwartz: I want to say that high school can’t be too late [to address drop out behavior]. We have millions of kids in high school. It can’t be too late. While it may be true that we want to think about the next generation, it can’t be too late for this cohort of 14 to 18 year olds.

Noguera: The NYC DOE is very aware that they have a drop out problem and an achievement problem with English language learners (ELLs), who drop out largely to enter the work force. But the DOE figured out that with the very hard to serve populations – immigrant kids who come late into this country and who have very little formal education in their native countries, special international high schools tend to serve these kids very well.

NYU Today: What reforms of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) would you suggest the administration focus on?

Aber: NCLB put all of the focus on education on improving achievement on what happens in the classroom. Over half the variance in children’s educational achievement is explainable by factors outside the school system. To focus exclusively in education reform within the classroom is not to take into account at least half of what influences children’s outcomes—the idea is that antipoverty policy is education policy, health policy is education policy, housing policy is education policy. They all have discernable effects on children’s achievement.

Noguera: It’s important that we have evidence that kids are learning. The only way to do that is to assess. The question is how do you use the assessments? We’ve lost track of the fact that assessment is only a tool. It is not a solution. It gives you information--hopefully if it’s an accurate assessment-- on what kids have learned. But, I’m worried in a lot of schools that the balance between assessment and instruction is off. We are assessing way too much.

Schwartz: We just need to own that this focus on tests, and academic achievement, has come at the expense of some other things that kids want. There are a lot of things that middle class people think schools are supposed to do—offer a prom, a football team, art class, music class. Kids ought to do a whole range of things that are extremely important to making happy and healthy individuals. Poor, urban kids deserve those things, too.

NYU Today: A big component of Obama's plan is investment in early childhood education and in higher education. Is this the right approach?

Aber: We’re spending proportionally less per pupil in the first 4 years of life before kids get into public school and in the period of time from when they drop out of high school or graduate high school and they are in a non-poverty-wage job. We need public investments in children ages birth to four and 18 to 24 as we do in grades K-12! Obama decided in his presidential campaign to create a “zero to five” agenda. It is the right frame for our nation.

Schwartz: Early childhood interventions are a great idea. I think the cost can be frightening particularly because I’m not sure it’s the best use for our money. I actually would be a fan of other things. In the K-12 years we have to think a lot about out-of-school-time activities. What do kids do after school? What do they do during the summer? it is the sharpest difference between middle class kids and poor kids. We’re just not good at it. We have to meet people where they are.

Noguera: The expectations set in higher education have nothing to do with K-12 and there needs to be better articulation. Right now the only part of the university that speaks to schools are schools of education and that’s mostly just in teacher education. We do not have other departments in arts and sciences thinking through how to teach high-level subjects and make them accessible to a broad range of students. There is this wide disconnect between universities and schools and hopefully the Obama administration can create some incentives for universities to get involved in new ways with public education.

Posted by Timothy J Farrell on April 15, 2009 11:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Pedro Noguera, a professor in the departments of Teaching and Learning and Humanities and Social Sciences, has been named the inaugural Peter L. Agnew Professor of Education. A noted urban sociologist, Noguera has devoted his research to the ways in which schools are influenced by social and economic conditions in urban environments. A widely published author, Noguera has served as an advisor and engaged in collaborative research with urban school districts throughout the United States.

Noguera also serves as executive director of the Metropolitan Center for Urban Education and co-director of the Institute for the Study of Globalization and Education in Metropolitan Settings.  In 2008, he was appointed by New York Governor David Patterson to serve on the State University of New York Board of Trustees. Nogueara has also served as a member of the US Public Health Service Centers for Disease Control Taskforce on Youth Violence, the Chair of the Committee on Ethics in Research and Human Rights for the American Educational Research Association.

“We are delighted he will be the first Agnew Professor, as he has dedicated his life to improving access to and the quality of education—just as Peter Agnew did at NYU for so many years,” said Mary Brabeck, dean of NYU Steinhardt. 

For more than thirty-five years, Peter Agnew was a distinguished faculty member and administrator at NYU. He is credited for influencing the study of business education at NYU through his teaching and extensive writings.  Also an NYU alumnus (Steinhardt ’28, ’40), Agnew began his career as a professor and was later promoted to leadership roles at the Steinhardt School—then the School of Education—and the University. 

In addition to the latest grant to endow the Agnew professorship, the Agnew Foundation, which has generously  supported NYU for over 25 years, has also contributed to a business education fund, scholarship, and a memorial lecture, all in Agnew’s name.

“A professorship is the ultimate honor you can give anyone at NYU,” says Arthur Rubin, (Steinhardt ‘50, ‘51), a former student and colleague of Agnew and a trustee of the foundation.  “If Pete Agnew knew there was a professorship in his name—it would have been beyond his wildest dreams.”

Posted by Timothy J Farrell on April 15, 2009 11:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

John Torreano, clinical professor of art and art education, is a celebrated painter and sculptor. In a new exhibition currently hanging at NYU’s Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, Torreano presents a series of striking photographs of many of the abandoned and decaying automobile factories of his hometown, Flint, Michigan. The exhibition is both a highly personal remembrance of the artist’s early life and a powerful documentation of a post-industrial landscape in the United States.

I recently toured the exhibition with the artist, and asked him about the genesis of the project. He says sees the crumbling factories as “beautiful forms of architecture and perfect examples of a decaying modernism, in that they were completely essential in the modernist sense of form following function, to the Nth degree.”

Below you’ll find an audio slideshow of images from the exhibition, narrated by the artist himself. The exhibition is on view through March 21.

Posted by Timothy J Farrell on March 17, 2009 2:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)