135 Years of Excellence
In 1890, NYU became the first university in the country to create a graduate school of pedagogy. Among the School’s first students were teachers and administrators of all races and ethnicities, who took the ideals of higher education from their classrooms out into New York City’s diverse communities.
Over the past 135 years, NYU Steinhardt has been home to scholars in education, health, media, and the arts who influence research, pedagogy, and policy around the globe. Today, more than 100,000 active alumni are improving lives and communities and changing industries throughout the United States and abroad. In just the past five years, members of our incredible community have won more than 50 awards, from Oscars, Emmys, Grammys, and Tonys to Pulitzer Prizes and MacArthur and Guggenheim Fellowships.
NYU Steinhardt is a dynamic, uniquely interdisciplinary school with more than 285 faculty devoted to a holistic understanding of people and human development across the lifespan. Our community believes that education can offer a solution to pressing social problems and enrich the world.
Join me in celebrating our history by looking back at NYU Steinhardt’s journey, and learn about standout alumni, educators, and milestones along the way.
Jack H. Knott
Gale and Ira Drukier Dean
NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development
Making History: NYU Steinhardt Milestones
“As teachers, we value our profession and desire to honor it by becoming thoroughly prepared in all of its departments.”
- Student petition to open the School of Pedagogy, 1890
Washington Square Park circa 1890. Courtesy of the NYU Photo Archives.
1890: First US School of Education
NYU students petition the University Council to open the School of Pedagogy, marking the beginning of teacher education at NYU and the first of its kind in the United States. NYU appoints Jerome Allen, a former president of the State Normal School in Minnesota, as the school’s first dean. The school recruits women for its faculty and students, and welcomes its first class of 214 students to its home on Washington Square.
1891
Inaugural Graduating Class
Twenty-six students graduate as part of the School of Pedagogy’s first class.
1895
Summer Sessions
The School of Pedagogy launches its first summer school sessions to benefit teachers who are unable to attend courses during the academic year.
1910
University Chair in Experimental Education
NYU establishes the first university chair in experimental education in the United States within the School.
1923
Nation’s First Business Education Program
The program prepares business educators to teach in high schools and colleges.
1925
First Department of Music Education in the Northeast
Throughout the 1930s, ’40s, and ’50s, the department becomes a leader in vocal and choral performance and earns acclaim for academic study in music theory and music history.
1927
First Physical Therapy Degree
The school opens the first BS degree program in physical therapy and the Physical Therapy Department, establishing close ties with area hospitals and physicians.
35 West 4th Street, now home to Steinhardt Music and Performing Arts Professions and the Frederick Lowe Theatre, in the 1940s (left) and the 1980s (right). Courtesy of the 1940s NYC photo archives by Julian Boilen.
1930: A Dedicated Building
The Education Building, still Steinhardt’s home today, is constructed at 35 West 4th Street.
1930
Starting a Legacy of Dance Education
Martha Hill joins the dance education faculty and eventually becomes its director, establishing the graduate program in Dance Education. Hill will influence generations of dancers and choreographers including Merce Cunningham, Paul Taylor, and Alvin Ailey.
1932
First Doctoral Nursing Degree in the Country
The School of Education’s Division of Nursing becomes the first nursing program in the nation to offer a doctoral degree.
James Weldon Johnson in 1932
1934: School’s First Black Professor
James Weldon Johnson is appointed professor and teaches a course titled Racial Contributions to American Culture. Johnson’s poem, “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing,” set to music by his brother, John Rosamond Johnson, will be known as the “Black American National Anthem.”
1946
Art and Activism
Printmaker, draftsman, painter, and muralist Hale Woodruff joins the School’s art faculty until his retirement in 1968. In 2013, Woodruff's murals of the Amistad mutiny and its aftermath are displayed at 80WSE Art Gallery in a special exhibit called “Rising Up: Hale Woodruff's Murals at Talladega College.”
1952
First Study Abroad Program
The school’s first comprehensive study abroad program is offered in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico, for local teachers who want to begin earning a master’s degree in education.
1971
Leading Thought in Media Ecology
Media industry revolutionary Neil Postman creates the Department of Media Ecology, one of the first programs of its kind in the country. The program critically explored the study of media environments by reframing the theoretical concepts introduced in the 1960s within the context of the contemporary information ecosystem.
1978
Research Centers Make an Impact
The Metropolitan Center for Research on Equity and the Transformation of Schools, housed at NYU Steinhardt, opens with the goal of finding solutions for the problems facing the country’s public schools. To this day, NYU Steinhardt’s many research centers and entities support interdisciplinary communities of scholars working to understand and address society’s pressing social problems.
1979
First Organization Helping Queer and Trans Youth
Damien Martin served as associate professor and chair of the Department of Speech Pathology from 1980 to 1991. With his partner, Dr. Emery S. Hetrick, he founded the Institute for the Protection of Lesbian and Gay Youth—the nation’s oldest organization helping queer and trans youth reach their full potential—renamed the Hetrick Martin Institute in 1988.
1988
A Food-Movement Pioneer
Marion Nestle joins the school as chair of the Department of Nutrition and Food Studies, helping to lead the discussion during decades of rising public and professional interest in how food intersects with culture, politics, society, public health, and more.
1989
First Reading Intervention Training Program in the Northeast
The School becomes the first Reading Recovery teacher leader training site in the Northeast. This early intervention is for first graders who are at risk of failure in learning to read and write.
Ann Marcus is now a professor of higher education and the director of the Steinhardt Institute of Higher Education Policy.
1990: First Woman NYU Dean
During Ann Marcus’s 14 years of leadership, the School achieves national stature among professional schools for innovation and excellence in the preparation of professionals in education, nursing, health, communications, music, and art.
1996
Nation’s First Food Studies Program
New bachelor's and master’s degree programs are the first in the country to focus on the cultural, economic, historical, and professional study of food, as well as food preparation and consumption, and psychology.
1998
First Doctoral Convocation
Eighty new doctoral candidates are hooded by their faculty mentors at the School's first Doctoral Convocation.
2009
Lauded Composer Joins Faculty
MacArthur Fellow and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Julia Wolfe joins the Department of Music and Performing Arts Professions as a professor of music composition.
An NYU Steinhardt Teacher Residency student at a Brooklyn high school in May 2017.
2015: Online Degrees
NYU Steinhardt starts offering online degrees, with graduate programs in speech-language pathology, counseling and guidance, and an advanced clinical doctoral degree in occupational therapy. The School’s online offerings now also include the Teacher Residency program—which combines rigorous online coursework with field experience—and the Doctorate of Education (EdD) in Leadership and Innovation.
2022
Dean’s Alumni Advisory Board
NYU Steinhardt establishes the NYU Steinhardt Dean’s Alumni Advisory Board, composed of 16 dedicated alumni volunteers and respected industry leaders from across the school’s 11 departments.
2023
Launch of the Jameel Arts & Health Lab
The World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Europe, NYU Steinhardt, Community Jameel, and CULTURUNNERS launch the Jameel Arts & Health Lab to measurably improve health and well-being through the arts.
2023: Opening of the John A. Paulson Center
A major new space for NYU, the Paulson Center opens, offering Steinhardt students state-of-the-art audio labs, rehearsal spaces, and the Iris Cantor Theatre, NYU’s newest professional proscenium theatre.
2025
The Sony Audio Institute
NYU Steinhardt and the Sony Corporation create the Sony Audio Institute, the first partnership of its kind to prepare the next generation of creators and innovators fostering innovation at the intersection of technology, music, and business.
2025
Dual-Degree Program with LSE
A collaboration between Steinhardt’s Department of Media, Culture, and Communication and the Department of Media and Communications at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), the Media, Culture, and Global Cities program is a two-year course of study that leads to students receiving an MA degree from NYU and an MSc degree from LSE.
2025
An Ongoing Legacy of Excellence
Steinhardt continues to be a leader in education, health, media, and human development, with a strong focus on ethical leadership and community partnerships. NYU Steinhardt has maintained a U.S. News & World Report ranking among the top 10 graduate schools of education in the United States for the last seven years.
Notable Alumni
Henrietta Cordelia Ray (MA 1891)
An African-American poet, teacher, and activist and graduate of the founding class of 1891
Dorothy Height (BA ’33, MA ’35, HON ’75)
Activist and president of the National Council of Negro Women for 40 years; read more about Dorothy Height
Wayne Shorter (BM ’56)
Jazz saxophonist, composer, and bandleader
Judy Blume (BS ’61)
Writer of children’s, young adult, and adult fiction
Carmen Fariña (BS ’65)
Former New York City Schools Chancellor and head of the New York City Department of Education and Dorothy Height Distinguished Alumni Award winner; read more about Carmen Fariña
Desmond Child (BS ’76)
Grammy-nominated songwriter and producer; Dorothy Height Distinguished Alumni Award winner
Patricia M. Carey (PhD ’82)
Former Associate Dean for Student Affairs at NYU Steinhardt and Associate Vice Provost for Diversity Programs at New York University
Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz (BA ’90, PhD ’05)
Poet, writer, educator; Dorothy Height Distinguished Alumni Award winner; read more about Yolanda Sealy-Ruiz
Pierre Orbe (MAT ’04)
2025 New York State High School Principal of the Year; read more about Pierre Orbe
Tarika Barrett (PhD ’10)
CEO of Girls Who Code and Chair of NYU Steinhardt Dean’s Alumni Alumni Board; watch a video about Tarika Barrett
Chris Mosier (MA ‘12)
Transgender athlete and activist, first known out transgender athlete to join a US national team; read more about Chris Mosier
Rachel Griffin-Accurso (MA ’16)
Educator, media personality known as Ms. Rachel; Dorothy Height Distinguished Alumni Award winner; read more about Rachel Griffin-Accurso
- Romare Bearden (BA ’35), artist, author, and songwriter
- George Segal (BA ’49), artist and sculptor of Gay Liberation, part of the Stonewall National Monument
- Alfred Schutte’ (BA ’50, MA ’51, PhD ’71), educator
- Nadema Agard (BS ’70), visual artist, illustrator, curator, educator, Indigenous rights advocate, and Dorothy Height Distinguished Alumni Award winner
- Tania León (BS ’71, MM ’75), Pulitzer Prize-winning composer and Dorothy Height Distinguished Alumni Award winner
- Arthur J. Antin (MA ’73), educator, entrepreneur, and Dorothy Height Distinguished Alumni Award winner
- Deborah Jewell-Sherman (BS ’76), first woman professor of practice at the Harvard Graduate School of Education; Dorothy Height Distinguished Alumni Award winner
- Harriet Taub (BS ’76), Executive Director of Materials for the Arts
- Philemona Williamson (MA ’79), narrative painter, educator; Dorothy Height Distinguished Alumni Award winner
- Ellen Naomi Zisholtz (MA ’79), founder, president, and CEO of the Center for Creative Partnerships; Spirit of Steinhardt Alumni Award winner: Visionary
- Susan Unterberg (MA ’86), artist, philanthropist; Dorothy Height Distinguished Alumni Award winner
- Joy Bauer (MS ’89), nutritionist and health expert on NBC’s Today show
- Shefali Razdan Duggal (MA ’96), political activist and former United States ambassador to the Netherlands
- Emily Lazar (MM ’96), Grammy-winning sound engineer and founder, president, and chief mastering engineer of The Lodge
- Charlotte Ronson (BFA ’99), fashion designer
- Katherine Dimitropoulou (MA ’00, PhD ’06), occupational therapy professor and researcher; Spirit of Steinhardt Alumni Award winner: Disruptor
- Alycia Michelle Guichard (BS ’01), Emerging Technology Counsel for Verizon; Dorothy Height Distinguished Alumni Award winner
- Ruthie Ann Miles (MA ’07), actress and singer
- Billy Green (MA ’11), New York’s 2023 Teacher of the Year
- Kayla Greenspan (BS ’12), Managing Producer at TBD Theatricals and Director of Investor Relations for the Broadway Strategic Return Fund
- Haley Mellin (PhD ’12), artist, founder of Art into Acres, and Dorothy Height Distinguished Alumni Award winner
- L. Trenton S. Marsh (PhD ’17), professor and founder of Healing Oasis for Peace and Empowerment® (H.O.P.E.) Circle; Spirit of Steinhardt Alumni Award winner: Ascending Champion
- Adam D-F Stevens (MA ’18), Registered Drama Therapist and Artistic Director for Steinhardt’s CollideOscope Repertory Theatre Company; Spirit of Steinhardt Alumni Award winner: Disruptor
- Susan Antolin (EdD ’22), executive director for Women for Afghan Women; Spirit of Steinhardt Alumni Award winner: Visionary
- Micheal Quach (BS ’22), physics and psychology teacher; Spirit of Steinhardt Alumni Award winner: Ascending Champion
NYU Steinhardt Scholar-in-Residence Program
Since 2018, NYU Steinhardt has invited distinguished artists, advocates, and academics to join the School for unique programming, sharing their expertise with our students and the Steinhardt community.
