Steinhardt Dean's Global Honors Seminars
Seminars combine a semester-long course with a 7-10 day international travel component, providing students with the opportunity to integrate a global perspective into the study of an, interdisciplinary, liberal arts-based topic. Fall semester seminars include January travel, and Spring semester seminars include travel during spring break. Identified incoming freshmen honors students are invited to participate and, based on availability, rising sophomores with qualifying GPAs in all Steinhardt majors are invited to apply. All seminars are 4-credits and satisfy a Steinhardt Liberal Arts Core Requirement.
Daily activities during the travel component may include interviews, lectures, discussions, site visits, and cultural activities. For Fall courses, final course assignments are due after travel in January. For Spring courses, the seminar continues to meet after spring break and incorporates the international learning experience into the continued seminar.
Each seminar is limited to 16 students for pedagogical, safety, and travel-logistical reasons.
There is a $400 fee to be paid via credit card due upon acceptance of the program which secures your seat in a seminar, and contributes to the international travel. Steinhardt Global Affairs covers the costs of round trip airfare, accommodations, activities, some meals, and transportation within the country of the program.
Fall 2023
Fashion in Context
Why do fashion designers and brands exert such influence in contemporary society? What explains the trajectory from The House of Worth to Chanel to this season's hottest label? This course investigates the interlocking forces shaping fashion: the designer system, celebrities, technology, politics, the arts and media. Through lectures and film viewings, readings, discussions, and individual research, students explore fashion as a crucial aspect of culture and how the fashion system evolved from the United Kingdom to a global phenomenon.
Cognition and everyday life: The Science of Neurorehabilitation
This course explores the brain and its functions. Emphasis will be on cognition and cognitive disorders. Students will explore cognitive disorders and the effect on everyday life functions in New York and in Tel Aviv, Israel.
Spring 2024
Visual Cultures of the Modern and Global City
Examines visual culture of the city, from the dynamics of visuality in the 19th-century modern cityscape to the mega cities of globalization. It addresses the visual dynamics, infrastructure, architecture, public art and design imaginaries of urban spaces, taking New York City and Paris as primary case studies and including other cities from the 19th century to the present. The course will examine the politics of urban design, the city as a site of division, disaster, memory, and political activism.
Deans Global Honors: Food, Culture, Globalization
Employing a global perspective, this course introduces students to the major issues and concepts regarding food and culture. Examining food and diet from historical and transnational perspectives, we examine the effect of colonialism and immigration on agriculture, food technologies, diets, and health. Through field trips, guest speakers, discussions, hands-on activities and eating, students explore how food influences and is influenced by myriad factors, including politics, economics, climate, geography, technology, and culture.
Eligibility
Eligible candidates for global honors seminars are Steinhardt incoming freshman or rising sophomores. You must have a Steinhardt cumulative grade point average of 3.5 or higher and demonstrate a record of leadership, community engagement, and service.
Students may participate in only one global honors seminar during their degree.
How to Apply
The application will be sent to eligible students each spring for the upcoming academic year.
The application contains one short-answer essay: Please explain your interest in your top selection for the global honors seminar.
Please note, the application process only applies to rising sophomores and not incoming freshman scholar students. There will be a separate process for incoming freshmen.
Policies
Students selected for the seminar are expected to enroll in and satisfactorily complete the requirements of the semester-long course associated with their specific seminar, as well as the travel component.
Students are required to participate in the round-trip travel to and from their program destination, as arranged by Steinhardt. Students are not allowed to purchase an individualized travel itinerary.
When admitted to one of the seminars, we will notify you of the deadline to pay the $400 program deposit. You must pay this deposit by the deadline provided or you will forfeit your place. If you need an extension of the deadline to pay the deposit, please request it in writing to steinhardt.global@nyu.edu.
Students are responsible for obtaining any necessary visa or immunizations that are required for their program destination. The NYU Health Center will advise on required and recommended immunizations and other healthcare precautions, and students should also consult with their personal healthcare providers on overall mental and physical wellness to ensure readiness for international travel.
All offers of admission and each student's participation in this course are contingent on his or her maintaining a minimum 3.5 cumulative grade-point average. All GPAs will be reviewed after Spring grades are entered on NYU transcripts.
Late withdrawals will be required to cover the entire travel cost that NYU would have covered. This policy is in place to guarantee as many students as possible are given the opportunity to participate and all program spaces are filled.