Eugene Lang College The New School for Liberal Arts - Overview
Intimate Academic Community in the Big City
Eugene Lang College The New School for Liberal Arts offers the benefits of a small and supportive college with the resources of The New School, a leading university. Its rigorous academic programs are closely connected with all that New York City has to offer: its wealth of music, theater, and arts; its vibrant international community; its history; and its energy. Students from across the country and around the world come to Lang to study with an accomplished international faculty in small, intensive, seminar-style classes; to intern at some the world's leading organizations; and to immerse themselves in New York's cultural and civic life.
An Interdisciplinary Emphasis
Lang students are encouraged to pursue an interdisciplinary approach to their educations, seeking knowledge across the humanities, arts, social sciences, and natural sciences. The college's liberal arts focus is reflected in its assortment of majors, including the arts (dance, music, theater, and visual arts), culture and media, economics, education studies, environmental studies, global studies, history, interdisciplinary science, liberal arts, literary studies, philosophy, psychology, and urban studies. Within the liberal arts major, students may complete interdisciplinary programs of study in religious studies and social inquiry. They may also elect a self-designed program of study.
Urban Campus in the Heart of the Action
The urban campus is part of the exciting New York scene, amid handsome brownstone buildings on bustling streets, and close to bistros, specialty markets, boutiques, and world-class artistic and cultural resources. Cutting-edge entertainment options, often hosted at Lang facilities, include experimental performances, literary readings, contemporary art galleries, modern dance, live music, and avant-garde films.
The City as Learning Laboratory
The city of New York is a veritable classroom for Lang students. Each academic program has connections to major New York organizations that provide co-curricular opportunities, such as a course with curators at the New-York Historical Society, working directly with archival materials, or a mini-course on a new exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, learning directly from museum staff.
Other experiential courses focus on music, lectures, and theater performances; outdoor activities including cycling, boat building, and urban forestry; or wellness activities like Pilates, yoga, or meditation.
Additionally, Lang offers a first-semester course called "Reading New York City" that introduces students to the city's history and multi-faceted character.
Wide Variety of Internship Possibilities
Lang's internship programs tap the vast resources available in New York City. Organizations providing internships to Lang students include: Common Cause, South Street Seaport, Environmental Action Coalition, HBO, NBC, MTV, Vogue, the "New Yorker," the Museum of Modern Art, the New-York Historical Society, the Urban Justice Center, Beth Israel Hospital, the "Village Voice," Sony Entertainment, Gay Men's Health Crisis, Miramax Films, and the ACLU.
Internships are also offered outside the city -- the Tishman Environmental Merit Scholarship helps fund summer environmental internships in Alaska, where Lang sophomores and juniors work with national environmental organizations to protect the cultural heritage and natural resources of the wilderness.
Service Learning Projects
Service learning projects provide Lang students with opportunities to gain real-world experience and promote social change, as well as earn academic credit.
Many students volunteer with Lang's Institute for Urban Education, a program which helps local high school students with the skills they need to successfully transition to higher education. Other Lang students work with children in an after-school theater program. Still others participate in literacy programs for K-5 grade students attending schools in Harlem and Washington Heights.
Several Lang courses even include fieldwork in NYC high schools as part of the curriculum. Service learning can also take the form of an independent research project with a faculty mentor, or an educational internship in the US or overseas.
Study Abroad and Domestic Exchange Programs
Lang offers study abroad opportunities through its own programs and through other institutions. A unique option is the school's short-term overseas program, conducted by Lang faculty members during academic breaks.
A Lang student may also choose to spend a semester or an academic year with a partnering college in the US, such as Sarah Lawrence College, a small liberal arts college outside of the city, or the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, a well-known institution located in Manhattan.
Senior Capstone Projects
All students at Lang are required to complete senior capstone projects in their majors, which may take the form of senior seminars on advanced topics, involving extended research and substantial final papers/projects; independent senior projects, which involve significant planning and research and result in culminating papers or creative projects; or collaborative projects, which allow students to work together on large creative projects or on issues of importance in the community.
Developmental Approach to Advising
Because Lang emphasizes more options for personal intellectual pursuit than other institutions, advisement plays a key role at the college. Academic advising does not focus simply on completing certain educational requirements, but rather takes a developmental approach. This means that advisers may encourage students to explore new intellectual territories and explore new academic disciplines.
Not only is there an academic adviser designated for each undergraduate class, but students also have faculty advisers to provide academic guidance and mentorship. In addition, Lang freshman work with peer advisers -- trained upper-level students with demonstrated leadership, who teach workshops for first-year students to help facilitate their transitions to the school.