New York University Bulletin - Gallatin School of Individualized ...

The CurriculumGALLATIN SCHOOL OF INDIVIDUALIZED STUDYEach graduate student works closely with a faculty adviser to design a curriculum that integratescourse work throughout the University with the Gallatin graduate core coursesand individualized project options.The M.A. program begins with the proseminar, a graduate core course that is taken inthe first or second semester of enrollment, depending on the availability of the proseminarof the student’s choice.The majority of the curriculum will then consist of course worktaken at the various NYU graduate schools and can also include options such as Gallatinelective courses, independent study, tutorials, internships and private lessons. After the studenthas completed approximately 25-30 units, he or she will begin to take the thesis-relatedgraduate core courses, including the Master’s Thesis Seminar and the Review of theLiterature.The M.A. program culminates in the master’s thesis.GALLATIN COURSESProseminarStudents are required to take a proseminar during the first or, at the latest, the second semesterof the program. Each semester Gallatin offers a few sections of the proseminar withthemes that generally fall into one of three broad categories of academic inquiry—the humanities,the social sciences, or the arts—but they may also cross those boundaries.This course performs a number of functions: (1) It introduces students to the nature of individualizedand interdisciplinary studies by engaging them in work on a broad theme orproblem. Students learn how different kinds of scholars approach a common problem: howthey ask questions, gather relevant information, conduct analysis and reach conclusions. (2)The proseminar helps students think through their own programs of study by broadeningtheir conception of the knowledge and skills they will need to pursue their plans and by encouragingthem to clarify their own educational goals. (3) Finally, the proseminar engagesstudents in some of the academic processes—research, analytic thinking, scholarly communication—thatthey will need throughout their graduate studies.The specific themes of theproseminars will not usually be directly pertinent to each student’s plans, but each class willraise issues of approach and method that every student needs to consider.The aim of theproseminar, then, is to enlarge the student’s scholarship and interdisciplinary inquiry and tosuggest ways that the University’s resources can be used to attain the student’s goals.NewYork University Bulletin 2012-2013 63