Each UTNY student must enroll in at least 12 hours of UTNY-specific course credit, i.e., full-time status, while participating in the Semester in New York program.
Students will take 3- or 6-credits of internship coursework within their respective major, the UTNY common course, and three or six additional hours of UTNY-approved elective coursework.
UTNY Common Course
MAN 340 / COM 340 / F A 345 / L A 340 / URB 325 - Leadership and Urban Engagement
Taught by Laura Brown
This course is required for all UTNY students
Ethics (E) flag
New York City has long been a proving ground for leaders eager to show that “if I can make it there, I’ll make it anywhere.” As a world capital of the arts, diplomacy, finance, and media, the city serves as home to many highly successful leaders and as a classroom for people seeking to cultivate leadership skills. Students will study concepts and strategies of leadership and also meet people who live, work and lead in the city who put these ideas into practice. Students will read about and discuss practical ethics and leadership challenges that arise when stakeholders come together to plan, make decisions, and take action in organizational and community settings. In colloquium sessions and tours, students will interact with leaders in arts, finance, and media organizations in the city. The course also provides an opportunity for students to cultivate self-awareness, self-assessment, and develop their own philosophy of leadership. The successful student should be able to answer the question: what does it take to be a 21st-century leader in New York City?
UTNY Courses
ADV 378 / P R 378 / URB 325: Social Issues in Advertising and PR in New York City
Taught by Court Stroud
New York City is the global epicenter of the advertising and PR industries. Advertising and PR professionals, firms, agencies and organizations create and amplify media and culture from NYC. This course provides a brief history as well as a contemporary look at social issues in advertising and PR in New York. Topics will include corporate and social responsibility, social issues in personal and influencer branding, strategic communication for advancing social change, and crisis communication spanning the contexts of organizational and global crises. Students will gain an understanding of how social issues come to bear on advertising and PR in specific industries that are an integral part of the New York market, including healthcare, fashion, non-profits and finance.
AMS 330 / ARH 339Q / URB 352 - Modernism in American Design & Architecture: NYC
Taught by Thomas Mellins
Cultural Diversity (CD) flag, VAPA requirement
Offered Summer and Spring only
Throughout the 20th century, New York set the standard for what a “modern” city could be. This course will explore key architectural trends and movements, including Art Deco, the so-called “battle of the styles” between traditional and modernist vocabularies, and the rise of International Style Modernism as the style of choice for corporate America in the post-World War II era. Lectures, discussions, and readings will cast the net widely to examine concomitant issues resulting from technological, economic, and social change. Recent architecture will also be examined, with a particular focus on density and sustainability within the context of climate change and global public-health conditions. The course will look at the work of lesser-known architects and designers, as well as of some of the world’s most famous practitioners, and will consider buildings in all five boroughs, not merely Manhattan. Walking tours to emblematic buildings and places will expand upon in-class presentations.
F A 346 - Inside the Visual and Performing Arts of New York City
Taught by Abigail Levine, Matthew Cronin, or Erin Hiatt
From Broadway to Brooklyn and far beyond, New York City has a long, evolutionary, and singular presence in the visual and performing arts as one of the greatest cultural capitals of the western world. Through course readings, class discussion, site visits to major art institutions - both historic and those considered more experimental – supplemented by guest speakers, including practicing artists and art scholars, students will gain first-hand and behind-the-scenes knowledge of the depth of art practice and scholarship as defined and shaped by the city itself.
MKT 337N - Intro to Marketing in New York
Taught by Ed Salvato
Introduction to basic concepts and terminology in marketing: the process of developing a marketing strategy, the role of marketing activities within the firm, external influences that affect the development of marketing strategy, and basic analytical tools appropriate to marketing decision making. Designed to expand understanding of the marketing system and basic marketing activities and to provide a framework for marketing strategy development and implementation of marketing tools and tactics.
TXA 365 - Inside Fashion: The NYC Fashion Industry
Taught by Avani Desai
Offered Summer only
New for Summer 2023! The US capital of fashion, New York City, is home to the majority of leading fashion brands headquartered in this country. Inside Fashion will offer a deep exploration into how the fashion industry operates in New York City highlighting concepts of sustainability and technology relative to the industry. Students will learn first hand from faculty, guest speakers, readings, discussion, with the opportunity for site visits and immersive experiences in the fashion industry.
Summer 2023 Topic: Advancing Sustainability in the Fashion Industry
This course highlights the environmental impact in the New York fashion industry. The learnings from this course can also be applied to other industries, as it takes a multidisciplinary approach including materials science, production and impact measurement, marketing and retailing, circularity models, tech startups, policy, and investing. The course begins with an overview of the fashion industry value chain, beginning from concept and design of a garment through to post-consumer opportunities. After overviewing areas to improve climate impact at each step of the value chain, the course dives into a few main topics: materials and production, impact measurement, marketing and retailing, circularity, and third parties (e.g. investors, policy). This course supports students interested in incorporating sustainability into their careers.
Intro to Urban Studies-UTNY
Instructor to be announced
Cultural Diversity (CD) flag, Social and Behavioral Sciences Core
Offered Fall Only
New York City is a remarkable place. New Yorker Lewis Mumford likened the city to a “run of mackerel or an ant-heap” but also to a work of art, and most intriguingly, he argued: “Mind takes form in the city; and in turn, urban forms condition mind.” This course is an introduction to cities with an emphasis on direct encounters on the streets of NYC. In this course, students analyze real-world situations using basic concepts from lectures, meetings with professionals, life experiences and readings. Topics introduced through the lectures and projects may include: Experiences in the city, perceptions of urban space and urban society, the high cost of free parking, ethnic segregation and its impacts, housing affordability and NIMBYism, urban responses to economic restructuring, the importance of walkability, fundamentals of urban planning, and exclusionary and inclusionary zoning.