1919
Education for Social Change

Charles Beard, John Dewey, and other progressive educators establish The New School for Social Research to engage citizens in open discussion of timely issues and efforts to solve social problems.
Education for Social Change
Charles Beard, John Dewey, and other progressive educators establish The New School for Social Research to engage citizens in open discussion of timely issues and efforts to solve social problems.
First Steps in Paris
Parsons initiates a satellite school in Paris, becoming the first international branch campus for an American school.
Exploring the Art of Cinema
One of the earliest courses devoted to the cinema as an art form, The Motion Picture, is offered at The New School.
A New Take on the Mind
The New School offers the first continuing education course in psychoanalysis, taught by Freud's associate Sandor Ferenczi.
Musical Insight from a Legend
Composer Aaron Copland begins teaching at The New School. His lectures become the enormously popular book, What to Listen for in Music.
A Home in Greenwich Village
The New School's landmark West 12th Street home in Greenwich Village opens, designed by Bauhaus architect Joseph Urban.
Dancing Into the Modern Era
The New School offers workshops in modern dance taught by Martha Graham and Doris Humphrey.
The University in Exile
The New School for Social Research incorporates German scholars fleeing fascist persecution into their community as a graduate school of political and social science called the University in Exile.
Photography in Focus
The New School offers the first college course in photography, taught by Berenice Abbott.
A School for the Stars
Erwin Piscator brings his Dramatic Workshop to The New School, attracting students like Marlon Brando, Walter Matthau, Harry Belafonte, Elaine Stritch, and Tennessee Williams.?
Jazz Joins the Canon
The New School offers the first-ever college course devoted to the study of jazz.
Great Minds Reveal History
The New School offers courses in African American culture and history, taught by Alain Locke, Sterling Brown, and W.E.B. DuBois.
A Visit from Dior
Celebrated French couturier Christian Dior attends Parsons classes to critique fashion design projects and share with students his innovative construction techniques.
Composing with John Cage
Artists and New School alumnus John Cage offers his groundbreaking course in post-modern music composition at The New School.
Celebrating Women in History
The New School offers the first college course in the U.S. devoted to women's history.
Civil Rights on Campus
Martin Luther King, Jr. speaks about school integration, housing discrimination, and affirmative action at The New School in Tishman Auditorium.
The City Becomes a Subject
The New School opens the Center for New York City Affairs, the first research center in the U.S. devoted to a single urban area.
Philosophizing with Arendt
Sociologist, philosopher, and political scientist Hannah Arendt begins teaching at The New School.
Design as Discipline
Parsons School of Design becomes part of The New School and awards the country's first university degrees in fashion design, interior design, and lighting design.
Creativity in the Urban Space
The university establishes the Graduate School of Management and Urban Policy, later named for trustee Robert J. Milano.
A New Perspective on Media
John Culkin, a media education pioneer, launches America's first master's program in media studies at The New School.
Modern Art Finds a Venue
The New School becomes the first home for the New Museum, the only major museum in New York dedicated to contemporary art. One of the museum's first exhibitions features work by Joel Shapiro and other American artists.
Creativity Sparks at Parsons
Chinese artist Ai Weiwei enrolls at Parsons. In a 2012 interview in Time magazine, Weiwei discusses how during his time at Parsons, he gained an understanding of the work of contemporary artists like Jasper Johns which changed the way he looked at the world.
A Fashion Career Takes Off
Fashion designer Marc Jacobs graduates from Parsons with the Designer of the Year Award. Just two years later, he launches his eponymous collection, and in 1987 he becomes the youngest designer ever to receive the fashion industry's highest tribute, the Council of Fashion Designers of America's Perry Ellis Award for New Fashion Talent.
Lang - A New Kind of Undergrad
The Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts is formed. Lang, which began as the experimental Freshman Year Program in 1972, joins the university and offers students small seminar-style classes taught by a faculty of prominent scholars.
Learning from Legends of Jazz
The School of Jazz is established with a faculty of legendary musicians. Learning takes place in the classroom, studio, and also in ensemble playing, tutorials, public performances, and master classes with professional performers.
Mannes Joins The New School
Mannes College of Music, the world-famous conservatory on Manhattan's Upper West Side founded in 1916, becomes part of The New School. Like the students they teach, Mannes faculty members come from every corner of the world and include performers and conductors from prominent performers, conductors, and scholars.
A Theatrical Awakening
The New School launches a graduate program in the dramatic arts, now The School of Drama.
Embracing the Digital Age
One of the first Internet-based distance learning programs at a major university is established at The New School.
The Actor's Studio is Born
Paul Newman appears as the first guest on Inside the Actors Studio. Inside the Actors Studio began as drama class at The New School.
A Home for the Performing Arts
The New School opens a new building on West 13th Street named for trustee Henry Arnhold and his wife, whose major gift made the building possible. Now a state-of-the-art home to The New School's College of Performing Arts.
Creative Writing Flourishes
Building on its history as a center for American writing and literature, The New School begins offering the MFA in creative writing.
Senator Obama Speaks to Change
Newly-elected senator Barack Obama speaks at The New School in the wake of his rousing appearance at the 2004 Democratic National Convention.
Parsons Unites on 5th Avenue
The Parsons buildings at Fifth Avenue and 13th Street are combined to create the Sheila C. Johnson Design Center, named for its major donor.
Alums Design for the First Lady
First Lady Michelle Obama wears design by Parsons alum Jason Wu to the first inaugural ball. She goes on to wear many looks by other Parsons alums during her time in office.
Addressing Climate Change
In response to the urgent global climate crisis, the Milano School launches a graduate program in environmental policy and sustainability management.
Designing an Empowering House
Parsons, Milano, and the Stevens Institute of Technology students design a home that wins the U.S. Department of Energy's 2011 Solar Decathlon award for affordability and lighting. Their design, Empowerhouse, was built in collaboration with Habitat for Humanity.
Merging Design with Strategy
Parsons reimagines design-led business education, creating the first MS Strategic Design and Management program, preparing students to lead in creative industries and traditional businesses.
Investing in a Green Future
The University Center - the country's largest LEED Gold Certified urban university building - opens on 14th Street and Fifth Avenue, uniting the campus. The American Institute of Architects names the building one of the greenest buildings in the United States.
Taking Strides in Journalism
The New School introduces BA Journalism + Design program, through Parsons School of Design and Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts, designed to cultivate a new generation of journalists.
Creating a Dynamic Trio
The College of Performing Arts is formed, bringing our renowned schools of Drama, Jazz, and the Mannes School of Music together. Housed within one college, students have the opportunity to experiment across genres and explore new artistic disciplines.
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Parsons is Illuminated
Parsons School of Design is considered the Best College for Art and Design in the United States and number three in the world by the Quacquarelli Symonds World University Rankings.
A Tribute to Social Activism
Black Lives Matter activist DeRay McKesson, actress Laverne Cox, and International Rescue Committee president and CEO David Miliband are among this year's honorary degree recipients from The New School.
The Making of New Ideas
Parsons opens the 28,000-square-foot Making Center, equipped with traditional and cutting-edge tools, including CNC routers, 3D printers, 3D knitting machines, digital jacquard looms, state-of-the art metal milling machinery, printing facilities, and a ceramics lab.
A Critical Lens on Migration
The Stone Workshops
Fighting for Digital Equity
Building New Paths
A Residency for Philip Glass
The New School was founded a century ago in New York City by a small group of prominent American intellectuals and educators who were frustrated by the intellectual timidity of traditional colleges. The founders, among them Charles Beard, John Dewey, James Harvey Robinson, and Thorstein Veblen, set out to create a new kind of academic institution, one where faculty and students would be free to honestly and directly address the problems facing societies in the 20th century. Their vision was to bring together scholars and citizens interested in questioning, debating, and discussing the most important issues of the day.
In 1919, they founded the New School for Social Research. Now formally named The New School, the university has grown to include five colleges, with courses that reflect the founders' interest in the emerging social sciences, international affairs, liberal arts, history, and philosophy, as well as art, design, management, and performing arts.
Over the decades, some of the finest minds of the 20th century have pioneered courses in new areas of social sciences and liberal arts at The New School. Faculty members and visiting scholars have included Harold Laski, Franz Boas, and John Maynard Keynes. In the late 1940s, Karen Horney and Erich Fromm introduced their new approaches to psychoanalysis. From 1954 to 1978, Margaret Mead taught courses in anthropology. The New School's groundbreaking courses attracted students from around the world, including the young Shimon Peres. In 1962, Gerda Lerner offered the first university-level course in women's history.
The New School also became known for courses in the creative arts taught by innovative 20th-century artists, including Martha Graham, Frank Lloyd Wright, Aaron Copland, and W. H. Auden. In 1926, The New School became the first American university to teach the history of film, and it was one of the first to offer college-level courses in photography and jazz.
Dissenting opinions, radical ideas, and progressive solutions have always had a home at The New School. Through the years, each of The New School's innovative colleges carries forward this legacy while evolving to provide students with a challenging and
relevant education.
Wondering what a day in the life of a New Schooler is like? When you study in the heart of Greenwich Village, every day is a chance to explore, challenge what you know and believe, and find inspiration. Student-made videos, stories, playlists, and interactive maps immerse you in our community.?
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