NYU Alumni Magazine: Letter from the President

Letter from the President

Research universities are characterized by their effort to go beyond familiar truths and by their commitment to probing the unknown.

In this Fall 2009 issue, we illuminate two examples of how NYU’s research has propelled us to the forefront of discovery. “Size Does Matter” features the work of scientists in our Center for Cosmology and Particle Physics, who are pursuing a new understanding of the physical world. “Mind Games” describes how the intense world of video gaming, which many of our students know well, is being harnessed as a breakthrough learning tool.

Even as a university pushes the boundaries of new discoveries, its mission calls on it to preserve and examine the past, searching for new insights and meanings. In “Black Beauty,” photographer Deborah Willis refocuses the narrative of African-American visual history with a new book about perceptions of beauty and power. In another new book, NYU professors Michael and Elizabeth M. Norman offer a comprehensive, startling take on World War II’s Bataan Death March.

It requires great patience and inspiration to both explore the unchartered territories of our future as well as offer a fresh take on historical events. These kinds of endeavors have shaped NYU into the institution it is today, and we are reminded of the similar work that our many graduates continue to do as we read through the pages of this issue of NYU Alumni Magazine.

—John Sexton