New York: City in Motion
Old Westbury, N.Y., Feb. 17, 2006: New York City always conjures up visions of fast-paced movement. It is this notion that inspired the theme to New York Institute of Technology’s (NYIT) second annual interdisciplinary academic conference, New York: City in Motion. The event takes place on Friday, March 10, 8:30 a.m. - 6:30 p.m., at NYIT’s Manhattan campus, 16 West 61st St., 11th floor.
“New York: City in Motion” will feature presentations and comprehensive discussions with noted scholars and museum professionals representing the fields of art, history, literature, sociology, film, architecture, material culture, and ethnic and urban studies. Presenters will examine and offer their own in-depth research and views of Manhattan through a theme that encompasses movement, mobility and transformation.
“The main goal of NYIT’s New York: City in Motion conference is to highlight and examine New York City through scholarly research from many different disciplines,” said Lori Jirousek, conference chair and NYIT assistant professor of English.
Kenneth T. Jackson, Ph.D., Jacques Barzun professor of history and the social sciences at Columbia University, will deliver the keynote address, “City in Motion: Transportation Innovation and the Transformation of New York.” A leading scholar of American social and urban history, Jackson is the author of “The Ku Klux Klan in the City, 1915 - 1930,” “Cities in American History,” and “Crabgrass Frontier: The Suburbanization of the United States,” as well as the editor of “The Encyclopedia of New York City.” In 2001, he was named New York Council for the Humanities Scholar of the Year.
Featured speaker Nancy Mowll Mathews, Eugénie Prendergast senior curator of 19th- and 20th-century art at Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA), will present “The City in Motion: Early Film and New Urban Sights at the Beginning of the 20th Century.” As director of WCMA’s Prendergast Archive and Study Center, she researches and organizes exhibitions about the artists Maurice and Charles Prendergast and their era. Mathews recently authored the book, “Moving Pictures: American Art and Early Film, 1880 - 1910,” along with an exhibition that explores interconnections between new film technology and late 19th- and 20th-century visual arts. She is also a member of the curatorial team for the Guggenheim’s “America 300” project, which will present the first major American art exhibition in China in 2007.
Attendees are requested to pre-register. Although admission is free, space is limited. For online registration, general information and program schedule, please visit NYIT’s “New York: City in Motion” Web site at http://iris.nyit.edu/nycim.
About NYIT
NYIT is the college of choice for more than 14,000 students currently enrolled in more than 100 courses of study leading to undergraduate, graduate and professional degrees from eight schools, including engineering, architecture, business, communication arts and medicine. A private, independent college, NYIT embraces an educational philosophy of career-oriented, professional education for all qualified students, and supports applications-oriented research to benefit the greater global community. Students attend classes at NYIT’s Manhattan and Long Island campuses, as well as online and in a number of programs throughout the world. To date, more than 66,000 alumni have earned degrees at NYIT. For additional information, visit www.nyit.edu.
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