The New York Public Library (NYPL) and The Floating University, a new educational media venture, have formed a partnership to provide library patrons access to video lectures given by prominent scholars in a wide variety of disciplines.
“Great Big Ideas,” Floating University’s inaugural course, offers 12 lectures of about 40 to 50 minutes each, all of which are being offered concurrently as an interdisciplinary freshman seminar this year at Yale, Harvard, and Bard colleges. Starting November 14, NYPL patrons can attend five of those lectures onsite for free. The price for public access to all the lectures is usually $495.
“Floating University approached the library in September with the opportunity to offer our patrons the ability to attend these classes free of charge,” said Amy Geduldig, a public relations manager for NYPL. “It was an exciting opportunity – one that personifies the library’s mission of accessibility,” she said.
The Floating University is a for-profit educational enterprise. It is a joint venture between The Jack Parker Corporation and Big Think, a knowledge forum. It was co-founded by Adam Glick, a 1982 graduate of Yale, according to the Yale Daily News.
Some of the lecturers will be attending their presentations in person at NYPL and will moderate their own presentations. Others will present via video and those presentations will have a library moderator present to facilitate discussion.
Here is the schedule:
November 14 at 10am @ Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street, New York City
Dr. Nicholas Christakis, Professor of Sociology at Harvard University
Video lecture: If You’re So Free, Why Do You Follow Others? The Sociology and Science behind Social Networks and Human Interaction
December 1 at 1pm @ Science Industry and Business Library – Healy Hall, 188 Madison Avenue, New York City
Dr. Joel Cohen, Abby Rockefeller Mauzé Professor of Populations, Rockefeller University, Mathematical Biologist, Columbia University (Dr. Cohen will lead the discussion)
Video lecture: Malthus Miffed: Are People the Problem, the Solution or Both?
December 9 at 10am @ Stephen A. Schwarzman Building
Dr. Paul Bloom, Suzanne Ragen Professor of Psychology and Cognitive Science at Yale University
Video Lecture: The Psychology of Everything: What Compassion, Racism, and Sex tell us about Human Nature.
February 29, 2012 at 6pm @ Stephen A. Schwarzman Building
Dr. Leon Botstein, President and Leon Levy Professor of Bard College (Dr. Botstein will lead the discussion)
Video lecture: Art Now: Aesthetics Across Music, Painting, Architecture, Movies and More
Winter 2012 @ Science Industry and Business Library – Healy Hall
Dr. Michio Kaku, Henry Semat Professor of Theoretical Physics at CUNY (Dr. Kaku will lead the discussion)
Video lecture: The Universe in a Nutshell: The Physics of Everything
About Michael Kelley