The Gallatin School of Individualized Study (generally known simply as Gallatin) is a small college within New York University. Founded in 1972 as the University Without Walls, the school is named after Albert Gallatin, Secretary of the Treasury under Thomas Jefferson, and a founding father of NYU. Gallatin believed that the place for a university was not in "the seclusion of cloistered halls but in the throbbing heart of a great city." It was in this spirit that Gallatin was founded. Herbert London was the school's first dean through 1992. Gallatin students benefit from the school's "small college" feel, as well as its location within one of the largest private universities in the United States. Students are expected to design their own interdisciplinary program that meets their specific interests and career goals. Coursework can be undertaken at any of the schools that comprise NYU. Gallatin currently enrolls 1200 undergraduates and 200 graduate students. The courses within the school offer a wide-range of Interdisciplinary Seminars, Arts Workshops, and other independent studies that allow students to combine different areas of studies along with a focus on the great books. Students within Gallatin are allowed and encouraged to take courses in all the other undergraduate schools as well as graduate schools within NYU, such as the Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service and Tisch's Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP). This gives the Gallatin student and open-ended choice to his/her own concentration and "to fashion a meaningful, coherent, and personalized program"[1]. The school is in a stage of re-development: It just hired a new dean, Susanne Wofford, and planning a renovation project beginning in June 2007 to June 2008.
