Co-Directors of the Observational Practices Lab join inaugural cohort of New School University Fellows.

Selected from applications from all of the colleges within The New School, the inaugural cohort of University Fellows will consist of junior and mid-career faculty whose teaching, research, and creative practice crosses the boundaries of disciplines, colleges, and conventional pedagogies or approaches. Awarded by the Provost’s Office, the University Fellows will advance their own work and build teaching and research collaboratives within the cohort and around the university.

Among the distinguished fellows are Observational Practices Lab co-directors Pascal Glissmann and Selena Kimball.

The Observational Practices Lab at Parsons, The New School, launched OBJECT AMERICA in 2017 as a transdisciplinary research project that specifically investigates how everyday material objects are seen and observed, bringing together different disciplinary specialists to conduct observations of objects that are part of American cultural identity. OBJECT AMERICA will contribute to a robust and ongoing interdisciplinary dialog between faculty both across the university and with other institutions about the role of everyday cultural objects in our contemporary knowledge. Each year we invite 15-20 participants from across the arts, sciences, and humanities to contribute to OBJECT AMERICA—to conduct an in-depth observation of one everyday “American” object, chosen by a participating guest curator from a major NYC-based cultural institution. The fellowship will support invited curators, artists, internal and external researchers who will exchange not only the insights derived from conducting their own observation but also the very methods, tools, contexts, and practices they employed, in a series of public panel discussions and workshops taking place in the fall semester of each year.


University Fellows 2019-2021

Team Fellows: Pascal GlissmannAssistant Professor of Communication Design, ParsonsSelena KimballAssistant Professor of Contemporary Art Practice, Parsons .  \\ . Fellow: Adam Brown, Associate Professor of Psychology, NSSR . \\ . Team Fellows: Doris Chang, Associate Professor of Psychology, NSSR; Cotter Christian, Assistant Professor of Interior Design, Parsons; Latha Poonamallee, Associate Professor of Management & Social Innovation, SPE . \\ . Team Fellows: Timon McPhearson, Associate Professor of Urban Ecology, SPE; Daniel Sauter, Associate Professor of Data Visualization, Parsons