CUNY Graduate School and University Center

What is the history of CUNY Graduate School and University Center?

CUNY Graduate School and University Center is the institutional name associated with The City University of New York's Graduate Center, a public graduate research institution founded in 1961. CUNY established it to coordinate doctoral education across its colleges rather than build a conventional, stand-alone undergraduate campus.

That system-wide role still shapes the institution. Doctoral students may work with faculty based at multiple CUNY colleges, while the Graduate Center provides academic programs, research resources and a central place for scholarly exchange. In 1999, it moved to 365 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, in the former B. Altman department store building. Its institutional reporting also encompasses educational activity beyond the Graduate Center's doctoral programs, an important distinction when interpreting undergraduate statistics attributed to CUNY Graduate School and University Center.

What are the faculties and departments at CUNY Graduate School and University Center?

The Graduate Center organizes its academics primarily through doctoral and master's programs rather than a conventional set of undergraduate colleges. Its programs span the humanities, social sciences, sciences and interdisciplinary fields, with CUNY faculty from across the university contributing to graduate teaching and supervision.

Examples include doctoral study in history, English, sociology, psychology, mathematics, computer science and public health-related fields, alongside master's programs and research centers. The Advanced Science Research Center supports collaborative work in scientific fields. Applicants should distinguish a Graduate Center degree from a degree offered by another CUNY college: a faculty member's affiliation with both institutions does not make their admissions requirements or degree rules interchangeable.

The institutional name also appears in reporting that includes undergraduate activity. A first-time undergraduate applicant should identify the specific CUNY pathway and credential they intend to pursue rather than assume that the Graduate Center admits a typical freshman class to its doctoral departments.

What is the location of CUNY Graduate School and University Center?

The Graduate Center's principal building is at 365 Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, near the Empire State Building. This is an urban setting, not an enclosed residential campus.

The building is close to several subway lines, commuter-rail connections at Penn Station and Grand Central Terminal, and regional bus service. Those connections matter because students may commute to classes or travel between CUNY sites for research, teaching and advising. The Advanced Science Research Center is at a separate Manhattan location, and students in system-wide programs may use facilities at other CUNY colleges. An applicant should check where their particular classes and required activities actually meet.

What is the mission and vision of CUNY Graduate School and University Center?

The Graduate Center's stated purpose centers on advanced education, research and public scholarship within CUNY's public-university mission. It describes graduate study as closely connected to scholarly inquiry and to the intellectual and civic life of New York City.

Its system-wide model is central to that purpose: doctoral education draws on faculty and resources across CUNY, while research centers bring people from different disciplines together. These are institutional priorities, not evidence that every student will have the same access to research funding, mentoring or professional opportunities. Program structure and available support are more useful measures for an individual applicant.