TULSA, Okla. — The city of Tulsa has been selected as a new site for New York University’s Study Away program.

NYU Tulsa will be the university’s fourth global network location in the U.S., and plans are underway to open an academic center in downtown Tulsa in January of 2025.

According to Aaron Miller, head of national partnerships at Tulsa Community Foundation, this is a partnership between New York University and the George Kaiser Family Foundation which all began with a conversation between the foundation’s executive director and a senior advisor from NYU at a conference.

Now the prestigious New York City based university is moving ahead with plans to hire faculty and staff for NYU Tulsa.

“We’re one of three in the United States, so LA, DC and Tulsa so to be on the map like that, and be selected, they’ve had Tulsa in their mind for over a year, they’ve been working with us, they’ve visited numerous times,” said Renee McKenney, President of Tulsa Regional Tourism.

She couldn’t be more thrilled to learn that NYU is opening its next academic center in the U.S. in Tulsa.

“Anytime that you can be synonymous with a university in New York City, I think there’s just so much there and the synergy is bringing a whole new young crowd to really discover who we are in Tulsa,” she said.

McKenney said they were interested because of Tulsa’s arts and culture, and our economic boom that’s starting to happen. She said Tulsa is also on top of mind with film.

FOX23 also asked Miller why he believes Tulsa was selected as a site for an academic center.

“I think we think we’ve done a great job over the last 10 to 15 years of building up, highlighting our beautiful community, and making sure that the nation knows about the amazing arts and culture, innovation, business and technology elements that we have here as well as our deep history that we think says a lot about the American experience,” Miller said.

FOX23 did reach out to NYU’s Senior Vice President for Public Affairs and Strategic Communication, John Beckman. However, he said there was no one available for an interview on Friday about the new program in Tulsa.

NYU Tulsa plans to lease space in downtown Tulsa, most likely the Art District, in January of 2025 with about 20 NYU students participating in their study away program.

According to the website, course offerings will be taught by a locally-hired faculty with subject matter expertise.

Class offerings for the spring semester include “Native Arts in Contemporary America” and “Black Capitalism and the quest for Economic Freedom in America.”

Miller said the goal is to create an experience for students that is unique here in Tulsa.

“We think students will be really drawn to our arts and culture renaissance,” he said. “We think students will be drawn to you know our Native culture, and our Black Wall Street history, and being a part on the ground of changing what an American city looks like in the future.”

The Tulsa Arts District boasts some local restaurants, including Cabin Boys Brewery which just opened up a restaurant in a large building on N. Main Street in July.

Co-Owner Austin McIlroy had this response when he learned about NYU Tulsa coming downtown.

“I think that that’s a show and a sign that this area and this neighborhood is just on a trajectory of great growth and it will be really awesome to have more students down here and have that kind of light shone into this part of downtown Tulsa,” he said.

Miller said they plan to boost enrollment to about 50 students every semester in Tulsa offering classes in both the fall and the spring.

He also said he’s pleased that institutions of higher education in the state are excited about the partnership and the opportunity to collaborate.