The New York-St. Petersburg Institute (NYI) is an advanced study program organized every July in St. Petersburg, Russia as a joint project between St. Petersburg State University and the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Participants take seminars with visiting international scholars in a range of fields, especially those that do not fall neatly into traditional discipline areas. Since 2003, over 500 participants have received certificates for completing the NYI Summer Seminar Program.

Participants create a program design unique to their own interests, choosing 4 seminars from among the following fields:

Generative Linguistics
Comparative Cultural and Media Studies
Cognitive Psychology
Media, Film, and Politics
Literature & Performance Studies

Background:  

The NYI founders believe that traditional academic boundaries inadvertently prevent young intellectuals from engaging many important areas of modern inquiry which do not fall neatly into disciplinary frames. Of special importance in this regard are the cognitive sciences, which study the workings of the human mind, and trans-cultural studies, which concentrate on comparative aspects of human societies. 

It is the belief of the New York Institute that without awareness of recent developments in the study of these two central areas of humanity, modern citizens are unable to situate themselves and their ideas in a historical context free of ideology, disciplinary and national boundaries. NYI is proud to have gathered an international group of faculty who are not only specialists in their fields, but also have experience working in intercultural environments and teaching in non-English speaking countries.

NYI would like to express its eternal gratitude to our sponsors, supporters and partners:

St. Petersburg State University:
• School of Philology and Arts
  (Prof. S. Bogdanov, Dean)
• Dept. of English Philology
  (Prof. A Zelenshchikov, Chair)
• Faculty of Psychology
  (Prof. L. Tsvetkova, Dean)
Stony Brook University:
• Department of Linguistics
  (Prof. Robert Hoberman, Chair)
• Department of European Languages
  (Prof. Nicholas Rzhevsky, Chair)
• Office of International Academic Programs
  (Prof. William Arens, Dean)
SUNY Central Administration,
Office of International Programs
  (Dr. John Ryder, Director)
The "Mosty" Cultural Foundation,
St. Petersburg 
  (Natalia Jasnogorodskaya, Director). website