The Milano School of Policy, Management, and Environment embodies the guiding principles that motivated The New School's founders in 1919 when they set out to create an entirely new kind of academic institution, one that challenged conventions and supported critical thinking and social engagement.
Robert J. Milano (1912-2000) grew up in the Hell's Kitchen area of Manhattan and attended public school and university in New York, majoring in business administration and financial law. He later attended classes at The New School for Social Research.
Mr. Milano served on the Board of Trustees of The New School from 1976 to 2000. Previously he had been a member of the advisory board of the J.M. Kaplan Center and was vice chair of the Visiting Committee to the Graduate School of Management and Urban Policy from 1975 to 1983.
Mr. Milano was involved in transforming The New School into a major urban university with a distinct orientation to public service and the arts, providing financial support for increased undergraduate scholarships, paid faculty leaves, venture capital grants to stimulate innovative academic programs, a student residence hall, and an undergraduate student center.
The Center for New York City Affairs was founded in 1964 as the first teaching and research center in the United States devoted to the study of a single metropolitan area. In 1971, the center launched the Graduate Department of Urban Affairs and Policy Analysis — among the first policy programs in the United States. In 1975, Urban Affairs and Policy Analysis became part of a new Graduate School of Management and Urban Professions. The school was renamed the Milano School in 1996 in honor of long-time New School trustee Robert J. Milano. The Milano School curriculum has always encouraged creative thinking designed to effect progressive social, economic, and political change. The school's nearly 8,000 graduates lead organizations, programs, and policymaking entities in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors.