This page is dedicated to stories about Columbia's campus and community. From student, staff, and faculty profiles to interesting events happening on campus and in our surrounding neighborhoods, here is where you can find the latest about what's happening on and around Columbia's campuses.
Story Highlight
When she was just nine years old, Savona Bailey-McClain went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art for the first time on a field trip with her elementary school in the Bronx. She vividly remembers her mother tenderly loaning her a scarf and special pin for the trip. When she got there, everything changed: seeing and thinking about art became core to her identity.
Decades later, as a young woman settled in Harlem and working full-time at a mental health clinic for children, still taking every chance she got to immerse herself in the art world, she noticed something: People she met every day felt shut out by museums and galleries, intimidated before they even reached the front door.
“I never could quite understand why people were so intimidated,” Bailey-McClain told Columbia Neighbors. “It is a very American problem, and I just said, ‘What if I helped to bring art into the open public space where people could see it every day?’”
Photo of the Week
This past year, 450 Columbia, Barnard, and Teachers College employees and retirees generously donated nearly $250,000 for grants distributed to 47 local nonprofits to combat hunger, provide crucial social services, champion arts and culture, and bridge educational gaps for local youth in STEM, literacy, and the arts.
COLUMBIA HISTORY
In the northeast corner of campus, Constantin Meunier’s sculpture Le Marteleur greets visitors in front of the home of the engineering school. Le Marteleur or the Hammerman was a gift of the Class of 1889 of the School of Mines (now the Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science) installed all the way back in 1914. But did you know that the statue has moved multiple times over the years? And not always easily or willingly.
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More Stories
This July, Columbia welcomed its new president while faculty members earned important research funding and discussed a certain summer blockbuster. Test your knowledge of the latest news stories across the University!
Donations from 450 faculty, staff, and retirees of Columbia, Barnard, and Teachers College funded almost $250,000 in grants to 47 local nonprofits serving Harlem and Morningside Heights.
Savona Bailey-McClain, executive director of the West Harlem Art Fund, shares how the public art exhibition came to be and where to see it all this summer.
In her first days, Mnookin met and shared remarks with local leaders at an energetic reception held on the Manhattanville campus.
Faculty members reflect on Homer’s epic poem and its latest transfer to the big screen.
‘Children’s Art Carnival in Harlem: The Making of Contemporary Artists’ is on view at the Wallach Art Gallery on Columbia's Manhattanville campus through Sept. 13.
The annual celebration, held on June 27, brought together community and Columbia-affiliated organizations, the arts and sciences, tasty treats, and fun with friends new and old.
In a letter to the Columbia community, President Mnookin shares her admiration for Columbia as a University of extraordinary intellectual energy.
This June, Columbians won major awards, celebrated Pride Month, and reflected on Upper Manhattan’s role in American history. Test your knowledge of the latest news stories across the University!
From Convocation to Commencement, and everything in between.
Columbia’s annual celebration of community makes its return on June 27.
Whether on the road, the beach, or chilling next to the AC, let these podcasts made by Columbians be your summer audio accompaniment.
