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
It’s a perfect fall day in New York City: the air is crisp, the leaves are crunching, and a variety of wild plants are giving it their last go with a final explosion of color before season’s end. But as Adam Blumenberg, Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUIMC), will tell you, some of those plants deserve a second look before taking them home.
Pokeweed, with its purple berries, can cause gastrointestinal distress. Jimson weed, with its spiky seed pods and white flowers, can cause severe delirium. Ginkgo leaves, when ingested in large amounts, can cause seizures.
Blumenberg is an emergency physician and board-certified medical toxicologist at CUIMC, where he cares for patients who have been poisoned and teaches the next generation of doctors. He also happens to make two podcasts about poison. We’d say this makes him a pretty good person to interview in this mysterious season.
COLUMBIA HISTORY
Columbia started classes in the new Morningside Heights campus in October 1897. On this brand new campus, the engineering students finally had ample classroom and laboratory space in their two new buildings: the School of Mines (now Lewisohn) and the School of Engineering (now Mathematics). But did you know that there used to be a full-size locomotive engine underneath Havemeyer Hall?
KEEP UP WITH THE LATEST
Did you know we have a biweekly newsletter filled with Campus & Community content you might not find anywhere else, delivered straight to your inbox?
Find the most recent editions here. And make sure you subscribe to receive the newsletter in your inbox every other Wednesday.
Out and About
More Stories
A block party was a great way to celebrate the end of the semester and the arrival of sunny spring days! 🎉
With graduation festivities around the corner, here's who we expect to speak to our graduates in celebration of their accomplishments.
From baseball milestones to research breakthroughs and an interstellar first, Columbians are making major strides in their fields.
From graduation tchotchkes to special speakers, test your knowledge of Columbia's Commencement.
The night of May 21, the Empire State Building will glow blue for #Columbia2025 grads. Here’s where to capture the best photos with it.
For Samia Breir, coming to Columbia University was about “being in the right place at the right time with the right people.”
Test your knowledge of the past month's news and events at Columbia with questions on Ivy League titles, developmental psychology, and much more.
GSAPP student Anika Tsapatsaris has spent eight years at Columbia, relishing every moment.
From public health researchers to student athletes, Columbians made the most of the year's shortest month
Sara Gomez Horta also has advice for fellow students: cross-register at different schools, and open your emails to learn about events across Columbia and the city.
Cody O’Ferrall worked as a fisherman in Alaska before studying here. Now he's building a boat to clear urban ponds of algae.
Columbians hit the ground running in 2025, taking home major awards and contributing to groundbreaking research.