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?
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Out and About
More Stories
In basements, stairwells, factories, and courtyards lie some of Columbia University’s most intriguing and little-known bits of history.
Michelle Young, GSAPP alumna and faculty member as well as founder of Untapped New York, helps reacquaint us with the can't-miss spots of Morningside campus as students return this fall.
Columbians have long been biking to and around campus, but added bike racks and safer street connections throughout the city make two-wheeling it more appealing than ever before.
Beat the summer heat with some cool podcasts from around our community.
On June 21, Columbia University Libraries hosted a ribbon-cutting to symbolize the full reopening of library spaces. Here's what you can expect this fall.
Celebrate LGBTQ+ history at Columbia and the people who made that history with a little trivia.
Looking back at the contributions of LGBTQ+ Columbians, offering resources, and sharing the events you can participate in this Pride Month.
From the first volume of Barack Obama's presidential memoir to a collection of classic recipes by Jacques Pépin, these books by Columbia alumni are all terrific gift ideas during graduation season.
From chefs to presidents, listen to the wisdom of some of Columbia's greatest graduation speeches.
