News Archive

Troubled by the dearth of health care services in poor communities, Manmeet Kaur started City Health Works, a nonprofit aimed at combating high rates of preventable chronic conditions, such as obesity, diabetes, heart disease and depression.

Just four days before Valeria Silva Merea boarded a plane bound for medical school in New York, she was in Beijing swimming in the 2008 Olympic Games. 

Nicholas B. Dirks, Columbia University’s executive vice president for arts and sciences and dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, has announced the appointment of Deborah Cullen, a leading curator and specialist in modern and contemporary art, as the new director and chief curator of the University’s Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery.

This year, approximately 13,423 degrees will be conferred on graduates from Columbia University’s three undergraduate and 13 graduate schools, as well as affiliated institutions Barnard College and Teachers College. 

Columbia has increasingly attracted students from the front lines as education benefits for veterans have expanded in recent years. Almost 500 veterans from every branch of the military were enrolled in Columbia’s undergraduate and graduate schools this year, and nearly 90 of them will graduate May 16.

In Travis Irvine’s application to Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism, he wrote that he wanted his career to include travel, filmmaking, comedy, politics and, oh yes, journalism.

They say those who can’t, teach, but two students in one of Columbia’s graduate programs suggest the opposite—those who can, teach. Lindsay Clarke and Krzysztof Kosmicki helped launch elementary schools in Cameroon and Newark, N.J., respectively, soon after wrapping up their undergraduate education. Now both are at the top of their class of students graduating with an M.A./M.Sc. in international and world history in Columbia’s dual degree program with the London School of Economics. Neither student initially envisioned themselves working in the classroom, but both were drawn to…

Stuart Firestein, a professor and chair of the biological sciences department, is a connoisseur of ignorance. He teaches a popular course by that name to graduating seniors, and it is the title of his recently published book, "Ignorance: How it Drives Science" (Oxford University Press).

Columbia College’s Core Curriculum is widely renowned for its use of classic texts to challenge undergraduates into developing critical thinking skills that will enrich their lives. But College students aren’t the only ones benefitting from the academic rigors of the liberal arts and humanities. For example, the summer Double Discovery program has provided a short version of the Core to local high school students. Now, through Columbia’s Community Impact, a group of adult students working toward their high school graduate equivalency diplomas (GEDs) also has the opportunity to experience…

From May 7-13, sounds of jazz will fill Harlem’s historic music venues for the second annual Harlem Jazz Shrines Festival. 

Columbia University has committed to investing $30 million to enhance the diversity of its faculty through the recruitment of outstanding female and underrepresented minority scholars. The plan, announced earlier this month by President Lee C. Bollinger and Provost John H. Coatsworth, will focus on recruiting new faculty members and postdoctoral candidates to more closely reflect the composition of the national pool of qualified candidates. It also includes a small-grants program for junior faculty designed to contribute to their career success. Half the cost—$15 million—will come from…

“The U.S. has about the best educated 60 year-olds in the world, but we are in the middle of the pack…among 30 year-olds.” said Alan Krueger, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, at the April 26 conference on the global economy and the European crisis, which launched the School of International and Public Affairs Center on Global Economic Governance in Low Library. “We view the center as a unique opportunity,” said Jan Svejnar, the center’s founder and director, “to bring in leading academics, policy makers, and business leaders from all over the world and…

Leon Cooperman ’67, chairman and CEO of Omega Advisors and a member of Columbia Business School’s Board of Overseers, has pledged a gift of $25 million to support the construction of the School’s new home in Manhattanville.

Text message reminders to parents about flu vaccinations may help boost the number of children vaccinated, according to researchers at Columbia University Medical Center and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. 

Researchers at Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) have identified a molecular pathway that controls the retention and release of the brain’s stem cells.