News

SEAS Alumnus Alvin E. Roth Wins 2012 Nobel Prize in Economics

Alvin E. Roth, who graduated from Columbia Engineering in 1971 and is currently the George Gund Professor of Economics and Business Administration at Harvard, was awarded the 2012 Nobel Prize in Economics for his pioneering work in the practical design of market institutions.

Five New IOM Inductees from CUMC

Five members of the Columbia University Medical Center community are among the newly elected members and associates of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, one of the highest honors in the fields of health and medicine in the United States.

Endowment Investments Earn 2.3 Percent Return in 2012, Capping Decade of Above-Market Growth
Columbia University produced a return of 2.3 percent on its endowment portfolio for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2012, placing it in the top quartile among peer endowments. This reflects the normal one-quarter lag in private equity and real asset valuations. The total value of the Columbia’s endowment as of June 30 was $7.65 billion. The University’s trailing 5- and 10-year returns—4.9 percent and 10.4 percent, respectively—are among the highest of any peer endowment. “In a year when leading endowments earned only modest returns, it is notable that Columbia’s investment managers again placed in the top quartile in our peer group,” said University President Lee C. Bollinger. “Over the past decade, our investment performance has consistently outpaced the market and continued to help Columbia compete academically with other great universities that have far larger endowments.” —by Columbia News Staff
Dean Nicholas Lemann to step down after 10-year term

Columbia University announced today that Dean Nicholas Lemann will step down at the end of June, 2013, at the conclusion of the school’s centennial year, after a 10-year term.

Columbia Alumnus Dr. Robert J. Lefkowitz (CC'62, P&S'66) Shares 2012 Nobel Prize in Chemistry

Robert J. Lefkowitz, M.D, Ph.D., an alumnus of Columbia College and Columbia’s College of Physicians and Surgeons, has been awarded the 2012 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. 

Miller Theatre's Morningside Lights Links Campus and Local Community

Visitors to Morningside Park on the evening of September 29 were treated to a luminous sight. A parade of over 500 people holding 110 handmade lanterns and glowing sculptures lit up the park’s winding paths and Columbia’s Morningside campus. 

Teachers College Community School Opens in Harlem

Principal Jeanene Worrell-Breeden welcomed an audience of more than 300 parents, teachers, neighborhood residents and university community members—along with local and state dignitaries—to celebrate Teachers College Community School’s move into its permanent new home. 

Liberian President Sirleaf Discusses Her Country's Transformation at World Leaders Forum

Ten years after the end of a brutal civil war a more hopeful nation has emerged from the ashes, Liberia’s president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf told a packed crowd of Columbia University faculty, administrators and students at a World Leaders Forum on Sept. 27.

Asia Society’s Vishakha Desai to Join Columbia as Special Advisor for Global Affairs and Faculty Member

Columbia University President Lee C. Bollinger has announced that Vishakha Desai, former president and chief executive of the New York-based Asia Society, will join the University as his special advisor for global affairs while also serving as a professor of practice at the School of International and Public Affairs, effective January 1.

Two Columbia Professors Win MacArthur Foundation “Genius” Grants

Research on volcanic eruptions and on the structure of abstract graphs have resulted in two Columbia professors being named MacArthur Fellows, the “genius” awards given to individuals who have shown “extraordinary originality and dedication in their creative pursuits.” 

Wallach Gallery Exhibit: \"Robert S. Duncanson: An Antebellum African American Artist\"
The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery opens its new exhibition season with \"Robert S. Duncanson: An Antebellum African American Artist,\" a survey of rarely seen works by the 19th-century landscape painter. Curated by renowned Duncanson scholar Joseph D. Ketner II, the exhibit gathers more than 20 paintings as well as drawings and contextual materials from the 1840s to the 1870s. Duncanson, who was based in Cincinnati, Ohio—then the largest and most prosperous city in the western United States—was the principal artist among a vibrant group of mid-century Ohio River Valley landscape painters. He followed the model established by New York’s Hudson River School painters, creating picturesque views that strove to convey grand ideas with moral lessons. Duncanson achieved artistic success, but did so under restrictions placed on him as a “free colored person” in the 19th century. The exhibition, free and open to the public, will be on view from Sept. 5 through Dec. 8. Please check the Wallach Gallery website for more program information.
In Memoriam: Arthur Ochs Sulzberger (CC'51)

Columbia University President Lee C. Bollinger issued the following statement today celebrating the life of Arthur Ochs "Punch" Sulzberger.

The Power of Play: Promoting Child Development with a Breakthrough Concept

Child development specialist Cassie Landers, EdD, MPH, helped promote the idea of portable playgrounds to UNICEF two years ago when she saw its potential for children growing up in crisis and post-conflict areas and in places where opportunities for education and play are limited.

Columbia University Libraries Announce The Edward M. Kennedy Prize for Drama Inspired by American History

Columbia University Libraries and Ambassador Jean Kennedy Smith are pleased to announce the establishment of a significant theater award, The Edward M. Kennedy Prize for Drama Inspired by American History, abbreviated as the EMK Prize.

Caleb Scharf's Book on Black Holes Separates Science From Fiction

Sometime in the next year and a half, a glowing interstellar blob—possibly a star or a young solar system—will pass perilously close to the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy. If it is sucked in, scientists will witness for the first time a significant “feeding event,” which will result in a massive release of energy that helps galaxies and stars evolve.