More than 620 students attended the inaugural open house at The Center for Career Education on Friday, Sept. 14. The event featured an employer relations station for students to set up job agents and learn about LionSHARE, power half-hours on the “Job/Internship Search” and “On Campus Recruiting,” an internship station, and quick meetings with career counselors. Students could also meet with members of student professional groups, including Columbia Women’s Business Society, Multicultural Business Association, Columbia Economics Society and Columbia Financial Investment Group, and representatives from the Columbia Student Enterprises — Inside New York, the Columbia Bartending Agency and the Columbia University Tutoring and Translating Agency, which are run through the Center for Career Education. Student photographers were also on hand to shoot photos for attendees’ LinkedIn profiles, and those who attended got free Korilla Korean BBQ and a chance to win prizes.

During the event, the walls featured "Did You Know?" signs with facts about CCE.

During the event, the walls of the Center for Career Education featured “Did You Know?” facts about the Center for Career Education last year, including the number of employers who attended at least one of the four career fairs (382), the number of employer info sessions (186 — a 44 percent increase over the previous year), the number of employers who participated in the On Campus Recruiting Program (182 — a 14 percent increase over the previous year), the number of individual advising appointments (more than 9,400 — 75 percent more than four years before), the number of students and alumni who had individual advising appointments (more than 4,200 — double the number served four years prior), the number of students and alumni served by CCE events (more than 12,000), the number of job and internship postings in LionSHARE (more than 20,000) and the #1 LionSHARE Industry (non-profit).

Career counselors answer students' questions at the inaugural CCE open house.

Kavita Sharma, dean of the Center for Career Education, said the open house was an opportunity to welcome students to the Center for Career Education and familiarize them with CCE’s services. “This is an opportunity to showcase the wealth of resources and diversity of programs available to students through CCE,” she said.

The Center for Career Education offers career counseling appointments, LinkedIn profile reviews, practice interviews, job and internship postings, resume and cover letter reviews, career development, interview prep and other services. The center works with students and alumni from Columbia College, Columbia Engineering, General Studies, the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the School of Continuing Education and the School of the Arts.

Columbia has been ranked fourth place in U.S. News & World Report’s ranking of National Universities for the third year in a row. Harvard and Princeton are tied for first place this year, followed by Yale. The University of Chicago is also ranked fourth. Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University are tied for sixth place, Duke University and the University of Pennsylvania are tied for eighth place, and California Institute of Technology and Dartmouth College are tied for tenth place. U.S. News’ “Best Colleges 2013” rankings were released on September 12. 

U.S. News’ ratings were begun in 1983 and are based on peer evaluations, graduation and freshman retention rates, faculty resources, student selectivity, financial resources, graduation rate performance and alumni giving rate.

Dean of Undergraduate Admissions and Financial Aid Jessica Marinaccio said she hopes students and their families look at this ranking as just one piece of data in of choosing where they would like to attend college. 

"We look at college rankings with a certain amount of skepticism, questioning their evolving methodologies and their sway over a student's college choice," she said. "We are proud, nevertheless, of all the factors that led US News and World Report to once again see us as one of the best universities in the world—the Columbia academic experience, our faculty's commitment to undergraduate education, the financial resources provided  to our students, the generosity and dedication of our alumni, and our high retention and graduation rates."

"Instead of relying on rankings, we hope prospective students will truly explore all that Columbia has to offer through all sources and by visiting campus to evaluate whether we might be the best fit for them."

Columbia is listed under the "National Universities" category, which include universities that offer a full range of undergraduate majors, master’s, and doctoral degrees, and are committed to producing groundbreaking research. The University climbed from eighth place to fourth place two years ago.

For more information and to see the full list of rankings, visit http://www.usnews.com or http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities.

Members of the Class of 2016 arrived on campus for Convocation on Monday, August 27, and were welcomed by President Lee C. Bollinger and Dean James J. Valentini, among other speakers. They came from 48 states and nearly 60 countries and represent almost 90 prospective majors, according to the dean. This year’s program also featured the first Alumni Procession at Convocation, with approximately 75 alumni grouped by decades marching behind banners to rousing applause from the students, parents and guests.

See photos from Convocation.

A theme among the speakers, who also included Dean of Student Affairs Kevin Shollenberger, New Student Orientation Program coordinator Briana Saddler ’14, CC Alumni Association President Kyra Tirana Barry ’87, SEAS Interim Dean Donald Goldfarb and E.V.P. for Arts and Sciences Nicholas Dirks, was an exhortation to the incoming students to make the most of the next four years and the myriad opportunities available to them both at Columbia University and in the city of New York. The New Student Orientation Program, with programming including the “Class Act” variety show, information and advising sessions, and tours of campus and the city, began immediately following Convocation and continues through the start of classes on Tuesday, September 4.

Jonathan Schiller ’69, ’73L will be presented the 2012 Alexander Hamilton Medal on Thursday, November 15, at the Alexander Hamilton Award Dinner, an annual black-tie event in Low Rotunda. The medal, the highest honor paid to a member of the Columbia College community, is awarded  by the Columbia College Alumni Association to an alumnus/a or faculty member for distinguished service to the College and accomplishment in any field of endeavor.

Schiller, a University trustee and a member of the Dean’s Council of the Law School, received a John Jay Award for distinguished professional achievement in 2006. He was a member of the 1967–68 Ivy League Championship basketball team and was inducted with that squad into the Columbia University Athletics Hall of Fame in February 2006.

Schiller’s most recent commitments to the College include establishing the Jonathan Schiller Scholarship Fund in June 2011. The Jonathan D. Schiller Endowment in International Human Rights was created in 2006 at the Law School by the Schiller family and provides funding for summer fellowships in international human rights.

As co-founder and managing partner of Boies, Schiller & Flexner, Schiller has more than 35 years of experience trying cases throughout the United States and is recognized as a leading practitioner in international arbitration. He was elected a fellow of the American Bar Foundation and appointed to the Milan Chamber of Commerce Club of Arbitrators. He also was appointed to the Board of Trustees of the Supreme Court Historical Society in Washington, D.C.

Schiller was recognized by Who’s Who Legal as one of the most highly regarded individuals, “the real deal,” in its listing of the Top Ten International Commercial Litigators for 2011. He also was recently cited by Lawdragon as one of its “500 Leading Lawyers in America” for the sixth consecutive year. Chambers and Partners, a legal research organization that publishes annual peer-reviewed evaluations of the world’s leading law firms and lawyers, recognized Schiller “as a leading practitioner in the field of international arbitration,” and The US Legal 500 2010 Guide to the World’s Leading Lawyers named him as “one of the premier international arbitration attorneys in the world” and “a seasoned practitioner with an impressive reputation.” He also was named “Litigator of the Week” by American Lawyer earlier this year following Barclays’ successful trial defense against $13 billion in claims sought by Lehman Brothers bankruptcy estates.

Schiller is married to Marla Prather ’88 GSAS, who earned a master’s in art history. Their sons also are Columbia alumni: Zachary ’01, Joshua ’08L and Aaron ’06.

For more information on the dinner, contact Robin Vanderputten, associate director, College events and programs: robinv@columbia.edu or 212-851-7399.

Columbia University President Lee C. Bollinger announced today that James J. Valentini will be the new Dean of Columbia College and Vice President for Undergraduate Education effective July 1, 2012.  Dean Valentini, known better as “Deantini” to the students of the College, has been acting as Interim Dean since September 2011.

The search for a permanent dean was announced in late March.  In making the announcement, President Bollinger said that there was “broad consensus for Jim Valentini’s continued leadership of the College” and that ”[o]ver the past year, Jim has succeeded in unifying students, faculty, and alumni of the College in pursuit of these goals through an embracing and inclusive leadership style.”

Dean Valentini is “thrilled” to be able to continue as dean.  “I am tremendously grateful for the opportunity to serve the College and the University that I love, ” he said.

Dean Valentini’s many notable strengths as a scholar, teacher, administrator, and recognized leader of the College community made him the unanimous selection of an advisory committee that considered several very impressive internal candidates as finalists for the deanship. 

Professor Valentini is a longtime supporter of Columbia College. He served for many years as an active member of the University Senate and on the Presidential Advisory Committee on Diversity Initiatives, and was chair of the Arts and Sciences Academic Review Committee and the College Committee on Science Instruction, and a member of the Committee on the Core Curriculum and the College Committee on Instruction. He has served as a faculty representative to the Alumni Association Board, and has worked with many other groups on curriculum matters, undergraduate affairs, faculty governance, and tenure.

Professor Valentini earned his B.S.in Chemistry from the University of Pittsburgh, his M.S. in Chemistry from the University of Chicago, and his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley, and completed postdoctoral work at Harvard University. He was a member of the research staff at Los Alamos National Laboratory and a Professor of Chemistry at the University of California, Irvine, before coming to Columbia. He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and of the American Physical Society. His research focuses on chemical reaction dynamics and the spectroscopy of molecular transients. He has taught many undergraduate and graduate chemistry lecture courses, has developed and taught research seminars for first-year students and seniors, and recently designed the course “Energy and Energy Conservation” for the Core Science Requirement.