The College’s Deans Have Served for 126 Years

While Columbia was founded in 1754, the role of Dean of Columbia College has only existed since 1896. That year, President Seth Low CC 1870 officially designated the University as “Columbia University in the City of New York” and announced that, going forward, the undergraduate school would be known as Columbia College. Under this new designation, John Howard Van Amringe CC 1860, who had succeeded Henry Drisler as dean of the School of the Arts in 1884, became the College’s first dean. He stayed in the job until 1910; 16 more deans have followed since Van Amringe led the way.