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CAMPUS BULLETINS

MOLDING STUDENT LEADERS: Kevin Shollenberger has been named director of the Office of Student Development and Activities, which has been reshaped to include advising and funding student groups, overseeing a programming board and providing executive training to student leaders. He will report to Chris Colombo, dean of student affairs.

"The director and the activities staff will take time with the student groups and think about how students and events can run most smoothly," Colombo told the Columbia Daily Spectator. "His goal will be to help student groups themselves to be as productive as possible.

"We're trying to build the kind of Columbia community spirit that so many people have said they wanted for so long. That's going to be a big task," added Colombo.

Shallenberg came to Columbia from the University of Hawaii, where he was director of leadership development, responsible for helping students develop skills that would aid them in managing their own organizations. He also has been closely involved with two national coalitions of student activities officers.

One of Shallenberg's primary projects will be the office's new leadership institute, which will provide advice and training to student leaders. "We need to look at what will make students productive when they leave here, what will make them successful community members," said Shallenberg.

WE'RE NO. 10 AGAIN?: In what one dean described as "an annual source of frustration because they just don't seem to get it," Columbia placed 10th for the second year in a row in U.S. News & World Report's annual "Best Colleges" rankings this fall - this despite a record number of admissions applications and the lowest selectivity percentage in school history.

Caltech, fourth a year ago, leapfrogged over co-leaders Harvard, Princeton and Yale to capture the top ranking this year, aided by changes in how the magazine compiles its rankings. Harvard was ranked second, MIT third and Princeton and Yale tied for fourth. Stanford was sixth, with Duke, Johns Hopkins and Penn tied for seventh, ahead of Columbia.

The magazine listed seven criteria which went into its rankings: academic reputation (25 percent), graduation and retention rates (20), faculty resources (20), student selectivity (15), financial resources (10), alumni giving (5) and graduation rate performance, or the difference between anticipated and actual rates of graduation (5).

According to U.S. News & World Report, Columbia ranked 11th in academic reputation (as determined by a survey of top officers at peer institutions), 17th in graduation and retention rates, ninth in faculty resources, seventh in selectivity and 10th in financial resources. Columbia's alumni participation rate, listed at 31 percent, ranked 24th, lowest in the Ivy League. Columbia matched its "anticipated" 90 percent rate of graduation within a six-year period to rank second among the schools in the top ten, although many schools which ranked lower on the overall list finished on the plus side in this category.

It's worth noting that the College alone ranks fourth in the nation in selectivity at 14 percent, behind only Harvard (12), Princeton (13) and Stanford (13). The magazine ranked Columbia seventh in selectivity because it also included figures for SEAS.

CLASS PAGES ON THE WEB: College alumni already can visit the alumni website for information on events, an electronic version of Columbia College Today and other Columbia information. Now they can use it to keep in touch with classmates.

This month, the Alumni Office has set up a Web page for each alumni class (with group pages for pre-1960 classes). Each page features a bulletin board where alumni can post news of interest for classmates, as well as information on class-specific activities, reunions, class contacts and useful links. To get to your class's page, click the "Class Pages" button at the upper left of the alumni website (www.columbia.edu/cu/college/alumni).

Alumni can use this feature of the website to keep in touch with each other and with the College. Please e-mail the office at ccalumni@columbia.edu with suggestions for customizing your class's page.

HOOPING IT UP OUT WEST: Alumni on the West Coast can see the Columbia men's basketball team in person when it competes in the Stanford Tournament in Palo Alto, Calif. December 29-30. The Lions will face Davidson College in the second game on Wednesday, December 29, while host Stanford will meet New Hampshire in the opening game. The winners will meet for the tournament crown the following night, while the first-round losers will play in a consolation game.

The Columbia University Alumni Club of Northern California is hosting a cocktail reception on Tuesday, December 28 at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco starting at 6:30 p.m. Also, a reception is being planned prior to Wednesday night's game at Maples Pavilion in Palo Alto, beginning at approximately 7:30 p.m. Both receptions are being underwritten by the 1961 football team.

For information on the receptions or if you plan to attend, please contact Michael Gat '86 at PMB 212, 650 Castro Street, Apt. 120, Mountain View, Calif. 94041. You may call him at (650) 245-0929 or e-mail him at mgat@ix.netcom.com. Tickets to the basketball games may be obtained through the Columbia athletics department, (212) 854-2546.

TUITION REPORT: Tuition and fees for the 1999-2000 academic year increased nationally by an average of less than 5 percent over last year, the lowest rate of increase for the past four years, according to the College Board. Tuition at Columbia College was up 3.9 percent, the lowest percentage increase in 15 years.

According to the College Board, tuition and fees rose an average of 4.6 percent at four-year private institutions, to $15,380. Tuition at Columbia College is $24,150.

College Board President Gaston Caperton said the lower rates of increase are a "very positive trend for American families." He added that current tuition levels must be considered in light of the benefits a college education yields for individuals and society. "The cost of not going to college is much higher than the cost of going to college," he noted.

TIMES SCHOLARS AT COLUMBIA: Three of the six recipients of The New York Times 1998-99 College Scholarships are attending Columbia this year - Mirela Miraj '03, QiQi Cheng '03 and Denise De Las Nueces '03. The other three winners are attending Harvard, Oberlin and Yale.

The scholarships are awarded to New York City students who demonstrate outstanding academic achievement, community service and a commitment to learning. In addition, preference is given to students whose parents are not college graduates.

De Las Nueces was a participant in Columbia's Double Discovery Center program.

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