Posted in Alumni
This summer, Columbia College welcomed 26 faculty members from 13 institutions from across the United States, Europe, and China to participate in a two-week intensive workshop on designing and teaching Core courses.
Wm. Theodore de Bary CC’41, GSAS’53, the John Mitchell Mason Professor Emeritus and Provost Emeritus, has been named by President Barack Obama CC’83 as one of 10 recipients of the 2013 National Humanities Medal for his pioneering work in East Asian studies.
Attorney Jonathan D. Schiller CC ’69, LAW ’73 has become chair of the board of the Columbia University Trustees, succeeding William V. Campbell CC ’62, TC ’64, with whom he served as co-chair for the past six months. Schiller is a managing partner and co-founder of the law firm Boies, Schiller & Flexner, and one of the country’s most well-known and respected lawyers.
On May 20, the Class of 2014 celebrated Class Day with a ceremony held on South Lawn. The keynote speaker was screenwriter and actor Dan Futterman CC ’89. University Commencement was celebrated on May 21.
Gene Finn has been appointed Vice President of Development, Arts and Sciences, and Associate Dean for Development and Alumni Relations for Columbia College.
Amirah Sequeira CC ’12 has received a prestigious Gates-Cambridge Scholarship, awarded to outstanding applicants from countries outside the United Kingdom to pursue graduate degrees at the University of Cambridge.
Seven startups run by Columbia College young alumni — BoardRounds, Ply, Longneck & Thunderfoot, Rawr Denim, Shout, ModaBound and Bundle Organics — were chosen to take part in the new Columbia Startup Lab in SoHo. The lab will provide a dedicated Columbia-only shared workspace on the street level of the eight-floor Varick Street location of WeWork, a building that currently houses — and was the site of the founding of — Reddit. These startups are seven of a total of 31 teams of Columbia alumni from the College, Engineering, SIPA and the Business School that will be housed at the WeWork space beginning in June.
Twelve first-year students in Columbia College, The Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science and General Studies have received 2014 Presidential Global Fellowships. The students, whose academic interests range from Art History, French and Sociology to Applied Mathematics, Computer Science, and Industrial Engineering to Physics, Sustainable Development and Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies, were selected from a pool of more than 100 for the University’s new undergraduate global summer program.
Students will honor Professor of Mathematics Robert Friedman with the 2014 Mark Van Doren Award for Teaching, which recognizes a faculty member’s “humanity, devotion to truth and inspiring leadership,” and Professor of History Rashid Khalidi with the 2014 Lionel Trilling Book Award, given to a member of Columbia’s faculty whose book was published in the previous year, for his book Brokers of Deceit: How the U.S. Has Undermined Peace in the Middle East, at an awards ceremony in Low Library on May 5. The honorees are selected annually by a student committee to honor faculty members for their contributions in the classroom and in print.
Acclaimed actor and screenwriter Dan Futterman CC ’89, known for his screenplay of the award-winning film Capote (2005), will deliver the keynote address at the 2014 Columbia College Class Day ceremony. The annual event, which honors graduating seniors, will take place at 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday, May 20, 2014, on the South Lawn of Columbia’s Morningside Heights campus.