Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
Encyclopedia
| Columbia University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences | |
 |
|
| Established | First discipline created 1880 |
| School type | Private Private school Private schools, also known as independent schools or nonstate schools, are not administered by local, state or national governments; thus, they retain the right to select their students and are funded in whole or in part by charging their students' tuition, rather than relying on mandatory... |
| Dean | Henry C. Pinkham |
| Location | New York New York City New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and... , New York New York New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east... , USA United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district... |
| Enrollment | ~6,000 students |
| Homepage | www.columbia.edu/cu/gsas |
The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
(also known as GSAS) is the branch of the university that grants academic degrees, including M.A.'s and Ph.D.'s., in fields not covered by the university's professional or other schools.
History
GSAS began to take shape in the late 19th century, when Columbia, until then a primarily undergraduate institution with a few professional attachments, began to establish graduate faculties in several fields: Political Science (1880), Philosophy (1890), and Pure Science (1892). The graduate faculties, notably, were open to women at a time when many other Columbia schools were not; Columbia CollegeColumbia College of Columbia University
Columbia College is the oldest undergraduate college at Columbia University, situated on the university's main campus in Morningside Heights in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1754 by the Church of England as King's College, receiving a Royal Charter from King George II...
did not become a coeducational institution until 1983. The first Ph.D. awarded by Columbia was handed out in 1882; the first woman to receive one did so in 1886.
The increasing professionalization of the university brought with it an emphasis on the graduate schools, as presidents such as Seth Low
Seth Low
Seth Low , born in Brooklyn, New York, was an American educator and political figure who served as mayor of Brooklyn, as President of Columbia University, as diplomatic representative of the United States, and as Mayor of New York City...
and Nicholas Murray Butler sought to emulate the success of German universities during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Indeed, in the effort to produce as many graduate degree-holders as possible, attempts were made to streamline undergraduate life and center academic life in the graduate-focused departments. Such efforts led to resistance among Columbia College administrators and undergraduates, arguably one of the contributing factors in the 1968 protests
Columbia University protests of 1968
The Columbia University protests of 1968 were among the many student demonstrations that occurred around the world in that year. The Columbia protests erupted over the spring of that year after students discovered links between the university and the institutional apparatus supporting the United...
. Nevertheless, graduate research has flourished at Columbia as a result, and the university has been among the top producers of Ph. Ds in the United States from the inception of the graduate disciplines. In the early 1990s, GSAS and Columbia College faculty were all absorbed into a consolidated Faculty of Arts and Sciences, with familiar complaints among undergraduates and their advocates.
List of Academic Departments
African-American StudiesAfrican Studies Certificate
American Studies (Liberal Studies M.A.)
Anatomy and Cell Biology
Anthropology
Applied Mathematics
Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics
Architecture (History and Theory)
Art History and Archaeology
Astronomy
Atmospheric and Planetary Science
Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics
Biological Sciences
Biomedical Engineering
Biomedical Informatics
Biostatistics
Biotechnology
Buddhist Studies
Business
Cell Biology and Pathobiology
Cellular, Molecular, and Biophysical Studies
Chemical Biology
Chemical Engineering
Chemical Physics
Chemistry
Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics
Classical Studies
Classics
Climate and Society
Communications
Comparative Literature and Society
Computer Science
Conservation Biology
Dental Sciences
Earth and Environmental Engineering (Henry Krumb School of Mines)
Earth and Environmental Science Journalism
Earth and Environmental Sciences
East Asia: Regional Studies
East Asian Languages and Cultures
East Asian Studies (Liberal Studies M.A.)
Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology
Economics
Education
Electrical Engineering
English and Comparative Literature
Environmental Health Sciences
Epidemiology
French and Romance Philology
French Cultural Studies in a Global Context
Genetics and Development
Germanic Languages
History
Human Rights
Human Rights Studies
Industrial Engineering & Operations Research
International and World History, Dual Degree M.A./M.Sc.
Islamic Studies (Liberal Studies M.A.)
Italian
J.D./Ph.D. Program
Japanese Pedagogy
Jewish Studies
Jewish Studies (Liberal Studies M.A.)
Journalism
Latin America and Caribbean; Regional Studies
M.D./Ph.D.
Materials Science and Engineering/Solid State Science and Engineering
Mathematical Structures for Environmental & Social Sciences
Mathematics
Mathematics of Finance
Mechanical Engineering
Medieval and Renaissance Studies
Medieval Studies (Liberal Studies M.A.)
Microbiology
Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies
Middle East Studies, Certificate
Modern Art, Critical, and Curatorial Studies
Modern European Studies (Liberal Studies M.A.)
Museum Anthropology
Music
Neurobiology and Behavior
Nutrition
Operations Research
Oral History
Pathology and Cell Biology
Pharmacology
Philosophical Foundations of Physics
Philosophy
Columbia University Department of Philosophy
The Columbia University Department of Philosophy is ranked 13th in the US and 14th in the English-speaking world, in the 2009 ranking of philosophy departments by The Philosophical Gourmet Report...
Physics
Physiology and Cellular Biophysics
Political Science
Psychology
Quantitative Methods in the Social Sciences
Quantitative Methods in the Social Sciences, dual degree MA/MPA
Religion
Religion-Journalism Dual MA/MS
Russia, Eurasia and East Europe: Regional Studies M.A. Program
Russian Translation
Slavic Cultures
Slavic Languages
Social Work
Sociology
Sociomedical Sciences
South Asian Studies (Liberal Studies M.A.)
Spanish and Portuguese
Statistics
Sustainable Development
Theatre
Urban Planning
Yiddish Studies
Political Science
Economists
- Arthur Burns - economist, Ph.D., 1934
- Milton FriedmanMilton FriedmanMilton Friedman was an American economist, statistician, academic, and author who taught at the University of Chicago for more than three decades...
- economist, Ph.D., 1946 - Kenneth ArrowKenneth ArrowKenneth Joseph Arrow is an American economist and joint winner of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics with John Hicks in 1972. To date, he is the youngest person to have received this award, at 51....
- economist, Ph.D., 1951
Historians
- Jacques BarzunJacques BarzunJacques Martin Barzun is a French-born American historian of ideas and culture. He has written on a wide range of topics, but is perhaps best known as a philosopher of education, his Teacher in America being a strong influence on post-WWII training of schoolteachers in the United...
- historian, Ph.D. 1932 - Charles A. BeardCharles A. BeardCharles Austin Beard was, with Frederick Jackson Turner, one of the most influential American historians of the first half of the 20th century. He published hundreds of monographs, textbooks and interpretive studies in both history and political science...
- historian, Ph.D. 1904 - Lawrence Cremin - historian, M.A. 1947, Ph.D. 1949
- Richard HofstadterRichard HofstadterRichard Hofstadter was an American public intellectual of the 1950s, a historian and DeWitt Clinton Professor of American History at Columbia University...
- historian, Ph.D. 1942 - Bruce CumingsBruce CumingsBruce Cumings is the Gustavus F. and Ann M. Swift Distinguished Service Professor in History at the University of Chicago and the chairperson of the history department...
- historian, Ph.D. 1975 - Stanley Payne -- historian, Ph.D. 1959
- Howard ZinnHoward ZinnHoward Zinn was an American historian, academic, author, playwright, and social activist. Before and during his tenure as a political science professor at Boston University from 1964-88 he wrote more than 20 books, which included his best-selling and influential A People's History of the United...
-- historian, Ph.D. 1958
Literature
- Jacob M. AppelJacob M. AppelJacob M. Appel is an American author, bioethicist and social critic. He is best known for his short stories, his work as a playwright, and his writing in the fields of reproductive ethics, organ donation, neuroethics and euthanasia....
- writer and bioethicist, M.A., 2000 - John AshberyJohn AshberyJohn Lawrence Ashbery is an American poet. He has published more than twenty volumes of poetry and won nearly every major American award for poetry, including a Pulitzer Prize in 1976 for his collection Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror. But Ashbery's work still proves controversial...
- poet, 1951 - Isaac AsimovIsaac AsimovIsaac Asimov was an American author and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books. Asimov was one of the most prolific writers of all time, having written or edited more than 500 books and an estimated 90,000...
- science fiction writer, M.A. 1941 - Paul AusterPaul AusterPaul Benjamin Auster is an American author known for works blending absurdism, existentialism, crime fiction and the search for identity and personal meaning in works such as The New York Trilogy , Moon Palace , The Music of Chance , The Book of Illusions and The Brooklyn Follies...
- writer, M.A., 1970 - Randolph BourneRandolph BourneRandolph Silliman Bourne was a progressive writer and "leftist intellectual" born in Bloomfield, New Jersey, and a graduate of Columbia University...
- antiwar essayist, M.A. 1913 - Rachel Blau DuPlessisRachel Blau DuPlessisRachel Blau DuPlessis an American poet and essayist, is known as a feminist critic and scholar with a special interest in modernist and contemporary poetry.-Life and work:...
- literary critic, M.A. 1964, Ph.D. 1970 - Jason EpsteinJason EpsteinJason Epstein is an American editor and publisher.A 1949 graduate of Columbia College of Columbia University, Epstein was hired by Bennett Cerf at Random House, where he was the editorial director for forty years. He was responsible for the Vintage paperbacks, which published such authors as...
- writer, M.A., 1950 - John ErskineJohn ErskineJohn Erskine may refer to:*John Erskine of Cardross , Scottish soldier and politician*John Erskine of Carnock , Scottish jurist...
- literary scholar, Ph.D. 1903 - James GoldmanJames GoldmanJames Goldman was an American screenwriter and playwright, and the brother of screenwriter and novelist William Goldman.He was born in Chicago, Illinois, and grew up primarily in Highland Park, Illinois, a Chicago suburb...
- writer, 1952 - William GoldmanWilliam GoldmanWilliam Goldman is an American novelist, playwright, and Academy Award-winning screenwriter.-Early life and education:...
- screenwriter, 1956 - Naomi Foner GyllenhaalNaomi Foner GyllenhaalNaomi Gyllenhaal is an American screenwriter. She has written the screenplays for several feature films, including Running on Empty , Losing Isaiah, and most recently Bee Season. She is...
- screenwriter - Carolyn Heilbrun - writer, M.A. 1951, Ph.D. 1959
- Joseph HellerJoseph HellerJoseph Heller was a US satirical novelist, short story writer, and playwright. His best known work is Catch-22, a novel about US servicemen during World War II...
- writer, 1949 - Zora Neale HurstonZora Neale HurstonZora Neale Hurston was an American folklorist, anthropologist, and author during the time of the Harlem Renaissance...
- writer, 1935 - Alfred KazinAlfred KazinAlfred Kazin was an American writer and literary critic, many of whose writings depicted the immigrant experience in early twentieth century America....
- literary critic, 1958 - Kenneth KochKenneth KochKenneth Koch was an American poet, playwright, and professor, active from the 1950s until his death at age 77...
- poet, M.A. 1953, Ph.D. 1959 - Joseph Wood KrutchJoseph Wood KrutchJoseph Wood Krutch was an American writer, critic, and naturalist.Born in Knoxville, Tennessee, he initially studied at the University of Tennessee and received a masters degree and Ph.D. from Columbia University. After serving in the army in 1918, he travelled in Europe for a year with friend...
- writer, M.A. 1916, Ph.D. 1929 - David LehmanDavid LehmanDavid Lehman is a poet and the series editor for The Best American Poetry series. He teaches at The New School in New York City.-Career:...
- poet, Ph.D. 1978 - Peter StraubPeter StraubPeter Francis Straub is an American author and poet, most famous for his work in the horror genre. His horror fiction has received numerous literary honors such as the Bram Stoker Award, World Fantasy Award, and International Horror Guild Award, placing him among the most-honored horror authors in...
- writer, 1966 - Lionel TrillingLionel TrillingLionel Trilling was an American literary critic, author, and teacher. With wife Diana Trilling, he was a member of the New York Intellectuals and contributor to the Partisan Review. Although he did not establish a school of literary criticism, he is one of the leading U.S...
- literary critic, M.A. 1926, Ph.D. 1938 - Anne TylerAnne TylerAnne Tyler is an American novelist.Tyler, the eldest of four children, was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Her father was a chemist and her mother a social worker. Her early childhood was spent in a succession of Quaker communities in the mountains of North Carolina and in Raleigh...
- novelist, 1962 - Mark Van DorenMark Van DorenMark Van Doren was an American poet, writer and a critic, apart from being a scholar and a professor of English at Columbia University for nearly 40 years, where he inspired a generation of influential writers and thinkers including Thomas Merton, Robert Lax, John Berryman, and Beat Generation...
- writer, Ph.D. 1920 - Stark YoungStark YoungStark Young was an American teacher, playwright, novelist, painter, literary critic and essayist.-Biography:Stark Young was born in Como, Mississippi to Mary Clark Starks and Alfred Alexander Young, a local physician....
- critic and writer, 1902
Philosophers
- Mortimer AdlerMortimer AdlerMortimer Jerome Adler was an American philosopher, educator, and popular author. As a philosopher he worked within the Aristotelian and Thomistic traditions. He lived for the longest stretches in New York City, Chicago, San Francisco, and San Mateo, California...
- Ph.D. in psychology, 1928 - Arthur DantoArthur DantoArthur Coleman Danto Arthur Coleman Danto Arthur Coleman Danto (born January 1, 1924 is an American art critic, and professor of philosophy. He is best known as the influential, long-time art critic for The Nation and for his work in philosophical aesthetics and philosophy of history, though he...
- M.A. 1949, Ph.D. in philosophy, 1952 - Irwin EdmanIrwin EdmanIrwin Edman was an American philosopher and professor of philosophy. He was born in New York City to Jewish parents. Edman spent his high-school years at Townsend Harris Hall, a New York high school for superior pupils. He then attended Columbia University, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa...
- Ph.D. in philosophy, 1919 - Hu ShihHu ShihHu Shih , born Hu Hung-hsing , was a Chinese philosopher, essayist and diplomat. His courtesy name was Shih-chih . Hu is widely recognized today as a key contributor to Chinese liberalism and language reform in his advocacy for the use of written vernacular Chinese...
- public intellectual in China, Ph.D. 1917
Natural scientists
- Jacqueline BartonJacqueline BartonJacqueline K. Barton is an American chemist. She is the Arthur and Marian Hanisch Memorial professor of Chemistry at California Institute of Technology...
- chemist, 1979 - Niles EldredgeNiles EldredgeNiles Eldredge is an American paleontologist, who, along with Stephen Jay Gould, proposed the theory of punctuated equilibrium in 1972.-Education:...
- paleontologist, Ph.D. 1969 - Stephen Jay GouldStephen Jay GouldStephen Jay Gould was an American paleontologist, evolutionary biologist, and historian of science. He was also one of the most influential and widely read writers of popular science of his generation....
- paleontologist, Ph.D. 1967
Performing arts
- Kenneth AscherKenneth AscherKenneth "Kenny" Lee Ascher , is an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger who is active in jazz, rock, classical, and musical theater genres — in live venues, recording studios, and cinema production. He is widely known for co-writing, with Paul Williams, The Rainbow Connection...
, DMA – jazz pianist, composer – 1966 CC; 1968 GSAS; 1971 SOAColumbia University School of the ArtsThe Columbia University School of the Arts , also known simply as the School of the Arts or as SoA, is the division of the university that offers Master of Fine Arts degrees in Film, Visual Arts, Theatre Arts, and Writing, as well as a Master of Arts degree in Film Studies... - Art GarfunkelArt GarfunkelArthur Ira "Art" Garfunkel is an American singer-songwriter, poet, and actor, best known as being a member of the folk duo Simon & Garfunkel...
- musician, 1967 - Will GeerWill GeerWill Geer was an American actor and social activist. His original name was William Aughe Ghere. He is remembered for his portrayal of Grandpa Zebulon Tyler Walton in the 1970s TV series, The Waltons....
- actor - Edward Everett HortonEdward Everett HortonEdward Everett Horton was an American character actor. He had a long career in film, theater, radio, television and voice work for animated cartoons. He is especially known for his work in the films of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.-Early life:Horton was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Isabella...
- actor, 1909 - John KanderJohn KanderJohn Harold Kander is the American composer of a number of musicals as part of the songwriting team of Kander and Ebb.-Life and career:Kander was born in Kansas City, Missouri, the son of Bernice and Harold S. Kander...
- composer, 1954 - Bernard MalamudBernard MalamudBernard Malamud was an author of novels and short stories. Along with Saul Bellow and Philip Roth, he was one of the great American Jewish authors of the 20th century. His baseball novel, The Natural, was adapted into a 1984 film starring Robert Redford...
- writer, 1942 - Thomas MertonThomas MertonThomas Merton, O.C.S.O. was a 20th century Anglo-American Catholic writer and mystic. A Trappist monk of the Abbey of Gethsemani, Kentucky, he was a poet, social activist, and student of comparative religion...
- Catholic writer, 1939
Social scientists
- Ruth BenedictRuth BenedictRuth Benedict was an American anthropologist, cultural relativist, and folklorist....
- anthropologist, Ph.D. 1923 - Theos Casimir BernardTheos Casimir BernardTheos Casimir Bernard was an explorer, and author, known for his work on yoga and religious studies, particularly in Tibetan Buddhism.-Career:...
- explorer and religionist, M.A. 1936, Ph.D. 1943 - Kenneth B. Clark - educational psychologist, Ph.D. 1940
- Mamie Phipps Clark - educational psychologist, Ph.D. 1943
- Gilberto FreyreGilberto FreyreGilberto de Mello Freyre was a Brazilian sociologist, anthropologist, historian, writer, painter and congressman. His best-known work is a sociological treatise named Casa-Grande & Senzala...
— Brazilian sociologist, cultural anthropologist and historian, M.A. 1922 - Margaret MeadMargaret MeadMargaret Mead was an American cultural anthropologist, who was frequently a featured writer and speaker in the mass media throughout the 1960s and 1970s....
- anthropologist, Ph.D. 1929
Statesmen
- B. R. AmbedkarB. R. AmbedkarBhimrao Ramji Ambedkar , popularly also known as Babasaheb, was an Indian jurist, political leader, philosopher, thinker, anthropologist, historian, orator, prolific writer, economist, scholar, editor, a revolutionary and one of the founding fathers of independent India. He was also the Chairman...
- a founding father of India, M.A. 1915, Ph.D. 1928 - Nicholas Murray Butler - diplomat and President of Columbia University, Ph.D. 1884
- Benjamin Cardozo - jurist, M.A. 1890
- Wellington KooWellington KooKoo Vi Kyuin or Ku Wei-chün , often known by the Western name V.K. Wellington Koo, was a prominent diplomat under the Republic of China, representative to the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, Ambassador to France, Great Britain, and the United States; participant in founding the League of Nations...
- Chinese diplomat, Ph.D. 1912 - Robert MosesRobert MosesRobert Moses was the "master builder" of mid-20th century New York City, Long Island, Rockland County, and Westchester County, New York. As the shaper of a modern city, he is sometimes compared to Baron Haussmann of Second Empire Paris, and is one of the most polarizing figures in the history of...
urban planner, Ph.D. 1914 - Frances PerkinsFrances PerkinsFrances Perkins , born Fannie Coralie Perkins, was the U.S. Secretary of Labor from 1933 to 1945, and the first woman appointed to the U.S. Cabinet. As a loyal supporter of her friend, Franklin D. Roosevelt, she helped pull the labor movement into the New Deal coalition...
- US Secretary of Labor, M.A. 1910 - Brent ScowcroftBrent ScowcroftBrent Scowcroft, KBE was the United States National Security Advisor under Presidents Gerald Ford and George H. W. Bush and a Lieutenant General in the United States Air Force. He also served as Military Assistant to President Richard Nixon and as Deputy Assistant to the President for National...
- US National Security Advisor, M.A. and Ph.D. in international relations, 1967 - Mark WylandMark WylandMark Bryan Wyland is a U.S. Republican politician from the state of California, who represents the 38th District in the California State Senate.-Biography:...
- California State Senator, M.A. in political science, 1969
Visual arts
- Donald Clarence Judd - sculptor, 1961
- Agnes MartinAgnes MartinAgnes Bernice Martin was an American abstract painter, often referred to as a minimalist; Martin considered herself an abstract expressionist.She won a National Medal of Arts from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1998....
- painter, M.A. 1952 - Meyer SchapiroMeyer SchapiroMeyer Schapiro was a Lithuanian-born American art historian known for forging new art historical methodologies that incorporated an interdisciplinary approach to the study of works of art...
- art historian, Ph.D. 1929
Other
- Herman HollerithHerman HollerithHerman Hollerith was an American statistician who developed a mechanical tabulator based on punched cards to rapidly tabulate statistics from millions of pieces of data. He was the founder of one of the companies that later merged and became IBM.-Personal life:Hollerith was born in Buffalo, New...
- inventor, Ph.D. 1890 - Sam LevensonSam LevensonSam Levenson was an American humorist, writer, teacher, television host and journalist.-Personal life:Born Samuel Levenson, he grew up in a large Jewish immigrant family in Brooklyn, New York. He graduated from Brooklyn College in 1934...
- comedian, 1938 - John McCafferyJohn McCafferyJohn McCaffery was an American television host who appeared on many game shows and talk shows during the 1940s and 1950s including Americana, Television Screen Magazine, What's the Story, and Author Meets the Critics.-Game Shows:McCaffery also hosted the following game shows:* We Take Your Word...
- newscaster - Richard P. MillsRichard P. MillsRichard Paul Mills is an American educator most notable for having served as the Commissioner of Education for both Vermont and New York States.-Early life and career:...
- former Commissioner of Education for both Vermont and New York States, M.A. 1967 - Madeleine B. SternMadeleine B. SternMadeleine Bettina Stern , born in New York, New York, was an American historian and rare books dealer and noted Louisa May Alcott scholar....
- rare book expert, M.A. 1934