Sometimes it can be hard to figure out which end is up with all of the offices and people you need to know to get around the college. It might be helpful to review Columbia’s basic academic structure, so that you will be able to tell your provost from your dean from your president. Columbia is an arts and media college (the largest in the country, by the way) that is divided into three schools: the School of Media Arts, the School of Fine & Performing Arts, and the School of Liberal Arts & Sciences. The president leads the entire college, with oversight of both academic and nonacademic sides. Reporting directly to the president on the academic side is the provost, and the provost oversees the deans who lead each of Columbia’s three schools. Each dean oversees the department chairpersons and program directors that run the departments and programs in their school. Confused yet? Basically, when you need issues resolved, you should start with your individual faculty member who will then help you navigate the chain of command as necessary.
Academic Departments
Steven Kapelke, Provost & Senior Vice-President
Louise Love, Vice-President for Academic Affairs
The School of Fine and Performing Arts
Eliza Nichols, Dean
Art & Design (A new Chair will be announced in the fall of 2008)
Arts, Entertainment, & Media Management (J. Dennis Rich, Chair)
Dance (Bonnie Brooks, Chair)
Dance/Movement Therapy (Susan Imus, Chair)
Fiction Writing (Randy Albers, Chair)
Music (Richard Dunscomb, Chair)
Photography (Bob Thall, Chair)
Theater (Sheldon Patinkin, Chair)
THE SCHOOL OF LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES
Deborah Holdstein, Dean
ASL - English Interpretation (Carly Flagg-Campbell, Chair)
Early Childhood Education (Carol Ann Stowe, Director)
Educational Studies (Ava Belisle-Chatterjee, Chair)
English (Kenneth Daley, Chair)
First-Year Seminar (Robert Lagueux, Director)
Liberal Education (Lisa Brock, Chair)
Science & Math (Constantin Rasinariu, Acting Chair)
THE SCHOOL OF MEDIA ARTS
Doreen Bartoni, Dean
Interactive Arts & Media (Annette Barbier, Chair)
Interdisciplinary Arts (Michelle Citron, Chair)
Audio Arts & Acoustics (Doug Jones, Chair)
Film/Video (Bruce Sheridan, Chair)
Journalism (Nancy Day, Chair)
Marketing Communications (Margaret Sullivan, Chair)
The School of Media Arts continued
Radio (Barbara Calabrese, Chair)
Television (Michael Niederman, Chair)
GRADUATE PROGRAMS
Dean of Graduate Administration & Student Services
(Keith Cleveland)