About GSAS

Mission Statement
The mission of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, as one of the oldest and most distinguished graduate schools in the United States, is to promote excellence at every level of graduate education. The Graduate School enables students to acquire advanced knowledge and skills in specific disciplines in the humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences and in multidisciplinary scholarly pursuits; to prepare students seeking the MA and PhD degrees for a variety of careers in the twenty-first century; and to support, in intellectually rich and rigorous degree programs, the acquisition of knowledge for its own sake. We recognize a dual obligation to encourage responsible scholarly research by students and faculty and to connect graduate education across the disciplines appropriately to the urban, national, and global environment. Finally, we seek not only to develop the intellectual abilities of our students in their chosen fields but also to create a diverse community of scholars, promoting the integration of graduate students into both the research and educational missions of Columbia University.

GSAS at Columbia University
Columbia has played a central role over the last 130 years in the education of the nation’s pool of talent and, through those individuals, has exercised a significant influence over higher education and the conduct of scholarly and scientific research in this country. From its inception until World War II, GSAS had one of the largest enrollments of doctoral students in the country and awarded a disproportionate share of the nation’s PhDs. The presence of PhD programs has also played a major role in shaping the character and culture of the University. Their introduction was a milestone in Columbia’s evolution into a research university and has altered the demographic background of the student population, giving it a much more cosmopolitan character. Today nearly 40% of GSAS students are from foreign countries.

The Graduate School is part of the complex of seven Faculties and numerous departments of instruction that make up the Arts and Sciences. Columbia’s diverse array of PhD programs has evolved in response to changes in institutional priorities, societal needs, student interest, and the ever-changing nature of knowledge. The quality of Columbia’s PhD faculty can be measured in many different ways. One indicator of the excellence of individual members is the receipt of honorific awards, prizes, and other forms of recognition. For example, the faculty currently includes nine Nobel laureates and four recipients of the National Medal of Science. Forty-one have been elected to the National Academy of Sciences and 143 to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, while 38 belong to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies and 20 to the National Academy of Engineering. In recognition of their scholarly achievements, some faculty members have been awarded honorary degrees from other universities, while others have received special prizes for outstanding work in their respective disciplines.