Communications and Calendars
Letters to the Faculty:
November 13, 2007
Dear Colleagues,
I would like to take this opportunity to update you on a number of developments in the Arts and Sciences as we convene the first faculty meeting of the Arts and Sciences. In this letter I will address efforts to improve junior faculty mentoring, to develop a closer collaboration with the College, to engage in strategic planning with the natural sciences faculty, to implement a new mode of undergraduate teaching evaluations, to find ways to meet the increasing scarcity of space on the Morningside campus, and to provide an update on our fundraising efforts.
While these efforts have a central place in our work, it is also important periodically to reaffirm our commitment to uphold academic freedom and faculty governance in the Arts and Sciences. Recent events at and concerning Columbia have raised questions that continue to cause disagreement and debate. In response to this, the Executive Committee of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences has published a Statement on Academic Freedom; I wholly endorse and support this statement.
I must also note that members of the administration have been meeting with representatives of the striking students in an effort to bring them back to the dorms and the dining halls as soon as possible. We are deeply concerned about the health and well being of our students, while we acknowledge and respect the right of peaceful protest. I will circulate any relevant documents related with these efforts to the faculty when appropriate.
In academic year 2006-07, the Office of the Vice Provost for Diversity, with funding from the Trustees, began to gather information from Columbia faculty about faculty development programs that are in place at Columbia and which ones need to be developed and strengthened. In all of the conversations the office sponsored and in the feedback received from pilot events, the chief problem facing untenured faculty seems to be a lack of accurate information about the tenure process and the reviews conducted within Arts and Sciences preceding the tenure review.
Posting accurate and easily accessible information on a website as well as workshops on procedures and timeframes was viewed as being a first step. Building on pilot workshops last year, Geraldine Downey, Vice Provost for Diversity Initiatives, is working with Margaret Edsall, Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs, to develop two workshops to be held early next semester as well as on reviewing how to improve both the information available on the web and ensuring easy access to it.
Untenured faculty also stressed the need to know about local customs and expectations and how the process will play out in a particular department. In addition, they thought it valuable to get structured advice on how one can promote an active research life while balancing the demands of teaching and service; what fellowships, grants, conferences, and research networks are available for new faculty to compete for or to join; and what help Columbia gives to new faculty in promoting their research careers and appropriate work-life balance. Building on this feedback, I began requesting information last year about what departments are currently doing in terms of mentorship of junior faculty. This can be viewed as a starting point for more concerted efforts in Arts and Sciences to support departments in fostering the development of junior faculty.
We just held the first disciplinary retreat associated with a generous grant for examining the disciplines that we received from the Mellon Foundation. This retreat, for the department of Religion, included not only all members of the department but also invited guests from our consortial partners (Berkeley, Chicago, and Cambridge) as well as some other major specialists in the field. It was very successful and a wonderful way to begin the series of retreats we will be holding for other departments and clusters of departments in the Arts and Sciences over the next four years. These retreats are not academic reviews. They are designed to give faculty members an opportunity to examine the state of their disciplines, to critically evaluate the most pronounced challenges in their fields, and to think about issues of disciplinarity and interdisciplinarity in an atmosphere that is not constrained by normal review procedures and concerns.
As many of you already know, we are implementing the standardized Arts and Sciences teaching evaluations for undergraduate courses this semester. In the spring, Ann McDermott spearheaded a dry run and is now applying this new system to all undergraduate classes. By standardizing the evaluations, while at the same time accommodating specific departmental needs, instructors will be able to compare not only their own evaluations across time but also across the courses they teach. We hope that this will become an integral tool in developing teaching materials and future courses. In addition, standardized teaching evaluations can be integrated systematically for faculty reviews. I appreciate the work that you have done to integrate this new evaluation system into your courses and the support you are providing Ann as she embarks on this next phase of the implementation.
We have also had our first meeting of the Taskforce on Undergraduate Education this semester. This year the bulk of the work will be done by faculty-led committees which include Curricular Structure chaired by Martha Howell, Science Education chaired by Ann McDermott, Teaching chaired by David Weinstein, and Globalization chaired by Peter Awn. Each of these committees is charged with analyzing a set of core questions, and although they are institutionally discreet, their objectives as well as the materials they review overlap in a multitude of ways. As the taskforce continues to meet, each committee will present its conclusions for wider discussion.
Starting in September, my colleague Austin Quigley and I have been working together to increase the collaborative efforts between the College and the Arts and Sciences. We have established weekly meetings with our senior administrative staff to review impending needs, to discuss long-term planning, and to organize new ways to integrate our efforts in the following areas: budgets, student affairs and advising, curricular organization, and development. We have also been meeting with Peter Awn, Dean of the School of General Studies, to begin to plan ways to better integrate various aspects of the College and GS. I am confident that this new partnership will have multiple benefits for the College as well as for the Faculty of the Arts and Sciences
As I write to you, the lack of any significant new space being brought to bear in the short term against the chronic shortage in the Arts and Sciences is still a pressing concern. Progress has however been made on several fronts which in the upcoming years will begin to ease the persistent gridlock that exists today.
Construction began this spring on our ambitious new interdisciplinary science building located on the corner of Broadway and 120th Street. Design efforts on the individual floors continue while construction begins, readying the site for the erection of structural steel to begin later this winter/spring. It is hoped that this aggressive schedule will result in occupancy of the building in the Fall of 2010. Detailed designs are beginning to take shape for research programs focused on Nanoscience, Structural Biology, and Chemical Biology. These highly interdisciplinary programs centered on thematic areas of scientific inquiry will link researchers from varied departments, and will afford faculty the opportunity to venture outside the confines of traditional departmental structures in the pursuit of new areas of scientific exploration. We are also engaging in regular meetings with the chairs of the science departments, David Hirsh and with the Dean of SEAS to gather views on the governance structure that would best support this unique opportunity.
The key to unlocking new space resources for the social sciences and humanities is the renovation of Knox Hall, the property the University has rented from Union Theological Seminary. Knox Hall is currently scheduled for occupancy in the Fall of 2009, which will allow several departments, institutes, and centers to move to new expanded quarters. These moves to Knox will, in turn, provide the opportunity to initiate a series of expansion/renovation projects and strategic moves in many humanities and social science departments on the main campus.
In spite of the dearth of new space available to the Arts and Sciences in the short term, incremental progress has been made on several fronts in the form of renovation projects and repurposing of existing spaces throughout the campus. Some of these projects include:
- Conversion of a portion of the Biology Library to computational research labs for new faculty.
- Renovation of research labs in Havemeyer.
- Conversion of a portion of the Geology Library to a new D.E.E.S teaching lab.
- Renovation of existing departmental & faculty spaces in the IAB for Economics and Political Science.
- Completion of experimental Psychology research labs in Schermerhorn Extension for new faculty.
- Hamilton Hall renovation project (Phase 8) covering floors housing Classics, Slavic, and the Registrar.
In response to a past lack of capital investments in general maintenance, the Arts and Sciences embarked this summer on an ambitious project to address the basic condition of faculty and departmental offices. A tour of department offices resulted in the establishment of a prioritized list of projects. The projects run the gamut from painting and carpeting to general repairs of lighting, plumbing, and HVAC. Implementation of the first group of high priority projects began late this summer and will continue whenever possible throughout the academic year into next summer with a commitment to fund this work for a total of five years.
The new Columbia Campaign has been going very well. During fiscal year 2006-2007, the University received $913 million in new gifts and pledges, a record for the University. The Arts and Sciences added $285 million in campaign gifts and pledges during this time. The highlight of the year was John Kluge's extraordinary $400 million commitment for financial aid, of which $200 million is for scholarships in Columbia College. As of the end of September, the overall University campaign total stood at $2.402 billion and the total for the Arts and Sciences was $507 million. As you may recall, we began well behind the pace of the rest of the University, reflecting later planning and more recent investment in fundraising staff. The Kluge pledge and other gifts over the summer took us over the $500 million half-way point.
We are tracking two key endowment priorities -- College financial aid and professorships. As of September 30, we had commitments of $248 million in College financial aid toward the overall $400 million goal. And as of September 30, we had commitments for 15 professorships against our goal of at least 50. Eight of those chairs were raised in the first year of the Lenfest matching program, and the other seven were raised before the match.
To help build momentum for the campaign, we have taken important steps in campaign organization. Beginning with the clear understanding that our key donor constituency is the College alumni and that the best campaign rubric is undergraduate education, Austin and I spent a great deal of time with our staffs last winter and spring finalizing objectives for undergraduate education within the overall $1 billion campaign goal for the Arts and Sciences. The Columbia Campaign for Undergraduate Education, or CCUE, includes $865 million of objectives to support undergraduate students in the College and the School of General Studies and the faculty who teach them. (The remaining $135 million in the overall Arts and Sciences goal supports objectives in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the School of International and Public Affairs and the School of the Arts.) Support for faculty positions, key among our campaign priorities, is an integral component of the undergraduate campaign.
A substantial volunteer committee of trustees, alumni and parents has been put together for the undergraduate campaign and it has had two launch events this fall: the centennial celebration of Hamilton Hall in early October and an event at the President’s house on November 1. The greatest fundraising challenges are our key priorities -- scholarships and professorships. A number of solicitations are in process. We are also finalizing a matching program for scholarships in the College that would add momentum to that part of the campaign.
Last spring, ECFAS decided to re-structure its fundraising committee, dividing one large committee into three working groups. One of the new groups, led by Stuart Firestein and David Helfand, will focus on events for major gift donors. A second will focus on alumni relations and increasing faculty participation in alumni activities. And a third, led by Patricia Dailey and Pamela Smith, will focus on departments. To support this effort, Linda Nelson and her director of development, Andrea Rounds, have created a system of staff liaisons for departments. At the last chairs meeting, we introduced a project to elicit special departmental needs, in order to make those available for the development staff. Chairs will follow up with their colleagues about this project this fall.
As you know we continue to be under significant budgetary pressures. In order to plan more effectively for the future of the Arts and Sciences, we are taking a proactive approach to our budget and the central university investment that is required each year. We will be working with the deans and staff of each of the six schools in order to identify the critical areas where investment above inflation is necessary, opportunities for reallocation of existing resources towards these priorities, and new revenue streams. Once these areas have been identified, we will work with central administration to prioritize these needs and to construct a budget for central’s investment in the Arts and Sciences.
Despite these pressures, we have authorized as many requests for faculty positions as possible during the coming year. Our instructional budget decisions were made against a background of significant achievement in faculty growth. Since September of 2004 when I started as VP, we have increased the professorial-rank faculty from 595 to 648 in the current academic year, an increase of 9% (including the faculty in the Schools of the Arts and International and Public Affairs). Among the three divisions, to meet the increasing demands in teaching, we have grown the professorial-rank faculty in the humanities from 184 in 2004 to 203 this year, an increase of 10.3%. The faculty in the social sciences has increased from 146 to 161, an increase of 10.6% over three years, as the faculty in the natural sciences increased from 180 to 189, an increase of 5.0%. The faculty in the School of the Arts has also grown substantially from 48 to 53, an increase of 12.6% since 2004, while the faculty of the School of International and Public Affairs has grown from 36 to 40, an increase of 10.9%.
As part of our regular planning process, the Academic Review Committee (ARC) continues to provide my office with reports based on intensive reviews of academic departments, institutes, and centers. Our office regards these reports as the single most important basis for future planning in the Arts and Sciences, and for advice and counsel about the academic life of each unit. We rely on and are grateful to the dedicated senior faculty serving on ARC as well as the faculty who assist with reviews. Last year the Committee completed thorough and helpful reviews of the Departments of Art History and Archaeology, Astronomy, Classics, the Institute for Research on Women and Gender, and the regional institutes housed in the School of International and Public Affairs. This year ARC is in the process of reviewing the Undergraduate Writing Program and the Departments of English and Comparative Literature, East Asian Languages and Cultures, Economics, and Philosophy; the Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy, the Center for the Ancient Mediterranean, and the Center for the Study of Human Rights.
Finally, I would also like to extend my warmest congratulations to our many colleagues who have received honors, awards, grants, and fellowships recently. I am sure my admiration for your success is shared by everyone in the Arts and Sciences. At the end of this letter, we have appended a partial list of awards that we were able to collect from our faculty going as far back as Fall 2006. We will continue to recognize our outstanding faculty in this way, so this list will be updated as we hear from you and from the chairs in particular.
Warm regards,
Nicholas B. Dirks
Franz Boas Professor of Anthropology and History
Vice President for Arts and Sciences
Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences
Faculty awards, honors, grants, and fellowships
Social Sciences
Anthropology
Abu-Lughod, Lila
Professor
Carnegie Scholar, 2007-2009
American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) Fellowship, May 2007-2008
American Ethnological Society Senior Book Prize, presented by the American Anthropological Association, Dec 2007
Middle East Senior Scholar Award from the American Anthropological Association (Middle East Section), 2007
De Genova, Nicholas P.
Assistant Professor
Marie Curie Incoming International Fellowship, 2007-2008
C.L.R. James Book Award, presented by the Working-Class Studies Association, 2007
Association for Latina and Latino Anthropologists Book Award, 2006
Finalist, C. Wright Mills Book Award, presented by the Society for the Study of Social Problems, 2006
Gregory, Steven
Professor
The Anthony Leeds Prize in Urban Anthropology, presented by the Society for Urban Anthropology, Oct 2007
The Gordon K. and Sybil Lewis Book Award, presented by the Caribbean Studies Association, Jun 2007
Holloway, Ralph L.
Professor
Honored by the Stone Age Institute with a symposium titled, “The Human Brain Evolving: Papers in Honor of Ralph L. Holloway,” Apr 2007
Lomnitz, Claudio W.
William B. Ransford Professor of Antropology
Antonio García Cubas Award, 2007
Best Production of a Sociological Essay, presented by the Cámara Nacional de la Industria Editorial Mexicana (CANIEM), 2007
Povinelli, Elizabeth A.
Professor
Faculty, School of Criticism and Theory, Cornell University, Jun-Jul 2008
Distinguished Faculty Residency, Franklin Humanities Institute, Duke University, Nov 26-Dec 6, 2007
Fellowship: "Digital Memory," Vectors Journal of Culture and Technology, Summer 2007
Gerry Lenfest Distinguished Columbia Faculty Award, 2006
Economics
Bhagwati, Jagdish N.
University Professor
Thomas C. Schelling Award, presented by the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government, 2007
Che, Yeon-Koo
Professor
Awarded a grant by the National Science Foundation (NSF) for the project, “Market Design with Financially Constrained Agents,” Oct 2007
Currie, Janet M.
Professor
Awarded a grant by the National Institutes of Child Health and Human Development (NIH/NICHD) for the project, “Investigating the Link Between Child Maltreatment and Crime,” Apr 2007
Desai, Padma B.
Gladys and Roland Harriman Professor of Comparative Economic Systems
Padma Bhushan awardee, Jan 2008
Honored with a festschrift conference titled, “Russia: Soviet Past, Present Performance, and Future Prospects,” Apr 2007
Edlund, Lena
Associate Professor
Awarded a grant by the National Science Foundation (NSF) for the project, “Chernobyl’s Asymptomatic Legacy: Effects of Low Level Prenatal Irradiation on Adult Cognitive Performance,” Sep 2007
Phelps, Edmund S.
McVickar Professor of Political Economy
Awarded the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, 2006
Sala-I-Martin, Xavier
Professor
Gerry Lenfest Distinguished Columbia Faculty Award, 2006
Von Wachter, Till M.
Assistant Professor
Awarded the Sandell Grant by the Center for Retirement Research of Boston College/ U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA) for the project, “Outsourcing, Deindustrialization and Technological Change,” Apr 2007
Woodford, Michael
John Bates Clark Professor of Political Economy
Deutsche Bank Prize in Financial Economics, Jan 2007
History
Berghahn, Volker R.
Seth Low Professor of History and Director of the Institute for the Study of Europe
Awarded the “Helmut Schmidt Prize” by the Zeit Foundation for lifetime achievements in the field of Business and Economic History, Feb 2007
Brown, Christopher L.
Visiting Professor
Frederick Douglass Book Prize, presented by the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition, Oct 2007
Foner, Eric
Dewitt Clinton Professor of History
John Jay Award for Distinguished Professional Achievement, presented by the Columbia College Alumni Association, Jan 2007
Honored with a festschrift for Contested Democracy: Freedom, Race, and Power in American History, Sep 2007
Harris, William V.
William R. Shepherd Professor of History
2007 Andrew W. Mellon Foundation's Distinguished Achievement Award
Howell, Martha C.
Miriam Champion Professor of History
Awarded Doctor of Humane Letters by the University of Ghent, Belgium, Mar 2007
Kaye, Joel B.
Professor
Awarded the “Resident Fellowship Grant” by the Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers, The New York Public Library, Sep 2007
Khalidi, Rashid
Edward Said Professor of Modern Arab Studies and Literature; Director - Middle East Institute
Arab American National Museum Book Award, Sep 2007
Gerry Lenfest Distinguished Columbia Faculty Award, Jan 2007
Mann, Gregory
Associate Professor
Awarded the David Pinkey Prize for the best book in French history published in 2006 by the Society for French Historical Studies for Native Sons, Mar 2007
Finalist, Melville J. Herskovits Prize for the best book in African studies published in 2006, awarded by the African Studies Association for Native Sons, Oct 2007
Moyn, Samuel A.
Professor
Gerry Lenfest Distinguished Columbia Faculty Award, Jan 2007
Mark van Doren Teaching Award, presented by Columbia College, May 2007
Student Council Teaching Award, presented by the Columbia School of General Studies, May 2007
Sybil Halpern Milton Memorial Book Prize, presented by the German Association, Oct 2007
Philliou, Christine M.
Assistant Professor
Awarded the MacDonald Grant, Apr 2007
Brookings Institution-Sakip Sabanci International Research Award, May 2007
Schama, Simon M.
University Professor
National Book Critics’ Circle Award, 2007
Received honorary degrees from the University of Esses, Ruskin College, and the University of East Anglia, 2007
Nominee for an International Emmy for “The Power of Art” arts documentary series, 2007
Smith, Pamela H.
Professor
Samuel H. Kress Paired Fellow, Center for Advanced Study for the Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., Jan 2007
Tuttle, Gray
Leila Hadley Luce Assistant Professor of Modern Tibetan Studies
Awarded a grant by the Rubin Foundation for developing the website on Tibetan Material History, Aug 2007
Awarded a grant by the Rubin Foundation for two textbooks for Tibetan Studies with CUP, Aug 2007
Wortman, Richard S.
Bryce Professor of European Legal History
American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies (AAASS) Distinguished Contributions to Slavic Studies Award, Nov 2007
Yerushalmi, Yosef Hayim
Salo Wittmayer Baron Professor of Jewish History, Culture and Society
Dr. Leopold-Lucas Prize, presented by the University of Tuebingen, Jan 2007
Zelin, Madeleine H.
Dean Lung Professor of Chinese Studies
John K. Fairbank Prize, presented by the American Historical Association, Jan 2007
ICAS Humanities Prize from the International Conference on Asian Studies, Aug 2007
Allan Sharlin Prize, presented by the Social Science History Association, Nov 2006
Political Science
Betts, Richard K.
Leo A. Shifrin Professor of War and Peace Studies and Arnold A. Saltzman Professor of War and Peace Studies; Director - Institute of War and Peace Studies
Appointed Rajaratnam Professor of Strategic Studies and Research Fellow at the Institute of Defense and Strategic Studies in Singapore, Aug 2007
Cohen, Jean Louise
Professor
Named one of the Top 20 Individuals in Each Subfield Who Are also in the Political Science 400 by the American Political Science Association in PS: Political Science & Politics, Jan 2007
Named one of the Top 40 Women in Political Science 400 by the American Political Science Association in PS: Political Science & Politics, Jan 2007
De La Garza, Rodolfo
Eaton Professor of Administrative Law and Municipal Science
Awarded a grant from the Tomás Rivera Policy Institute for the project, “African American and Latino Attitudes Regarding Issues Associated with the Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant,” Mar 2007-Jul 2007
Elster, Jon
Robert K. Merton Professor of the Social Sciences
Awarded a grant by the Norwegian Research Council for a multi-year project, “Microfoundations of Civil War,” 2007-2012
Named one of the Top 25 Individuals in Each Five-Year Cohort Who Are also in the Political Science 400 by the American Political Science Association in PS: Political Science & Politics, Jan 2007
Named one of the Top 20 Individuals in Each Subfield Who Are also in the Political Science 400 by the American Political Science Association in PS: Political Science & Politics, Jan 2007
Erikson, Robert S.
Professor
Named one of the Top 25 Individuals in Each Five-Year Cohort Who Are also in the Political Science 400 by the American Political Science Association in PS: Political Science & Politics, Jan 2007
Named one of the Top 20 Individuals in Each Subfield Who Are also in the Political Science 400 by the American Political Science Association in PS: Political Science & Politics, Jan 2007
Harris, Fredrick Cornelius
Professor
American Political Science Association’s Ralph J. Bunche Award for Countervailing Forces in African-American Civic Activism, 2007
Mary Parker Follett Award, 2007
Hirano, Shigeo
Assistant Professor
Research Fellowship from the Yale Center for the Study of American Politics, 2007-2008
Humphreys, Macartan N.
Assistant Professor
Luebbert Article Award, presented by the American Political Science Association Organized Section in Comparative Politics, Aug 2007
Awarded a grant from the Government of Australia and the Center for Global Development (CGD) for research on development and democracy in Liberia and Indonesia, 2007
Awarded a grant by The World Bank for research on peacekeeping in Indonesia, 2007
Jervis, Robert
Adlai E. Stevenson Professor
Named one of the Top 25 Individuals in Each Five-Year Cohort Who Are also in the Political Science 400 by the American Political Science Association in PS: Political Science & Politics, Jan 2007
Named one of the Top 20 Individuals in Each Subfield Who Are also in the Political Science 400 by the American Political Science Association in PS: Political Science & Politics, Jan 2007
National Academy of Sciences Award for Behavioral Research Relevant to the Prevention of Nuclear War, 2006
Kasara, Kimuli Kunihira
Assistant Professor
Arts and Sciences Hettleman Summer Fellowship, Mar 2007
Katznelson, Ira I.
Ruggles Professor of Political Science and History
Delivered Boston University’s annual Gaspar G. Bacon Lecture, 2007
Nathan, Andrew J.
Class of 1919 Professor of Political Science; Department Chairman of Political Science
Awarded a grant from the Smith Richardson Foundation for writing the second edition of The Great Wall and the Empty Fortress, 2007-2008
Phillips, Justin H.
Assistant Professor
Awarded the Russell Sage Foundation Inequality Grant for the project, “The Politics of Inequality: Neighborhood-Level Allocations of Community Development Block Grant Money,” 2007
Awarded the grant by the Lincoln Institute for Land Policy for a survey of locally-imposed tax and expenditure limits, 2007
Shapiro, Robert Yale
Professor
President of the New York Chapter of the American Association for Public Opinion Research (NYAAPOR), 2007
Named one of the Top 25 Individuals in Each Five-Year Cohort Who Are also in the Political Science 400 by the American Political Science Association in PS: Political Science & Politics, Jan 2007
Snyder, Jack Lewis
Robert and Renee Belfer Professor of International Relations; Director of the Harriman Institute
Georgetown University Lepgold Book Prize, 2007
Named one of the Top 25 Individuals in Each Five-Year Cohort Who Are also in the Political Science 400 by the American Political Science Association in PS: Political Science & Politics, Jan 2007
Urbinati, Nadia
Nell & Herbert M. Singer Professor of Contemporary Civilization in the Core Curriculum
Promotion to Full Professor, Department of Political Science, Columbia University, 2007
Laurance S. Rockefeller Visiting Fellow at Princeton University Center for Human Values, 2007-2008
Nominated as a Member of the Italian National Committee for the Celebrations of the Centennial Anniversary of Norberto Bobbio, 2007
Warren, Dorian Tod
Assistant Professor
Awarded a grant by the American Rights at Work for the project, “Workplace Democracy Project: Employer and Union Behavior in Organizing Campaigns,” 2007
Wawro, Gregory J.
Associate Professor
American Political Science Association (APSA) Legislative Studies Section’s Richard J. Fenno Prize, 2007
Sociology
Bearman, Peter Shawn
Jonathan R. Cole Professor of Sociology
National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director’s Pioneer Award Program: Social Determinants of Autism, Sep 2007-Aug 2012
Interdisciplinary Graduate Fellows Program, Jan 2007-Dec 2010
Awarded a grant by the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) for the project, “Visual Oral History of the Council on Foreign Relations,” 2007
DiPrete, Thomas A.
Professor
Awarded a grant by the National Science Foundation (NSF) for the project, “Labor Demand, Organizational Power, and Status Processes: What Explains Compensation Trends in Executive Occupations?” May 2007-Jun 2009
Eyal, Gil
Professor
Awarded a grant by the National Science Foundation (NSF) for the project, “Networks of Expertise and the Autism Spectrum,” Sep 2007-Aug 2009
Fisher, Dana R.
Associate Professor
Awarded a grant by the USDA Forest Service for the Urban Environmental Stewardship project: Understanding Emerging Forms of Civic Innovation, Sep 2006-May 2008
Marwell, Nicole P.
Associate Professor
Awarded a grant by the National Science Foundation (NSF) for the project, “The Spatial Allocation of Social Provision: Government Contracting, Material Resources, and the Poor,” Mar 2007-Feb 2008
Silver, Allan A.
Professor
Awarded a grant by the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation for the project, “Civil and Military Society in America, 1945-2005,” Nov 2006-Nov 2007
Tilly, Charles H.
Joseph L. Buttenwieser Professor of Social Science
Karl Deutsch Award in Comparative Politics from the International Political Science Association, 2006
Phi Beta Kappa Society Sidney Hook Memorial Award, 2006
Vaughan, Diane
Professor
Elected member, Sociological Research Association
Walter C. Reckless Memorial Lecturer, Ohio State University, Spring 2007
Venkatesh, Sudhir A.
Professor
Charles H. Revson Fellowship, Sep 2006-Dec 2007
C. Wright Mills Award, presented by the American Sociological Association, 2007
Weiss, Christopher Charles
Lecturer in Discipline
Awarded a grant by the Ford Foundation for the project, “Training Scholars for the field of higher education,” Jul 2007-Dec 2008
Awarded a grant by the American Educational Research Association (AERA) for the project, “Student Engagement in Small Schools: The Effects on Academic Achievement,” Dec 2006-Nov 2007
Whitford, Joshua D.
Assistant Professor
Sloan Industrial Studies Fellowship, Jul 2007-Jun 2009
Humanities
Art History and Archaeology
Benelli, Francesco
Assistant Professor
Awarded a research grant from the Max Planck Institute of Berlin, Germany, for the spring semester 2008 to be spent at the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florence, Italy, Apr 2007
Bergdoll, Barry George
Professor
Appointed chief curator in the department of Architecture and Design at The Museum of Modern Art
Crary, Jonathan K.
Meyer Schapiro Professor of Modern Art and Theory
Visiting Whitney J. Oates Fellow, Spring 2007
Freedberg, David A.
Pierre Matisse Professor of Art History
Appointed the Pierre Matisse Professor of Art History, Mar 2007
Grewe, Cordula
Assistant Professor
2006-2007 Hans Kohn Member of the Institute for Advanced Studies, Princeton University
Harrist Jr, Robert E.
The Jane & Leopold Swergold Professor of Chinese Art History
Gerry Lenfest Distinguished Faculty Award, 2007
Higonnet, Anne
Professor
Received a Kress Foundation grant to subsidize the illustrations of her forthcoming book, 2007
Murray, Stephen D.
Professor
Awarded a grant by the Scholarly Communications program of the Andrew Mellon Foundation to develop a new database entitled, “Mapping Gothic France,” Nov 2007
Rosand, David
Meyer Schapiro Professor of Art History
Paul Oskar Kristeller Lifetime Achievement Award, presented by the Renaissance Society of America, Mar 2007
Smith, Joanna
Associate Professor
2009 Fellow at the Institute of Advanced Studies (IAS)
Nominated to be a 2009 Fellow at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Spring 2007
Nominated to be a 2008 Fellow at the Danish National Research Foundation’s Centre for Textile Research (CTR), Fall 2007
Strother, Zoe Sara
Riggio Professor of African Art
Appointed the first Riggio Professor of African Art History, Sep 2007
Vogel, Susan M.
Professor
The Triennial Leadership Award, presented by the Arts Council of the African Studies Association, 2007
East Asian Languages and Cultures
Denecke, Wiebke
Assistant Professor
ACLS Chinese Fellowship for Scholarly Development, May 2007
Lean, Eugenia Y.
Assistant Professor
John K. Fairbank Prize, 2008
English and Comparative Literature
Dailey, Patricia A.
Assistant Professor
Morton Bloomfield Fellowship, Harvard University, 2007-2008
Delbanco, Andrew
Julian Clarence Levi Professor in the Humanities
Stafford Little lectures at Princeton University, on the theme of “College: What it Was, What it Is, and What it Should Be,” 2008
Elected president of the Melville Society, 2007
Awarded a summer grant by the Spencer Foundation for his book, College: What it Was, What is Is, and What it Should Be
Kastan, David
Old Dominion Foundation Professor in the Humanities
Invited to deliver the inaugural Oxford Wells Shakespeare Lectures at Oxford University, Nov 2008
Invited as Distinguished Visiting Professor at Beijing University, Keynote lecture, Nov 2007
Negrón-Muntaner, Frances
Assistant Professor
Ford Foundation Diversity Fellowship, 2006-2007
Peters, Julie Stone
Professor
Guggenheim Foundation 2007-2008 Fellow
Puchner, Hans M.
H. Gordon Garbedian Professor of English and Comparative Literature
James Russell Lowell Award, presented by the Modern Language Association (MLA), best book of 2006
Slaughter, Joseph R.
Associate Professor
Awarded Honorable Mention for the William Riley Parker Prize, 2006-2007
Strand, Mark
Professor
Awarded the Cetonaverde Prize, May 2007
Awarded the D’Annunzio Prize, May 2007
Viswanathan, Gauri
Class of 1933 Professor of English and Comparative Literature
Michael Sovern/Columbia University Affiliated Fellow at the American Academy in Rome, 2007-2008
French and Romance Philology
Compagnon, Antoine Marcel
Blanche W. Knopf Professor of French and Comparative Literature
Chevalier of the French Legion of Honor, Mar 2007
Dobie, Madeleine
Associate Professor
National Humanities Center Fellowship, 2005-2006
May, Gita
Professor Emerita of French
Chevalier of the French Legion of Honor, May 2007
Music
Boynton, Susan Leslie
Associate Professor
American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) Fellowship, 2007-2008
Membership at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton University, 2007-2008
Lewis Lockwood Award, presented by the American Musicological Society, 2007
Slavic Languages
Reyfman, Irina
Professor
Award for Outstanding Post-Secondary Teaching, presented by the American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages (AATSEEL), Dec 2007
Natural Sciences
Astronomy
Haiman, Zoltan
Associate Professor
Founder of the newly-established Eötvös International Research School in Astrophysics (EIRSA)
Biological Sciences
Bock, Walter J.
Professor
Honorary Fellow, The Zoological Society, 2007
Chalfie, Martin
William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Biological Sciences
Elected as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), 2007
Chasin, Lawrence Allen
Professor
Awarded a grant by the National Science Foundation (NSF) for the project, “CHO Cell Lines and Vectors for Rapid Development of High Level Recombinant Protein Production,” 2007-2008
Firestein, Stuart J.
Professor
Awarded a grant by Firmenich for the project, “The Molecular Logic of Olfactory Encoding,” 2007-2008
Awarded a grant by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for the project, “Analysis of Mammalian Odor Receptors,” 2007-2010
Post-doctoral fellowship: The function of neurogenesis in the mammalian olfactory bulb, National Institutes of Health (NIH), 2007-2010
Hunt, John F.
Associate Professor
Awarded a grant by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for the project, “Structure, Mechanism and Inhibition of AlkB homologues,” 2007-2011
Jia, Songtao
Assistant Professor
Speaker’s Fund, New York Academy of Medicine, 2007
Awarded a grant by the New York Academy of Medicine (NYAM) for the project, “The Role of Cu14 Mediated Ubiquitylation in Epigenetic Regulation,” 2007-2008
Kelley, Darcy B.
Professor
Awarded a grant by the Gatsby Charitable Foundation for the project, “Using Gene Expression to Dissect Functional Components of Hindbrain Vocal Circuits,” 2007-2008
Manley, James L.
Julian Clarence Levi Professor of the Life Sciences
Post-doctoral fellowship: Transcription Termination by RNA Polymerase II, European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO), 2007-2008
Pe'er, Dana
Assistant Professor
National Institutes of Health (NIH) New Innovator Award, 2007
Awarded a grant by the National Science Foundation (NSF) for the project, “Elucidating Function and Organization of Molecular Networks from Molecules to a System,” 2007-2008
Saideman, Shari R.
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Post-doctoral fellowship: The function of neurogenesis in the mammalian olfactory bulb, National Institutes of Health (NIH), 2007-2010
Stockwell, Brent R.
Associate Professor
Beckman Young Investigator (BYI) Award, 2007
Awarded a grant by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for the project, “Luciferase Screen for MDM2 E3 Ligase Inhibitors,” 2007-2008
Awarded a grant by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for the project, “Chemical Genetic Profiling of Engineered Tumor Cells,” 2007-2011
Awarded a grant by MNC for the project, “Optimization of the A2 Scaffold, which Upregulates SMN Protein,” 2007-2008
Tong, Liang
Professor
Awarded a grant by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for the project, “Structural Biology of pre-mRNA 3’-end Processing,” 2007-2011
Tzagoloff, Alexander A.
Alan H. Kempner Professor of Biological Sciences
Awarded a grant by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for the project, “Heme A and Cytochrome Oxidase Biosynthesis,” 2007-2011
Yang, Jian
Associate Professor
Awarded a grant by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for the project, “Structural Basis of Ca2+ Channel Function and Regulation,” 2007-2010
Yuste, Rafael
Associate Professor of Biological Sciences (in the Center for Neurobiology and Behavior)
Awarded a grant by the Gatsby Charitable Foundation, 2007-2008
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Broecker, Wallace S.
Newberry Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences
Elected a Foreign Member of the Royal Society, May 2007
Awarded the Crafoord Prize in Geosciences by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, 2006
Brown, Casey
Adjunct Assistant Professor
Awarded the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), Nov 2007
Del Genio, Anthony D.
Adjunct Professor
Fellow, American Meteorological Society, 2007
DeMenocal, Peter B.
Professor
Awarded the Richard Foster Flint Lectureship at Yale University, 2006
Flynn, John J.
Adjunct Professor
Appointed Dean, Richard Gilder Graduate School, American Museum of Natural History, 2007
Appointed to External Advisory Board of the Peabody Museum, Yale University, 2007
Joseph T. Gregory Award, presented by the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, 2007
Kelemen, Peter B.
Arthur D. Storke Memorial Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences
Hallimond Lecturer at the Mineralogical Society, Jun 2007
MARGINS Distinguished Lecturer, Spring 2008
Mutter, John Colin
Professor, Earth & Environmental Sciences; and Deputy Director, Earth Institute
Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2007
Pfirman, Stephanie L.
Adjunct Senior Research Scientist
President-elect, Council of Environmental Deans & Directors (CEDD), 2007
Purdy, G. Michael
Director
Trustee, Consortium for Ocean Leadership, May 2007-May 2009
Rind, David H.
Adjunct Professor
Bernard Haurwitz Memorial Lecturer for 2008, American Meteorological Society
A share in the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for his participation as a lead IPCC author
Schlosser, Peter
Vinton Professor of Earth and Environmental Engineering in the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science and Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences; Associate Director of Earth Institute
Fellow, American Geophysical Union, 2007
Scholz, Christopher H.
Professor
Appointed as the Rosenqvist Lecturer, 21st Kongsberg Seminar, Oslo University, 2008
Mathematics
Khovanov, Mikhail G.
Professor
Von Neumann Early Career Visiting Professor at Institute for Advanced Study, Jul 2007-Jun 2008
Ozsvath, Peter S.
Professor
American Mathematical Society 2007 Oswald Veblen Prize in Geometry, Jan 2007
Urban, Eric Jean-Paul
Professor
Gugenheim Fellowship in Mathematics, Mar 2007
Physics
Altshuler, Boris
Professor
Invited speaker at the Kavli Prize Inaugural Symposium on Nanoscience, Sep 2008
Aprile, Elena
Professor
Awarded a grant by the U.S. National Science Foundation for the ‘XENON100’ experiment, 2007
Blaer, Allan S.
Professor
Received a gift from Progenics Pharmaceuticals Inc. for expanding the Columbia Science Honors Program, 2007
Hailey, Charles J.
Pupin Professor of Physics
Awarded a grant by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR), Sep 2007
Kim, Philip
Associate Professor
Included in the Fifth Annual Scientific American 50, 2007
New York Academy of Sciences Blavatnik Award for Young Scientists, 2007
Gerry Lenfest Distinguished Columbia Faculty Award, 2007
Lee, Tsung-Dao
University Professor
Awarded the Gold and Silver Star of the Order of the Rising Sun by the government of Japan, Nov 2006
Marka, Szabolcs
Assistant Professor
Founder of the newly-established Eötvös International Research School in Astrophysics (EIRSA)
Miller, Amber D.
Associate Professor
Awarded a grant by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for the The E and B Experiment (EBEX), 2007
Ruderman, Malvin A.
Centennial Professor of Physics and Professor of Applied Physics
Gave the Kroll Lecture at the University of California, San Diego, Spring 2007
Gave the Finkelstein Lecture at the University of California at Los Angeles, Spring 2007
Zajc, William Allen
Professor
Completed term as spokesperson (scientific leader) of the PHENIX experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), 1997-2006
Psychology
Champagne, Frances Anne
Assistant Professor
National Institutes of Health (NIH) New Innovator Award, Sep 2007
Awarded a grant by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for the project, “Epigenetic Mechanisms Mediating the Inheritance of Reproductive Behavior,” Sep 2007-Aug 2012
Downey, Geraldine
Vice Provost for Diversity Initiatives; Professor of Psychology
Awarded a grant by the NIMH for the project, “Rejection Sensitivity and Self-Regulation in Personality Disorders,” Sep 2007-Aug 2011
Mischel, Walter
Niven Professor of Humane Letters
Elected to the presidency of APS (Association for Psychological Science), Spring 2007
Ochsner, Kevin N.
Assistant Professor
Awarded the Cognitive Neuroscience Society's Young Investigator Award for contributions in Social Cognitive Neuroscience, Oct 2007
Wager, Tor D.
Assistant Professor
Awarded a grant by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for the project, “The Neural Bases of Placebo Effects and their Relation to Regulatory Process,” Jan 2007-Dec 2010
Woolley, Sarah Margaret Nicolay
Assistant Professor
Awarded a grant by the SSP for the project, “Role of Social-Behavioral Context in the Neural Coding of Vocal Communication,” Jul 2007-Jun 2010
Statistics
De la Pena, Victor H.
Professor
Delivered and received a Medallion Lecture from the Institute of Mathematical Statistics, Aug 2007
Member of the Committee of Visitors that evaluated the work of the Division of Mathematical Sciences at National Science Foundation (NSF), 2007
Awarded a grant by the Columbia Center for Integrated Science and Engineering (ISE) for projects connecting Earth Sciences, Engineering, and the Science Department at Columbia University, 2006
Lo, Shaw-Hwa
Professor
Awarded a grant by the National Science Foundation (NSF) for the project “A General Framework for High throughout Biological Learning,” Aug 2007
Awarded a grant by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for the project aimed at studying new methods in dealing with high dimensional problems, with applications in the mappings of complex human disorders, Feb 2005
Paninski, Liam
Assistant Professor
Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship, 2007
Included in the Scientist Magazine as a “Scientist to Watch,” Jun 2007
National Science Foundation (NSF) Career Award, 2007
Awarded the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Collaborative Research in Computational Neuroscience Grant, 2006
Named one of the Top 35 Innovators under 35 Years Old by Technology Review, 2006
School of International and Public Affairs
Almond, Douglas V.
Assistant Professor
Chernobyl’s Asymptomatic Legacy: Effects of Low Level Prenatal Irradiation on Adult Cognitive Performance, NSF Award SES 07-21155, Sep 2007
Kopczuk, Wojciech
Associate Professor
Awarded a grant by the Social Security Administration/University of Michigan for the project, “The Effect of Medicare and Social Security Benefits on the Timing of Retirement,” Oct 2007
Linden, Leigh L.
Assistant Professor
Awarded a grant by the Spencer Foundation for the project, “Protecting Children from War and Ensuring their Prospects for the Future: Educating in the Context of Crisis and Transition,” Nov 2006-Jan 2008
Neckerman, Kathryn M.
Research Scholar
Awarded a grant by the National Science Foundation (NSF) for the project, “Race, Poverty, and Spatial Accessibility in New York City,” Jul 2007-Sep 2007
Stark, David C.
Arthur Lehman Professor of Sociology and International Affairs
Invited Scholar in Residence at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Society in Cologne, Germany, Spring 2008
Invited Distinguished Fellow, Durham University, Fall 2007
Stepan, Alfred C.
Wallace S. Sayre Professor of Government
Named one of the Top 25 Individuals in Each Five-Year Cohort Who Are also in the Political Science 400 by the American Political Science Association in PS: Political Science & Politics, Jan 2007
Verhoogen, Eric A.
Assistant Professor
Awarded a grant by the National Science Foundation (NSF) titled, “Exports and Wage Premia,” Sep 2007-Aug 2008
School of the Arts
Gillick, Liam
Adjunct Assistant Professor
Nominated for the 2008 Vincent Award given by the Stedlijk Museum in Amsterdam
Roma, Thomas
Professor of Professional Practice
Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (VCCA) Award for Excellence in the Arts, 2005
Sillman, Amy D.
Adjunct Assistant Professor
Ucross Residency Prize from the Alpert Awards in the Arts, 2007
Walker-Buergel, Kara E.
Professor of Professional Practice
Named one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential Artists in the World, 2007
Roy and Edna Disney Cal Arts Theater (REDCAT Award), 2007
Urban Visionary Award from The Cooper Union, 2007
Honorary Doctorate, Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), 2006
Wilson, Paula J.
Assistant Professor
Awarded the Joyce Alexander Wein Artist Prize by The Studio Museum in Harlem, 2007
Giverny Residency, Art Production Fund, Giverny, France, 2006
Social and Economic Research and Policy, Institute for
McAllister, William
Associate Research Scholar
Interdisciplinary Graduate Fellows Program, Jan 2007-Dec 2010
War and Peace Studies, Arnold A. Saltzman Institute of
Burde, Dana
Adjunct Associate Research Scholar
Awarded a grant by the Spencer Foundation for the project, “Protecting Children from War and Ensuring their Prospects for the Future: Educating in the Context of Crisis and Transition,” Nov 2006-Jan 2008