T H E A L U M N I M A G A Z I N E O F T H E S C H O O L O F G E N E R A L S T U D I E S

SPRING 2008

Columbia’s Invaluable Vets

Columbia’s Invaluable Vets

60 YEARS OF THE GS(NON) TRADITION

PETER AWN CELEBRATES 10 YEARS AS DEAN

COLUMBIA’S NEW CREATIVE WRITING MAJOR

60 YEARS OF THE GS(NON) TRADITION

PETER AWN CELEBRATES 10 YEARS AS DEAN

COLUMBIA’S NEW CREATIVE WRITING MAJOR

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Table of

PETER J. AWNDEAN

MALCOLM A. BORG ’65CHAIR, GS ADVISORY COUNCIL

CURTIS RODGERSDEAN OF COMMUNICATIONS

JOSE R. GONZALEZDIRECTOR OF ALUMNI AFFAIRS

EDITORALLISON SCOLA

ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS

ASSOCIATE EDITORROBERT AST

STUDENT ASSISTANTOFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS

ASSISTANT EDITORANNA O’SULLIVAN

COMMUNICATIONS OFFICEROFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS

CONTRIBUTORSROBERT AST ’08

ANNE BURTOFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS

ERICH ERVING ’06

SHARON GOLDMAN

BETH KWON

MEREDITH LOFFREDO ’02CCASSOCIATE DIRECTOR GS VOLUNTEERS

AND DONOR RECOGNITION

EMILY MORRIS ’02CCSENIOR ASSISTANT DIRECTOR

ALUMNI AFFAIRS

ALICIA SANCHEZDIRECTOR

ANNUAL FUND PROGRAMS

PHOTOSFRONT COVER PHOTO:

MATT MIRELES ’08BACK COVER PHOTO:

BERNARD SUNSHINE, MAY 1944

QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, AND CHANGE OF ADDRESS

THE OWLGS OFFICE OF ALUMNI AFFAIRS408 LEWISOHN HALL, MC 4121

2970 BROADWAYNEW YORK, NY 10027-9829

gsowl@columbia.eduTEL 212-854-8498FAX 212-820-2417

THE OWL IS DESIGNED BYDI VISION CREATIVE GROUP

NEW YORK, NY

AND PRINTED BYNORTH JERSEY MEDIA GROUP INC.

BERGEN COUNTY, NJ

COLUMBIA’S NEW GENERATION OF MILITARY VETERAN STUDENTS4 A student group helps veterans make the transition from the military to Columbia.

PUTTING OUR HISTORY IN PERSPECTIVE: GS CELEBRATES 60 YEARS12 The School of General Studies turned 60 in 2007, and we take a look back at

some of the people and events that have shaped GS, Columbia, and the world.

ON CAMPUS

Community Spotlight on Dean Peter Awn11 2007 marked the 10th anniversary of Peter Awn’s tenure as Dean of GS.

A New Chancellor for the 21st Century27 Arnold Eisen, the new Chancellor of The Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS),

is on a mission—to remake JTS and, by extension, Conservative Judaism.

New Creative Writing Major27 The new creative writing major lets students do what Jack Kerouac couldn’t.

DEPARTMENTS11 Community Spotlight22 Class Day Gallery24 Development News27 On Campus28 Alumni Notes36 In Memoriam36 New Grad Notes38 Upcoming Events Calendar

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CONTENTS11

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Letter from the DeanThe Columbia Community has many things to celebrate this year. On the heels of the

250th anniversary of the University, the 50th Anniversary of the Joint Program between

GS and List College of The Jewish Theological Seminary, the 50th Anniversary of the

Postbaccalaureate Premedical Program, we are this year celebrating the 60th Anniversary

of the School of General Studies and my completing 10 years as Dean of this extraordinary

college. It is also my 30th year on the Columbia faculty, so I have a unique perspective on

the enormous changes that have occurred in the Columbia undergraduate program and

especially at GS over these past three decades.

American education prides itself on being innovative. Yet in many ways undergraduate

education, especially at private universities, has been locked into a model that does not, in

my opinion, respond to the changing realities of the American population. Underlying

traditional undergraduate education is the belief that college comes after high school. To

choose to pursue one’s education on a different schedule is seen as outside the norm.

Over the past thirty years the Columbia faculty has grappled with this issue and come to

the realization that a great University should be attracting great minds no matter the stage

of life of the individual student. In fact, diversity of age and experience is celebrated at

Columbia because of what it contributes to the intellectual discourse and community life

of the University. Over the past decade the faculty have worked with me and my

colleagues at GS to insure that all undergraduates are integrated fully into the intellectual

life of the classrooms, departments, and majors.

For those of us who are close to GS, this may all seem quite normal. I assure you it is not.

You, in fact, represent the cutting edge of undergraduate education in the United States.

Government statistics prove that upwards of 70 percent of the women and men in two and

four year colleges around the country fit the GS profile more than that of traditionally

aged undergraduates.

And so the most important thing we celebrate this year is Columbia’s vision in embracing

fully and unequivocally talented students who have pursued their educations on seemingly

untraditional schedules. GS and GS students are now at the very center of Columbia’s

undergraduate program and integral players in all aspects of undergraduate life on campus.

I invite you to join me in supporting GS and GS students so that together we can move

this innovative college to even higher levels of distinction.

With warmest regards,

P E T E R J. A W N

D E A N

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Veterans have played a part atthe School of General Studies ofColumbia University for morethan a century. And today, theschool boasts the largest numberof vets in the Ivy League.

Columbia’s

Veterans have played a part atthe School of General Studies ofColumbia University for morethan a century. And today, theschool boasts the largest numberof vets in the Ivy League.

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BY SHARON M. GOLDMAN

When Oscar Escano arrived at ColumbiaUniversity School of General Studies in2004, he had just left the military after serv-ing for three years as a U.S. Army Ranger,including a tour of duty in Afghanistan inwhich he participated in a dangerous rescuemission to save a fallen comrade. “I cameback from Afghanistan in April and left themilitary in August—I actually got special per-mission to leave a week early so I could getto orientation on time,” recalls the New YorkCity native, whograduated in Mayand will begin med-ical school at NewJersey MedicalSchool of Universityof Medicine &Dentistry of NewJersey in the fall of2008. After a “chal-lenging and chaotic”stint in Afghanistan,attending GS helpedhim make theinevitable adjust-ment from the mili-tary to civilian life.

“GS really suited who I was—a 25-year-old who was young at heart but also had a lotof life experiences that others didn’t have,” hesays. “I loved having the freedom to mingleas much as I wanted with students from otherColumbia schools, but I also enjoyed thediverse group of people that attended GSwho weren’t part of the usual dorm socialscene.”

Military veterans have been members ofColumbia’s nontraditional student body forover a century. Doughboys returning fromEurope, along with civilians who had beeninvolved in the war effort at home, swelledthe ranks of Extension Teaching (as theschool was then known) after World War Ifrom 7,000 students in 1918 to 17,000 by1923.

Three decades later the influx of veteransback from World War II helped precipitate

the reorganization ofthe extension pro-gram into a full-fledged undergradu-ate college with aunique mission: pro-viding a rigorous, IvyLeague education toits nontraditionalstudent body.

Today GS ishome to the largestnumber of veteransin the Ivy League, astatistic that ProvostAlan Brinkley is par-

ticularly proud of. “We’re delighted that somany veterans choose to come to Columbia,”he says, “especially to GS, which was createdspecifically for students who have had a sig-nificant break in their education.”

For Justin White ’05, BUS ’07, a formerMarine who served for five years, includingstretches in the Netherlands and Ghana,attending Columbia was a dream come true.“The fact that GS took a chance on me whenI came out of the military, because I seemed

"The fact that GStook a chance on mewhen I came out of

the military, becauseI seemed to havepromise, changed

my whole life."-Justin White, ’05

Invaluable VetsInvaluable Vets

GS student Luke Stalcup. (Above and facing pagephotography by Matt Mireles ’08)

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BRIAN LEARY ’68

As a strugglingstudent at an upstateNew York teacherscollege in 1960,Brian Leary didn’thave high hopes forhis academic future.And with the U.S.military draft stillin place, joiningthe army seemedlike a good idea,since enlisted men

enjoyed greater control over their deployment. “It was one of thetwo smartest things I ever did,” he says. “The other, of course, wasattending GS.”

In the Army Leary became a “spook,” someone who listened inon and translated other people’s telephone conversations—a rolethat greatly expanded during the Cold War. After a rigorous coursein German at the Army Language School, Leary spent two years inWest Berlin surrounded by men with similar backgrounds.

“I was thrown in with a lot of guys in the exact same situation,who had a shot at college and hadn’t done well or lost interest,”

Leary recalls. “But they were very bright people, which made mefeel like I wasn’t as dumb as my grades would have indicated.”

After his Army stint, Leary found out about GS from a girl-friend who was a Columbia student. “She said it sounded like theperfect fit for a veteran, and it was,” he says. Leary began at GS in1965, and in 1967-68 served as editor-in-chief of The Owl, then theschool’s student newspaper. “It was when everything was going onaround campus, from anti-war demonstrations to a plan to takeHarlem’s only park and turn it into a Columbia gym,” he remem-bers. “One thing I recall is that everyone had an armband of onecolor or another—each meant something different.”

However, Leary says, he was not particularly involved in theturmoil of campus issues, nor did being a veteran make a pro-nounced difference in his GS experience. He kept busy, though,supporting himself, driving a New York City taxicab at night whileattending classes during the day. He also got married while at GS,eventually raising a daughter, who recently gave birth to his firstgrandson.

After graduation, Leary attended law school at the Universityof California, Berkeley. He then joined a small law firm in Oakland,California, eventually becoming a senior partner. Now retired,Leary has grateful memories of his academic experience atColumbia. “GS saved my life,” he says simply. “I had been a lousystudent, but GS gave me another chance. As it turned out, I waspretty smart.”

to have promise, changed my whole life,” he says. “I’m eternally grate-ful to the admissions committee and all of the administration.”

Even with the support of GS, however, many veterans find thelifestyle shift daunting. “I saw it as more of a cultural change,” Whitesays. “You have a lot of guys who get out of the military, and literally aweek or two later they’re full-time students. You just spent years ofyour life doing things a certain way, and then you come to Columbia,where the way you relate to people is different.”

Escano agrees: “I went to Afghanistan, for crying out loud. Thatchanges your perspective in ways it’s difficult for me to convey. It’simpossible to explain to anyone who went straight from home andhigh school to a very nice, supportive college environment.”

White, Escano, and other veteran friends were surprised to findthat that there had never been an organized student group for mili-tary veterans on campus. In 2003 they founded the U.S. MilitaryVeterans of Columbia, or MilVets, a social group whose goal is “topromote camaraderie and networking among U.S. veterans, as well asto stimulate discussion and education on various aspects of militaryculture.”

“MilVets started out with the idea that we have a lot of veterans atGS and in other schools such as Teachers College and the LawSchool,” White says, “so we wanted to build a forum for people to gettogether, have some beers, and unwind, as well as be a resource to theschool.”

For GS senior Luke Stalcup, the current president of the nownearly 100-strong MilVets, the group helps vets keep from feeling iso-lated on a large campus where the vast majority of students have nothad similar experiences. “When you get here as a veteran, there’s def-

Jed Celima ’04, Wayne Thorsen ’04, and Justin White ’05

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initely a palpable sense that you are not like the rest of the students inclass,” he says. “And compared to other GS students, veteran studentstend to be younger—our average age, in my experience, is 24 or 25.”

Stalcup, who grew up in Oakland, Calif., enlisted in 1999 as anexplosive ordinance disposal specialist in the Army bomb squad. “Iguess it’s something I had always kind of wanted to do,” he says. “I’ma believer in public service, and when you’re 18 and you’re not look-ing to go to college, the military is definitely a direct link to doingsomething good for the world.” Stalcup passed a variety of rigoroustests and training and was deployed to Kuwait for seven months,returning in 2001. Then came Sept. 11, 2001.

“It was really clear that we were going to have a lot more workafter that,” he says. Shortly before the U.S. Army’s invasion, his unitwas deployed to both Qatar, in late 2002, and Iraq in 2003. Heremained in Iraq until October 2003. “All of our missions were inher-ently dangerous,” he explains, due to the proliferation of land mines,unexploded bombs, and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in Iraq.

Stalcup returned home to California in 2004 and spent a semesterat the University of California at Berkeley. “A lot of things happenedin Iraq that made me feel like I wanted to be able to define my mis-sions, and that meant becoming an officer and getting a collegedegree,” he explains. A friend who had attended GS told him aboutthe school: “She said it wasn’t just a bunch of 18-year-olds who wereexcited to be away from home, but it was more tailored to adults whowere serious about their education.” Stalcup no longer plans tobecome an officer in the Army, but going back into public service insome form is still a high priority for him. He is majoring in bothmathematics and Middle Eastern and Asian languages and cultures.

Although Columbia has enjoyed a long relationship with its mili-tary veteran students, it has not been without controversy. The cam-pus was a famous site of demonstrations against the Vietnam War in1968, and, along with six other Ivy League schools, Columbia bannedthe Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) in 1969. After years ofdebate, the University Senate voted not to bring the ROTC back tocampus in 2005.

Over the past two years allegations of anti-military bias have beenmade against Columbia by members of the MilVets group in the wakeof a controversy surrounding GS student Matthew Sanchez, whoclaimed he was verbally attacked for being a member of the Marinesat a student event in September 2005.

Subsequently the MilVets conducted a series of meetings and dis-cussions with Provost Brinkley and his office. “The Sanchez incidentunleashed a series of concerns from a lot of veterans on campus about

"When you get here as aveteran, there's definitely apalpable sense that you are notlike the rest of the students inclass." -Luke Stalcup, currentstudent and president of theU.S. Military Veterans ofColumbia University

Current student and president of the U.S. Military Veterans ofColumbia, Luke Stalcup in Iraq.

Current student Peter Kim with Iraqi children (above, middle) and withfellow soldiers in Iraq (below, right).

CHRISTOPHER SHERIDAN ’90

As a student atGS, ChristopherSheridan had con-sidered enlisting inthe military. Thatshould come as nosurprise, since hecomes from a longline of militaryofficers. In fact, his“umpteenth greatgrandfather” servedas one of GeorgeWashington’saides–de–camp.His father was an

officer, and his maternal grandfather was a captain inWWI. “It’s kind of odd I didn’t do it earlier—at ourhouse, you don’t sit down at the Thanksgiving tableunless you served your country,” he says.

But during his senior year at Columbia Sheridanbroke his left elbow, creating a bone chip that led theMarines to reject his application. After six years work-ing in investment banking, he decided he wanted todo something “easier and more fun.” He enlisted inthe Army and was eventually recruited to become anofficer in the Special Forces. During training, howev-er, he broke his ankle and two vertebrae and took overa year off to have several surgeries and months ofphysical therapy. As soon as he was healed, inDecember 2002, he was sent to Afghanistan, withdozens of soldiers under his command.

“It was like going to The Show,” he says. “I hadbeen training for seven years for that exact moment.”His experience in Afghanistan, where he spent all of2003, was overwhelmingly positive. “We got towatch a democratic process evolve and to watchwomen get the right to vote, to go to school, and todrive. That was a huge influence in my life—I waspart of making their lives better. I did my duty, andI’ll leave it at that.”

After his service was completed, Sheridanreturned to investment banking and now works forMerrill Lynch. He believes MilVets is a considerableasset for educating other Columbia students aboutveteran issues. “When I was there, it was really only15 years after Vietnam, but professors were talkingabout it as if it happened yesterday,” he says. “Now, Ihope people listen and say, ‘These are hard-workingindividuals who enlist and do their term and want toget an education.’ I think that’s only positive.”

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how they’re treated and feel they’re viewed,” says Brinkley. “I haddinner at my home for many of them, and we talked a lot about theissues they face as veterans who are students. Our dialogue has beenpositive.”

Current GS student and MilVets vice president Peter Kim, a for-mer Marine legal attaché who served in Iraq, agrees that theexchanges have been constructive. “We started a great dialogue withProvost Brinkley’s office,” he says. “As the student population hasstarted to engage in this issue more like a debate rather than an argu-ment, the administration has become more open to it. I’m so thankfulto be able to witness this and be a part of it.”

Brinkley denies, however, that Columbia is a hostile environmentfor vets. “The opposition to ROTC was based on the military’s ‘don’task, don’t tell’ policy that violates our own anti-discrimination rules,”he says. “I don’t believe those who opposed ROTC on those groundshad any animus towards veterans or the military.” In addition to the

meetings with MilVets, he adds,the Provost’s office has madesure the university’s anti-dis-crimination policy includes dis-crimination against people onthe basis of military service, andthat the Student Services officesare conscientiously helping stu-dent veterans sort out the com-plexities of military benefits.

But not all GS vets want tobe a part of MilVets or deal withthe issues facing veterans oncampus. “I had enough on myplate, with some family illness-es, a death in the family, as wellas serving in my unit one week-

end a month,” says recent GS graduate Amy Garcia, a member of theMaryland unit of the U.S. National Guard since January 2003. Therewere times, however, when the New Jersey native felt uncomfortableas a member of the military, especially when she had to show up on

Amy Garcia ’07 is a member of the U.S. National Guard.

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Zhuo Zheng ’07 served in theMarines before attending GS.

MARILYN CHARLOT ’96

As a vice presi-dent in the tech-nology division ofinvestment bank-ing heavyweightGoldman Sachs,Marilyn Charlotsays her currentcareer is one of herlife’s big surprises.Joining the mili-tary was another: born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, andraised in Brooklyn, Charlot knew little about the mil-itary when she signed up in 1985. “At the time, Iwanted to open my own restaurant, and a conversa-tion with an Army recruiter convinced me I couldlearn about the food business in the military, as wellas receive a cash bonus,” she says.

Charlot was stationed in El Paso, Texas, and wasthen deployed to Germany, where she lived for threeyears. A stint in Alabama came next, and then she wastransferred to Korea, where she served as a mess ser-geant, supervising hundreds of other soldiers. WhenOperation Desert Storm began, she was on standbyto head to the Middle East, but the war ended whileshe was being processed.

“I really enjoyed the work,” she says of her mili-tary service, but adds that she came home confusedand angry about how little she knew about the poli-tics of war. “The Army was definitely a positive forme, as I look back on it, but I was really torn abouteverything that was going on at the time.”

After changing her mind about a career in foodservice, she began to consider other options. “I real-ized that having a restaurant would be way too muchwork,” she says. “I started looking at a career switch,when my sister, who had always wanted an IvyLeague education, started talking to me aboutColumbia.”

When she entered GS, Charlot says she didn’twant people to know she was a veteran. “I didn’t wantto be associated with that experience—in fact, I hard-ly even talked about it. But it was just because I wasin turmoil over it.”

Through her studies she learned a great dealabout politics and economics and became interestedin a career on Wall Street. “I felt my leadership skillsand military background would work well in a cor-porate environment,” she says. “I realized I’m thetype of person who really likes big institutions.”

The Columbia education “saved my soul,” shesays. “I really found the answers to so many thingsthere. I was surrounded by very mature people that Iwas really able to talk to. It was the perfect place formy transition.”

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campus in uniform. “People get really passionate when they see some-one dressed as a soldier,” she says. “I guess people just don’t under-stand that we’re individuals.”

Still, Garcia says, the military offered great training and disciplinethat translated into college success. “Columbia was the best experi-ence of my life,” she says firmly. “I wouldn’t have the chances in life Ihave now if it weren’t for Columbia.” Now living with her husband inWestminster, Md., and expecting their first child, Garcia plans ongoing back to school to earn a doctorate in clinical psychology, with apediatric specialization.

Initially Peter Kim also didn’t want to be singled out, especially as“the guy who went to war.” He wanted to experience Columbia, heexplains, without the tag of being a veteran. But he has found studentsto be more open than he had initially expected, noting that “themajority are very accepting, even if they don’t agree about the war orthe politics behind it.”

For others the transition to Columbia went without a hitch: ZhuoZheng, a 23-year-old recent GS graduate and former Marine who isembarking upon a career in banking, didn’t find college life hard tohandle. “I think I coped pretty well—I didn’t really have any issues. Idid over the first couple of months after I came back from Iraq, but Ihad several months to adjust to my regular life before I startedschool.” He was excited to find a program at such an elite school thatactually welcomed him as a nontraditional student. And finding othermembers of the military on campus was a bonus, he says: “It comfort-ed me that I wasn’t alone.”

Columbia’s military veterans have plenty of advice for prospectiveveteran students, who can occasionally suffer from transition issues—including feelings of isolation, depression and stress—even if theyhave already been at the University for many months. “Number one,they should come talk to me and hang out,” Kim laughs. “Columbiais just a big intellectual party, and Thursday through Saturday it’sanother kind of party—the whole city is at your disposal, so youshould embrace it.”

On a more serious note, Escano emphasizes the importance ofgetting support from other students who have served, in order to easethe adjustment to student life. “It was tremendously helpful to leanon my fellow veterans,” he says. “It was just about having somebodywho understood what I went through—this visceral, immersive expe-rience where my mind still goes, even if my body is on campus in alecture hall.”

"I went to Afghanistan, forcrying out loud. That changesyour perspective in ways it'sdifficult for me to convey."

-Oscar Escano, ’07

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During the American Revolution, the fate ofColumbia University, like the fate of the United Statesitself, hung in the balance. Although some King’sCollege students fought for the colonies—such asAlexander Hamilton, who spent his mornings drillingwith a volunteer militia before classes—most professorsand students were Loyalists, including British spy JohnVardill and College President Myles Cooper, who wasdriven out of his home and back to England by aRevolutionary lynch mob. An interim president brieflytook over, but, after classes were suspended from 1776-1784 and College Hall used as a hospital by occupyingBritish forces, the postwar viability of the young schoolwas in doubt, until a new charter and a name changeoffered a fresh start.

Columbia participated far more modestly in theU.S.’s 19th-century wars, including, somewhat surpris-ingly, the Civil War, which claimed the lives of two per-cent of the nation’s population. Columbia studentsenlisted at rates far below those of students at other col-leges, and less than a dozen alumni died in battle. By1917 a more prominent, more diverse University wasable to present a more comprehensive response toWorld War I, with Extension Teaching offering classesin trench warfare and vegetable gardening (for victorygardens), among numerous others. The University alsohosted a branch of the SATC (Student Army TrainingCorps, the forerunner to the ROTC) and mandateddrilling for all undergraduates in the fall of 1918.

Columbia’s response to World War I—and, threedecades later, World War II—helped lay the foundationfor the modern University. The first Core Curriculumcourse, Contemporary Civilization, began in the fall of1918 as “War Aims,” a current-events class for SATCmembers. The aftermath of World War II brought notonly Supreme Allied Commander Dwight D.Eisenhower to Morningside Heights, but also the G.I.Bill, a financial blessing for the University, which wasstill reeling from the Depression. In the years followingthe war half of Columbia’s students were veterans, mostin the extension program, which, as its director notedin 1946, “found places for more than three thousandveterans, and it may be said that no veteran qualified todo work on the college level was turned away.” In 1947,

partly to meet the needs of returning veterans, includ-ing women from the WACS (Women’s Army Corps)and WAVES (Women Accepted for VolunteerEmergency Service), the extension program was reor-ganized into an undergraduate college, the School ofGeneral Studies.

Since its founding GS students have served in all ofAmerica’s conflicts and participated on all sides of thedebates surrounding them. Sixty years later, servicemenand -women no longer constitute the majority of thestudent body, but the school’s commitment remainsunchanged: GS continues to be a place where veter-ans—of other countries’ armed services as well as theUnited States’—can begin the next chapter of their livesin a supportive community.

RED, WHITE, & LIGHT BLUE

BY ROBERT AST AND ERICH ERVING

Students look at model airplanes during an Army Air Corpsrecruiting event, May 1942. Photo furnished by ColumbiaUniversity Archives–Columbia Library.

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It’s easy to get caught up in Dean Peter Awn’senthusiasm as he describes the objets d’art that crowdhis homey corner office in Lewisohn Hall. Visiting himis almost as if you’ve happened upon a well-stockedNew York City antique shop and its proprietor is happyto give you a private tour. Among Awn’s collection are a16th-century Turkish plate decorated in the intricately-patterned Iznik style, a mid-1800s Chinese-Islamic

incense burnerwith delicateSini (ChineseMuslim) scriptthat Awn foundon eBay, and ahand-paintedburlap tapestryfrom India thathe proudlyadmits he dis-covered at a fleamarket, only tosee a similar onein a Sotheby’scatalog.

Awn’s eyefor the unusual

and even eclectic item is part of what makes him per-fectly suited to serving GS’s unique student body. “Thestudents are interesting because while they are lookingfor a rigorous, Ivy League education, they’ve come to itin a very nontraditional way,” says Awn, who has beendean for 10 years. He jokingly refers to the GS HonorSociety, a group of current and former students with 3.8GPAs or better, as the “tutus or Uzis,” owing to the pre-ponderance of retired dancers and former members ofthe military, two groups of people who have gravitatedto GS.

Kidding aside (although Awn’s wit is rarely absentin conversation), he is passionate about making GS aplace for students who have found their way to schooldespite sometimes very challenging odds. “Studentsoften have to support families,” says Awn, who is also aprofessor of Islamic religion and comparative religion.“And we are very welcoming to recent immigrants. We

had a valedictorian who, when he arrived in New York,couldn’t speak five words of English.”

Awn’s primary focus in his ten years as dean hasbeen to integrate GS courses with the rest ofColumbia’s undergraduates. “We went completelycounter to the patterns in adult education that hadexisted for half a century, and argued that studentsshould be fully and completely mainstreamed,” Awnsays. “Students should be in classes with all of the otherundergrads, be held to the same standards — and earnthe same degree.” To achieve this, Awn largely did awaywith adjunct-taught night classes, and required studentsto attend classes during the day. Fees are comparable towhat a full-time Columbia College student pays percourse. “If you want the ‘real thing’ as I would argue,you’re going to have to pay the same price as everybodyelse,” Awn says. “If you’re good enough to be a part ofthis intellectual community we ought to treat youabsolutely the same way.” Awn hopes to eventually cap-ture the same level of financial aid for GS students aswell as housing opportunities that other undergradu-ates are eligible for.

When he’s not expounding enthusiastically aboutGS, or trolling flea markets for items to add to his officecollection, Awn still manages to find the time to teach.In the fall he teaches a seminar on classical Sufi texts,and in the spring he leads an introduction to Islamcourse. “I love it, and it’s important for students to seethat, as dean, I still know what the university is supposedto be about, which is education.”

PETER AWN CELEBRATES 10 YEARS LEADING GS

BY BETH KWON

GSCOMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT

“If you’re good enough tobe a part of this intellectualcommunity we ought totreat you absolutely thesame way.”

Photo by Alan Orling

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1750 1780 1810 1830 1850 1870

1750 1780 1810 1830 1850 1870

1784 King’s Collegerenamed ColumbiaCollege.

1754 King’s Collegefounded after yearsof contention overits location andreligious affiliation.

1857Columbia movesfrom its Park Placelocation near CityHall to 49th Streetand Madison Avenue.

1864Founding of theSchool of Mines, laterrenamed the School of Engineering andApplied Science.

1831 The Board ofColumbia College,composed of PresidentWilliam AlexanderDuer and the faculty,approves the Literaryand Scientific Course.

Columbia University entered the modern world in 1830 with theinstitution of the Literary and Scientific Course, a track of instructionthat eschewed Latin and Greek for the sciences and modern languages.The series of courses was open to all Columbia College students (roughly120 in total)—but also to young men working in “mercantile and indus-trial establishments,” the University’s first part-time students. But moder-nity did not take, at least initially: the Literary and Scientific Course wasdiscontinued in 1843, and it was not until the turn of the century thatColumbia made a similar effort to reach beyond its gates.

1843 The Literary andScientific Courseis discontinued.

60YEARS OF THE GS TRADITION

1904Low Library

BY ROBERT AST

From Extension Teaching to the nation'spremier college for nontraditional stu-dents, Columbia University School ofGeneral Studies has evolved with thecommunities around it - the University,New York City, and the world.

1814Columbia acquires a 20-acre botanical garden in midtownManhattan on land thatwill eventually becomethe site of RockefellerCenter. The property is sold in 1985 for $400 million.

1910–1942Dean James C. Egbert

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1890 1900 1905 1910 1915 1920

1890 1900 1905 1910 1915 1920

1889Founding of BarnardCollege.

1896The Universityis formally designatedColumbiaUniversity in the City of New York.

1897Columbia moves to its current home,the MorningsideHeights campusdesigned by notedarchitectural firmMcKim, Mead, andWhite.

1902Nicholas MurrayButler becomesPresident of theUniversity.

1900Summer courses areoffered to part-timestudents; NicholasMurray Butler serves as Director of theSummer Session.

1909Columbia creates

the WritingProgram, which is

administered byExtension Teaching.

1911Extension Teachingbegins to offer coursesin business, leading tothe 1916 founding ofthe School of Business.Extension courses alsoeventually give rise tothe School of Dentaland Oral Surgery.

1913Extension Teachingestablishes the Instituteof Arts and Sciences,which offers lectures to the general publicuntil its closure in1957.

1919Extension Teaching

begins the Home Studyseries of correspondence

courses. In its 18-yearexistence 65,000 people

studied through the program.

1918The Core

Curriculum beginsto take shape when

the first incarnationof Contemporary

Civilization istaught.

1912School of Journalismfounded, after abequest by JosephPulitzer.

1891Upon a suggestion fromPresident Seth Low,Columbia Universitybegins to offer classes to non-degree students,including women, aswell as lectures open to the general public.

1904Adult education classes

are organized into a formal program called

Extension Teaching,which offers a broad

array of courses, fromclassical studies to

highway engineering and millinery.

1902–1945Nicholas Murray Butler

circa 1925Broadway

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Building upon a successful series of pub-lic lectures, the University launched theSummer Session in 1900 and ExtensionTeaching in 1904, both of which offered theNew York community unprecedented educa-tional opportunities. Limited access to high-er education was a nationwide phenomenon:in 1904 only 2 percent of men and women 23years old had earned a bachelor’s degree.Given this dearth, it is not surprising thatExtension Teaching exploded, with nearly1,600 students registering for adult educationcourses in 1904.

In addition to providing a service to thecommunity and generating considerableincome for the University, the program pro-vided education commensurate with thatgiven in the University’s other divisions.“Most of the regular courses in ExtensionTeaching are now given at the University,subject to exactly the same standards whichare required for the regular programme,”wrote Frederick Keppel, the Dean ofColumbia College (CC), in 1914. In 1921 theprogram was renamed University Extensionand began to grant a degree: a Bachelor ofScience in “general studies.”

But the program’s popularity also elicitedconcern within the Columbia College facul-ty. Some of the courses were vocational orsimply nonacademic—subjects taught includ-ed stenography, beekeeping, and freshwaterangling (given in the University pool)—offer-ing ammunition to critics who questioned theprogram’s value, or at least its place at

Columbia. For many the extension program’sfundamentally dual nature—providing both“a college education for adults” and “adulteducation,” which created a distinctionbetween matriculated students seekingdegrees (who underwent admissions screen-ing processes) and the far more numerousnon-matriculated students (who did not)—made separating the program’s benefits fromits drawbacks a difficult, or simply unappeal-ing, task.

The influx of GIs seeking undergraduatedegrees after World War II, following yearsof declining enrollment due to the GreatDepression and the war, brought the matterto a head, if not a resolution. Harry MorganAyres, Director of University Extension,argued that the program’s “various purposesdo not conflict with each other. They form awhole that is complicated, but not confused.”Confident that the school could continuewith minimal revision, Ayres suggested aname change that, although apparently mere-ly cosmetic, would publicly affirm the exist-ing reality: that University Extension was“genuinely a part of the University.” The newcollege’s name, School of General Studies,referred to both its bachelor’s degree and tothe medieval schools known as studia gener-alia, which, unlike the studia particularia,served a broad array of students and scholarsand became the foundation of the modernuniversity.

GS quickly introduced a series of innova-tive educational ventures that could not havearisen anywhere else at Columbia, includingthe Joint Program with the JewishTheological Seminary’s Albert List Collegeand the Postbaccalaureate PremedicalProgram, created in 1954 and 1955, respec-tively. GS began to resemble a more tradi-tional college, with its own faculty (1951) andPhi Beta Kappa chapter (1952), but theschool continued to serve both degree-seek-ing and non-degree-seeking students, untilthe President’s Committee on theEducational Future of the University report-ed its findings in 1958. The MacmahonCommittee Report, as it came to be known,affirmed the School’s mission of providing a

college education for adults, noting that its“place is as important as that of any other unitin the University.” But the report also recom-mended that GS abandon its adult educationcourses; Dean Louis Hacker resigned inprotest. Although the committee’s suggestionwas not fully implemented, adult educationcourses were significantly curtailed.

With the increased focus on undergradu-ate education came increased focus on thedegree that GS students earned. From almostthe first moment when the extension pro-gram became a full-fledged school, questionshad been raised about the appropriateness ofthe University granting a Bachelor of Sciencefor a liberal-arts education. These questionsbecame more persistent until—after consid-erable lobbying from GS students, alumni,faculty, and administrators, and despite ran-corous opposition from some members of theCC faculty—in 1968 the University Councilgranted GS the right to award the Bachelorof Arts degree, and the school took the finalstep toward becoming a liberal arts college.

And, of course, something else happenedin 1968. In late April students protesting theproposed gym in Morningside Park as well asColumbia’s role in military research took overseveral buildings on campus and occupiedthem for an entire week. Although GS stu-dents could be found on both sides of theconflict, most did not support the protesters,and some actually stood guard with adminis-tration and faculty members to prevent atakeover of Lewisohn Hall. The uprising andbloody evacuation of protesters by policewere thoroughly, though not always accurate-ly, covered by the national media. Along withthe unfavorable perceptions of theUniversity, in the early 1970s Columbia alsohad to contend with the deterioratingMorningside Heights neighborhood, andenrollment declined in many divisions,including GS. But by the middle of thedecade, bolstered by innovative new courseofferings and special joint-degree programswith Columbia’s graduate and professionalschools, GS was able to report that applica-tions were again on the rise.

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THE EVOLUTION OF GENERAL STUDIES

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Still, despite—or perhaps because of—its academic and fiscal success-es, GS’s existence as a discrete undergraduate school was occasionallycalled into question. Suggestions to merge GS and CC were never seri-ously considered by the University’s central administration, however, andultimately became irrelevant with the 1990 creation of the Faculty of Artsand Sciences, which unified the CC, GS, GSAS, and SIPA Faculties,ensuring that GS and CC students would take the same classes, with thesame instructors.

Complete social integration did not follow directly on the heels ofacademic unification; initially GS students were presumed to have littleinterest in undergraduate social activities, which was generally true—most worked or had families, but virtually all were from the New Yorkarea, with pre-existing social networks. As the GS student body becamemore nationally and internationally diverse, with many students relocat-ing to New York to earn degrees, the need for a student communitybecame more apparent. After intensive efforts by student council officersin the late 1990s and early 2000s—efforts that continue today—the GSstudent body is now able to participate fully in undergraduate life.

GS continued to serve both degree-seeking and non-degree-seekingstudents until 1977, when the School of Continuing Education was estab-lished as a separate division. GS later reincorporated ContinuingEducation, but the two were again separated in 1995 as part of a thor-ough administrative reorganization that allowed GS to focus on its coremission: attracting, training, and supporting nontraditional students whopossess exceptional academic potential.

From its inception, as a supplementary program expected to bealmost entirely self-sufficient, the School of General Studies has thrivedin a way that few could have expected. What was essentially a communityoutreach venture has become the nation’s finest undergraduate collegefor nontraditional students. GS alumni have gone on to change the worldwith their work in virtually every field imaginable. But perhaps just asimportant is the service they have provided the University by bringingthe diversity of New York, and then the world, to Columbia.

GS TRAILBLAZER: MARGARET BANCROFT

“Though it wouldseem that my journeyis only to satisfy acuriosity and a love ofadventure, I am reallygoing now, more formy students’ sake,those yet to be andthose whom I havealready grown tolove.” Written on aship bound for theMediterranean in 1926, these words would seemalmost incredible were their author not MargaretBancroft, who devoted most of her life to the Schoolof General Studies and its students.

Born in Wellesley, Mass., in 1891, Bancroft grad-uated from Wellesley and then earned a master’s atColumbia before studying at Cambridge, where sheresearched early Roman settlements in Britain. Shereturned to Columbia in 1923 to teach ancient histo-ry at University Extension and remained for 37 years,instilling a love of classical civilizations and earningher students’ admiration with lively, discerning lec-tures.

Upon retirement, Bancroft began a series of “at-homes,” with former students and friends droppingby her tiny Morningside Drive apartment for infor-mal intellectual conversation. In 1961 a New YorkTimes reporter who was in attendance at one sessioncounted 35 people engaged in discussion, including“Wall Street financiers, an archaeologist, an engi-neer, a dress designer, a radiologist, an antiquesexpert, students of astronomy and diplomacy, teach-ers, and Columbia’s vice president.”

Bancroft remained a fierce advocate for GS dur-ing her retirement, even lobbying President AndrewCordier to ensure that GS students were granted theright to earn a Bachelor of Arts.

In 1960 the GS Alumni Association establishedthe Margaret Bancroft Award for DistinguishedRetiring Professors; she was, of course, its first recip-ient. A few years before her death in 1979, astrono-my professor Lloyd Motz wrote to her after receiv-ing the Bancroft Award: “I was carried back to thegolden days in General Studies when we all workedso hard to create the wonderful, exciting school thatGS now is. And you were always in the front lines ofthat battle. I recall how often my students spoke ofyou with the greatest affection and esteem—youinspired so many of them. The students consideredyou their friend and knew that you were one theycould always turn to for advice and comfort.”

Timeline photos provided by Columbia University Archives-ColumbiaLibrary except student photo - page 15, Baruj Benacerraf - page 18, stu-dent photo - page 19, and Peter Awn photo - page 19 by Alan Orlingand Low Library at night - page 19 by Eileen Barroso.

1942-48Dean Harry Mogan Ayres

1926College Walk

1948Woman have

been students at GSsince its inception.

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1931Nicholas Murray Butleris awarded the NobelPeace Prize for his role in promoting theKellogg-Briand Pact, atreaty drafted to outlawwar as an instrument of national policy.

1925 1930 1935 1940 1943 1945

1925 1930 1935 1940 1943 1945

1921Extension Teaching receivesa new name—UniversityExtension—and begins togrant the Bachelor ofScience degree.

1923With his father ill, LouGehrig decides to leaveColumbia College andsign a contract with theNew York Yankees,receiving a $1,500bonus.

1926University Extension registers a total of 19,000students, including manywho work with instructorsin New Jersey, Connecticut,and Long Island, bringingthe overall number ofColumbia students to itshighest-ever total.

1948Gen. Dwight D.

Eisenhower (picturedwith his wife Mamie

at a GS Holiday Tea)becomes the 13th

President of theUniversity.

1939After years of decliningenrollment due to theGreat Depression,University Extensionreports a boost in students as a result of the World’s Fair.

1947To meet the needs of

GIs returning fromWorld War II, UniversityExtension is reorganized

as an undergraduate college and designatedthe School of General

Studies.

1939King George VI andQueen Elizabeth ofthe United Kingdomvisit Columbia toinspect the King’sCollege charter, originally signed byKing George II.

1940Initial research for theManhattan Project isconducted in Pupin andLewisohn.

1951-58Dean Louis Hacker

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1950Borrowing from the family crest ofSamuel Johnson, the first instructorand President of King’s College, GSstudents create the first GS shield.Notable features include an owl andthe school motto, "Lux in TenebrisLucet," or "The light that shines in the darkness," both signifying that GSstudents attend classes at night.

1951GS establishesits own faculty.

1952The GS chapter ofPhi Beta Kappa isestablished.

1950 1953 1955 1960 1963 1965

1950 1953 1955 1960 1963 1965

1953Eisenhower leavesColumbia tobecome President of the United States.

1954GS institutes a joint-degree program withAlbert A. List College of The JewishTheological Seminary.

1955The PostbaccalaureatePremedical Program,the first of its kind inthe United States, isestablished.

1965The School of the Arts is

established as a formalinstitution. Many of its

programs, including writing, theatre, and

painting, began as coursesin Extension Teaching.

1958In 1957 Pat Boonehad three number-onesongs, starred in twofilms, and hosted hisown television show;in 1958 he graduatedfrom GS.

1958-64Dean Clifford Lord

1955The Alumni House

was the home of GSbefore it moved to

Lewisohn Hall in 1964.

Pat Boone withDean Louis Hacker

1960With most research

conducted off-campus,science has generally been

subordinated to the liberalarts at Columbia.

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1981The Division of

Continuing Educationand Special Programs

is re-established as abranch of the School

of General Studies.

1968 1970 1975 1980 1985 1987

1982The Board of Trustees announces that Columbia College will become the last undergraduate college in theIvy League to admit women. In 1987the first coeducational class graduatesfrom Columbia, with women serving as the class’s valedictorian, salutatorian,and senior class president.

1968 1970 1975 1980 1985 1987

1977-92Dean Ward Dennis

1968Butler and

Low Libraries

1993-94Dean Caroline Bynum

1980Baruj Benacerraf

1971Alumnus SimonKuznets ’21 is awardedthe Nobel Prize forEconomics for his workstudying the quantita-tive characteristics ofthe long-term economicgrowth of nations.

1973GS becomes the first

undergraduate divisionof the University to

award financial aid totransfer students.

1968GS begins to offerthe Bachelor of Artsdegree.

1968Student activists protesting Columbia’splans to build a gym in MorningsidePark and the University’s affiliation withthe Institute for Defense Analyses takeover several buildings on campus andhold them for seven days. The violent police evacuation results in thearrests of 524 students, 25 alumni, andnearly 150 people unaffiliated with theUniversity; 77 students, 8 faculty andstaff members, and 14 policemen aretreated at local hospitals for injuries.

1964-68Dean Clarence Walton

1987GS institutes the

Master of Artsprogram in

Liberal Studies.

1981Alumni and friendsraise funds to renovate LewisohnHall.

1980Alumnus BarujBenacerraf ’42

receives the NobelPrize in Medicine

for his work ingenetics.

1969-77Dean Aaron Warner

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1999 Construction onAlfred Lerner Hall,the student unionand newest additionto the campus, iscompleted. 2002

Lee Bollingerinstalled as the 19th President of ColumbiaUniversity.

1995Continuing work begun by Dean Caroline Bynum,Dean Gillian Lindt leads an administrative reorgan-ization that separates the undergraduate college andPostbaccalaureate Premedical Program from thefollowing schools and programs:

• School of Continuing Education• Summer Session• American Language Program• Columbia-sponsored study abroad programs

2002After years of lobbying,General StudiesStudent Council members ensure thatGS students can fullyparticipate in on-campus student organizations.

2004Columbia celebrates its 250th

anniversary.

1995The Liberal StudiesM.A. program movesto the GraduateSchool of Arts andSciences.

1998Former GS DeanCaroline Bynumbecomes the firstwoman in Columbiahistory to be namedUniversity Professor.

1990 1995 2000 2003 2005 2007

1990 1995 2000 2003 2005 2007

1994-97Dean Gillian Lindt

1990The Faculty of Arts &Sciences is created, unifying the faculties of Columbia College,the School of GeneralStudies, the GraduateSchool of Arts andSciences (GSAS), and the School ofInternational and PublicAffairs (SIPA).

2007GS celebrates 60 years. Today the school enjoys a deeper applicant pool, withincreased student matriculationand persistence in both theundergraduate college and the Postbaccalaureate Premedical Program.

1997-present Dean Peter Awn

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1929Federico Garcia Lorca was already an acclaimed poet and drama-

tist in his native Spain when he matriculated at University Extensionto study English. Lorca attended classes (sporadically) and resided inFurnald and John Jay while composing innovative, experimental poemsthat broke decisively with the traditionalism of his earlier work.

The collection of these poems, Poet in New York, contains a letterLorca wrote to his family describing his impressions of Columbia:“Ihave never seen more innocent creatures in my life than theseColumbia students, or kinder, or more savage ones. … These boysstretch and yawn with the innocence of animals, they sneeze withouttaking out their handkerchiefs and are always shouting, everywhere.And yet they are open and friendly, and they truly enjoy doing a favorfor you. But how different they are from Spaniards who have beenbrought up properly.”

An outspoken liberal and homosexual, Lorca drew the ire ofGeneral Francisco Franco’s Nationalist forces as they rose to power.He was murdered by the Falange militia in 1936 and buried in a massgrave in Granada. His brother Francisco later became a professor onthe General Studies faculty.

SNAPSHOTS OF GS HISTORY

Federico Garcia Lorca

1959GS and the Quiz Show ScandalAfter Louis Hacker resigned as dean, he took on a new challenge,

serving as the foreman on the grand jury probing the rigged quizshows. Although virtually everyone called before the grand juryclaimed otherwise, the district attorney’s investigation discovered thatcontestants had been given the answers by quiz-show producers.

Even though this was not against the law—simply because no suchthing had ever happened before—and no further criminal prosecutionwas possible, Hacker prepared a grand jury report detailing the extentof the fraud and calling into question the purported educational valueof the quiz shows. When the judge sealed the report—a highlyunorthodox and very rare maneuver—Hacker went to the media andhelped launch a Congressional inquiry (depicted in the film Quiz Show)that exposed how thoroughly some members of the Columbia com-munity were implicated.

Former Columbia English instructor Charles Van Doren remainsthe most widely known figure in the scandal, but it was GS studentElfrida von Nardroff who was Twenty-One’s biggest winner, amassing$220,500—the most money “won” on television for nearly 40 years.Along with Van Doren and 17 other contestants, von Nardroff plead-ed guilty to perjury for her testimony before the grand jury andreceived a suspended sentence.

Although she was never charged, it was a GS student, Marie Winn,who sparked the initial investigations.Winn had received the answersto Dotto in advance, written them down, and reviewed them in thegreen room, in full view of the other contestants; she claimed to bestudying for an exam. After her victorious performance, they racedoffstage, grabbed her notebook, and ran to the district attorney’soffice. A magna cum laude graduate, Winn is now a fierce critic of tele-vision. She recently updated her book The Plug-In Drug for its 25thanniversary.

Photos used by permission of the Federico Garcia Lorca Foundation.

DeanLouis Hacker,

1964 Columbian; Elfridavon Nardroff courtesy of Getty Images

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Howard Grossman’s first job wasn’t exactly easy. “Itwas soul-destroying,” he says of his residency at KingsCounty Hospital in Brooklyn, where in the 1980s he sawsome of the earliest AIDS patients. “The hospital was sit-ting on a powder keg, mostly because of the number of IVdrug users. There were a lot of very poor people andimmigrants from the Caribbean, especially from Haiti.”

Grossman graduated from GS’s PostbaccalaureatePremedical Pre-health Program in 1977, attended med-ical school at SUNY Downstate Medical Center, and wasimmediately thrust into the national epidemic.

Grossman, 53, has obviously seen better days since.Thanks to effective treatments, today there are 39.5 mil-lion people living with HIV globally, according to a 2006study by the Joint United Nations Programme onHIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). Still, more virulent strains makethe disease resistant to drugs and elusive to a vaccine andcure. The number of new infections is steadily increasing.“In this country over 40,000 cases are diagnosed each year,which is unforgivable, and completely related to the factthat we don’t do prevention very well,” says Grossman,who is now the medical director of the Conant

Foundation, a San Francisco-basednon-profit dedicated to HIV education.He points out an ironic paradox: “Asmore anti-retroviral therapy gets outthere, there are more people who needhealthcare and resources, and as theyget healthier they are in a position tospread the disease more. Unfortunatelythe fear-based messages we’ve used forthe past 26 years don’t work for peoplewho didn’t live through the early daysof AIDS.”

Over the course of his careerGrossman has played a pivotal part inthe movement to educate and fightHIV. Seven years ago he helped formthe American Academy of HIVMedicine, the first organization of itskind to bring together HIV specialists.He’s traveled to Asia to set up Nepal’sfirst HIV clinic and most recently was in Russia, a countrywith one of the world’s fastest-growing epidemics, partic-ularly among young people: About 80 percent of thosewith HIV are between 15 and 30 years of age, accordingto UNAIDS.

Grossman credits Columbia with helping make him abetter doctor. Originally intending to become a lawyer, hestudied political science at Haverford College until, as heexplains wryly, “I realized I couldn’t lie for a living, so Idecided to be a doctor.” He enrolled in GS’s postbac pro-gram after graduation and met a population of studentslike himself, who came to medicine with a bit of life expe-rience. “So many people go to college with the idea thatthey’ll be a doctor without really knowing what it’s about,”he says. “But when people come back to it in their 20s and30s it’s because they choose medicine, rather than fall intoit. For me Columbia was a really important growing expe-rience.”

And despite the challenges that lay ahead for him,Grossman’s compassion for his patients and devotion tohis work has never faltered. “I always wanted to do some-thing that felt ‘necessary,’” he says. “During the worst partof the epidemic and still today, I rarely wonder why I’mgetting up in the morning. Not everybody can say that.”

DR. HOWARD GROSSMAN ’77 PBPM

BY BETH KWON

GSALUMNI

“As more anti-retroviraltherapy gets out there, thereare more people who needhealthcare and resources, andas they get healthier they arein a position to spread thedisease more. Unfortunatelythe fear-based messageswe’ve used for the past 26years don’t work for peoplewho didn’t live through theearly days of AIDS.”

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CLASS DAY 2007PHOTOS BY DAVID WENTWORTH

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1. GS Class Day was held outside on SouthLawn for the first time.

2. Christopher Riano and Elizabeth Hollister.

3. Class Day speaker Deborah Marshall ’79.

4. Grads line up to receive their diplomas.

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1. The Biting Fish Brass Band led the graduatesto their seats.

2. Valedictorian Chih-Hsin Hsu.

3. Mary Catherine Ford and her son.

4. Salutatorian Adam Parker.

5. Michael Nicholas.

6. Juri Ogawa (left), Chad Miller (middle),Makiko Anzai (right).

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GSANNUAL GIVING

THE GS ANNUAL FUNDDuring Columbia’s 2006-2007 fiscal year, which

ended June 30, the School of General Studies experi-enced record giving to the GS Annual Fund, raisingmore than $403,049 and receiving 40 percent moregifts than the previous year. This increased participa-tion is making a difference because current students feelthe effects of this vital support everyday.

The GS Annual Fund is the school’s primary vehi-cle for alumni giving and an important way that alumnimay commemorate their GS experience. Each gift isappreciated, no matter the size. Gifts to the GS AnnualFund may be designated to the following areas:

• General support to underwrite the dean’s top priorities

• Financial aid• PALS (Program for Academic Leadership and

Service)• Postbaccalaureate Premedical Program

GS ASSOCIATES PROGRAMGS recognizes the school’s most loyal and generous

Annual Fund donors through the GS Associates pro-gram. All GS Annual Fund donors of $500 or more andrecent graduates (those who have graduated within thelast four years) who give $100 or more become membersof the GS Associates. In appreciation, members arerewarded with the following unique opportunities thathelp them stay connected to the school throughoutthe year:

• Invitation to Dean’s Day• Invitation to GS Associates Events• Personal acknowledgments from the Dean• Listing in the General Studies Annual Report of

Giving• Invitation to the Annual Scholarship ReceptionLast year’s GS Associates gatherings included a talk

with Professor Sunil Gulati of the Department ofEconomics, who spoke about his role as the Presidentof the United States Soccer Federation, and a donorthanksgiving reception with Professor Matthew Palmerof the Department of Ecology, Evolution, andEnvironmental Biology, who teamed with one of hisprotégées, GS student Stephanie Smith ’07, to discussher recent research project.

GS ANNUAL FUND VOLUNTEERSNew GS Annual Fund volunteers are also making

headway in encouraging their fellow alumni to become

involved. Under the leadership of Arthur Bingham ’84,nearly two dozen alumni are engaged in outreach andmaking annual fund calls to encourage participation.Richard Space ’05 is working with GS Annual FundAssociate Director Meredith Loffredo ’02CC to devel-op and expand the Recent Alumni LeadershipCommittee, which helps graduates of the last 10 yearsstay connected to Columbia.

SENIOR GIFTThe GS Class of 2007 is helping set new standards

for annual fund giving through the Senior Gift. Arecord 52 percent of seniors participated this year, rais-ing over $11,000 dedicated solely for student financialaid, including a challenge grant from classmateChristopher Riano.

NEW ANNUAL FUND OFFICEROn October 1 the GS Annual Fund staff welcomed

Sheila Brogan-Testa ’91, TC ’92 to the team. An activemember of the Columbia Alumni Association’sSouthern California Club, Sheila has relocated back toNew York with her husband, SEAS Professor ReneTesta. Sheila will be working with alumni, parents, andfriends to increase leadership annual giving to GS.

To learn more about the GS Annual Fund and how you canhelp, please contact Meredith Loffredo, Associate Director, GSAnnual Fund, at mal82@columbia.edu or (212) 851-4165.

Where there’s a Will

If you have included Columbia in your estate plans, the Office of Planned Giving would like to

invite you to join The 1754 Society.

Contact the Office by telephone at (212)870-3100 or (800)338-3294

and by email at gift.planning@columbia.edu.

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To learn more about the GS AssociatesProgram and how you can participate, Pleasecontact Sheila Brogan-Testa, AssociateDirector, GS Annual Fund at 212-851-4168or email sab143@columbia.edu.

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Benefactors and scholarship recipients unite for an evening of thanks and celebrationof 60 years of the GS tradition.

SCHOLARSHIP DINNER:NOVEMBER 28, 2007

1. President Lee Bollinger and Dean Peter Awnwith Nicholas H. Niles ’65 and Margetta G.Niles ’65.

2. Roswell B. Perkins ’79 and Helen Evarts ’70,benefactors of both the Ward H. Dennis andAaron W. Warner Scholarships, with JohnRoberts.

3. Brandon Blaylock with his father Albert J.Blaylock, benefactor of the Clayton A. BlaylockMemorial Scholarship.

4. President Bollinger addresses scholarshipbenefactors and recipients before the studentpanel.

5. GS student Amy Shadden with Dean MaryMcGee and members of the Recent AlumniLeadership Committee Chad Miller ’07, StephenDavis ’06, and Marguerite Daniels ’05.

6. Student panelists Stephen Harris, LyndonPark, and Akillah Wali.

7. GS student Trilbe Wynne, recipient of theCharlotte Newcombe Foundation Scholarship,with Thomas Wilfred, Executive Director of theFoundation.

8. Jeff Klein ’91, Nancy Lewis ’78, and GSstudent Lyndon Park.

9. Sandra Borg and Malcolm A. Borg ’65,benefactors of the North Jersey Media GroupScholarship, with recipient Virginia Vilotti.

10. Low Library Rotunda.

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PHOTOS BY EILEEN BARROSO

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MEET SONJA CARTER, ASSOCIATEDIRECTOR OF GIFT PLANNING

Sonja Carter joined the Office of GiftPlanning in 2002, after practicing law inMinneapolis and New York. She lives inMorningside Heights with her husband Mattand their 18-month-old daughter Sophie.

Why did you decide to switch from law tofundraising?

I had been a volunteer fundraiser for mysorority, college, law school, and a wonderfullittle theater company for over a decade.When I was laid off from my law firm afterSept. 11, rather than remaining in law, Idecided to turn a volunteer activity that gave

me great pleasure into a second career. I enrolled in the fundraisingmaster’s program at Columbia’s School of Continuing Education a weekbefore I started working for the University. My first development posi-tion was at Columbia Law School, and then I moved to the Office ofGift Planning. My legal background has been helpful when workingwith our alumni and friends and their financial advisors, whether we areputting together the right language for a bequest intention or establish-ing a charitable gift annuity.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of fundraising management?

Helping people make a truly significant gift to their alma mater, a placethey care deeply about, is very fulfilling. When people give, no matterthe amount, it makes them feel good, and it does great things for theUniversity and its students. It gives me great pleasure to serve as aresource for our donors, discussing the many creative ways they can givemeaningful gifts to GS as well as achieve other goals such as retirementor tax planning at the same time.

I would be honored to work with you or your advisors, and encourageyou to call if you have any questions about appreciated securities,bequest intentions, beneficiary designations of retirement funds (IRAs,401k or other such plans), charitable gift annuities, or gifts of real estateand other tangible personal property. I'd love to help you create a win-win situation with your gift to GS. Please call me at 1-800-338-3294 or212-870-2573, and we can get to work!

What’s your favorite thing about Columbia?

I have too many to choose, but Sophie’s is Low Library—she loves toclimb the steps!

GSPLANNED GIVING GIFTS TO GS

THAT KEEP ON GIVING

Columbia’s Office of Gift Planning canadvise you about how your donation canbenefit both you and GS. Here are a fewthoughts:

Appreciated Securities: Gifts of appre-ciated stocks can be given in lieu of cash,which offers significant tax advantages.Because Columbia University is notrequired to pay capital gains, the stocks’full value will go directly to GS, and youwill receive a tax rebate for the entireamount of the gift.

Charitable Gift Annuities: Inexchange for a minimum gift of $25,000in cash or publicly traded securities,Columbia will promise to make fixed,guaranteed payments for life to you and,if desired, one other individual. Theobligation to make these payments issecured by the Columbia endowment,and the annuity amount is based on theage of the beneficiaries at the time ofthe gift. You receive a charitable taxdeduction in the year you completeyour gift, and, most significantly,depending upon how the annuity isfunded, a significant portion of theannuity payment can be tax-free for agiven number of years.

Bequests: When you support GSthrough a bequest, you will receiveimportant tax benefits, because allbequests to Columbia University areentirely free from federal estate taxes.Certain bequests, such as retirementplan assets, allow you to give more toColumbia at significantly less after-taxcost to your other beneficiaries.

A Resource for YouOur friendly, knowledgeable,

planned giving officers are ready andwilling to help you with any of the giftsmentioned; for information on plannedgiving opportunities at ColumbiaUniversity, please contact the Office ofPlanned Giving at (212) 870-3100,(800) 338-3294, or via e-mail atgift.planning@columbia.edu.

Sonja Carter with herdaughter Sophie.

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JTS CHANCELLORARNOLD M.E I S E NBY ROBERT AST

With degrees from the University of Pennsylvania andOxford and a doctorate in the history of Jewish thoughtfrom Hebrew University, Arnold M. Eisen brings a distin-guished intellect to his newrole as Chancellor ofThe Jewish TheologicalSeminary. The formerKoshland Professor ofJewish Culture andReligion at Stanford hasalso taught at Columbiaand Tel Aviv Universityand written widely onAmerican Jewry in suchbooks as RethinkingModern Judaism and TheJew Within (with StevenCohen).

The position of chancellor, however, will present dif-ferent challenges, as he acknowledged during a speech lastyear in Westchester County. “A member of the searchcommittee put it to me rather directly and candidly, saying‘You have been giving advice through your books andthrough your speeches for twenty-five years. We've gotenough kibbetzers around here; how about being a leader?’

“The challenge of studying and giving advice and try-ing to draw on my personal experience and scholarship andmy personal life, to take all that together and try to leadthe major institution of Conservative Judaism—andincreasingly one of the greatest institutions of AmericanJewish life … was one that I could not resist.”

Appointed the successor to Dr. Ismar Schorsch inApril 2006, Eisen assumed the chancellorship in July 2007after spending the yearlong interregnum traveling thecountry to speak with rabbis and laypeople about thefuture of Conservative Judaism.

“The way we make Judaism live for people cannot bedone in the same forms that it was done twenty years ago(let alone 100 years ago), and in many cases, that is exactlywhat we are doing,” he said. “We are trying to fit 21st-cen-tury ideas inside structures and organizations that are 50and 100 years old. And if they don't fit, there is a reasonfor that.

“This is a movement with enormous present strength.Let no one persuade us we're in crisis. We just have somework to do.”

GSON CAMPUS

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COLUMBIA STARTS CREATIVE WRITING MAJOR BY ANNE BURT

J.D. Salinger enrolled in a shortstory writing class when he studied atColumbia’s University ExtensionProgram in 1939. Carson McCullerstook odd jobs all over the city to pay forExtension courses in creative writing.

Although such culturally signifi-cant writers as Paul Auster, AllenGinsberg, Langston Hughes, JackKerouac, Federico García Lorca, andEudora Welty all studied in variousdivisions of the University, not all tookwriting classes here, and those whowere undergraduates could not haveearned a degree in creative writing.

The School of General Studiespreviously offered a major in literature-writing, but now, for the first time, GS and Columbia College studentscan complete an intensive creative writing major. This change comes inlarge part because of the efforts of Ben Marcus, chair of the School of theArts MFA writing program, and Sam Lipsyte, director of undergraduatestudies for the new creative writing major.

Thirty-five undergraduates have been admitted to the by-application-only major in its inaugural year, and hundreds more have enrolled innewly designed classes that teach students to approach fiction, poetry, andnonfiction as crafts to be learned, as opposed to traditional English class-es that teach students to approach literature as works to be interpreted.In all, 25 new courses were created for the undergraduate major.

“We always had writing workshops in which a student's work couldbe critiqued, but now we have workshops running alongside rigorousseminars in which they have to read a great deal and learn about literaryhistory, but from a practitioner’s perspective,” said Marcus, who is theauthor of, among other works, Notable American Women, The FatherCostume, and The Age of Wire and String. “If students are only reading lit-erature in an English class, they might not acquire that real, tactile senseof how to make a sentence.”

Lipsyte, the author of Home Land, Venus Drive, and The Subject Steve,said he found it exciting to create a curriculum for undergraduates thatmirrored the hands-on approach taken by the MFA program in writing.Graduate students “already understand the approach of ‘reading as awriter’ that we are trying to teach,” he said. “With the undergraduates,you are explaining a new way of reading to them. And I see in their eyeswhen we begin that it’s something they’ve been looking for. It’s a way theyhave secretly connected to these texts all along. The major is giving thempermission to pursue that line of inquiry.”

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Sam Lipsyte (left), and Ben Marcusare responsible for launching thenew creative writing major atColumbia. Photograph by EileenBarroso.

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Alumni NOTES EDITED BY ROBERT AST

1949After graduating from GS, Ely Karasikearned a master’s at Teachers College. Elywent on to teach music and science in publicschools and, upon retirement, began to com-pose music, specifically pieces with Italian,Greek, Spanish, and Jewish flavors for man-dolin and guitar duos. He also sets poems—including works by Edgar Allen Poe, LewisCarroll, Ogden Nash, Pablo Neruda, andJorge Luis Borges—to music for voice andpiano. He has produced a number of CDs aswell as a book, 13 Tango Passions for Mandolinand Guitar.

1955NEYSA WILKINSON recently moved toOrange, Mass.

1956IRA JOSEPHS coordinated a film course atUNLV. “Movies for Movie Buffs”—though,Ira notes, “we do NOT watch them in thebuff”—features lively discussion and is part ofthe Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. Iraencourages GS alumni living in the Las Vegasarea to contact him: “The New York spiritlives, if not the Brooklyn Dodgers.”

1957RAYMOND FEDERMAN’S most recent novel,Return to Manure, a “surfictional collage of remembrance and expectation,” wasrecently published by Fiction Collective 2.His literary blog is updated regularly atwww.raymondfederman.blogspot.com.

1960EDWARD KLEIN’S latest book, Katie: The RealStory, an unauthorized biography of KatieCouric, was recently published by CrownPublishing.

BARBARA PROBST SOLOMON received theUnited Nations’ “Women Come TogetherAward,” which “seeks to pay tribute to agroup of women who share a dedication tostand out in their individual activities; a com-mitment to their work, and a devotion to

making the world a better place.” A distin-guished professor and prize-winning author,in 2005 she became the first North Americanand second woman to receive the Antoniode Sancha Prize, bestowed by the Associationof Madrid Publishers and Editors, for herwork upholding shared literary and culturalvalues.

1961ROBERT LOCKWOOD is the author of ACulture of Deception, a political thriller recent-ly published by Xlibris. Robert operated hisown Washington, DC, lobbying firm afterretiring as counsel to the US Senate JudiciaryCommittee; he previously served as U.S.Army colonel and as a Cabinet-level politicaladvisor to secretaries in several administra-tions. He taught at West Point and theNational War College and was an adjunctprofessor at Harvard, George Washington,and the University of Kansas. Robert alsoattended the Sorbonne, New YorkUniversity School of Law, and GeorgeWashington, where he earned a PhD. Helives with his wife in Williamsburg, Va., andHutchinson Island, Fla.

1963HELEN LEVIN was featured in a solo artshow Helen Levin: Abstract Art from New Yorkat the Mikst Media Gallery in Woudrichem,Netherlands.

1965After seven years of service, RELA MINTZ

GEFFEN is stepping down as President ofBaltimore Hebrew University. Designated aProfessor Emerita of Sociology, she has movedto Philadelphia to enjoy a sabbatical year.

1966BARBARA BUONCRISTIANO is the Director ofCompliance for the New York State Division ofHuman Rights. She was included in the bookFeminists Who Changed America: 1963-1975 andco-chaired the Jane Froman CentennialCelebration (www.janefroman.com), held Nov.9-11 in Columbia, Mo.

ALEXANDER (SANDY) FISHER. See page 29.SEND US YOUR NEWS AT GSOWL@COLUMBIA.EDU OR GS ALUMNI AFFAIRS, 408 LEWISOHN HALL, MC 4121, 2970 BROADWAY, NEW YORK, NY 10027-9829.

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1966Alexander (Sandy) Fisher

In June, Alexander “Sandy” Fisher, along withhis wife Rossie, received the American FarmlandTrust’s Steward of the Land Award for their work in farmland pro-tection and environmental stewardship. The Fishers run the thousand-acre Brookview Farm in Manakin-Sabot, Va. and provide grass-fed beefand organic eggs to local restaurants, markets, and visitors to theiron-farm store.

After years as conventional farmers, the Fishers switched toorganic agriculture in the early 1990s. A short time later they placedtheir farm into a conservation easement, which restricts future use ofthe land to agriculture. “One of the reasons we were interested inbuying our farm in the first place is because we didn’t want it to bedeveloped,” Sandy said. In 2002 they helped found the GoochlandLand Alliance, which educates landowners about easements; they alsoplan to donate the $10,000 from the Steward of the Land Awardtoward conservation causes.

Brookview Farm also features a composting operation that con-verts municipal yard waste into organic fertilizer, as well as education-al programs for children and adults. “It would be a wasted opportuni-ty if there wasn’t interaction with the community,” Sandy said.

1967ROBERT BAYLEY was appointed Professor ofLinguistics at the University of California,Davis. He teaches and conducts research insociolinguistics and second-language acquisi-tion and serves as the linguistics graduate advi-sor. He taught for many years at theUniversity of Texas at San Antonio. His sixthbook, Sociolinguistic Variation: Theories, Methods,and Applications (ed. with Ceil Lucas), waspublished by Cambridge University Press inNovember.

1968HELEN FEDDEMA’S most recent book, Access2007 VBA Bible: For Data-Centric MicrosoftApplications, was recently published by Wiley.The book discusses using Access 2007 fordata storage and entry, editing, and printingand as data exportation to other Office appli-cations. A list of her other books and addi-tional information on Access is available onher website, www.helenfeddema.com.

MARTHA (LEVINSON) LEV-ZION’S book, TakingTamar, was recently published by Avotaynu(www.avotaynu.com/books/Tamar.htm). TakingTamar depicts Martha’s experience adoptingand raising a young girl with Down syndrome.Today, Tamar lives independently and worksas an assistant secretary at a university.

1970 ROY BERCAW is the editor of the blogEnough Room (www.enoughroom.blogspot.com and www.enoughroomvideo.blogspot.com). Many of his videos are also available onYouTube and GoogleVideo.

TILLY LORENTZ GREY recently retired andmoved to horse country near Ocala, Fla. Hermemoir, On the Path with Heart: In Africa WithHabitat for Humanity International, was pub-lished in January 2006. Tilly says life is good,and, although retired, she still manages toreturn to Africa once a year.

1972 BARBARA GIMBEL was honored with a spe-cial tribute by the United Hospital Fund at itsannual black-tie gala. An honorary director ofthe fund, Barbara began volunteering atBellevue Hosptial in 1947, later co-foundedthe quality-of-life program Children ofBellevue, and continued her commitment toimproving the patient care experience withvoluntary leadership roles. “Barbara hasdemonstrated a lifelong passion for learning,volunteerism, and improving New York’shealth care, and her commitment has been,and continues to be, an inspiration to us all,”said James R. Tallon, Jr., the United Hospital

Fund president. “We look forward to hercontributions in the years to come.”

1973DIANE M. FALK, a writer, editor, andresearcher, received an appointment certifi-cate from Ambassadors for Peace USA for hercommunity outreach. She is an education pro-gram associate for www.worldandischool.com,a cross-curriculum resource for high-schooland middle-school students, and also workswith the Women’s Federation for WorldPeace (www.wfwp.org) and UltraTeenChoice(www.ultrateenchoice.org). Her work hasappeared in the e-journal of the World MediaAssociation (www.wmaassociation.com).

1974ZOE ROXANNE GRAVES’S daughter CorinaJayne has started middle school at RiverdaleCountry Day School.

THOMAS WILLIAMS. See page 30.

BILL ZAVATSKY. See page 35.

1977HOWARD GROSSMAN, MD (PBPM). Seepage 21.

1978PETER MONDELLO is studying for a master’sdegree at the Dallas Theological Seminary.He recently married Kai Wu; they reside inSarasota, Fla.

can be found at the nursery website,http://silktreegardens.com.

1986In August 2006 Hazzan ALAN SMOLEN

became the hazzan, or cantor, ofCongregation Beth Judah in Ventnor, N.J. Hepreviously served as the hazzan ofCongregations Shirat Shalom and KnesethIsrael, both in Elgin, Ill. He has initiated “BethJudah Alive!”—a traditional Shabbat serviceinfused with guitar, keyboards, and percus-sion. Alan serves as co-musical director andsings lead vocals. A very interactive religiousexperience, “Beth Judah Alive!” debuted inJune 2007 to a standing-room-only crowd.

1987“Show Me the Money,” an article by GERRY

VISCO discussing starting salaries for collegegraduates, was recently published in NewYork Press.

1989JUAN DAVILA was recently named the direc-tor of development at Salma Hayek’s newproduction company, Ventanazul. With itsproduction partner MGM, Ventanazul willacquire, develop, and produce Latin-themed

1979This past June, BONNIE LEE BLACK earnedan MFA in creative writing from AntiochUniversity in Los Angeles at the age of 62.Although originally accepted to Columbia’sMFA program after graduating from GS,financial considerations prevented her fromattending. She is currently at work on a bookabout her recent time with the Peace Corpsin Africa, titled How to Cook a Crocodile.

1980CAREN NEILE, South Florida StorytellingProject director at Florida AtlanticUniversity, was recently featured in the PalmBeach Post for her role in creating and organ-izing the “Vox Populi” series of “storytellingslams.” She teaches at Florida Atlantic andrecently spent several weeks in Jerusalem asa Fulbright Senior Specialist. Caren earned anMFA in creative writing at FloridaInternational University and a doctorate incomparative studies at Florida AtlanticUniversity.

1985ELAINE GEORGE founded Silk Tree Gardens,a private, urban-based tree nursery inBridgeport, Conn. A list of available services

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1974Thomas Williams

Tom Williamsseems to have a normaljob: academic librarian.The only catch is thathe works in Qatar.As Director of theDistributed eLibraryat the Weill CornellMedical College, thefirst branch of an

American medical school to be located out-side U.S. borders, Williams leads the teamthat provides library services and assistanceto the medical school community and thecountry’s major hospital, as well as the widerGulf region.

“The most rewarding aspect of my job isthe success we've had in establishing state-of-the-art academic medical library resourcesand services where there were none before,”Tom said. “Seeing our efforts meet with suc-cess and experiencing the positive feedbackfrom those who use our services has beennothing short of thrilling.”

Located just outside Doha, the nation’scapital, the medical school is part ofEducation City, a complex of American uni-versities,—including Carnegie Mellon,Georgetown, and Texas A&M—which offerdegree programs in a variety of fields.Education City, established by Sheikh HamadBin Khalifa Al-Thani shortly after his acces-sion in 1995, is indicative of the vibrant het-erogeneity of Qatar, where the majority ofresidents are foreign workers.

“People have equal rights, women canvote, drive, work, own property, and have allthe rights we might expect women to have inour Western cultures,” Tom said. “Thecountry has all the modern conveniences—skyscrapers, huge modern malls (most moreelegant than those in the Western coun-tries)—but still maintains its traditional cul-ture and architecture throughout most of thecountry. Wearing the traditional clothing isoptional, although most local women stillchoose to wear traditional garb, many includ-ing the fully covered face.

“One of the most wonderful aspects ofliving in this environment is the safety. Thereis very little crime in the country: car theft,muggings, and other serious crime are almost

unheard of. We have young children wholove it here, and it is an experience they willnever forget. They are also learning thingsthey might not have learned had weremained in the States. The value of theexperience of growing up in a vastly multicul-tural environment with all that it entails isincalculable.”

But Tom is used to multicultural environ-ments. After growing up in rural, upstateNew York, he joined the Peace Corps andserved in Bolivia, then returned to New Yorkto attend GS. He studied part-time whileworking in the University Libraries System,graduating after seven years. After consider-ing law school, he decided to attendColumbia’s now-defunct School of LibraryService.

“I calculated that I could get my MS inLibrary Science in just over one year,” hesaid. ”I figured that I was still young enoughthat I could go back to school after a fewyears if I didn't like it. Well, I liked it, espe-cially working in medical libraries, and haven'tlooked back since. And so, 30-plus years laterhere I am, still with no regrets and with awonderful job in the Middle East.”

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1997STEPHEN PAGE recently had poems pub-lished in the Renovation Journal and the SanDiego Poetry Annual 2006. He was also inter-viewed for an article on balancing writing andliving for the March/April 2007 edition ofPoets & Writers.

1998STEVEN J. DRURY, MD (PBPM), of SaintBarnabas Medical Center's Department ofPathology in Livingston, N.J., has been select-ed to serve as a member of the College ofAmerican Pathologists Foundation Board ofDirectors. He also served as a ColumbiaCollege of Physicians and Surgeons researchfellow.

ROBIN MCDONALD, a Deloitte and Toucheconsultant, married Bermuda native MatthewDeCosta in May. Robin met Matthew while onvacation in 1995, but returned to the U.S. toattend GS in the fall. When she returned toBermuda to celebrate her 30th birthday, she-called Matthew for a restaurant recommenda-tion. Dinner led to a proposal on the beach.Matthew subsequently moved to New York,and the wedding was in Englewood, Col.,Robin’s home state.

ESTELLE RABONI is the program manager ofReal Life, Real Talk, Planned Parenthood’s ini-tiative designed to change the way Americatalks about sex and health. She recentlyreceived a master’s in public health from theCity University of New York. Last year shegave birth to a beautiful baby boy, LucienManuel Fischer.

2000KATHRYN MAUGHAN published her firstnovel, Did I Expect Angels?, featuring the inter-weaving stories of a suicidal young mother andwidow and the Costa Rican immigrant whochanges her life. Did I Expect Angels? is availableon Amazon.com. She has also establisheda website (www.myunexpectedangel.com),which allows users to pay tribute to thosewho have surprised them with a helping hand.

CHRIS SMITH attended graduate school atthe University of Chicago and the Universityof Virginia. He teaches cultural criticism atthe University of British Columbia and worksas a freelance writer in Vancouver. His fourthbook, 100 Albums That Changed Popular Music,was published earlier this year. In November2006, he represented Canada at the WorldUltimate Frisbee Championships in Perth,Australia.

1992Shawn AtkinsIn April, filmmaker Shawn Atkins was named a 2007 GuggenheimFellow; the fellowship will support her work on The Broken Teacup,an adaptation of some of Franz Kafka’s short stories. Atkins alsoruns The House of Frame by Frame Fierce, Inc., a nonprofit organi-zation dedicated to using animation as a form of artistic activism forat-risk youth.

Why are you drawn to animation as your mode of expression?

Animation is an amazingly elastic and generous medium, whichawakens the landscape of my imagination, my dreams, and ulti-mately, my unconscious. In the creation of this landscape, anima-tion doesn't limit me to a single art form. With animation, I cancombine photos with paintings and drawings to tell stories, whichteeter between real and imaginary worlds. In many of my films,the characters start out in the “real” world, and are quickly cata-pulted into a magic, imaginary world by the events of the narra-tive. Similar to fairy tales, the characters in my films must findtheir way back into the real, undergoing various challenges alongthe way which help them evolve and transform.

Do you have a typical method by which you work, or do youadapt to the project?

The germination of my films has been a strange, dreamlike process.Captivated by an image or a sequence of images, I will begin to work.This work takes multiple forms: research and writing, storyboard-ing, and simultaneously, the creation of images, whether charactersor backgrounds. Although the films I've made are very different fromone another, each film extends a thread which surfaced during themaking of the previous films.

While making my second film, The Travelling Eye of the Blue Cat, Istudied C.G. Jung’s writings on the unconscious. One of Jung’s char-acters in that film was a little monster—half Frankenstein, halfChaplin—that emerged from the main character’s head in an effortto help her resolve the narrative. Jung wrote extensively on theinternal division between the conscious and the unconscious psycheof individuals: how at a certain level people remain unknown tothemselves and that this lifelong struggle to understand oneselfbirths self-awareness. Jung's writings helped me develop the charac-ter of the psyche in my blue cat film.

However, Jung’s influence didn't stop; his idea of a precarious bal-ancing act between the known and unknown within the individualbecame the starting point for my Kafka project. At its foundation,this new project is an effort to understand how conflict is generatedwithin an individual and what happens if this conflict is projected out-ward, rather than dealt with internally.

Although Travelling Eye is surrealistic, there are someautobiographical touches. Are you approaching the Kafkaadaptations differently?

My films have all started out from an autobiographical point. TheTravelling Eye began as an animated documentary about my twovery jealous and mischievous cats. From there, the film traveled

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2001SHANNA (ACKERMAN) HOCKING wasrecently promoted from director ofadvancement to director of leadership giftsat the University of Alabama School of SocialWork.

EYTAN SCHWARTZ was profiled in theJerusalem Post magazine for his work as anadvocate for Sudanese refugees seeking asy-lum in Israel.

2002Comedian STEVE HOFSTETTER organized andhosted a benefit comedy show for families ofthe victims of the Virginia Tech massacre.Eleven stand-up comedians performed at theevent, which was held in Strasburg, Va., on May2 and promoted primarily through the social-networking website Facebook. The eventraised over $3,000, and the Facebook groupfor the event included over 6,600 people.

FRANCISCO IRBY is a third-year medical stu-dent at Boston University School of Medicinecompleting a trauma surgery rotation.

GERALD JACKSON JR. was recently quoted inMovieMaker. Additionally, his script A FloridaStory was a runner-up in the FilmmakersInternational Screenwriting Competition. Hegraduated with a master’s in film productionfrom Florida State University, and his pro-duction company, Five Alive Films, currentlyhas several projects in development.

Cold Fusion Gelato, a Newport, R.I.-basedeatery specializing in homemade artisan-stylegelatos and sorbets run by TORRANCE AND

NOLA KOPFER, was featured on the FoodNetwork’s Giada’s Weekend Getaways in April.

ADRIANA LINS DE ALBUQUERQUE, a doc-toral candidate in political science atColumbia, and Brooklyn graphic designerAlicia Cheng continued their New York Timesseries “31 Days in Iraq,” a map and statisticalanalysis of the more than 1,900 military andcivilian fatalities sustained in Iraq duringJanuary 2007.

LAURIE MANFRA was recently appointededitor of a new imprint at PrincetonArchitectural Press, Materials Monthly. Shealso works as a freelance journalist and haswritten for Metropolitan Home, Architect,Metropolis, The Architect’s Newspaper, andContract.

MEGAN O’GRADY GREENE works in planningmanagement with Peace One Day, a nonprof-it organization devoted to Peace Day,observed annually on Sept. 21. Visitwww.peaceoneday.org for more information.

into the realm of the imagi-nary, allowing me to explorea story of transformation—what Jung termed individua-tion, the evolving self-awareness of an individual.The two destructive cats

became helpers in the journey of the main character. I conceivedthe Kafka project in 2001 after the destruction of the World TradeCenter, as an attempt to understand where the impulse for waroriginates in the human psyche. The stories I am adapting revolvearound a character's interior struggle to grasp something that liesbeyond one's comprehension, and the internal conflict that thisincomprehension creates. Interestingly enough, Kafka wrote theseparticular stories during a period of great political turmoil anddestruction—World War I. Based on my own experiences duringSept. 11, 2001, I understand them within a context of war and con-flict, as the response of an artist to exterior destruction and nation-alistic hatred.

How did you get started making films?

I grew up in a household devoted to film and theatre, immersed inthe fantastical worlds artists could create through their imaginations.I played backstage in the university theatres where my parentstaught, and was often onstage in children's roles. As early as I canremember, my parents encouraged me to express myself creatively.

I, however, didn't start to make films until graduate school. In highschool and college, I wrote poetry and edited a literary magazine.When I moved to New York, I reached an impasse with written lan-guage and no longer felt able to express my experiences in words.At that point, I began to experiment with photography and painting.In graduate school, I took an animation class and realized that ani-mation allowed me to combine photography and painting to createa type of visual poetry. I've been working in this medium ever since.

What’s the most important thing you took away from yourtime at GS?

GS gave me so many important experiences; it’s a challenge topinpoint just one. Professor Ivan Sander's classes in Eastern andCentral European literature showed me how art and politicsintertwine to create absurd worlds which communicate in her-metic, hilarious, and oblique images. Professor Luciano Rebay'sItalian poetry classes imbued me with a deep respect and love forthe creation of stark and powerful poetic images. Also, the friendsI made at GS later became my most important working colleagues.Nita T. Brown ’93 helped me produce The Travelling Eye of the BlueCat and later became one of the founding members of The Houseof Frame by Frame Fierce, Inc.

How has teaching affected your work?

In recent years, I've taught animation to children between the agesof five and nine. They have shown me repeatedly how powerfulthe impulse can be to express one's inner world through images.Their films literally burst with colors and strange, otherworldlycharacters. The children have a joy and fearlessness in creation,which I often draw upon in my own work.

To read the full interview with Shawn Atkins, visit www.alumni.gs.columbia.edu.

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LISA ARKIN (PBPM), a student at theUniversity of Pennsylvania Medical School,recently appeared in Penn’s admissions liter-ature.

CLAUDIA BARRERA is the proud owner ofGeorge, a Brussels Griffon puppy.

DOMINIQUE RUSSO recently earned an MBAat the MIT Sloan School of Management andjoined the New York office of Booz AllenHamilton as an associate.

2006MATAN ARIEL launched a new series of chil-dren’s CDs and DVDs, offering new versionsof Jewish holiday songs and children’s music.Visit www.matanarielandfriends.com forproduct information.

A poem by ERICH ERVING, “Dream of theHousecarpenter,” will be appearing in thenext issue of Alehouse. He showed his etch-ings in the Harlem Open Artist’s Studio Tourin October and will be participating in thegroup show Art! Actually! Painting, Drawing,Sculpture at the Leslie/Lohman Gallery inSoHo from March 11 to April 12(www.leslielohman.org).

ERICA JACKSON is an MFA student in writingat the California Institute of the Arts.Additionally, she was a finalist in the 2006Photographer's Forum College PhotoContest.

JORDANA KRIZTER (PBPM) directed DavidIves’ Time Flies and Others By Ives at Manhattan’sLaurie Beechman Theater. Cited by the NewYork Times for her “spirited production,”Jordana is the Bohemian Archaeology theatrecompany’s artistic director.

NINA MARANO is a student at BYU LawSchool in Provo, Utah. She also started Nina’sOriginal NY Pizzeria and Juice Bar, which sheplans to franchise within three to five years.

SVETOSLAV ROUSSANOV began his collegeeducation at the Academy of Economics inBulgaria, but, dissatisfied with the lack of aca-demic rigor, he applied for and won a Ministryof Education scholarship for study in China.He studied Mandarin at Beijing’s CapitalUniversity of Economics and Business for ayear before enrolling in the school’s econom-ics program, where classes were conductedentirely in Chinese. The school’s instruction,however, offered a predominantly Marxistinterpretation of economics, and Svetoslav leftafter three semesters to work in customerservice for a global real-estate corporation.Despite his success, Svetoslav’s intellectualambitions, along with the SARS epidemic, ledhim to leave China in order to study in the

CARLOS VAZQUEZ is a doctoral candidate atBrown University, studying 20th-centuryAmerican literature with an emphasis onAfrican-American, Anglo-American, andNuyorican writers. He has been awarded theFord Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship anda fellowship from the Jacob K. JavitsFoundation. For the 2007-2008 academicyear he is a graduate fellow at Brown’sPembroke Center for Research on Women.In October he will moderate a panel on cul-tural anthropology at the Ford Foundation’sannual conference in Irvine, Calif.

2003LARRY KOPP is the president of T.A.S.C.Group, a New York-based consulting firm, andthe proud father of two children.

2004VINNIE APICELLA launched his website,Vinnie’s World (www.vinniesworld.com). Thewebsite contains writings on subjects asdiverse as international real estate, the DeadKennedys, and property listings. “The websiteis a combination of written content, images,and business/property promotion,” he said.An editor at New Jersey’s QuadrantHealthCom, Vinnie also recently published ane-book, Discover China, which offers assis-tance in traveling, living, doing business, andinvesting in China.

JULIE BROPHY gave birth to her second sonMax Hudson in June.

WILLIAM GUYSTER is the chairman and CEOof Good Morning Africa, a U.S.-based NGOdedicated to promoting high-growth socialentrepreneurship in Africa. The organization,which offers socially conscious African com-panies long-term peer mentorship, executiveconsultants, and U.S. partnership opportuni-ties, recently launched its pilot program inGhana.

2005KELLY ALBERTSON is in the midst of anothermid-life career change. After graduating, Kellyworked as an administrative manager at astart-up real estate investment firm inGreenwich, Conn., having previously workedin technology management. But “academiacontinued to beckon,” Kelly said, “so I decidedto chuck it all (sell my house, quit my job, moveout of state) to apply to the graduate programof my dreams.” With the help of a full-tuitiongraduate assistantship and stipend, she is pur-suing a dual master’s program in nonprofitmanagement and philanthropic studies atIndiana University.

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1974Bill Zavatsky

An admitted “self-inflicted casualty of the 1968 student upris-ing,” poet Bill Zavatsky left GS shortly after the campus imploded,convinced he didn’t need “the use-less piece of paper called the collegedegree.” After working for a fewyears as a journalist, he returned toColumbia and in 1974 received botha bachelor’s degree from GS and anMFA in writing from the School ofthe Arts.

Zavatsky has remained produc-tive in his life after Columbia, per-forming as a jazz pianist, teachingEnglish at the Trinity School inManhattan, and occasionally leadingprofessional writing workshops. Hismost recent collection, Where XMarks the Spot, is now available fromHanging Loose Press.

With New York as the backdrop for much of his poetry,Zavatsky’s intimate style offers a peek into everyday city life, froman encounter with a celebrity in “104 Bus Uptown” to the spot ofthe title poem, a Times Square parking lot where a relationshipended, to “Failure,” which confronts the limitations of respondingto the Sept. 11 attacks through poetry. In “My Uncle at the Wake,”he returns to a familiar New York institution:

“What a school! What a world you’ve discovered, where peo-ple really cared about the mind! … You could sense it in the bricks,on the library steps.”

Throughout the book Zavatsky maintains a distinct authorialvoice, even as individual poems range from melancholic to ecstatic.There is no hunt for buried treasure here; his work clearly marksthe spot.

—Erich Erving

U.S. After a stint at a college in Oklahoma,Svetoslav transferred to GS and graduatedwith honors. He works in the London officeof Lehman Brothers’ capital markets division.

VINCENT SANTILLO (PBPM) was recentlyprofiled as part of New York Magazine’s“Survivor Monologues.” After recovering fromprostate cancer, Vincent, a former privateequities trader, enrolled in the PostbacProgram and is currently studying to become aurologist at Columbia’s College of Physiciansand Surgeons.

In April, ARIEL OSTERWEIS SCOTT performedher dance-theater piece—titled “Re-Hump,”as both she and her performance partner wereseven months pregnant (her son Dashiell wasborn July 6)—as part of “Lab Run,” a collectionof experimental theater pieces written anddirected by PhD students in Berkeley’sDepartment of Theater, Dance, andPerformance Studies. This summer, she will beconducting ethnographic research on contem-porary dance in Senegal.

ALMA STEINGART is a PhD student in MIT’sHistory, Anthropology, Science, Technology,and Society program. She received a presiden-tial fellowship for her first year of study.

FriendsAfter years researching blindness inColumbia’s Eye Radiation Laboratory, JOHN

F. DOORISH continues his work with his newstart-up, Doorish Ophthalmic Technologies.The company is developing a series of pros-thetic devices that will be inserted into theeye in order to stimulate retinal ganglion cellsand restore the gift of sight. Additionalinformation, including an in-depth descrip-tion of how the devices work and details oninvestment opportunities, is available atwww.doorishtech.com.

Former associate dean ALAN D. ENTINE wasrecently elected student body president ofthe Fromm Institute for Lifelong Learning atthe University of San Francisco. After receiv-ing a PhD in economics from Columbia in1963, Entine was an assistant professor ineconomics and a member of the GS adminis-tration from 1965-69. During his tenure,Entine expanded the premed program andadministered the New Careers Program, aninitiative funded by the Ford Foundation thathelped mid-life individuals return to school.

He moved to SUNY-Stony Brook in 1969when Dean Clarence Walton left GS tobecome the first lay president of CatholicUniversity and spent the next 22 years inadministrative assignment. After retiring in1991 he became a seminar leader at Towers

Perrin, an international human resourcesconsulting firm where he designed and deliv-ered retirement planning seminars.

After his wife passed away, he moved to SanFrancisco to be near his daughters and theirfamilies. He subsequently became very activein the Fromm Institute, which offers olderadults a wide selection of eight-week cours-es taught by retired professors from univer-sities nationwide. “We have our own endow-ment, campus building, and we are growingrapidly,” he said. “GS was the first step of awonderful career, and I have always benefit-ed from teaching, assisting, and working witholder students.”

Two books by PAUL GRENERT, ExistentialExodus and Ashes of X-Girlfriends andOther Stories, have been published byPublishAmerica. Paul lives in New Jersey withhis wife Manuela and two cats, Lulu and Lux.

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IN MEMORIAM

JOHN BACKUS ’49

John Backus, who developed Fortran, thefirst significant high-level programming lan-guage, passed away in March 2007. Afterreceiving a bachelor’s degree in mathe-matics, Backus worked at Columbia’s IBMWatson Laboratory, where, in 1954, hedesigned Fortran to bypass the drudgeryof programming. “Much of my work has

come from being lazy,” he told the IBM employee magazine in 1979.Fortran has been modified several times over its more than 50-yearhistory and remains widely used.

SONIA SLATIN-LEWIS ’53

Sonia Slatin-Lewis passed away in July 2007. She studied at Juilliardbefore attending GS and earning a doctorate in music at GSAS. Shelater taught at Columbia, CUNY and Brooklyn College, specializing inSchenkerian analysis.

JUDITH LIPSEY ’61

Judith Lipsey, a longtime supporter of theSchool of General Studies, the GraduateSchool of Arts and Sciences, and MillerTheatre, passed away in July 2007. Anactive member of the GS Dean's AdvisoryCouncil, the Friends Committee of GS, andthe GSAS board, she played a key role inproviding substantial financial support to

GS students for many years. Mrs. Lipsey and her late husband Merrillestablished three endowed scholarships at GS, as well as other funds tobenefit the Arts & Sciences.

LILY WHEELWRIGHT ’03 - ’05

Actress Lily Wheelwright passed away inMarch 2007, days after her debut filmOrphans received a Special Jury Award atthe South by Southwest Film Festival. Ascreening of the film was held in her mem-ory April 30 at New York’s IFC Center.

TANYA HANLEY ’07

Tanya Hanley passed away in June 2007. At a memorial service held inSt. Paul’s Chapel, GS Dean of Students Mary McGee said that Hanleyworked toward being “a more effective advocate for the dispossessedand disadvantaged in our world. She envisioned a world when socialjustice will guide us all to act more responsibly.”

JAMES BECK, faculty

Columbia art history professor James Beckpassed away in May 2007. Beck trained as apainter and sculptor before completing hisdoctorate in art history, specializing in theItalian Renaissance. The author of 13 books,Beck is best known for his criticism of theconservation methods used to restore thefrescoes in the Sistine Chapel and Leonardo

Da Vinci’s “The Last Supper.” He received the School of General StudiesDistinguished Teacher Award in 1984.

After graduating in May with a degree inart history, ELISE TRUCKS spent thefirst months of the summer continuingher research interests in New York beforejoining the Allman Brothers Band as anassistant tour manager in August. InSeptember, she began studying for a mas-ter’s in the history of art at the CourtauldInstitute of Art in London with ProfessorMignon Nixon.

This summer, EDOE COHEN studied conservation biology inthe Brazilian Atlantic Rainforest and trav-eled around South America. In the fall, hebegan working as a Legacy HeritageFellow in the Global Research inInternational Affairs (GLORIA) Centerin Herzliya, Israel, managing projects andassisting in research. Additionally, he hascontinued to develop Café Nana, the

Middle-Eastern café located in the Columbia/Barnard Hillel,which he helped to create as a student in the GS-JTS joint pro-gram. In addition, he will be serving as a reserve infantry officerin the Israeli Defense Forces.

ROBERT CALDWELL matriculated atGS the same week his son Bobby beganclasses as a freshman at Loyola Universityin New Orleans. In the early 1970s,Caldwell left Fordham University to workfull-time in his family's furniture businesson Canal Street. After successfully run-ning that business for years, he embarkedon a career in finance and sales, working for companies such asShearson Lehman Brothers, Dow Jones & Company, andStandard & Poor's. When it came time for his son Bobby to con-sider college, he advised him about the value of a liberal-arts edu-cation and encouraged him to stay intellectually curious, follow-ing his passions rather than focusing on coursework gearedtoward a specific career. In the midst of counseling his son,Caldwell realized he was engineering his own plan for resuminghis educational journey. Caldwell, a member of the GS HonorSociety, graduated with a major in art history & archaeology.

BRIDGET POTTER'S decision to get her college degree cameduring a transitional period in her life: she was divorced, heryoungest daughter had just gone off to college, and she foundherself unable to focus on her work as an executive and producerin the television industry, where she'd worked since the age of

2007New Grad

NOTES

16. Burned out, shedecided to make alist of the thingsshe'd always regret-ted, with not goingto college toppingthe list. She soonenrolled at GS andfully immersed herself in undergraduatelife—even attending her Columbia Collegefriends’ parties. A cultural anthropologymajor, she is currently a student in the MFAprogram in nonfiction writing atColumbia's School of the Arts.

Former advertising copywriter LILIANAREYES was born in Matagalpa, Nicaragua,where she lived with her family until beingforced to immigrate to safety in the UnitedStates shortly after the 1979 Sandinista rev-olution. Although she found creating tele-vision commercials for Nabisco and radiospots for Alamo Rent-A-Car enjoyable, hertrue passion for writing was rooted in fic-tion, and she began to compose a novelreflecting the experiences of Nicaraguansliving in the United States. Backgroundresearch for the project, which includedreturning to her homeland after almost 20years, prompted Reyes to read her nativecountry's literature and mythology, studyits history, and eventually apply to theSchool of General Studies. While majoringin history and comparative literature andsociety, Reyes wrote one thesis based onresearch she conducted at Reid Hall inParis and another about the Sandinista rev-olution in Nicaragua. Reyes is a PhD stu-dent at Princeton University where shecontinues to investigate the history of hernative Nicaragua.

Two weeks aftergraduating, and just afew days after takingthe GRE, NICOLEROBERTSONgave birth to hersecond child, SofiaAdriana.

Growing up in a poverty-stricken section ofMiami, EMILIO RODRIGUEZ had fewoptions, and those were limited even furtherwhen, at fifteen, he dropped out of school,was kicked out of his father's house, joineda gang, and began toabuse alcohol anddrugs. After a year-long stint in thegang, Emilio beganto turn his lifearound and eventu-ally graduated fromhigh school and attended Miami-DadeCollege, where he excelled academically,held leadership positions in several on-cam-pus organizations, and was personally hon-ored by President George W. Bush. As aProgram for Academic Leadership andService scholar at the School of GeneralStudies, Emilio reached out to inner-cityhigh school students, interned at LehmanBrothers, and completed his degree in eco-nomics-political science.

“A Morning After,” aplay by MARK E.ROSENTHAL,has been selectedfrom more than1,200 entries as afinalist for the 2007Heideman Award.

Bestowed by the Actors Theatre ofLouisville as part of the Humana Festival ofNew American Plays, the HeidemanAward, which includes a $1000 prize, isgiven annually to the winner of theFestival’s National 10-Minute PlayContest. Last spring, Mark was the first GSstudent to serve as a member of the princi-pal cast in the Varsity Show.

At age 17, STEPHANIE SMITH movedfrom Louisiana toNew York to pur-sue a career as aprofessional fash-ion model. Afternearly a decade inthe business, sheenrolled at GS to

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study environmental biology. In fall 2004,she was nominated as a member of theEarth Institute's Student AdvisoryCommittee, focused particularly on sus-tainable development. She interned at theBronx Zoo's Wildlife Health Center andspent last summer in Florida working withrehabilitated manatees as part of her seniorthesis. She is attending the CornellUniversity College of Veterinary Medicineand plans to specialize in wildlife medicine.Additionally, Stephanie is a member of theGS Honor Society, an honor bestowed onless than 5 percent of the GS student body.

Born in Brazil to Israeli parents and raisedin Israel and the United States, ZOHARTIROSH is a playwright and activist, with

much of her workfocused on theIsraeli-Palestinianconflict and thehope for peace inthe Middle East.Already an accom-plished playwright

and actress before coming to Columbia,Zohar graduated from Circle in the SquareTheater School and has written, per-formed, and directed in New York, TelAviv, and Berlin. Her most recent play, thesenior thesis for her degree in literature-writing, This Bloody Mess, was selected for adevelopment workshop at the LincolnCenter Theater in May 2007. She will beperforming her one-woman show, Pieces, atBoston's New Repertory Theatre in spring2008. She is also working on a screen adap-tation of Pieces with Shira-Lee Shalit, ’98Arts. Zohar has received a Foundation forJewish Culture grant and the HermenZiegner Excellence in Writing Award atColumbia University.

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EventsCALENDAR

FEBRUARY28, THURSDAYStrategic Intuition: How Aha! Really Happens The Waters Edge at Giovanni’s II2748 Post Road Darien, CT 6:15-9:30 p.m.Speaker: Professor William Duggan, ColumbiaBusiness School Sponsors: Columbia Alumni Association &Columbia University Club of Fairfield CountyProfessor William Duggan will speak about process-ing flashes of insight and how to use this insight inbusiness or in life.

MARCH1, SATURDAYNinth Annual GS GalaLow Rotunda, Low Memorial Library9 p.m.-1 a.m.Sponsors: Columbia Alumni Association & GeneralStudies Student Council Dessert, coffee, and cocktails will be served whileyou dance the night away with GS students, alumni,and friends. Tickets are available athttps://www.ovationtix.com/trs/pr/31101.

2, SUNDAYFlying to the Edge of Space and Time Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum1071 5th Avenue (at 89th Street)New York, NY 7:30-9:30 p.m.Speaker: Professor David Helfand, ColumbiaUniversity Department of AstronomySponsor: Columbia Alumni AssociationLight particles from the depths of space tell us howthe history of the universe began and most likelyhow it ends. Professor David Helfand provides avisual journey through the galaxies, revealing bothour knowledge and our ignorance.

4, TUESDAYReception and Lecture: Cross-Currents in Islam – HowConflicting Religious Ideologies Shape Political Crises inthe Middle EastColumbia University Club of New York15 West 43rd St.New York, NY6:30-8 p.m.Speaker: GS Dean & Professor Peter J. Awn Sponsors: Columbia Club of New York & ColumbiaAlumni AssociationPeter J. Awn, GS Dean, will discuss and field ques-tions about the role of religion in the politics of theIslamic world. Reservations are required. For reser-vations, please call (212) 596-1261, or emailevents@princetonclub.com.

5, WEDNESDAYMarch Happy Hour in Northern New Jerseyrestaurant.mc57 Main StreetMillburn, NJ5:30-7 p.m.Sponsor: Columbia Alumni Association

27, THURSDAY2008 GS Honor Society InductionFaculty Room, Low Memorial Library5:30-7:30 p.m.Keynote Address: Lawrence Kopp ’03

29, SATURDAYEl Regresso: Latino Alumni HomecomingLow Rotunda, Low Memorial Library6-11 p.m.Sponsors: Columbia Alumni Association & LatinoAlumni Association of Columbia University This annual awards dinner and celebration will com-memorate the diversity and achievements of Latinoalumni.

Columbia Community Outreach Day - National andInternationalNew York City and other participating cities9 a.m.-3 p.m.Sponsor: Columbia Alumni Association & ColumbiaCommunity OutreachColumbia Community Outreach Day is a student-run undergraduate service day designed to promotecommunity service on campus and raise awarenessfor volunteerism.

APRIL12, SATURDAYGS Dean’s DayFaculty Room, Low Memorial Library10 a.m.-5:00 p.m.The Columbia community is invited to informativediscussions with faculty members.

17, THURSDAYFaculty Speakers ProgramNorthern New JerseyTime: TBASpeaker: Professor Andrew Nathan, Department ofHistorySponsors: Columbia Alumni Association & AlumniClub of Northern New Jersey.

MAY16, FRIDAYPostbaccalaureate Premedical Program CertificateCeremonyLocation: TBA5-6:30 p.m.Join GS as it celebrates the newest class of Postbacalumni.

19, MONDAYGS Class Day and Anniversary Classes ReunionSouth Lawn, Morningside Campus5-6:30 p.m.All alumni are encouraged to come and celebratethe Class of 2008. A special program will commem-orate alumni celebrating reunions.

21, WEDNESDAYColumbia University’s 254th CommencementLow Plaza, Morningside Campus10:30 a.m.

Visit www.alumni.gs.columbia.edu for the latest information on alumni events.

ONGOING SERIESSUNDAYSColumbia Literary Society606 Lewisohn Hall, 6th Floor4-5:45 p.m., $5.00 donationSponsors: GS Alumni Association & ColumbiaAlumni AssociationThe CLS meets monthly in Lewisohn Hall to holdintellectually stimulating discussion on relevant lit-erary works. For more information, emailTheLeoSchmidt@msn.com. Refreshments served.

February 24 The Shadow Line by Joseph Conrad

March 30 The Bell by Iris MurdochApril 27 Honorary Consul by Graham

GreeneMay 18 The Sorrows of Young Werther

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Columbia Alumni Arts League (CAAL)The Arts Initiative at Columbia University was cre-ated in 2004 by President Bollinger to reinvent therole of the arts in the university, and the university’srole in the arts. This effort now spans the campus,unconstrained by venue, department, field, or pro-gram, and reaches out into a diverse internationalculture. CAAL plays a vital role to share thisresource with alumni. For more information, visitwww.cuarts.com/membership.

Wednesday, March 19 The Armory Show, The International Fair of New Art

Thursday, March 27 Fuerzabruta, a musicalFriday, April 25 Tap Meets Flamenco, The Jazz

at Lincoln Center Orchestra

Alumni Travel Study ProgramThe Alumni Travel Study Program allows Columbiaalumni to combine learning and pleasure throughdomestic and international travel. The travel-studyexperience is often enriched by the participation ofColumbia faculty members. For more informationon trips, visithttp://alumni.columbia.edu/attend/s4_1.html.

March 7-21 Wings over the Nile with Dr. Richard Seager

March 26–April 9 Springtime in JapanMarch 26–April 17 Around the World by Private

Jet with Dr. Lisa AndersonApril 19–27 Village Life in Tuscany April 23–May 1 Cruising the Canary Islands,

Madiera, Gibraltar and the Algarve with Dr. Wadda Riós-Font

May 2–10 Waterways of Holland and Belgium with Dr. Evan Haefeli

May 9–21 Western Mediterranean Islands with Dr. Alan Cameron

May 22–June 1 Danube River and the Habsburg Empire with Dr. Walter Frisch

THE OFFICE OF ALUMNI AFFAIRSSCHOOL OF GENERAL STUDIES408 LEWISOHN HALL • MC 41212970 BROADWAYNEW YORK, NY 10 027-9829

Non Profit Org.U.S Postage

PAIDPermit No.30Newark, N.J.