Columbia University

Columbia University,

mainly in New York City; founded 1754 as King's College by grant of King George II; first college in New York City, fifth oldest in the United States; one of the eight Ivy League institutions.

Schools and Affiliates

Columbia College, the original core of the university, is now a coeducational undergraduate school. The school of medicine (est. 1767), which awarded the first M.D. degree in America in 1770, was absorbed into the independent College of Physicians and Surgeons (chartered 1807), which in turn was absorbed into the university in 1891. Also included in the university are the schools of law (1858); architecture, planning, and preservation (1896); and engineering and applied science, founded (1864) as the school of mines; the graduate school of arts and science, founded as the graduate faculties of political science (1880), philosophy (1890), and pure science (1892); and the schools of nursing (1892), general studies (1904), journalism (1912), business (1916), dental medicine (1916), public health (1922), social work (1940), international and public affairs (1946), and the arts (1948). Columbia has in the past operated schools of pharmacy (1904–76) and library science (1926–92) and offered professional courses in optometry (1910–56). Affiliates of the university are Teachers College (founded 1889, affiliated with the university 1898) and Barnard College (founded 1889, affiliated with the university 1900).

Much of Columbia's work in the fields of political science and international relations is carried on through a large group of research institutes (e.g., the East Asian, the European, and the Russian, now Harriman, institutes). At Irvington-on-Hudson, N.Y., are the university's Nevis physics laboratories. At Palisades, N.Y., the university operates the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, which has extensive facilities for research in geophysics, geochemistry, and oceanography. The university enrolls some 22,000 students.

Columbia has formal educational ties to the Juilliard School and the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, to Oxford and Cambridge universities in England, to the Univ. of Paris, to Kyoto and Tokyo universities in Japan, and other educational institutions. It operates the Arden House conference center at Harriman, N.Y., and Reid Hall, an academic facility in Paris. The university library system, among the nation's largest, has many important manuscript and rare book collections. Columbia Univ. Press was founded in 1893.

History

Its first president was Samuel JohnsonJohnson, Samuel,
1696–1772, American clergyman, educator, and philosopher, b. Guilford, Conn., grad. Collegiate School (now Yale), 1714; father of William Samuel Johnson. He became a Congregationalist minister, but in 1722 joined the Church of England.
..... Click the link for more information. (1696–1772), a clergyman, who held classes in the schoolhouse of Trinity Church. The administration of his successor, Myles CooperCooper, Myles,
1737?–1785, 2d president of King's College (now Columbia Univ.), b. England, educated at Oxford. He was ordained a priest in 1761 and went to King's College (1762) as professor of moral philosophy and assistant to the president.
..... Click the link for more information. , was interrupted by the American Revolution; the college was closed but was reopened as Columbia College (1784) in a building in lower Manhattan. Title was first vested in the regents of the Univ. of the State of New York but in 1787 it was transferred to the trustees of the college, who elected William Samuel JohnsonJohnson, William Samuel,
1727–1819, American political leader and president of Columbia College (1787–1800), b. Stratford, Conn. A lawyer in Connecticut, he soon became a leading figure in the colony, serving as a member of the lower house and in the governor's
..... Click the link for more information. president. In 1857, under Charles King (1789–1867), the college moved to a site at Madison Ave. and 49th St.; in 1897, under Seth Low, it moved to Morningside Heights. The gradual addition of professional and graduate schools resulted in the assumption of the name Columbia Univ. in 1896; in 1912 the name became Columbia Univ. in the City of New York. Columbia College remained the undergraduate school and in 1919 originated the modern Contemporary Civilizations Core Curriculum requirements, for which it is still well known. The medical campus in Washington Heights in upper Manhattan opened in 1928, and the Manhattanville campus, a few blocks NW of the Morningside campus, was dedicated in 2016.

Notable presidents of Columbia include F. A. P. BarnardBarnard, Frederick Augustus Porter,
1809–89, American educator and mathematician, b. Sheffield, Mass., grad. Yale, 1828. After tutoring at Yale and teaching in institutions for the deaf and mute, he joined the faculty of the Univ.
..... Click the link for more information. , Nicholas Murray ButlerButler, Nicholas Murray,
1862–1947, American educator, president of Columbia Univ. (1902–45), b. Elizabeth, N.J., grad. Columbia (B.A., 1882; Ph.D., 1884). Holding a Columbia fellowship, he studied at Paris and Berlin, specializing in philosophy.
..... Click the link for more information. , and Dwight D. EisenhowerEisenhower, Dwight David
, 1890–1969, American general and 34th President of the United States, b. Denison, Tex.; his nickname was "Ike." Early Career

When he was two years old, his family moved to Abilene, Kans., where he was reared.
..... Click the link for more information. . Grayson KirkKirk, Grayson Louis,
1903–97, American educator, b. Jeffersonville, Ohio, grad. Miami Univ., 1924, Ph.D. Univ. of Wisconsin, 1930. He taught at Wisconsin from 1929, then became a professor of government (1940–72) at Columbia.
..... Click the link for more information. was president from 1953 to 1968 and was succeeded by Andrew CordierCordier, Andrew Wellington
, 1901–75, American educator and public official, b. Canton, Ohio. He studied at Manchester College in Indiana, where he later taught (1923–44). He also studied at the Univ.
..... Click the link for more information. . In 1970, William J. McGillMcGill, William James,
1922–97, American educator and psychologist, b. New York City, grad. Fordham (A.B., 1943) and Harvard (Ph.D., 1953). A specialist in psychophysics and mathematical psychology, he was professor of psychology at Columbia (1956–65) and at the Univ.
..... Click the link for more information. was appointed president; his successor, Michael I. SovernSovern, Michael Ira,
1931–, American lawyer and educator, president of Columbia Univ. (1980–93), b. New York City. He graduated from the Columbia Univ. Law School in 1955 and after 1957 he was on its faculty.
..... Click the link for more information. , was president from 1980 to 1993. George E. RuppRupp, George Erik,
1942–, American educator and theologian, b. Summit, N.J. He studied in Germany before graduating from Princeton. He earned a B.D. degree from Yale Univ. and a doctorate from Harvard.
..... Click the link for more information. succeeded Sovern in 1993, and Lee C. BollingerBollinger, Lee C.,
1947–, American educator, b. Santa Rosa, Calif., grad. Univ. of Oregon (B.A.), Columbia (M.A.; LL.B.). He joined the faculty of the Univ. of Michigan Law School in 1973 and later served as its dean (1987–1994).
..... Click the link for more information. followed Rupp in 2002.

Bibliography

For histories of the various schools, see the volumes published in the Bicentennial series of Columbia Univ. See University on the Heights, ed. by W. First (1969); D. C. Humphrey, From Kings College to Columbia (1976).

Columbia University

a leading higher educational institution in the USA. It was first established, as King’s College, in 1754 in New York City and began to confer academic degrees in 1758. In 1784 it was incorporated into the University of the State of New York and renamed Columbia College; in 1787 it became an independent institution. Since the other subdivisions of the University of the State of New York did not offer advanced degrees, Columbia College became the state’s only higher educational institution. In 1912 the college acquired the status of a university.

Columbia University comprises (1971) Columbia College and departments of political science, philosophy, mathematics, natural sciences, and medicine. There are also schools of law, engineering and applied science, architecture, library science, stomatology, the arts, and social work and graduate schools of journalism and business.

Also affiliated with Columbia University are Barnard College for women, a teachers college, and a pharmaceutical college, as well as 26 specialized institutes, research centers, and programs for the study of specific problems and regions. These include a program on international economic integration, the Institute of Human Nutrition, the Institute of War and Peace Studies, the Inter-American Law Center, and the Russian Institute. The latter is a research institute on communist affairs that conducts, from the standpoint of bourgeois philosophy and sociology, research used in anticommunist and anti-Soviet propaganda.

Columbia University has more than 30 libraries, including Butler Library, which houses the main collection (about 3 million volumes) an engineering library (about 450,000 holdings), a law library (250,000 volumes), and a medical library (120,000 volumes). In the 1971–72 academic year the university had an enrollment of about 17,000 students and a faculty of 5,500 instructors, including 685 professors.

Columbia University

Columbia University

Columbia University,

Schools and Affiliates

History

Bibliography

Columbia University

Columbia University

Synonyms for Columbia University

noun a university in New York City

Synonyms

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