A Welcome Message from Laila Maher
Dean of Student and Alumni Affairs
Now more than ever it is crucial for artists to be supported as they pursue their craft. The life of an artist as well as that of a student involves much more than the classroom and the work itself, and this is where the Office of Student Affairs comes in. In addition to guiding new students through the process of transitioning to the School of the Arts, we plan the School-wide orientation, School of the Arts Convocation, and support student groups, events, and activities.
We also play a critical role in connecting School of the Arts students to the larger university and necessary services, and help students navigate many of the central offices including Health Services (which houses the Office of Disability Services, Insurance, Immunization, and Counseling and Psychological Services), Columbia Residential, Public Safety, University Life, the International Students and Scholars Office, and the Registrar's Office. Our office also helps to uphold many of the School and University-wide policies and we manage the School’s disciplinary procedures.
The Artists’ Resource Center, also part of our Office, maintains information on funding opportunities and career resources for students and alumni at the Columbia University School of the Arts, and provides consultations to students and alumni to help them look for professional development opportunities and more.
After graduation, the Office of Alumni Affairs provides more than 7000 alumni artists, creators, and leaders with opportunities to stay connected with the School of the Arts, the Columbia Alumni Association (CAA), and one another through alumni programming, benefits, a monthly newsletter, and collaborations with CAA Arts Access.
Our ultimate goal is to support our students and alums while they pursue their education as valued members of our dynamic community and as they navigate their time after graduation.
Student & Alumni News
Commissioned by the High Line and the CHANEL Culture Fund, Prior Occupants by Visual Arts alum Alison Nguyen '23 will premiere September 8, 2026, as the fifth High Line Originals film and the second High Line Originals co-commissioned with the CHANEL Culture Fund.
Adjunct Assistant Professor Deborah Devyn Chuang '26 is a recipient of the 2026 New Voices Filmmaker Grant for emerging directors from NewFest, New York City's largest LGBTQ+ film festival since 1988.
In the debut novel by Writing alum Willa Rosenbach Morris '90, interwoven stories circle the roof of Sylvie's childhood home in Queens, NY.
Can a story about a group of 8th century nuns living in rural Italy entertain and provoke contemporary audiences? Playwright Miranda Rose Hall, finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, thinks so—and Shayok Misha Chowdhury '16 is directing the world premiere of her original play, Work of Devotion, for Second Stage in February 2027, at the Pershing Square Signature Center.
"Garbo's Queen Christina as Both Lesbian and Chinese," co-authored by Professor Jane Gaines and Film and Media Studies MA alum Yumo Yan '20, along with visiting scholar Junlei Yang, was recently published as part of the Quarterly Review of Film and Video's 50th anniversary special issue, vol.43, no.3, 2026, to commemorate Professor Gaines's seminal article on the enigmatic silent-era film star Greta Garbo and her titular role in Queen Christina (1933), published in the same journal in 1989.
'The Going Is Forever' by Elizabeth Metzger '15 Is Forthcoming This September from Milkweed Editions
Tracking the dissolution of a marriage, a son's medical crisis, and the death of a father, The Going Is Forever is about holding on and letting go. Forthcoming from Milkweed Editions on September 15, 2026, the third collection of poetry by Adjunct Assistant Professor Elizabeth Metzger '15 has been deemed "oracular, crystalline, and utterly original" by Maggie Millner, the author of Couplets (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2023).
Film alum Annie Ning '25 is a 2026 recipient of the highly prestigious Cary Grant Film Honor from the Princess Grace Foundation, which she was nominated for by Columbia University. Among the runners-up for the award was Undergraduate Film and Media Studies alum María del Mar Rosario (GS '15), who was nominated by 2018 Princess Grace Award winner Rafael Samanez and received a Film Honoraria from the foundation.
The public art installation by Visual Arts alum Daniel Rothbart '90, Serpentine Sibyls, is distinct from other outdoor works: it floats freely in the pond adjacent to the Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art and in reflecting pools that flank the Glass House at Snug Harbor Cultural Center & Botanical Garden on Staten Island.
The trailer for the HBO original docuseries The Man Will Burn—which made its world premiere at Tribeca 2026—evokes suspense and, of course, intensity. Directed and executive produced, respectively, by documentarians and Undergraduate Film and Media Studies alums Vikram Gandhi (CC '00) and Emily Selinger (CC '12), the four-part series premiered on HBO MAX on July 9, 2026.
Suicide Cowboys by Greg T. Nanni '21 has been selected as one of four plays for the Playwrights Foundation's 47th Bay Area Playwrights Festival (BAPF) lineup out of a highly competitive pool of 601 applicants.
Since The Public's newly renovated Delacorte Theater reopened last summer, Columbia alums have featured prominently on stage and behind the scenes at one of New York City's most iconic summertime traditions: Shakespeare in the Park. In case you missed it, Saheem Ali '07 directed the park's first production of Romeo and Juliet in 20 years—and romance was in the air.
Adjunct Assistant Professor Diksha Basu '14, author of Windfall (Ballantine Books, 2018) and The Destination Wedding (Ballantine Books, 2020), has just announced that her next novel, The Affairs of Mala Sen, is forthcoming with Harper Via in 2027. Set against the backdrop of a rapidly changing India, the novel follows a young widow living with her mother-in-law in New Delhi whose world unravels after she discovers her late husband's secrets.