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
House of Hummingbird , from Korean director and alumna Bora Kim '11 won the Grand Prix for best film at the 2019 Berlin Film Festival's Generation 14plus sidebar for youth-oriented films.
Color Out of Space, a film co-produced by alumni Elisa Lleras '11 and Simão Cayatte '12 will begin shooting this month. The film, starring Nicolas Cage and directed by Richard Stanley, is an adaptation of a sci-fi short story written in 1927 by the legendary writer H.P. Lovecraft.
Writing alumna Jennifer Sears '05 received a 2018 National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship in Prose and a 2018 Artists Fellowship in Fiction from the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA).
From March 8th to 17th, Alumni, Students, and Faculty will be among those showcasing their work at the renowned South by Southwest Film Festival 2019.
Fiction alumna Ari Braverman '17 announces her first book, The Ballad of Big Feeling, acquired by Melville House, is forthcoming.
As part of their ongoing growth strategy, founders Eugenio Derbez and alumnus Ben Odell '04 of 3Pas have hired alumnus Jorge Alfaro '17 as manager of Spanish-language content.
The Alumni Spotlight is a place to hear from the School of the Arts alumni community about their journeys as artists and creators.
American Spy by writing alumna Lauren Wilkinson '13 comes out next week. Wilkinson was been called a writer to watch in 2019 by Publisher’s Weekly.
Writing alumna Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah '11 received the American Mosaic Journalism Prize recently, an unrestricted cash prize of $100,000 awarded to freelance journalists for excellence in long-form, narrative, or deep reporting about underrepresented and/or misrepresented groups in the American landscape.
Alumna Melis Aker ’18 joins alumna Julia May Jonas '12 as a new member of the Ars Nova Plays Group 2019.
Jeffrey Page’s third-year directing thesis The Woman / The Man: An Evening of Two One-Act Plays premieres next week. The evening is a theatrical double feature comprised of two Obie Award-winning plays: Adrienne Kennedy’s Funnyhouse of a Negro and Suzan-Lori Parks’ The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World AKA the Negro Book of the Dead. Written nearly thirty years apart, these two pieces remain as haunting and relevant as the day each was written.