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
Switzy, the third novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Girls and The Guest, Emma Cline '13, has been longlisted for the 2026 Booker Prize. A portrait of human mortality, Switzy follows a retired business executive with a degenerative neurological disease as he is shepherded by his assistant to visit friends and family before his medically assisted death in Zurich.
The new sci-fi thriller, The End of Oak Street, written and directed by David Robert Mitchell, produced by Bad Robot and Jackson Pictures, and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, featured work from Directing alum Sushant Chaudhary '21, who joined the team as Assistant Editor to John Axelrad, ACE.
Our Cavafy, a selection of new translations of Constantine P. Cavafy—widely considered the most distinguished Greek poet of the 20th century—by Constantine Contogenis '98 was released on July 10, 2026 by Finishing Line Press.
Alex Strada '16 is the inaugural Public Artist in Residence with the NYC Department of Homeless Services and the Department of Cultural Affairs with her work, Public Address.
This summer, Yuri Yuan '21 brings Wanderlust to Haverkampf Leistenschneider, Berlin, in her debut solo exhibition in Europe. Gesturing toward geographic and emotional distance, Yuan portrays landscapes and domestic scenes in her signature flattened style. A woman, clad in a gray trenchcoat and cap, walks through a cemetery; a bluejay sips from a puddle; a hand pulls back a curtain, picks up a paintbrush. Wanderlust emphasizes passage over arrival, witness over judgement.
Awake and Sing!, Clifford Odets's landmark 1935 play about the struggles and aspirations of a Depression-era Jewish family in the Bronx, will return to Broadway next winter for the first time in two decades—and will mark the Broadway debut of director Tyne Rafaeli '14.
How is the internet like water? Yehwan Song '26 addresses this question in her solo exhibition—an installation of her kinetic sculpture The Other Internet—on view this summer at Subtitled NYC, an artist-run project space in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.
Executive produced by Film alum Simon Kinberg '03, Apple TV's latest dark comedy Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed has received positive reviews from The Hollywood Reporter, Collider, and Vulture.
Playwriting student Anterior Leverett was awarded the Hansberry-Lilly Fellowship from the Dramatists Guild Foundation, created to support generations of female-identifying playwrights of color.
"My time at Columbia unsettled my sense of certainty," said Mansi Dahal '24, whose luminous debut poetry collection, Women in Marigold, is forthcoming from Stillhouse Press this September.
Smriti Mundhra '09—the DGA-winning, two-time Oscar-nominated, and Emmy-nominated filmmaker who created Netflix's hit Indian Matchmaking—is among the group of 12 renowned screenwriters selected for the Sundance Screenwriters Lab, set to take place June 29–July 2, 2026.
Film alum Jeremy Robbins '13 wrote Apex—a lean action film starring Charlize Theron as a wilderness climber and kayaker hunted by a single-minded killer (Taron Egerton) in the Australian outback—because he wanted to watch it.