December 2005

As we move into December, Columbia offers you plenty of ways to celebrate the end of 2005. Join us for a seasonal toast in Florida, Michigan, Ohio, or DC; come back to campus to attend a symposium on mentoring in a global culture or an Earth Institute talk on slash and burn agriculture. Of course, if your schedule is already booked, we also have some online news you can use: more about the University-wide online directory, video lectures on architecture and social work, a chance to throw your cap in the authorial ring of My Columbia, and a new career column to help you focus your new year's ambitions. Cheers.

How did you cope with winter in New York? Was it a shock to your system —or a pleasant respite? Tell us how you kept warm at My Columbia; the first ten entries will win a sporty cap in Columbia blue. Wool, of course.

Susan Brown '84GS, '89GSAS

"This assignment found me, among other things, at a Greek Orthodox mass, participating in a Japanese Tea Ceremony, at a second-floor Buddhist shrine in Chinatown observing some chanting and candle-lighting..." More

Lou Gehrig, Sid Luckman, Cristina Teuscher...we've had some first-class athletes here! Revel in their prowess. More

Find more athletics news and events at
Go Columbia Lions.

May 3-14, 2006

Hop aboard the massive and posh Corinthian II for a tour of cities like Arles, Barcelona, and Dubrovnik. The cruise features special guest chef Hubert Keller, who can educate your taste buds whilst you cast about in foreign lands. More

June 9-19, 2006

The Hapsburgs may have had big chins, but they also had extremely chic cities. Explore many of them on this wild ride through central Europe. More

September 19-27, 2006 Learn more

Check out Columbia Travel Study Program's other smart adventures.

In November, Columbia launched the first University-wide online alumni directory, a supplement to school-based online communities. Go to alumni.columbia.edu/directory to update personal information, RSVP for events, and share news. Starting in January, you can also search the directory for old friends and new contacts.

Are you sick of your industry? Or are you trying to expand your business into new areas? Check out our latest Alumni Career Column for helpful lessons on navigating careers and transitions.

Find out about the Katrina Emergency Tax Relief Act, which allows you to give big and save bigger on end-of-the-year donations to your favorite non-profit institution. Such as, um...your school.

November 30, 6:30 p.m.
St. Petersburg Yacht Club
11 Central Avenue
St. Petersburg, FL

Join the Columbia University Club of Tampa Bay for dinner and spirited discussion with GS Dean Peter J. Awn about "The Tyranny of Secularism vs. The Tyranny of Fundamentalism: Politics and Religion in a Post-Saddam Middle East." More

November 30, 7-9 p.m.
G Lounge
225 West 19th Street
New York, NY

What is a mixer, anyway? Find out when you attend an eminently mingle-able cocktail hour with Columbia Pride. More

December 1, 6 pm
The Washington Athletic Club
1325 Sixth Avenue
Seattle, Washington

Find out if there's intelligent life in space—or at least in Seattle—with astronomy professor David J. Helfand, winner of the Presidential Teaching Award. More

December 3, 1 p.m.
Berkeley City Club
2315 Durant Avenue
Berkeley, CA 94704

Lunch, dessert, and some mighty tall women. Come out to holler for the women's basketball team as they dunk their way to glory. More

December 7, 6 -8 p.m.
New York Athletic Club
180 Central Park South
New York, NY

Join us for a chat with Henry Graff, whose scholarship has defined the presidency for students and politicians alike. More

December 7, 6:30 p.m. The Ritz-Carlton
300 Town Center Drive
Dearborn, MI 48126

December 15, 6 p.m.
The Ritz-Carlton
1515 West Third Street
Cleveland, OH

Join Columbia University Clubs in Dearborn or Cleveland—or both, if you're feeling really frisky—for receptions with President Lee C. Bollinger, cocktails, and genial conversation. More

December 12, 6:30 p.m.
The Mansion on O Street
2020 O Street NW
Washington, DC

Warm up at a mansion that was once inhabited by J. Edgar Hoover's G-men. Inspect the secret passageways and grand boudoirs—or just have a few cocktails. More

December 13, 7 p.m.
National Press Club
529 14th Street NW
Suite 1300
Washington, DC

Dig into the work of Melville with Andrew Delbanco, whom Time magazine recently rated America's best social critic. More

Kenneth J. Arrow '51GSAS, former Nobel prize winner, has recently been awarded the National Medal of Science for his work in the field of economics on people's risk perception and behavior when uncertain. More

December 1, 9 a.m.
Russ Berrie Medical Science Pavilion, 1st floor Auditorium
Columbia University Medical Center

Marion Nestle explores the social issues of a health problem in her talk: "The Politics of Obesity: Where Is Diabetes?" More

December 1, 12:30 p.m.
International Affairs Building, Room 1118

After 25 years of conflict, Afghanistan is beginning to reconstruct. Find out what's going on—and how you could get involved. More

Until January 27
Rare Book & Manuscript Library
Butler Library, 6th Floor East
535 West 114th Street

One of the nation's oldest collections of puppets, posters, masks, and theatre ephemera is on display at the Rare Book & Manuscript Library. Visit it and a side show of Tennessee Williams's knick-knacks. More

December 3, 8 p.m.
Miller Theatre
2960 Broadway (at 116th St.)

Miller Theatre promises a "raucous and jubilant evening" with funky favorites like Adams's "Gnarly Buttons." More

December 4, 3 p.m.
Miller Theatre
2960 Broadway (at 116th St.)

Register now for a discussion featuring superstars like Gayatri Spivak (pictured above), Mira Nair, Mario Vargas Llosa, Wole Soyinka, Sir Peter Hall, and others discussing how they mentor and are mentored across boundaries of nation, gender, and age.

Following the symposium, go to see Lara Foot Newton's Tshepang. Newton has been mentored by Sir Peter Hall, founder of the Royal Shakespeare Company. More

December 8, 6 p.m.
Faculty House, Harison Room, Second Floor,
400 West 117th Street

Pedro A. Sanchez, Director of Tropical Agriculture and Cheryl A. Palm, Senior Research Scientist, both of the Earth Institute, discuss tropical agriculture and its discontents. More

December 12, 8 p.m.
Miller Theatre
2960 Broadway (at 116th St.)

Doris Kearns Goodwin, a popular historian of Americana—from baseball to Kennedy—will speak about her recent work on the man in the stovepipe hat. More

Find more on-campus events on the Columbia University Events Calendar.

Harvard's Arthur Kleinman explores problems that arise when nations' economies develop more quickly than their social systems. More

Frank Gehry discusses current projects, including a residential community in Brooklyn and an unfinished museum in Biloxi. More

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