The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (also known as GSAS) is the

graduate school Postgraduate education, graduate education, or graduate school consists of academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications usually pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate (bachel ...

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

. Founded in 1880, GSAS is responsible for most of Columbia's graduate degree programs in the

humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture, including Philosophy, certain fundamental questions asked by humans. During the Renaissance, the term "humanities" referred to the study of classical literature a ...

social science Social science (often rendered in the plural as the social sciences) is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among members within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the ...

s, and

natural science Natural science or empirical science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer ...

s. The school offers MA and

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

degrees in approximately 78 disciplines.

History

GSAS began to take shape in the late 19th century, when Columbia, until then a primarily undergraduate institution with a few professional attachments, began to establish graduate faculties in several fields: Political Science (1880), Philosophy (1890), and Pure Science (1892). The graduate faculties, notably, were open to women at a time when many other Columbia schools were not; Columbia College did not become a coeducational institution until 1983. In addition, before 1880, the Master of Arts degree was awarded in the style of Cambridge and Oxford, that is three years after graduation and without further examination. This changed after June 1880, when the trustees implemented an examination for the award of the Master of Arts degree. The Ph.D was first proposed as a degree in 1873 to be awarded under the auspices of the School of Mines. It was first awarded in 1877. The ability of granting the PhD later expanded to the Faculty of Political Science. The first woman to receive one did so in 1886. The increasing professionalization of the university brought with it an emphasis on the graduate schools, as presidents such as

Seth Low Seth Low (January 18, 1850 – September 17, 1916) was an American educator and political figure who served as the mayor of Brooklyn from 1881 to 1885, the president of Columbia University from 1890 to 1901, a diplomatic representative of ...

and

Nicholas Murray Butler Nicholas Murray Butler (April 2, 1862 – December 7, 1947) was an American philosopher, diplomat, and educator. Butler was president of Columbia University, president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a recipient of the Nobel ...

sought to emulate the success of German universities during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Indeed, in the effort to produce as many graduate degree-holders as possible, attempts were made to streamline undergraduate life and center academic life in the graduate-focused departments. Graduate research has flourished at Columbia as a result, and the university has been among the top producers of PhDs in the United States from the inception of the graduate disciplines. In the early 1990s, GSAS and Columbia College faculty were all absorbed into a consolidated Faculty of Arts and Sciences, with familiar complaints among undergraduates and their advocates.

List of academic departments

*African-American Studies *African Studies Certificate *American Studies (Liberal Studies M.A.) *Anatomy and Cell Biology *Anthropology (Ph.D in Anthropology & Education - joint degree with

Teachers College Teachers College, Columbia University (TC) is the graduate school of education affiliated with Columbia University, a private research university in New York City. Founded in 1887, Teachers College has been a part of Columbia University since ...

) *Applied Mathematics *Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics *Architecture (History and Theory) *Art History and Archaeology *Astronomy *Atmospheric and Planetary Science *Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics *Biological Sciences *Biomedical Engineering *Biomedical Informatics *Biostatistics *Biotechnology *Buddhist Studies *Business *Cell Biology and Pathobiology *Cellular, Molecular, and Biophysical Studies *Chemical Biology *Chemical Engineering *Chemical Physics *Chemistry *Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics *Classical Studies *Classics *Climate and Society *Communications *Comparative Literature and Society *Computer Science *Conservation Biology *Dental Sciences *Earth and Environmental Engineering (Henry Krumb School of Mines) *Earth and Environmental Science Journalism *Earth and Environmental Sciences *East Asia: Regional Studies *East Asian Languages and Cultures *East Asian Studies (Liberal Studies M.A.) *Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology *Economics *Education (

) *Electrical Engineering *English and Comparative Literature *Environmental Health Sciences *Epidemiology *French and Romance Philology *French Cultural Studies in a Global Context *Genetics and Development *Germanic Languages *Global Thought *History *Human Rights *Human Rights Studies *Industrial Engineering & Operations Research *International and World History, Dual Degree M.A./M.Sc. *Islamic Studies (Liberal Studies M.A.) *Italian Studies *J.D./Ph.D. Program *Japanese Pedagogy *Jewish Studies *Jewish Studies (Liberal Studies M.A.) *Journalism *Latin America and Caribbean; Regional Studies *Linguistics *M.D./Ph.D. *Materials Science and Engineering/Solid State Science and Engineering *Mathematical Structures for Environmental & Social Sciences *Mathematics *Mathematics of Finance *Mechanical Engineering *Medieval and Renaissance Studies *Medieval Studies (Liberal Studies M.A.) *Microbiology *Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies *Middle East Studies, Certificate *Modern Art, Critical, and Curatorial Studies *Modern European Studies (Liberal Studies M.A.) *Museum Anthropology *Music *Neurobiology and Behavior *Nutrition *Operations Research *Oral History *Pathology and Cell Biology *Pharmacology *Philosophical Foundations of Physics *Philosophy *Physics *Physiology and Cellular Biophysics *Political Science *Psychology *Quantitative Methods in the Social Sciences *Quantitative Methods in the Social Sciences, dual degree MA/MPA *Religion *Religion-Journalism Dual MA/MS *Russia, Eurasia and East Europe: Regional Studies M.A. Program *Russian Translation *Slavic Cultures *Slavic Languages *Social Work *Sociology *Sociomedical Sciences *South Asian Studies (Liberal Studies M.A.) *Spanish and Portuguese *Statistics *Sustainable Development *Theatre and Performance *Urban Planning *Yiddish Studies

Notable alumni

Economists

Kenneth Arrow Kenneth Joseph Arrow (August 23, 1921 – February 21, 2017) was an American economist, mathematician and political theorist. He received the John Bates Clark Medal in 1957, and the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1972, along with ...

– Ph.D., 1951 *

Arthur Burns Arthur Frank Burns (April 27, 1904 – June 26, 1987) was an American economist and diplomat who served as the 10th chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1970 to 1978. He previously chaired the Council of Economic Advisers under President Dwight ...

– Ph.D., 1934 *

Milton Friedman Milton Friedman (; July 31, 1912 – November 16, 2006) was an American economist and statistician who received the 1976 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his research on consumption analysis, monetary history and theory and ...

– Ph.D., 1946 * Christina Paxson – PhD 1987 - 19th President,

Brown University Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...

Historians

* Nina Ansary – Ph.D 2013 *

Jacques Barzun Jacques Martin Barzun (; November 30, 1907 – October 25, 2012) was a French-born American historian known for his studies of the history of ideas and cultural history. He wrote about a wide range of subjects, including baseball, mystery novels, ...

– Ph.D. 1932 * Charles A. Beard – Ph.D. 1904 * Dominique Collon - Ph.D 1971 * Lawrence Cremin – M.A. 1947, Ph.D. 1949 *

Richard Hofstadter Richard Hofstadter (August 6, 1916October 24, 1970) was an American historian and public intellectual of the mid-20th century. Hofstadter was the DeWitt Clinton Professor of American History at Columbia University. Rejecting his earlier historic ...

– Ph.D. 1942 * Bruce Cumings – Ph.D. 1975 * Stanley Payne — Ph.D. 1959 *

Howard Zinn Howard Zinn (August 24, 1922January 27, 2010) was an American historian and a veteran of World War II. He was chair of the history and social sciences department at Spelman College, and a political science professor at Boston University. Zinn ...

— Ph.D. 1958

Literature

Jacob M. Appel Jacob M. Appel (born February 21, 1973) is an American polymath, author, bioethicist, physician, lawyer, and social critic.Nagamatsu, Sequoia "A Few Words with the Ubiquitous Jacob M. Appel" ''Prince Mincer'' Journal http://primemincer.com/ con ...

– writer and bioethicist, M.A., 2000 *

John Ashbery John Lawrence Ashbery (July 28, 1927 – September 3, 2017) was an American poet and art critic. Ashbery is considered the most influential American poet of his time. Oxford University literary critic John Bayley wrote that Ashbery "sounded, in ...

– poet, 1951 *

Isaac Asimov Isaac Asimov ( ; – April 6, 1992) was an Russian-born American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University. During his lifetime, Asimov was considered one of the "Big Three" science fiction writers, along with Robert A. H ...

– science fiction writer, M.A. 1941 *

Paul Auster Paul Benjamin Auster (February 3, 1947 – April 30, 2024) was an American writer, novelist, memoirist, poet, and filmmaker. His notable works include '' The New York Trilogy'' (1987), '' Moon Palace'' (1989), '' The Music of Chance'' (1990), ' ...

– writer, M.A., 1970 *

Randolph Bourne Randolph Silliman Bourne (; May 30, 1886 – December 22, 1918) was a progressive writer and intellectual born in Bloomfield, New Jersey, and a graduate of Columbia University. He is considered to be a spokesman for the young radicals living d ...

– antiwar essayist, M.A. 1913 * Rachel Blau DuPlessis – literary critic, M.A. 1964, Ph.D. 1970 *

Teju Cole Teju Cole (born June 27, 1975) is a Nigerian American writer, photographer, and art historian. He is the author of a novella, '' Every Day Is for the Thief'' (2007); a novel, '' Open City'' (2011); an essay collection, ''Known and Strange Things' ...

- novelist and critic, M.Phil. art history, 2003 * John Eisenhower - military historian and son of

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was the 34th president of the United States, serving from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, he was Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionar ...

, M.A., 1950 * Jason Epstein – writer, M.A., 1950 * John Erskine – literary scholar, Ph.D. 1903 *

James Goldman James Goldman (June 30, 1927 – October 28, 1998) was an American playwright and screenwriter. He won an Academy Award for his screenplay '' The Lion in Winter'' (1968). His younger brother was novelist and screenwriter William Goldman. Biog ...

– writer, 1952 *

William Goldman William Goldman (August 12, 1931 – November 16, 2018) was an American novelist, playwright, and screenwriter. He first came to prominence in the 1950s as a novelist before turning to screenwriting. Among other accolades, Goldman won two Aca ...

– screenwriter, 1956 * Naomi Foner Gyllenhaal – screenwriter * David G. Hartwell - critic and editor, Ph.D. 1973 * Carolyn Heilbrun – writer, M.A. 1951, Ph.D. 1959 *

Joseph Heller Joseph Heller (May 1, 1923 – December 12, 1999) was an American author of novels, short stories, plays, and screenplays. His best-known work is the 1961 novel '' Catch-22'', a satire on war and bureaucracy, whose title has become a synonym for ...

– writer, 1949 *

Zora Neale Hurston Zora Neale Hurston (January 7, 1891 – January 28, 1960) was an American writer, anthropologist, folklorist, and documentary filmmaker. She portrayed racial struggles in the early-20th-century American South and published research on Hoodoo ...

– writer, 1935 *

Alfred Kazin Alfred Kazin (June 5, 1915 – June 5, 1998) was an American writer and literary critic. His literary reviews appeared in ''The New York Times'', the '' New York Herald-Tribune'', ''The New Republic'' and ''The New Yorker''. He wrote often a ...

– literary critic, 1958 *

Kenneth Koch Kenneth Koch ( ; February 27, 1925 – July 6, 2002) was an American poet, playwright, and professor, active from the 1950s until his death at age 77.) He was a prominent poet of the New York School of poetry. This was a loose group of poets inc ...

– poet, M.A. 1953, Ph.D. 1959 * Joseph Wood Krutch – writer, M.A. 1916, Ph.D. 1929 *

David Lehman David Lehman (born June 11, 1948) is an American poet, non-fiction writer, and literary critic, and the founder and series editor for '' The Best American Poetry''. He was a writer and freelance journalist for fifteen years, writing for such pub ...

– poet, Ph.D. 1978 * Peter Straub – writer, 1966 *

Lionel Trilling Lionel Mordecai Trilling (July 4, 1905 – November 5, 1975) was an American literary critic, short story writer, essayist, and teacher. He was one of the leading U.S. critics of the 20th century who analyzed the contemporary cultural, social, ...

– literary critic, M.A. 1926, Ph.D. 1938 * Anne Tyler – novelist, 1962 *

Mark Van Doren Mark Van Doren (June 13, 1894 – December 10, 1972) was an American poet, writer and critic. He was a scholar and a professor of English at Columbia University for nearly 40 years, where he inspired a generation of influential writers and thin ...

– writer, Ph.D. 1920 * Stark Young – critic and writer, 1902

Philosophers

Mortimer Adler Mortimer is an English surname. Norman origins The surname Mortimer has a Norman origin, deriving from the village of Mortemer, Seine-Maritime, Normandy. A Norman castle existed at Mortemer from an early point; one 11th century figure associ ...

– Ph.D. in psychology, 1928 *

Arthur Danto Arthur Coleman Danto (January 1, 1924 – October 25, 2013) was an American art critic, philosopher, and professor at Columbia University. He was best known for having been a long-time art critic for ''The Nation'' and for his work in philosop ...

– M.A. 1949, Ph.D. in philosophy, 1952 * Irwin Edman – Ph.D. in philosophy, 1919 *

Hu Shih Hu Shih ( zh, t=胡適; 17 December 189124 February 1962) was a Chinese academic, writer, and politician. Hu contributed to Chinese liberalism and language reform, and was a leading advocate for the use of written vernacular Chinese. He part ...

– public intellectual in China, Ph.D. 1917

Natural scientists

* Jacqueline Barton – chemist, 1979 *

Niles Eldredge Niles Eldredge ( ; born August 25, 1943) is an American biologist and paleontologist, who, along with Stephen Jay Gould, proposed the theory of punctuated equilibrium in 1972. Education Eldredge began his undergraduate studies in Latin at Colum ...

– paleontologist, Ph.D. 1969 *

Stephen Jay Gould Stephen Jay Gould ( ; September 10, 1941 – May 20, 2002) was an American Paleontology, paleontologist, Evolutionary biology, evolutionary biologist, and History of science, historian of science. He was one of the most influential and widely re ...

– paleontologist, Ph.D. 1967 * John Diederich Haseman - zoologist, geologist and explorer, Ph.D. 1911 *

Neil deGrasse Tyson Neil deGrasse Tyson ( or ; born October 5, 1958) is an American astrophysics, astrophysicist, author, and science communication, science communicator. Tyson studied at Harvard University, the University of Texas at Austin, and Columbia Univ ...

– astrophysicist, author, science communicator, Ph.D. 1991

Performing arts

* Kenneth Ascher, DMA – jazz pianist, composer – 1966 CC; 1968 GSAS; 1971 SOA * Alan Heyman, traditional Korean musicologist and composer, 1959 *

Art Garfunkel Arthur Ira Garfunkel (born November 5, 1941) is an American singer, actor and poet who is best known for his partnership with Paul Simon in the folk rock duo Simon & Garfunkel. Born in Forest Hills, Queens, New York, Garfunkel became acquainte ...

– musician, 1967 *

Will Geer Will Geer (born William Aughe Ghere; March 9, 1902 – April 22, 1978) was an American actor, musician, and social activist who was active in labor organizing and communist movements in New York City and Southern California in the 1930s and 1940 ...

– actor * Edward Everett Horton – actor, 1909 *

John Kander John Harold Kander (born March 18, 1927) is an American composer, known largely for his work in the musical theater. As part of the songwriting team Kander and Ebb (with lyricist Fred Ebb), Kander wrote the scores for 15 musicals, including ''Cab ...

– composer, 1954 *

Bernard Malamud Bernard Malamud (April 26, 1914 – March 18, 1986) was an American novelist and short story writer. Along with Saul Bellow, Joseph Heller, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Norman Mailer and Philip Roth, he was one of the best known American Jewish ...

– writer, 1942 *

Thomas Merton Thomas Merton (January 31, 1915December 10, 1968), religious name M. Louis, was an American Trappist monk, writer, theologian, Christian mysticism, mystic, poet, social activist and scholar of comparative religion. He was a monk in the Trapp ...

– Catholic writer, 1939

Social scientists

Ruth Benedict Ruth Fulton Benedict (June 5, 1887 – September 17, 1948) was an American anthropologist and folklorist. She was born in New York City, attended Vassar College, and graduated in 1909. After studying anthropology at the New School of Social ...

– anthropologist, Ph.D. 1923 * Theos Casimir Bernard – explorer and religionist, M.A. 1936, Ph.D. 1943 * Kenneth B. Clark – educational psychologist, Ph.D. 1940 * Mamie Phipps Clark – educational psychologist, Ph.D. 1943 *

Gilberto Freyre Gilberto de Mello Freyre (March 15, 1900 – July 18, 1987) was a Brazilian sociologist, anthropologist, historian, writer, painter, journalist and congressman born in Recife. Considered one of the most important sociologists of the 20th cen ...

— Brazilian sociologist, cultural anthropologist and historian, M.A. 1922 * Robert A. Leonard — linguist, M.A. and M. Phil. 1973, Ph.D 1982 *

Margaret Mead Margaret Mead (December 16, 1901 – November 15, 1978) was an American cultural anthropologist, author and speaker, who appeared frequently in the mass media during the 1960s and the 1970s. She earned her bachelor's degree at Barnard Col ...

— anthropologist, Ph.D. 1929 * Lorine Livingston Pruette — psychologist, Ph.D. 1924

Politicians

* B. R. Ambedkar – a founding father of India, M.A. 1915, Ph.D. 1928 *

– diplomat and President of Columbia University, Ph.D. 1884 *

Benjamin Cardozo Benjamin Nathan Cardozo (May 24, 1870 – July 9, 1938) was an American lawyer and jurist who served on the New York Court of Appeals from 1914 to 1932 and as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1932 until his deat ...

– jurist, M.A. 1890 *

Wellington Koo Koo Vi Kyuin (; January 29, 1888 – November 14, 1985), better known as V. K. Wellington Koo, was a Chinese diplomat, politician, and statesman of the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China. Born in Shanghai, Koo studied at Colum ...

– Chinese diplomat, Ph.D. 1912 *

Robert Moses Robert Moses (December 18, 1888 – July 29, 1981) was an American urban planner and public official who worked in the New York metropolitan area during the early to mid-20th century. Moses is regarded as one of the most powerful and influentia ...

urban planner, Ph.D. 1914 *

Frances Perkins Frances Perkins (born Fannie Coralie Perkins; April 10, 1880 – May 14, 1965) was an American workers-rights advocate who served as the fourth United States Secretary of Labor from 1933 to 1945, the longest serving in that position. A member o ...

– US Secretary of Labor, M.A. 1910 *

Brent Scowcroft Brent Scowcroft (; March 19, 1925August 6, 2020) was a United States Air Force officer, and a two-time National Security Advisor (United States), United States National Security Advisor, first under U.S. President Gerald Ford and then under Georg ...

– US National Security Advisor, M.A. and Ph.D. in international relations, 1967 * Mark Wyland – California State Senator, M.A. in political science, 1969 *

Madeleine Albright Madeleine Jana Korbel Albright (born Marie Jana Körbelová, later Korbelová; May 15, 1937 – March 23, 2022) was an American diplomat and political science, political scientist who served as the 64th United States Secretary of State, United S ...

- Secretary of State, Ph.D. in public law and governance, 1976

Visual arts

* Mary Godfrey – art educator * Donald Clarence Judd – sculptor, 1961 *

Agnes Martin Agnes Bernice Martin (March 22, 1912 – December 16, 2004) was an American abstract painter known for her minimalist style and abstract expressionism. Born in Canada, she moved to the United States in 1931, where she pursued higher education ...

– painter, M.A. 1952 * Jerome J. Pollitt – art historian, Ph.D. 1963 * Meyer Schapiro – art historian, Ph.D. 1929

Other fields

Peter Buck Peter Lawrence Buck (born December 6, 1956) is an American musician and songwriter. He was a co-founder and the lead guitarist of the alternative rock band R.E.M.; he played the banjo and mandolin on several R.E.M. songs. Throughout his caree ...

– co-founder of Subway restaurant chain, Ph.D. *

Herman Hollerith Herman Hollerith (February 29, 1860 – November 17, 1929) was a German-American statistician, inventor, and businessman who developed an electromechanical tabulating machine for punched cards to assist in summarizing information and, later, in ...

– inventor, Ph.D. 1890 * Jose Franklin Jurado-Rodriguez – Moneylaunderer for the Cali Cartel kingpin Jose Santacruz Londono * Sam Levenson – comedian, 1938 * Ge Li – Chinese American billionaire, co-founder of WuXi AppTec, Ph.D. 1994 * John McCaffery – newscaster * Richard P. Mills – former Commissioner of Education for both Vermont and New York States, M.A. 1967 * Madeleine B. Stern – rare book expert, M.A. 1934 *

Judith Rodin Judith Rodin (born Judith Seitz, September 9, 1944) is an American research psychologist, executive, university president, and global thought-leader. She served as the 12th president of the Rockefeller Foundation from 2005 to 2017. From 1994 to 2 ...

– 7th president of the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

and president of the

Rockefeller Foundation The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The foundation was created by Standard Oil magnate John D. Rockefeller (" ...

, Ph.D. 1970 * Sol M. Stroock – lawyer, M.A. 1892 * Leonard Tow – Chairman and CEO of Citizens Communications, Ph.D. 1960 * James T. Lee - lawyer, banker, real estate developer, and grandfather of

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Jacqueline Lee Kennedy Onassis ( ; July 28, 1929 – May 19, 1994) was an American writer, book editor, and socialite who served as the first lady of the United States from 1961 to 1963, as the wife of President John F. Kennedy. A popular f ...

and

Lee Radziwill Caroline Lee Radziwill (; March 3, 1933 – February 15, 2019), previously known as Lee Canfield and Lee Ross, was an American socialite, public relations executive, and interior designer. She was the younger sister of former First Lady of the ...

, A.M. 1902 * Peter Hildebrand Meienberg – Swiss Benedictine missionary based in East Africa

References

External links

* {{coord, 40.8079, -73.9630, type:edu_globe:earth_region:US-NY, display=title Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Universities and colleges established in 1880 1880 establishments in New York (state) Liberal arts colleges at universities in the United States