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

graduate school Postgraduate or graduate education refers to academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate ( bachelor's) degree. The organization and stru ...

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. 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. In the Renaissance, the term contrasted with divinity and referred to what is now called classics, the main area of secular study in universities at the t ...

social science Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the original "science of so ...

s, and natural sciences. The school offers MA and PhD 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. The first Ph.D. awarded by Columbia was conferred in 1882; 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 t ...

and

Nicholas Murray Butler Nicholas Murray Butler () 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 Peace Prize, and the deceased Ja ...

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. Such efforts led to resistance among Columbia College administrators and undergraduates, arguably one of the contributing factors in the

1968 protests The protests of 1968 comprised a worldwide escalation of social conflicts, predominantly characterized by popular rebellions against state militaries and the bureaucracies. In the United States, these protests marked a turning point for the ci ...

. Nevertheless, 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 A normal school or normal college is an institution created to train teachers by educating them in the norms of pedagogy and curriculum. In the 19th century in the United States, instruction in normal schools was at the high school level, turni ...

) *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 *Urban Planning *Yiddish Studies

Notable alumni

Economists

Kenneth Arrow Kenneth Joseph Arrow (23 August 1921 – 21 February 2017) was an American economist, mathematician, writer, and political theorist. He was the joint winner of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences with John Hicks in 1972. In economics ...

– economist, 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 ...

– economist, 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 the ...

– economist, Ph.D., 1946 * Christina Paxson – economist; Dean of the

Woodrow Wilson School The Princeton School of Public and International Affairs (formerly the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs) is a professional public policy school at Princeton University. The school provides an array of comprehensive course ...

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

; 19th President, Brown University, PhD 1987

Historians

* Nina Ansary – historian, Ph.D 2013 *

Jacques Barzun Jacques Martin Barzun (; November 30, 1907 – October 25, 2012) was a French-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, and ...

– historian, Ph.D. 1932 * Charles A. Beard – historian, Ph.D. 1904 *

Dominique Collon Dominique Petronella Margaret Collon, (born 18 May 1940) is a Belgian-born academic, author, archaeologist and former curator at the British Museum in London who has worked and travelled extensively in the Near East in Syria, Turkey and Iraq. She ...

- historian, Ph.D 1971 *

Lawrence Cremin Lawrence Arthur Cremin (October 31, 1925 – September 4, 1990) was an educational historian and administrator. Biography Cremin attended Townsend Harris High School in Queens, and then received his B.A. and M.A. from City College of New York. ...

– historian, 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 ...

– historian, Ph.D. 1942 * Bruce Cumings – historian, Ph.D. 1975 *

Stanley Payne Stanley George Payne (born September 9, 1934) is an American historian of modern Spain and European Fascism at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He retired from full-time teaching in 2004 and is currently Professor Emeritus at its Department ...

—historian, Ph.D. 1959 *

Howard Zinn Howard Zinn (August 24, 1922January 27, 2010) was an American historian, playwright, philosopher, socialist thinker and World War II veteran. He was chair of the history and social sciences department at Spelman College, and a politica ...

—historian, Ph.D. 1958

Literature

* Jacob M. Appel – writer and bioethicist, M.A., 2000 * John Ashbery – poet, 1951 * Isaac Asimov – science fiction writer, M.A. 1941 *

Paul Auster Paul Benjamin Auster (born February 3, 1947) is an American writer and film director. His notable works include '' The New York Trilogy'' (1987), '' Moon Palace'' (1989), '' The Music of Chance'' (1990), '' The Book of Illusions'' (2002), ''The ...

– 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 du ...

– antiwar essayist, M.A. 1913 *

Rachel Blau DuPlessis Rachel Blau DuPlessis (born December 14, 1941) is an American poet and essayist, known as a feminist critic and scholar with a special interest in modernist and contemporary poetry. Her work has been widely anthologized. Early life DuPlessis w ...

– 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'' (20 ...

- novelist and critic, M.Phil. art history, 2003 *

John Eisenhower John Sheldon Doud Eisenhower (August 3, 1922 – December 21, 2013) was a United States Army officer, diplomat, and military historian. He was a son of President Dwight D. Eisenhower and First Lady Mamie Eisenhower. His military career sp ...

- military historian and son of

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...

, M.A., 1950 *

Jason Epstein Jason Wolkow Epstein (August 25, 1928 – February 4, 2022) was an American editor and publisher. He was the editorial director of Random House from 1976 to 1995. He also co-founded ''The New York Review of Books'' in 1963. Early life 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. He won Academy Awards for his screenplays '' ...

– screenwriter, 1956 *

Naomi Foner Gyllenhaal Naomi Foner ( Achs; born March 4, 1946) is an American screenwriter and director. She is the mother of actor and actress Maggie and Jake Gyllenhaal. Early life and education Foner was born in Brooklyn, New York City, the daughter of doctors Rut ...

– screenwriter * David G. Hartwell - critic and editor, Ph.D. 1973 *

Carolyn Heilbrun Carolyn Gold Heilbrun (January 13, 1926 – October 9, 2003) was an American academic at Columbia University, the first woman to receive tenure in the English department, and a prolific feminist author of academic studies. In addition, beginning ...

– 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 – writer, 1935 *

Alfred Kazin Alfred Kazin (June 5, 1915 – June 5, 1998) was an American writer and literary critic. He wrote often about the immigrant experience in early twentieth century America. Early life Like many other New York Intellectuals, Alfred Kazin was ...

– literary critic, 1958 *

Kenneth Koch Kenneth Koch ( ; 27 February 1925 – 6 July 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 includ ...

– poet, M.A. 1953, Ph.D. 1959 *

Joseph Wood Krutch Joseph Wood Krutch (; November 25, 1893 – May 22, 1970) was an American author, critic, and naturalist who wrote nature books on the American Southwest. He is known for developing a pantheistic philosophy. Biography Born in Knoxville, Tenne ...

– writer, M.A. 1916, Ph.D. 1929 *

David Lehman David Lehman (born June 11, 1948David Lehman
at poets.org) is an American poet, non-fiction writer, and li ...

– poet, Ph.D. 1978 *

Peter Straub Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a sur ...

– writer, 1966 * Lionel Trilling – literary critic, M.A. 1926, Ph.D. 1938 *

Anne Tyler Anne Tyler (born October 25, 1941) is an American novelist, short story writer, and literary critic. She has published twenty-four novels, including '' Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant'' (1982), ''The Accidental Tourist'' (1985), and ''Breathi ...

– 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 – Ph.D. in psychology, 1928 *Arthur Danto – M.A. 1949, Ph.D. in philosophy, 1952 *Irwin Edman – Ph.D. in philosophy, 1919 *Hu Shih – public intellectual in China, Ph.D. 1917

Natural scientists

*Jacqueline Barton – chemist, 1979 *Niles Eldredge – paleontologist, Ph.D. 1969 *Stephen Jay Gould – paleontologist, Ph.D. 1967 *Neil deGrasse Tyson – astrophysicist, author, science communicator, Ph.D. 1991

Performing arts

* Kenneth Ascher, DMA – jazz pianist, composer – 1966 Columbia College, Columbia University, CC; 1968 GSAS; 1971 Columbia University School of the Arts, SOA * Alan Heyman, traditional Korean musicologist and composer, 1959 * Art Garfunkel – musician, 1967 * Will Geer – actor * Edward Everett Horton – actor, 1909 * John Kander – composer, 1954 * Bernard Malamud – writer, 1942 * Thomas Merton – Catholic writer, 1939

Social scientists

*Ruth Benedict – 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 — Brazilian sociologist, cultural anthropologist and historian, M.A. 1922 *Robert A. Leonard — linguist, M.A. and M. Phil. 1973, Ph.D 1982 *Margaret Mead — 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 – jurist, M.A. 1890 *Wellington Koo – Chinese diplomat, Ph.D. 1912 *Robert Moses urban planner, Ph.D. 1914 *Frances Perkins – US Secretary of Labor, M.A. 1910 *Brent Scowcroft – 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 - Secretary of State, Ph.D. in public law and governance, 1976

Visual arts

*Mary Godfrey – art educator *Donald Clarence Judd – sculptor, 1961 *Agnes Martin – painter, M.A. 1952 *Jerome J. Pollitt – art historian, Ph.D. 1963 *Meyer Schapiro – art historian, Ph.D. 1929

Other fields

*Peter Buck (restaurateur), Peter Buck – founder of Subway (restaurant), Subway restaurant chain, Ph.D. *Herman Hollerith – inventor, Ph.D. 1890 *Narcos, 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 (educator), 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 – 7th president of the University of Pennsylvania and president of the Rockefeller Foundation, 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 and Lee Radziwill, A.M. 1902 *Peter Hildebrand Meienberg – Swiss Benedictine missionary based in East Africa

References

External links

GSAS website
{{coord missing, New York City Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Columbia University Educational institutions established in 1880 1880 establishments in New York (state) Liberal arts colleges at universities in the United States