Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences

The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (also known as GSAS) is the graduate school of Columbia University. Founded in 1880, GSAS is responsible for most of Columbia's graduate degree programs in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. The school offers MA and PhD degrees in approximately 78 disciplines.

Columbia Graduate School
of Arts and Sciences
TypePrivate
Established1880
DeanCarlos J. Alonso
Students~6,000 students
Location, ,
U.S.
CampusUrban
Websitewww.gsas.columbia.edu

History

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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.[1]

The Ph.D was first proposed as a degree in 1873 to be awarded under the auspices of the School of Mines.[2] It was first awarded in 1877.[3] 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 and Nicholas Murray Butler 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

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  • 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[4])
  • 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 (Teachers College)
  • 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

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Economists

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Historians

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Literature

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Philosophers

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Natural scientists

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Performing arts

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Social scientists

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Politicians

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Visual arts

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Other fields

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References

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  1. ^ Columbia College (New York, N. Y. ) (1879). Resolutions passed by the trustees of Columbia College from 1874 to 1879. The Library of Congress. New York : Printed for the College.
  2. ^ "Resolutions passed by the trustees of Columbia College from 1868 to 1874". HathiTrust. hdl:2027/uiug.30112111489271. Retrieved 2024-01-23.
  3. ^ Columbia University (1882). Catalogue of the governors, trustees, and officers, and of the alumni and other graduates, Columbia College (originally King's College) in the city of New York, from 1754 to 1882. University of California Libraries. New York, The College.
  4. ^ "Requirements and Contacts | Department of Anthropology". anthropology.columbia.edu. Archived from the original on 2015-09-05.
  5. ^ Seligson, Fred Jeremy (2014-03-03). "Korean music expert Heyman dies at 83". The Korea Times. Retrieved 2014-03-04.
  6. ^ RASHBAUM, William K. (April 12, 1996). "HE ADMITS LAUNDERING DRUG CASH". New York Daily News.
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40°48′28″N 73°57′47″W / 40.8079°N 73.9630°W / 40.8079; -73.9630