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COLUMBIA COLLEGE TODAY
COLUMBIA COLLEGE TODAY
MESSAGE FROM CCAA PRESIDENT KYRA TIRANA BARRY ’87
Students and Alumni Have Much To Share
Bookshelf
As an alumna, two of my
favorite days on campus
are Convocation in August,
when a new group
of first-year students officially
enters the Columbia community,
and Class Day in May, when the
College welcomes its newest alumni.
The students’ energy, enthusiasm
and anticipation is abundant at Convocation.
Four years later, that energy
translates into cheers and exuberant
“woo-hoos” when those same students
— now the graduating class —
watch the alumni march during the
Alumni Parade of Classes on Class
Day. The moment is an affirmation of
the importance of alumni to students,
who are soon to become alumni themselves.
What happens during the four years from Convocation to
Class Day is a focus of the Columbia College Alumni Association
(CCAA) Board of Directors, and in particular of its Student Alumni
Committee.
The Student Alumni Committee, co-chaired by Dan Tamkin
’81 and Scott Koonin ’02, seeks to help the College improve student
life by exposing students to the knowledge, experience and
guidance that alumni have to offer. This interaction can be enriching
to students and alumni alike and can provide
a model for students of what it means to be an
active member of the alumni community.
Working closely with Student Affairs and the
Alumni Office, the committee looks to identify
areas where alumni can support and enhance the
quality of the non-academic areas of student life
(residences and dining, student advising and activities)
as well as create meaningful interactions between
alumni and students throughout a student’s
undergraduate journey. This past year, the committee
planned a CCAA board meeting devoted to
student-alumni programs, focused on the key role
of data in enhancing alumni participation and the
transition from student life to alumni life, attended
student council meetings and selected the alumni
prizes awarded to seniors on Class Day.
Part of the process is to hear from students directly,
and their voices informed the discussions
at the board’s January meeting. Working closely
with the three student representatives to the board
(Maryam Aziz ’13, Allan Kang ’14 and Maria
Sulimirski ’13), the Student Alumni Committee
developed an agenda for the meeting and questions
for the board members, and invited students
to participate in intimate roundtable discussions.
More than 20 students attended the meeting and
A growing number of programs, such as this Media
Networking Night on March 11, provide opportunities for
students to engage with alumni.
PHOTO: BRUCE GILBERT
CCAA Student
Alumni Committee
CO-CHAIRS
Dan Tamkin ’81
Scott Koonin ’02
MEMBERS
Jean-Marie Atamian ’81
Eric Branfman ’69
Michael Braun ’70
David D. Chait ’07
Alexandra Feldberg ’08
Stephanie Foster ’12
Lauren Gershell ’99
Ellen Gustafson ’02
Stephen Jacobs ’75
Barry Levine ’65
Ira B. Malin ’75
Teresa Saputo-Crerend ’87
Steven Schwartz ’70
Gerald Sherwin ’55
Roxann Smithers ’99
AFFILIATE MEMBER
Randy Berkowitz ’04
sat alongside alumni to discuss the
objectives of student-alumni engagement
programs, the benefits of these
programs to both students and alumni,
and best practices to communicate
student-alumni engagement opportunities
to both constituencies in order
to maximize participation.
What we are learning is that Columbia
has many wonderful programs
and opportunities for students and
alumni, as described in the cover story
of this issue, and that both students
and alumni want to increase direct
connections with one another. Both
want more informal interactions,
more events spread out during the
students’ campus experience and
easier access to engagement opportunities.
Alumni are enlivened when they meet with and engage
with our extraordinary students, and students are grateful and
feel a sense of connectedness when they find alumni who want
to advise and support them.
This feedback has been very helpful to the CCAA board as it
works with the Columbia College Alumni Relations Strategic
Task Force, which is led by the Hon. Joseph A. Greenaway Jr. ’78,
a University trustee who has been an active alumnus since graduation.
The task force, with CCAA board support,
worked hard this spring to develop a plan to
serve alumni. The board’s intention is to have a
final report by this fall to guide the Alumni Office.
Behind this recent activity is a dynamic new
College leader, Bernice Tsai ’96. As the senior executive
director for alumni affairs and communications,
Bernice has had an immediate and significant
impact on the College’s alumni affairs and
communications efforts, supporting and shaping
the strategic planning process as well as leading
the increasingly important Alumni Affairs
and Communications team. The CCAA board
couldn’t be more delighted to have her as a partner
and looks forward to working with her team
on behalf of the more than 47,500 College alumni.
If you see Bernice at an event, please introduce
yourself, or reach out to either one of us (bst8@
columbia.edu or ccaapresident@columbia.edu)
with your thoughts on how to engage 100 percent
of Columbia College alumni to better support our
wonderful community.
Happy summer, and I hope to see you at Convocation’s
Alumni Parade of Classes on Monday,
August 26.
Next to Last Words by Daniel Hoffman
’47. The late poet laureate’s
13th collection of imaginative
poetry explores the cosmos, politics,
history, nature, love and grief (Louisiana
State University Press, $16.95).
You’re My Dawg, Dog: A Lexicon
of Dog Terms for People by Donald
Friedman ’49, with illustrations
by J.C. Suarès. Friedman defines
an array of dog-centric idioms,
proverbs and metaphors (Welcome
Enterprises, $12.95).
Tales to Tell: Memoir by Tracy G.
Herrick ’56. Herrick recounts rising
to the top of the nation’s largest
securities firm, experiencing vivid
premonitions of his son’s death
and becoming a young scholar
and a champion of the free market
(Xlibris Corp., $19.99).
Free to Learn: Why Unleashing
the Instinct to Play Will Make
Our Children Happier, More Self-
Reliant, and Better Prepared for
Life by Peter Gray ’66. Developmental
psychologist Gray argues
the need for self-directed learning
and free play for children from a
biological perspective (Basic Books,
$27.99).
Fear Itself: The New Deal and
the Origins of Our Time by Ira
Katznelson ’66, the Ruggles Professor
of Political Science and History.
Katznelson examines the New
Deal Era in America and argues
that democracy was rescued but
distorted by southern lawmakers
such as Walter Lippmann and
Theodore Bilbo, who sought to
safeguard racial segregation, manage
capitalism and assert global
power (Liveright Publishing Corp.,
$29.95).
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles
Dickens, edited by Michael D.
Aeschliman ’70. A new edition of
the classic novel on the French
Revolution, with introduction and
notes by Aeschliman, the professor
emeritus of education at Boston
University (Ignatius Press, $11.95).
The Oxford Book of American
Poetry chosen and edited by David
Lehman ’70. Beginning with the
work of 17th-century poets such
as Anne Bradstreet, this anthology
features 1,100 poems with
informative notes for the novice
reader (Oxford University Press,
USA, $35).
Death, Dying, and Organ Donation:
Reconstructing Medical Ethics
at the End of Life by Frank G.
Miller ’70 and Robert D. Truog. Miller
and Truog undertake an ethical
examination that aims to honestly
face the reality of medical practices
at the end of life (Oxford University
Press, $57.50).
Offerings by Richard Smolev ’70. In
this novel, Kate Brewster becomes
the first woman to run a Wall Street
institution and perseveres through
family crisis, illegal trading schemes
and attacks on her integrity (Academy
Chicago Publishers, $26.50).
Japan and the Culture of the Four
Seasons: Nature, Literature, and
the Arts by Haruo Shirane ’74, the
Shincho Professor of Japanese Lit -
erature and Culture. Shirane discusses
textual, cultivated, material,
performative and other representations
of nature in Japan as well as
the cultural construction of the four
seasons as a Japanese aesthetic
(Columbia University Press, $25).
The Universe Within: Discovering
the Common History of Rocks,
Planets, and People by Neil Shubin
’82. Paleontologist and geologist
Shubin explores the unexpected
links among human biology, the
planet and the universe and demonstrates
how the evolution of the
cosmos can be seen in our bodies
(Pantheon, $25.95).
A Steven Spielberg Film, Lincoln:
A Cinematic and Historical
Companion by David Rubel ’83;
afterword by Tony Kushner ’78.
Rubel’s narrative, combined with
art and first-person recollections,
provides an account of the making
of Lincoln as well as the historical
events upon which the film is
based (Disney, $45).
The Kickstarter Handbook: Real-
Life Crowdfunding Success
Stories by Don Steinberg ’83. In this
book for entrepreneurs, artists and
innovators, Steinberg, a business
journalist for The Wall Street Journal,
lays out strategies for leading a
successful kickstarter campaign
(Quirk Books, $14.95).
An Artist in Venice by Adam
Van Doren ’84. Painter Van Doren
combines narration, history,
sketches and maps with 25 of his
watercolor paintings of the Italian
city (David R. Godine Publisher,
$26.95).
The Moment of Racial Sight: A
History by Irene Tucker ’87. The
author analyzes racial perception
from the Enlightenment to the
HBO series The Wire (The University
of Chicago Press, $45).
Rage Is Back: A Novel by Adam
Mansbach ’98. A father and son are
reunited in New York, rallying
with graffiti artists to bring down
the man running for mayor
(Viking, $26.95).
Year-Round Slow Cooker: 100
Favorite Recipes for Every Season
by Dina Cheney ’99. Cheney offers
100 recipes for the slow cooker, an
underappreciated tool that can be
used to cook modern, colorful and
flavorful meals with ease (Taunton
Press, $19.95).
Impossibly Glamorous: How a
Misfit from Kansas Became an
Asian Sensation by Charles Ayres
’00. In this memoir, Ayres, an
entertainment personality in Japan,
addresses such issues as sexuality,
discrimination, love, poverty and
substance abuse (Impossibly Glamorous
Studios, $16.95).
International Interplay: The
Future of Expropriation Across
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