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 science Natural 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 review and repeatab ...

s. The school offers MA and

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...

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 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. 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) *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 *Urban Planning *Yiddish Studies

Notable alumni

Economists

* Kenneth Arrow – economist, Ph.D., 1951 * Arthur Burns – economist, Ph.D., 1934 * Milton Friedman – economist, Ph.D., 1946 *

Christina Paxson Christina Hull Paxson (born February 6, 1960) is an American economist and public health expert serving as the 19th president of Brown University. Previously, she was the Hughes Rogers Professor of Economics & Public Affairs at Princeton Univers ...

– economist; Dean of the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University; 19th President,

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

, PhD 1987

Historians

Nina Ansary Nina Ansary ( fa, نینا انصاری ) (born 1966, Tehran, Iran) is an Iranian–American historian and author best known for her work on women's equity in Iran. Ansary's research has notably countered conventional assumptions of the progress ...

– historian, Ph.D 2013 * Jacques Barzun – historian, Ph.D. 1932 *

Charles A. Beard Charles Austin Beard (1874–1948) was an American historian and professor, who wrote primarily during the first half of the 20th century. A history professor at Columbia University, Beard's influence is primarily due to his publications in the f ...

– historian, Ph.D. 1904 * Dominique Collon - historian, Ph.D 1971 * Lawrence Cremin – historian, M.A. 1947, Ph.D. 1949 * Richard Hofstadter – historian, Ph.D. 1942 *

Bruce Cumings Bruce Cumings (born September 5, 1943) is an American historian of East Asia, professor, lecturer and author. He is the Gustavus F. and Ann M. Swift Distinguished Service Professor in History, and the former chair of the history department at ...

– 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—historian, Ph.D. 1958

Literature

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

– 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 yi, יצחק אזימאװ , birth_date = , birth_place = Petrovichi, Russian SFSR , spouse = , relatives = , children = 2 , death_date = , death_place = Manhattan, New York City, U.S. , nationality = Russian (1920–1922)Soviet (192 ...

– 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 Broo ...

– writer, M.A., 1970 * Randolph Bourne – 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 - military historian and son of Dwight D. Eisenhower, M.A., 1950 * Jason Epstein – writer, M.A., 1950 * John Erskine – literary scholar, Ph.D. 1903 * James Goldman – writer, 1952 * William Goldman – 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 Ruth ...

– screenwriter *

David G. Hartwell David Geddes Hartwell (July 10, 1941 – January 20, 2016) was an American critic, publisher, and editor of thousands of science fiction and fantasy novels. He was best known for work with Signet, Pocket, and Tor Books publishers. He was also no ...

- critic and editor, Ph.D. 1973 * Carolyn Heilbrun – writer, M.A. 1951, Ph.D. 1959 * Joseph Heller – writer, 1949 *

Zora Neale Hurston Zora Neale Hurston (January 7, 1891 – January 28, 1960) was an American author, anthropologist, and filmmaker. She portrayed racial struggles in the early-1900s American South and published research on Hoodoo (spirituality), hoodoo. The most ...

– writer, 1935 * Alfred Kazin – literary critic, 1958 * Kenneth Koch – 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 – 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 – writer, Ph.D. 1920 *

Stark Young Stark Young (October 11, 1881 – January 6, 1963) was an American teacher, playwright, novelist, painter, literary critic, translator, and essayist. Early life Stark Young was born on October 11, 1881 in Como, Mississippi. His father, Alfre ...

– critic and writer, 1902

Philosophers

* Mortimer Adler – Ph.D. in psychology, 1928 * Arthur Danto – M.A. 1949, Ph.D. in philosophy, 1952 *

Irwin Edman Irwin Edman (November 28, 1896 – September 4, 1954) was an American philosopher and professor of philosophy. Biography Irwin Edman was born in New York City to Jewish parents. He grew up in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, ...

– Ph.D. in philosophy, 1919 * Hu Shih – public intellectual in China, Ph.D. 1917

Natural scientists

Jacqueline Barton Jacqueline K. Barton (born May 7, 1952 New York City, NY), is an American chemist. She worked as a Professor of Chemistry at Hunter College (1980–82), and at Columbia University (1983–89) before joining the California Institute of Technology. ...

– chemist, 1979 * Niles Eldredge – paleontologist, Ph.D. 1969 *

Stephen Jay Gould Stephen Jay Gould (; September 10, 1941 – May 20, 2002) was an American paleontologist, evolutionary biologist, and historian of science. He was one of the most influential and widely read authors of popular science of his generation. Gould sp ...

– paleontologist, Ph.D. 1967 * Neil deGrasse Tyson – astrophysicist, author, science communicator, Ph.D. 1991

Performing arts

Kenneth Ascher Kenneth Lee Ascher (born October 26, 1944 in Washington, D.C.) is an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger who is active in jazz, rock, classical, and musical theater genres — in live venues, recording studios, and cinema productio ...

, DMA – jazz pianist, composer – 1966 CC; 1968 GSAS; 1971 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 Bernard Malamud (April 26, 1914 – March 18, 1986) was an American novelist and short story writer. Along with Saul Bellow, Joseph Heller, and Philip Roth, he was one of the best known American Jewish authors of the 20th century. His baseba ...

– writer, 1942 *

Thomas Merton Thomas Merton (January 31, 1915 – December 10, 1968) was an American Trappist monk, writer, theologian, mystic, poet, social activist and scholar of comparative religion. On May 26, 1949, he was ordained to the Catholic priesthood and giv ...

– Catholic writer, 1939

Social scientists

* Ruth Benedict – anthropologist, Ph.D. 1923 *

Theos Casimir Bernard Theos Casimir Hamati Bernard (1908–1947) was an explorer and author, known for his work on yoga and religious studies, particularly in Tibetan Buddhism. He was the nephew of Pierre Arnold Bernard, "Oom the Omnipotent", and like him became a y ...

– 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, congressman born in Recife, Pernambuco, Northeast Brazil. He is commonly associated with other m ...

— Brazilian sociologist, cultural anthropologist and historian, M.A. 1922 *

Robert A. Leonard Robert Andrew Leonard is an American linguist. He is best known for his work in forensic linguistics, which relates to investigating problems of the law by using the study of language. This includes analyzing legal material work such as notes, au ...

— linguist, M.A. and M. Phil. 1973, Ph.D 1982 * Margaret Mead — anthropologist, Ph.D. 1929 *

Lorine Livingston Pruette Lorine Livingston Pruette (November 3, 1896 – December 20, 1976) was an American feminist, psychologist, and writer. Early life Lorine Pruette was born in Millersburg, Tennessee, to college-educated parents. Her mother and her maternal grandmo ...

— psychologist, Ph.D. 1924

Politicians

B. R. Ambedkar Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (14 April 1891 – 6 December 1956) was an Indian jurist, economist, social reformer and political leader who headed the committee drafting the Constitution of India from the Constituent Assembly debates, served a ...

– a founding father of India, M.A. 1915, Ph.D. 1928 * Nicholas Murray Butler – diplomat and President of Columbia University, Ph.D. 1884 * Benjamin Cardozo – jurist, M.A. 1890 * Wellington Koo – 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. Despite never being elected to any office, Moses is regarded ...

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 4th United States secretary of labor from 1933 to 1945, the longest serving in that position. A member of th ...

– US Secretary of Labor, M.A. 1910 *

Brent Scowcroft Brent Scowcroft (; March 19, 1925August 6, 2020) was a United States Air Force officer who was a two-time United States National Security Advisor, first under U.S. President Gerald Ford and then under George H. W. Bush. He served as Military Assi ...

– US National Security Advisor, M.A. and Ph.D. in international relations, 1967 *

Mark Wyland Mark Bryan Wyland (October 27, 1946) is a U.S. Republican politician from the state of California, who represented the 38th District in the California State Senate. Biography Wyland grew up in the city of Escondido. As a Fulbright Scholar, ...

– 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 Mary Emmeline Godfrey (3 July 1913 - 30 April 2007) was an artist and art educator who became the first full-time African-American faculty member at Penn State University. She was hired in 1957 and served as an assistant professor of art educatio ...

– art educator *

Donald Clarence Judd Donald Clarence Judd (June 3, 1928February 12, 1994) was an American artist associated with minimalism (a term he nonetheless stridently disavowed).Tate Modern websit"Tate Modern Past Exhibitions Donald Judd" Retrieved on February 19, 2009. In ...

– 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 – founder of

Subway Subway, Subways, The Subway, or The Subways may refer to: Transportation * Subway, a term for underground rapid transit rail systems * Subway (underpass), a type of walkway that passes underneath an obstacle * Subway (George Bush Interconti ...

restaurant chain, Ph.D. * Herman Hollerith – inventor, Ph.D. 1890 * Jose Franklin Jurado-Rodriguez – Moneylaunderer for the Cali Cartel kingpin

Jose Santacruz Londono Jose is the English language, English transliteration of the Hebrew language, Hebrew and Aramaic language, Aramaic name ''Yose'', which is etymologically linked to ''Yosef'' or Joseph. The name was popular during the Mishnaic and Talmudic periods ...

* Sam Levenson – comedian, 1938 *

Ge Li Ge Li (Chinese: 李革) is a Chinese American entrepreneur and philanthropist. He is the founder and chairman of WuXi AppTec, a contract pharmaceutical research firm. He is one of the richest men in China and the United States. Career Ge Li ...

– Chinese American billionaire, co-founder of WuXi AppTec, Ph.D. 1994 *

John McCaffery John McCaffery (November 30, 1913–October 3, 1983), also known as John K. M. McCaffery, was an American television host who appeared on many game shows and talk shows during the 1940s and 1950s including ''Americana'', '' Television Screen Ma ...

– newscaster * Richard P. Mills – former Commissioner of Education for both Vermont and New York States, M.A. 1967 *

Madeleine B. Stern Madeleine Bettina Stern (July 1, 1912 – August 18, 2007), born in New York, New York, was an independent scholar and rare book dealer. She graduated from Barnard College in 1932 with a B.A. in English literature. She received her M.A. in Eng ...

– rare book expert, M.A. 1934 *

Judith Rodin Judith Rodin (born Judith Seitz, September 9, 1944) is a philanthropist with a long history in U.S. higher education. She was the president of the Rockefeller Foundation from 2005 until 2017. From 1994 to 2004, Rodin served as the 7th permanent pr ...

– 7th president of the University of Pennsylvania 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 second-oldest major philanthropic institution in America, after the Carneg ...

, Ph.D. 1970 *

Sol M. Stroock Solomon Marcuse Stroock (September 22, 1873 – September 11, 1941) was a Jewish-American lawyer from New York. Life Stroock was born on September 22, 1873 in New York City, New York, the son of Samuel Stroock and Mariana Marcuse. His parents wer ...

– lawyer, M.A. 1892 *

Leonard Tow Leonard Tow (born 1928) is an American businessman and philanthropist. He was the chairman and CEO of Citizens Communications (now Frontier Communications) and chairman of Electric Lightwave. He also co-founded Century Communications, which was s ...

– Chairman and CEO of

Citizens Communications Frontier Communications Parent, Inc. (known as Citizens Utilities Company until May 2000 and Citizens Communications Company until July 31, 2008) is an American telecommunications company. The company previously served primarily rural areas and s ...

, Ph.D. 1960 *

James T. Lee James Thomas Aloysius Lee (October 2, 1877 – January 3, 1968) was an American lawyer, banker, and real estate investor who was the maternal grandfather of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Lee Radziwill. Early life Lee was born in Manhattan on O ...

- lawyer, banker, real estate developer, and grandfather of

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

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 University Educational institutions established in 1880 1880 establishments in New York (state) Liberal arts colleges at universities in the United States