Announcing The Columbia Colloquium

Dear members of the Columbia community,

In my first several months here, one aspect of our intellectual life has come as no surprise at all: our faculty is extraordinary. We are fortunate here at Columbia to have a great wealth of brilliant, world-class thinkers, teachers, and researchers. Our faculty members wrestle with consequential questions, expand the boundaries of knowledge, and bring their creativity and wisdom into their classrooms, their laboratories, and the world beyond.

And yet one of the messages I’ve also heard with frequency from both faculty and students is a desire for more opportunities to connect across the boundaries (and sometimes the silos) of departments, schools, and disciplines. Wonderful interdisciplinary work is already happening throughout Columbia, but there is a clear appetite for increased opportunities to encounter ideas and thinkers beyond our individual intellectual communities, and to learn from one another. 

Today, I am delighted to announce The Columbia Colloquium as one contribution to that endeavor. The Columbia Colloquium is an interdisciplinary series of conversations planned for this academic year, each one led by some of our remarkable faculty members. In aggregate, my hope is that these conversations will both showcase some of our intellectual strengths and invite us to reflect on Columbia’s shared intellectual purposes.  

Each Colloquium discussion will bring multiple disciplines and perspectives to bear on a significant, big question of our time: Why do universities matter? What is the importance of curiosity and wonder? What does it mean to be human? What does it mean to be “of” New York City? Where is AI taking us? Can ideas still change the world? 

Individually, I expect these conversations to be engaging, broad-ranging, and sometimes provocative. They likely won’t produce simple answers, or even agreement, but I hope they’ll inspire curiosity and give us something to keep thinking about well after each one concludes.

Our plan is to host six conversations this academic year: Three will be primarily for our campus community, and we will invite the broader public to join us for the other three discussions.

The first Columbia Colloquium conversation is scheduled for October 28, 2026, in Low Library, focused on Why Universities Matter, with five distinguished panelists from across our university:

• Andrew Delbanco - Alexander Hamilton Professor of American Studies
• Farah Jasmine Griffin - University Professor
• Christos Papadimitriou - Donovan Family Professor of Computer Science; Provost's Senior Faculty Teaching Scholar
• Miguel Urquiola - Senior Vice Provost for Academic Initiatives; Dean of Social Sciences, Faculty of Arts and Sciences; Professor of Economics and of International and Public Affairs
• Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic - University Professor; Mikati Foundation Professor of Biomedical Engineering

At a moment when the purpose of higher education is being challenged, I can think of few better ways to demonstrate part of what makes universities matter than bringing together extraordinary Columbia thinkers to explore deeply important questions. I hope you will join us on October 28 (register here) and for the remainder of these conversations, and I look forward to learning and exploring alongside you. 

Sincerely,
Jennifer L. Mnookin
President, Columbia University in the City of New York