Strategic Priority #3

Build the Foundations of Human Knowledge to Form People Who Will Learn Their Entire Lives

GOAL: We will lift up the humanities in new ways: learning from the past, the unfamiliar, from writing and the arts, to form people who will learn and innovate for their whole lives.

STRATEGIES
  • Embrace the Core Curriculum as a defining strength of Columbia, made even more relevant to our students through ongoing evolution and faculty investment.
  • Look to NYC for new or enhanced collaborations with the greatest and most innovative cultural institutions.
  • Writing is at the heart of intellectual and cultural work. Undertake a new assessment of undergraduate writing instruction, especially in the face of generative AI.
  • What is the task of human creativity?  Bring the critical and the creative closer together through innovative programs across schools and units.
  • Study the role of language multiplicity, language learning, cultural archives, and translation (by both machines and people) in today’s world to create a modern strategy and identify priority areas for both research excellence and students’ educational formation in the humanities and beyond.
 
SPOTLIGHT INITIATIVE
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Elevating Less Commonly Taught Languages

The study of languages – their origins, traditions, literatures, and cultures – is a long-standing strength of the Arts and Sciences. Students can take classes in more than 50 languages, including well-known languages spoken around the world, and less commonly taught languages that are nevertheless sources of vibrant, enduring culture, living history, and illuminating scholarship.

Two language programs – Tibetan and Yiddish – are models for how language instruction at Columbia can create life-changing experiences for our students, connecting the past to the present while allowing access to important historical archives. The Tibetan Language Program – the first to include a focus on Modern Tibet – integrates the study of language, religion, history, and philosophy, spanning multiple disciplines, departments, and linguistic traditions. The Yiddish Language Program uses the laboratory of New York City to teach students about Yiddish art, culture and history through an innovative pedagogy, digital tools, and extensive exploration of historic sites in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Both are among the most recognized programs in the country and reflect our commitment to elevate language instruction in critical but understudied areas of scholarship and student interest.