Strategic Priority #4

Drive Understanding of Society with New Approaches for an Increasingly Complex World

GOAL: We will bring new approaches to the study of our interconnected world – leveraging our historic strengths in social science research and education to deepen understanding of our society.

STRATEGIES
  • Build on strength of research institutes and centers to bring their cross-cutting, out-ward-looking approaches more centrally into research, education, and faculty and graduate-student recruitment.
  • Build our faculty strength in Causal Inference to revolutionize our understanding of the interplay between cause and effect, for the benefit of discovery, policymaking and the social good.
  • Establish a frontier program connecting the study of climate change with economics, to position Columbia as a leader in understanding climate-related impacts on human society and their potential solutions.
  • Bring questions of social belonging more deeply into social sciences’ remit with innovative social-science-based Asian American Initiative that builds on Columbia’s long-term eminence in the study of Asia and its global diaspora.
 
SPOTLIGHT INITIATIVES
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The Asian American Initiative (AAI) will stimulate new evidenced-based research and interdisciplinary dialogue on the experiences of Asian Americans in the United States. Among its elements, AAI will include a new research institute to anchor Asian American Studies at Columbia, new faculty and courses, new research grants and student internships, high-profile speakers, and public-facing programs and partnerships. Leading with data and research, AAI aims to reshape public perceptions of Asian Americans and make the narratives of Asian Americans central to our understanding of America.

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As a new interdisciplinary center within the Incite Institute at Columbia, the Trust Collaboratory is one of the first institutions in the nation dedicated to illuminating the social dynamics of trust. In 2024, it launched the Listening Tables, a campaign to enable new forms of dialogue and understanding on campus – by bringing together students, faculty, and staff to talk, listen, and engage in difficult discussion with openness and respect.

The Social Study of Disappearance Lab brings together students, faculty, and collaborators in a collective effort to understand the social, political, and economic dimensions of the forced disappearance of people around the world. Using the tools of research, digital ethnography, and historical analysis, the lab seeks to deepen understanding of disappeared people, inform public policy, and support affected communities.

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In view of the enormous challenges and opportunities presented by artificial intelligence and its impact on higher education and society, Arts and Sciences has created a new position – Vice Dean for AI Initiatives – to coordinate our efforts around this transformative technology.

A growing array of initiatives will shape our AI strategy and approach in the coming years, led by inaugural Vice Dean Matt Connelly. These efforts will include:

  • New courses and curricular innovation to support students in learning how to use AI ethically and effectively, to keep Columbia at the forefront in preparing undergraduate students to be leaders and citizens in an AI-saturated society;
  • New research on how students are using and engaging AI in the classroom, with an initial focus on Columbia’s Core Curriculum, as well as new research on the ethics and effectiveness of using generative AI in higher education;
  • A new collaboration with the Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science on “AI and Society” that will include a new interdisciplinary course and new research on understanding the future of AI in our society.
  • Active participation in new University-wide efforts, such as Empire AI and other important collaborations.