Structure

       Academic activity at the University is primarily organized through its Faculties and departments of instruction. To direct instruction and research that cross departmental and Faculty lines, the University establishes administrative boards, institutes, centers, laboratories, and interdepartmental programs

       The Faculties are commonly referred to as schools or colleges, depending upon historical circumstances. However, the terms are not synonymous, since some schools and colleges are units within larger Faculties. Academic activity is also conducted through administrative boards, institutes, interdepartmental programs, centers, and laboratories.

       The relationship between Faculties and departments is a complex one. In general, Faculties are responsible for curricular programs leading to degrees and certificates, while departments provide the instruction required by those programs. The scope of some Faculties is sufficiently limited that they are simultaneously departments, while others draw on many departments to meet their instructional needs. Conversely, some departments are part of more than one Faculty.


Faculties

       The Arts and Sciences consists of six Faculties. The Faculty of Arts and Sciences, which is led by the Executive Vice President for Arts and Sciences and Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, coordinates the programs of the other five – Columbia College, the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the Schools of General Studies, the Arts, and Professional Studies, as well as the 30 departments in the Arts and Sciences, and numerous institutes and centers. It also addresses questions of common concern.

       In addition to the Arts and Sciences, seven professional Faculties are located on the Morningside campus: Architecture, Planning and Preservation; Engineering and Applied Science; International and Public Affairs; Journalism; Law; and Social Work. An eighth professional Faculty, Business, is located in Manhattanville.

       The Faculties of Dental Medicine, Medicine, Nursing, and Public Health are located at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center. The Faculty of Health Sciences, which is led by the Executive Vice President for Health and Biomedical Sciences, coordinates their programs and addresses academic issues affecting the Medical Center as a whole.

       Two affiliated institutions – Barnard College and Teachers College – are also Faculties of the University.

       The Faculties are responsible for organizing and conducting the programs of study leading to the degrees and certificates conferred by the University. The degrees their students can earn are defined in the University Statutes.

       The Faculties set the academic standards for admission to their programs, determine the requirements for graduation from those programs, and approve the courses that fulfill those requirements. The Faculties establish the rules and procedures for evaluating the proficiency of their students and recommend those who have successfully completed their programs to the President for degrees and certificates. The authority of the Faculties to direct their curricular programs is subject only to the reserve powers of the Trustees, the provisions of the University Statutes, and certain concurrent powers of the University Senate with respect to the educational policies and programs of the University (see “University Senate,” above).

       A Faculty is governed according to the stated rules it has adopted, subject to the approval of the Provost and the provisions of the University Statutes. These rules determine who has the right to vote, define the standing committees that handle most of the business of the Faculty, and specify the procedures by which its affairs are conducted.

       The specific eligibility requirements for membership in each Faculty are set forth in its stated rules. These requirements differ from one Faculty to another. In addition, if the stated rules permit, retired faculty who are offering instruction as special lecturers may be nominated for the period of their appointments if they were members of the Faculty immediately prior to retirement. Part-time officers of instruction may also be eligible for nomination to a Faculty after their second consecutive year of appointment. No officer who is a candidate for a degree or certificate may simultaneously be a member of the Faculty in which it is given or hold an instructional appointment in that Faculty.

       Each Faculty is headed by a dean or executive vice president who serves as its chief executive officer and is immediately responsible for its academic program, including maintaining a faculty of academic excellence; overseeing its admissions and curriculum; managing its budget; and enforcing its rules and regulations.

       The University also has three administrative boards that serve as surrogate Faculties for special instructional programs that are not directly supervised by a single Faculty. The Executive Committee of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences also serves as the Administrative Board of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences for the purpose of supervising programs leading to the MA and PhD degrees outside the departments of the Graduate School. In cooperation with the Faculty of Teachers College, the Administrative Board for the Master of Arts in Teaching supervises programs leading to that degree. The Parker School of Foreign and Comparative Law promotes the study of transnational and non-US legal systems within the School of Law. An administrative board consists of those officers of instruction and administration who have been assigned to it by the Trustees. It is presided over by a dean or director, who is appointed by the Trustees on the nomination of the President and has the same powers and duties as a dean of a Faculty.


Departments of Instruction

       The University’s 83 active departments of instruction serve as the primary units within which faculty are appointed, instruction is provided, and research is conducted. Twelve are simultaneously Faculties. The Faculties that make up the Arts and Sciences draw on 30 departments of instruction. By tradition, these are grouped into five divisions: Humanities, Social Sciences, Natural Sciences, the School of the Arts, and the School of Professional Studies.

       The Statutes of the University assign responsibility for offering programs leading to the PhD solely to the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. For educational purposes, therefore, the Graduate School includes the departments in The Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science and the Basic Health Sciences departments in the Faculty of Medicine, as well as those in the Humanities, Social Sciences, and Natural Sciences.

       Six of the professional Faculties on the Morningside Heights campus; The Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, the School of International and Public Affairs, the Climate School, the Graduate School of Journalism, the School of Law, and the School of Social Work; and one professional Faculty on the Manhattanville campus, the Graduate School of Business, are also simultaneously departments. The eighth, The Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science, includes nine academic departments.

       At the Columbia University Irving Medical Center campus, 27 departments are situated in the Faculty of Medicine, and another six are in the Faculty of Public Health. In addition, the Faculties of Dental Medicine and Nursing are simultaneously departments. Nine of the departments in the Faculty of Medicine constitute the preclinical or Basic  Sciences. Another 18 form the Clinical Departments and Divisions.

       The Faculty of Teachers College serves as the University’s Department of Education.

      Two departments are not part of any Faculty. Physical Education and Recreation Program reports directly to the President, and Naval Science to the Provost.

       Each department consists of the officers of instruction who have been appointed to give academic service within the disciplines it covers. Most officers of instruction are members of only one department, but they may be appointed jointly in more than one on the nomination of the departments in which they will serve. In the Irving Medical Center, officers of instruction in a professorial rank who fulfill significant functions in more than one department, or in a department and an institute or center, may hold interdisciplinary appointments. Such appointments are typically given to faculty with a background that qualifies them for appointment in one department but who work in another department or in an institute or center. A memorandum of understanding between all the departments, centers, and institutes involved in the appointment must be prepared and approved by the relevant chairs, directors, deans, and/or executive vice presidents before the appointment is effective. The approval of the Provost is required in those cases where appointments involve more than one Faculty or an institute not belonging to a particular Faculty. The memorandum of understanding must be signed by all parties before the appointment can be effective.

       Each department functions under bylaws. Subject to the general provisions of the University Statutes concerning departments and the stated rules of the appropriate Faculty, these bylaws define how a department conducts its internal affairs. These are adopted by its members and approved by the dean or executive vice president and the Provost.

       Each department is headed by a chair who is responsible for directing its instructional and research programs and ensuring its smooth administrative operation. Chairs in the Arts and Sciences and in Engineering and Applied Science are nominated by election, according to the procedures specified in the bylaws of their respective departments, and appointed by the President, with the concurrence of the dean or executive vice president and the Provost, for a term normally of three years. In the Faculties of Medicine and Public Health, the nomination of a chair originates with a search committee appointed by the dean and is approved by the Executive Vice President for Health and Biomedical Sciences before it is forwarded to the President. Chairs in the Faculties of Medicine and Public Health serve at the pleasure of the President but are subject to periodic review. In those departments that are simultaneously Faculties, the deans, who are appointed by the Trustees on the recommendation of the President, also perform the duties of a department chair.

       The chair represents the department in discussions on academic and administrative matters with other departments and schools and with the administration of the University. The chair directs the negotiations with persons being considered for appointment in the department and confirms in writing the terms and conditions of each appointment subject to the approval of the appropriate executive vice president or dean, except in special cases where the dean, executive vice president, or Provost performs those functions in consultation with the chair. Other duties of the chair include ensuring that tenure-track faculty are reviewed for reappointment, promotion, and tenure in a timely manner, and that nontenured faculty are reviewed for reappointment and promotion according to the review schedules established for such Faculty; and for reviewing all requests for leaves, with the exception of sabbaticals, before they are forwarded to the appropriate dean or executive vice president and the Provost. The chair also prepares the department’s annual budget proposal, makes recommendations to the dean or executive vice president on the salaries of its faculty, directs its curricular programs, assigns teaching responsibilities, oversees relations between its students and faculty, and performs such other duties as are needed to direct its programs.

       Under the provisions of the University Statutes, voting privileges on instructional matters under consideration by a department or school are limited to faculty in the ranks of professor, associate professor, assistant professor, and instructor. Only tenured faculty may vote on nominations to tenure. For named professorships, nominations normally originate from the deans and executive vice presidents and require the approval of the Provost before they can be submitted to the Trustees, who approve the appointment. Before deciding whether to make a nomination, the dean or executive vice president may, at his or her discretion, consult with the named professors of equivalent or higher rank in the department or school in which the candidate will serve. If the number of named professors in a department or school is too few to ensure that the nomination has adequate support to merit consideration, the dean or vice president may seek the advice of named professors of equivalent or higher rank in cognate disciplines.


Institutes, Centers, Laboratories, and Interdepartmental Programs

       To manage research and educational programs that cross departmental and Faculty boundaries, the University establishes institutes, centers, laboratories, and interdepartmental programs. Centers and laboratories are organized primarily to conduct research, while institutes typically combine research and teaching.

       Institutes are established by the President on the advice of the Provost and with the concurrence of the University Senate. Establishment of new institutes requires the approval of the Provost or a designee before the Senate can consider the request. Institutes are headed by a director and an administrative committee nominated by the President and appointed by the Trustees. More information about Columbia centers and institutes, including how to request to establish a new center or institute, is provided by the Office of the Vice Provost for Academic Programs online.

       The creation of a center or laboratory requires the prior approval of the Provost or a designee.

       Most of these units work under the supervision of a dean or executive vice president. In the case of those that cross Faculty lines, the Provost or a designee exercises that supervisory responsibility. Members of these units may include officers of instruction and officers of research. These units may appoint officers of research with sole appointments in the center or institute; they can also appoint officers of instruction, but only in conjunction with academic departments.

       The naming of institutes, centers, and programs requires the prior approval of the Provost or a designee as well as the approval of the Trustees.


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Updated October 28, 2022