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Named after Nancy Rupp, the wife of President Emeritus George Rupp and an exemplary CCS board member, the CCS Nancy Rupp Community Scholarship was designed to help CCS nonprofit professionals with class instruction and training provided by the Columbia Business School. The Scholarship Fund, created in 2002, provided a new avenue of support for the community. Since the first award, CCS has distributed over $60,000 in scholarships to 25 agency representatives to give them an opportunity to participate (free of charge) in the Developing Leaders Program for Nonprofit Professionals at the Columbia Business…

The African Academy of Sciences (AAS) inducted ICAP founder and global director Wafaa El-Sadr, MD, MPH, MPA, as a Fellow at its 11th General Assembly Meeting in Pretoria, South Africa. ICAP at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health (formerly the International Center for AIDS Care and Treatment Programs) supports programs and research that address HIV/AIDS and related conditions and works to strengthen health systems. ICAP currently supports HIV/AIDS prevention, care, and treatment programs in 30 countries, 19 of which are African.

Council Member Ydanis Rodriguez, Council Member Mark Levine, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, State Senator Robert Jackson (not pictured), and Manhattan Community Board 12 (CB12) members joined to honor the life and legacy of former CB12 Chair Pamela Palanque-North with a ceremony on the corner of West 162nd Street and Edgecombe Avenue, co-naming a street to memorialize Palanque-North’s countless contributions to the Upper Manhattan community.

The creation of the new African American and African Diaspora Studies Department at Columbia marks an important development in the history of the field at the University and beyond. The department builds upon existing strengths—including a vibrant and productive faculty, field-defining research, and exciting, informative programming—while providing a unique opportunity to produce new knowledge, strengthen existing relationships with the surrounding community, and create new ones globally.

A group of NYC small businesses has banded together to create the Uptown Artisanal Pop-Up market, open for a limited time in partnership with Columbia University. The Uptown Artisanal Pop Up store opened last weekend and will re-open Saturday, June 15 and Sunday, June 16 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at 2878 Broadway, New York, NY 10025 (Broadway at 112th Street) 

Working with the Center for Community Health Navigation at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, Dr. Anil Lalwani and others have built a partnership to assist families of newborns and infants diagnosed with hearing loss in the Bronx and Northern Manhattan. That program, the Community Hearing Health Collaborative to Meet the Needs of Children with Hearing Impairment, was recently awarded a three-year, $875,000 grant by the Oberkotter Foundation.

With increased activity taking place on the Manhattanville campus and streetscape improvement work nearing completion, Columbia University sought a partner that would support maintenance services along 125th Street. The Harlem 125th Business Improvement District (BID) was officially awarded the contract in late spring to maintain the perimeter of the Manhattanville campus. The contract will go into effect once the corridor has officially been placed under Columbia’s jurisdiction.

Columbia University’s Wellness Center serves as a hub for members of the community to take advantage of free point-of-care services like blood pressure and cholesterol screenings. Other services include an open referral system, as well as assistance in health insurance enrollment with the New York State of Health marketplace by certified application counselors. The Columbia Wellness Center is focused on becoming a community space where individuals from West Harlem and beyond can create and engage in positive experiences surrounding the topic of health and wellness.

Until recently, someone in a wheelchair or with limited mobility trying to enter Havemeyer Hall had to detour through the Northwest Corner Building 300 yards to the north, take an elevator to the ninth floor, and then follow a 200-foot walkway through Chandler Hall to arrive, at last, at Havemeyer. Whew.

As of this March, a newly installed ramp leads to an accessible entrance 30 feet west of the building’s main door, making this labyrinthine route a thing of the past. It is the University’s latest disability access project, part of a multiyear initiative to adapt the Beaux Arts campus of…

Disconnected youth, more appropriately known as “opportunity youth,” are a unique population with a unique set of needs to match. By definition, opportunity youth are 16–24 year olds who are neither in school nor working. Classifying this special group using the term “disconnected” may lead one to believe that these young people are off the grid, hard to find, and completely lacking linkages to resources. Contrary to this belief, youth dealing with disconnection are actually—and at times unknowingly—connected to supports through varying degrees of separation. The term “disengaged”…

Next month, Columbia University will move forward with the installation of a new Public Safety Guard Booth on the south side of West 120th Street, just east of Broadway.  A Public Safety Guard Booth situated at the curb has been of interest since the completion of the Northwest Science building.  Columbia’s Office of Public Safety began the approval process early on and has obtained support from the 26th Precinct, Community Board 9 and the NYC Dept. of Transportation. 

The Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons (VP&S) at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUIMC) announced today the creation of the Office of Community Service Programs to expand the college's commitment to community service in Washington Heights and Inwood, other areas of upper Manhattan, and parts of the Bronx.

The Obama Foundation has selected the Columbia University Center for Oral History Research to produce the Obama Presidency Oral History, a comprehensive account of an historic American presidency that will serve as an invaluable resource for scholars, students, and members of the public.  The project will be led by Principal Investigator Peter Bearman, Director of the Interdisciplinary Center for Innovative Theory and Empirics (INCITE), along with Co-Investigators Mary Marshall Clark, Director of the Columbia Center for Oral History Research, and Kimberly Springer, Curator of Columbia’s…

I am pleased to announce my appointment of Dr. Rui Costa, Professor of Neuroscience and Neurology, to Director and CEO of the Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute.  Rui joined Columbia University in 2016 and has served the Institute as Associate Director and CEO for the last two years.  His leadership in this role has been vital, and we are fortunate he has agreed to take the helm of the Institute, along with its inimitable founding Codirectors, Drs. Richard Axel and Eric Kandel, as the Institute enters its next era.

This year’s Columbia University Career Expo held on April 2 took over the entire lobby of The Forum at its Manhattanville campus. Representatives from numerous University schools and departments, including the Columbia University Irving Medical Center, welcomed the local community to share information about employment opportunities.