Columbia College Chicago
| File:Columbia chicago seal.png Columbia College Chicago seal | |
| Motto | Esse Quam Videri |
|---|---|
Motto in English | To be, rather than to seem |
| Type | Private |
| Established | 1890 |
| Endowment | $71.4 million[1] |
| President | Warrick L. Carter |
Academic staff | 2,000 |
| Students | 12,228 |
| Undergraduates | 11,500 |
| Postgraduates | 728 |
| Location | , , |
| Campus | Urban |
| Website | www.colum.edu |
| File:Columlogo.png | |
Columbia College Chicago is the largest art college in the United States with over 12,500 students pursuing degrees within 120 undergraduate and graduate programs.[2] Founded in 1890, the school is located in the South Loop of Chicago.
It is organized into three schools: The School of Fine and Performing Arts is composed of nine departments: Art & Design; Arts, Entertainment & Media Management; Dance; Dance Movement Therapy & Counseling; Fiction Writing; Music; Photography; Sherwood Conservatory; and Theater. The School of Liberal Arts and Sciences is composed of six departments: ASL-English Interpretation; Education Department; English Department; Humanities, History and Social Sciences; New Millenium Studies; and Science and Mathematics. The School of Media Arts is composed of eight departments: Audio Arts & Acoustics; Film & Video; Interactive Arts & Media; Interdisciplinary arts; Journalism; Marketing Communication; Radio; and Television.
Columbia College Chicago is not affiliated with Columbia College Hollywood, Columbia University, or any other Columbia College in the United States. Columbia College Chicago does not have any campuses or locations outside of Chicago.
History
Columbia was founded in 1890 as a speech and teaching college for women. In the 1950s the college broadened its educational base to include television and other areas of communication and media arts. However, by 1962 Columbia had fewer than 200 students, a part-time faculty of 25, and no endowments, subsidies or visibility.
Mike Alexandroff became president in 1963, intent on fashioning a new approach to liberal arts education. He thought that many students had become disenchanted with the highly structured academic experience offered by most traditional universities. Columbia offered an affordable liberal education, as well as a faculty made up mostly of working professionals. He established an open-admissions policy so that any qualified high school graduate could have the opportunity to work toward achieving their educational and professional goals.
In 1964 the college moved into rented warehouse space at 540 N. Lake Shore Drive and by 1969 the college's enrollment had reached 700.
In 1974 Columbia won full accreditation as a four-year, undergraduate liberal arts school by the North Central Association of Schools and Colleges. By 1976 enrollment had passed the 2,000 mark and the college purchased its first real estate, the 175,000-square-foot (16,300 m2) building at 600 S. Michigan. At the time of Alexandroff's retirement in 1992, Columbia College served 6,791 students and owned or rented more than 643,000 square feet (59,700 m2) of instructional, performance and administrative space.
John B. Duff, former commissioner of the Chicago Public Library and former chancellor of the Massachusetts Board of Regents of Higher Education, succeeded Mr. Alexandroff as the college's president. During his tenure the school continued to expand educational offerings and community outreach, as well as adding to the physical campus.
Duff retired in August 2000 and was succeeded by Warrick L. Carter, an educator, jazz composer and performing artist. Dr. Carter joined Columbia from The Walt Disney Company, where he spent four years as director of entertainment arts.
Previously he spent 12 years at Berklee College of Music in Boston, the world’s largest independent school of music, where he served as dean of faculty and then provost/vice president of academic affairs.
In May 2001, Columbia reorganized its academic departments and programs under four schools: Fine & Performing Arts, Graduate and Continuing Education, Liberal Arts & Sciences, and Media Arts.
As of Fall 2006, enrollment topped 11,000.[3] Currently, Columbia College Chicago owns more than 1,200,000 square feet (110,000 m2) in Chicago's South Loop, with plans for much more expansion over the upcoming years including a building on Michigan Avenue, two buildings on Wabash Avenue, a Media Production Center on State Street. A campus center is expected to be built in the next decade as well. The college offers on-campus housing to more than 2,000 students in four facilities. Two more facilities will house students in the next two years.
The College has a growing program of international exchanges, including links with Dublin Institute of Technology and the University of East London.
Campus
Columbia has a nontraditional campus located in the South Loop of Chicago. Columbia's campus is composed of many buildings that were built in the early parts of the 20th century and were bought by the school as they expanded. Each building contains more than one academic department.
Alexandroff Campus Center
Located at 600 S. Michigan Avenue, Columbia College's Main Building was built in 1906-1907 by Christian A. Eckstorm, an architect popular for his industrial and warehouse designs, to serve as the headquarters of the International Harvester Company. 600 S. Michigan was a modern skyscraper of its era, built with a steel skeleton, high-speed elevators, electric light, the most advanced mechanical systems available and a floor plan designed to maximize natural light for all of its interior office spaces.The 15-story brick-clad building with classical stone detailing has an Art Deco lobby that retains much of its original marble. In 1937 the building was purchased by the Fairbanks-Morse Company, makers of railroad engines, farm equipment and hydraulic systems. It was acquired by Columbia College in 1974. In its early years as the home of Columbia, it was adaptively reused to house classrooms, the library, darkrooms, studios, and an auditorium. When the campus expanded through the acquisition of other buildings, especially after 1990, some of these functions, such as the greatly expanded library, were moved to other locations, and the spaces were again adapted for new uses. The building continues to serve as the administrative center of the college, and houses the Museum of Contemporary Photography on its first two floors, along with the 180-seat Ferguson Memorial Theater, photography darkrooms, three professional television studios, film/video editing facilities, and classrooms.
Congress Campus
The 33 East Congress Building was built in 1925-26 by noted Chicago architect, Alfred S. Alschuler, who designed the 1927 Chicago Mercantile Exchange. The seven-story brick and terra cotta “Congress-Wabash Building” was commissioned by Ferdinand W. Peck, Jr., a real estate developer, and initially housed a bank, offices, and recreation rooms that included dozens of pool tables. A national billiards championship was held here in 1938. By the 1940s, the building was known by the name of its major tenant, the Congress Bank. In the 1980s it became the home of MacCormac College. Columbia leased space in the building starting in 1997 and purchased the structure in 1999. It currently houses administrative offices, classroom space and the college’s radio station (WCRX 88.1 FM - received the 2009 Gold World Medal for Best College Radio Station in the country from the New York Festivals Radio Programming category). The building is home to Columbia's Radio Broadcasting, Journalism, and Audio Arts and Acoustics departments.
Wabash Campus Building
623 S. Wabash Avenue was built in 1895 by Solon S. Beman, architect of the industrial town of Pullman, one of the nineteenth century’s largest, most complex, and globally famous planned industrial communities for the Pullman Palace Car Company. The ten-story 623 S. Wabash building was originally built for the Studebaker Brothers Carriage Company of South Bend, Indiana as its Chicago regional office and warehouse facility. It was later owned by the Brunswick Company, makers of wood furnishings and built-in furniture for libraries, universities and a variety of public commercial and governmental facilities. By the late 19th century Brunswick became specialists in designing such entertainment furnishings as bars, billiards tables, and bowling alleys for drinking establishments nationwide. Subsequent owners are unknown. The building was acquired by Columbia in 1983 and now houses classrooms, academic offices, a computerized newsroom, sciences laboratories, art studios, two public gallery spaces. The building is also home to Anchor Graphics and ShopColumbia, a retail venue that sells the work of Columbia students artists, musicians, filmakers etc. exclusively.
South Michigan Campus
624 S. Michigan Avenue was built by Eckstorm in 1908 as an eight story building to house the Chicago Musical College, a concern headed by Florenz Ziegfeld Sr., father of Broadway Follies producer Flo Ziegfeld, Jr. A seven-story addition was designed and built in 1922 by Alfred Alschuler. The building was renamed the Blum Building and housed the studios of a dance school and boutique women’s clothiers. Tenants in the building in the 1920s included Augustus Eugene Bournique’s dancing schools and two select women’s clothiers, Stanley Korshak’s Blackstone Shop and Blum’s Vogue. Brick clad with classical detailing, this 15-story building retains its stunning a marble and brass lobby. Columbia College acquired the building in 1990 and it now houses a five-story library, classrooms, departmental offices, student and faculty lounges and the college’s bookstore
1104 Wabash Campus
1104 S. Wabash Avenue, built in 1891, is a City of Chicago Landmark (1996) and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (1980). Built by William LeBaron Jenney, acknowledged as the inventor of the skyscraper for his fire-proofed metal skeleton-frame designs, the Ludington building represents his continuing experimentation as the first entirely terra cotta-clad skyscraper. The Ludington is also a rare survivor, one of only two extant loft buildings in Chicago built by Jenney.
This eight-story, steel-frame building, boasting one of the finest examples of a terra-cotta clad façade, was commissioned by Mary Ludington Barnes for the American Book Company, which was owned by her husband, Charles Barnes. At the time, Chicago was a national center for the publishing industry, as demonstrated by this building and many others, particularly those on “Printing House Row,” and including the former Lakeside Press Building owned by Columbia College. The American Book Company built the building to house its offices, printing presses, packaging and shipping operations. Its frame was built to withstand the weight and vibrations of the presses, which were originally located on the 4th through 6th floors, and to accommodate the anticipated 8 story addition that was never built. Its status as a manufacturing facility determined its form as a loft building, with a practical and efficient interior that had few elegant original elements. Its location, between the Grand Central terminal at Harrison and Wells Streets and the Illinois Central station at Michigan Avenue and Roosevelt Road, made it ideal for the distribution of the company’s products.
The Ludington Building was owned by descendents of its original owners until 1960, although it was occupied by many different tenants, including the Pepsodent toothpaste company in the 1910s and ‘20s. In 1960 it was sold to Warshawsky and Company, an autoparts firm, for use as a storage facility. Columbia College Chicago purchased the building from Warshawsky in 1999. The Ludington currently houses the school’s Center for Book and Paper Arts, a portion of the Film and Video Department, the Glass Curtain Gallery and the Conaway Multicultural Center.
Music Department
1014-16 S. Michigan Avenue was built in 1912 by Christian A. Eckstorm. A red brick 4-story building with terra cotta detailing, this structure was erected by a developer as a speculative commercial building. During its first 30 years, it housed offices for a shingle distributor, a lumber company and an electrical parts manufacturer. In 1941, the building was rehabilitated for the Sherwood Conservatory of Music, founded in 1895 by William H. Sherwood, a piano virtuoso, teacher and composer.The school’s most famous alumna may be the comedienne Phyllis Diller, who was a piano student at the Sherwood School in the 1930s but did not graduate. The building was acquired by Columbia College Chicago in 1997 and now houses the school’s music department. The artistic, cultural and performance education tradition of this building, as it was adaptively reused since the 1940s, is continued today in the programs of the Music Department of Columbia College
Getz Theater
72 E. 11th Street was built in 1929 by Holabird & Root, architects of outstanding Chicago skyscrapers such as the Chicago Board of Trade, the Palmolive Building and the 333 N. Michigan Avenue Building. 72 East 11th Street, a six- story, limestone-clad Art Deco building, was originally owned by the Chicago Women’s Club and housed the organization’s meeting rooms, offices and a theater. Rich in history, it was the site for rallies in support of women’s voting rights, efforts on behalf of compulsory education laws and fund raising for scholarships at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a women’s dormitory at the University of Chicago. Subsequent owners and uses are unknown. Acquired by Columbia in 1980 as the school’s Theater Center, it currently houses a renovated 400-seat theater, classrooms, and space for film and photography studios.
The Dance Center
The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago is the region's leading[who?] continuing education center offering programs to encourage the development of professionals in dance, and is also Chicago's leading[who?] presenter of world-class dance companies.
Presenting companies for the 2009-2010 season include Merce Cunningham Dance Company, Lucky Plush Productions, Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan, Koosil-ja/danceKUMIKO, JUMP RHYTHM Jazz Project, Troika Ranch, Wayne McGregor Random Dance, and Hedwig Dances.
1306 S. Michigan Avenue, the Dance Center Building, was built in 1930 by architect Anker S. Graven. This sleek four-story Art Deco building, clad in limestone, was erected as the Paramount Publix Corporation as a film exchange, a venue for the presentation of films to the independent cinema operators throughout the Midwest who could rent them for exhibition at their theaters. The studio occupied the building up to about 1950, when it was taken over by the Equitable Life Assurance Company. In the 1970s it was known as the Seafarers International Union Building. The City of Chicago took possession of it in a tax sale in 1984, and used it for the Health Department’s Environmental Health Clinic. The building was acquired by Columbia College in 1999 for use as the school’s Dance Center. After extensive interior renovation and adaptation, the Dance Center opened its state-of-the-art educational and public performance facilities in the fall of 2000.
Prior to the relocation to Michigan Avenue, the Dance Center was located at 3750 North Sheridan Avenue in a former movie theater. The first floor housed the department office, lobby, dressing rooms, and the "main space", the primary dance studio. The second floor, accessed via a metal staircase in the back of the main space, held the ballet studio, the T'Chi room and music recording rooms.
Los Angeles operations
The school also operates a bungalow in the CBS Studio Center the Studio City section of Los Angeles. The program recently moved to Raleigh Studios in Hollywood, CA. The facility houses the college's Semester in L.A. program[4], a five-week, highly intensive course for television, Arts, Entertainment and Media Management, and film majors. Additionally, Columbia rents space in Hollywood for alumni relations. This Semester in L.A. program is run entirely by Columbia College Chicago and has no association or relationship with Columbia College Hollywood.
Campus Media
The Columbia Chronicle is the college's award-winning weekly newspaper. Frequency TV is the college's television station. WCRX (88.1 FM) is the college's radio station. These outlets are run by students for class credit in their respective departments. However, students working at The Columbia Chronicle and Frequency TV can get paid for their work.
The Columbia Chronicle newspaper has won numerous awards, the most recent in 2009-2010 as Best Weekly College Newspaper in the state, Midwest and nation.
Broadcast journalism students produce two television news shows that are broadcast each week on Frequency TV; Newsbeat and Metro Minutes. The student-produced "Out on a Limb" comedy television show has been Emmy-nominated.
Radio students work on WCRX producing live mixes by local DJs, their own imaging, PSAs, and carrying select UIC Flames basketball games
Also in 1998-1999 WCRX produced and broadcast "Entertainment Primetime Weekly", ashow that is produced in newsradio style. It has also broadcasted the Emmy Awards.
Reservoir, the college's online student magazine, was produced weekly by students from across departments, from fall 2005 up until its indefinite hiatus began January 2008.
The students in the Journalism Department's Magazine Workshop class produce a magazine called Echo every semester.
AEMMP Records is the student-run record label. The staff develops an artist, produces an album, and markets the product throughout the course of an academic year.
ShopColumbia
ShopColumbia is Columbia College Chicago's student art store that features a curated collection of Columbia student talent. Offerings include everything from photography, paintings and sculpture to 'zines, calendars and journals to tees, belts and totes, to jewelry, buttons and faux tattoos. ShopColumbia is defined by what students are making right now.
Student organizations
In addition to the academic programs offered at the college, students engage in many extracurricular activities. There are several major organizations on campus in addition to countless other growing organizations. All of these organizations are run by students. They include the Producer's Guild of Columbia (PGC), the Student Government Association, the Student Organization Council, the Student Alumni Association, the Student Athletics Association (Renegades), ReachOut, Senior Class, the Student Programming Board, the Asian Student Organization, the International Student Organization, the Columbia College Association of Black Journalists (CCABJ), Hispanic Journalists of Columbia (HJC) and Common Ground [1], formerly known as Q-Force, the on-campus LGBT student group. Another notable organization is Latino Alliance, which just celebrated their 20th anniversary in 2007. These student organizations work together to provide leadership training and experience to Columbia students so they will be ready to take on leadership roles in their future places of employment.
Student Government Association
Mission Statement
"The Student Government Association of Columbia College Chicago represents the student voice and endeavors to construct a more perfect union. It serves as a liaison between students and the faculty and staff, and administration in order to ensure the welfare of our unique and diverse art and communication community. Through leadership and strong representation, it strives to provide students with opportunities to grow academically, artistically, professionally, and personally."[citation needed]
Structure
The SGA consists of an Executive Board, the Senate, and committees. The Executive Board, or E-Board, consists of the President, Executive Vice President, Vice President of Communications, Vice President of Finance, and the student representative to the College Board of Trustees.
The Senate consists of student representatives from each of the colleges academic departments, eight senators "at-large" who represent the college community as a whole, two senators who represent the college's vast commuter population, one senators from the Student Organization Council, one senator from the Student Athletics Association, and two senators from the Residence Hall Association.
From those Senators there are six committees, each with a different focus. Each committee has a chair and a vice chair. The Executive Vice President is in charge of overseeing the committees and their work.
SGA Senate meetings are open to the public and are held on Tuesdays at 5pm during the academic year.
Notable alumni
Dan Burdett 1984-1986 Commonly found on the internet as "Action Dan"
Andy Richter (comedian and actor), late 1980's-1988
Notable faculty members
References
- ^ As of June 30, 2009. "U.S. and Canadian Institutions Listed by Fiscal Year 2009 Endowment Market Value and Percentage Change in Endowment Market Value from FY 2008 to FY 2009" (PDF). 2009 NACUBO-Commonfund Study of Endowments. National Association of College and University Business Officers. Retrieved March 1, 2010.
- ^ Columbia College Chicago : About Us
- ^ Columbia Enrollment Largest in College's History (2006). Columbia College Chicago.
- ^ http://www2.colum.edu/echo/back/winspr02/contact.html
External links
- http://www.colum.edu - Official website
Campus media
- Columbia Chronicle (newspaper)
- Frequency TV
- WCRX 88.1 FM
- AEMMP Records
Other
- ShopColumbia - Student art store
- Columbia Urban Music Association
- Building history
- Columbia College Renegades - Fitness, Intramural and Club Athletics
- The Dance Center
- Columbia College Chicago
- Universities and colleges in Chicago, Illinois
- Film schools in the United States
- Art schools in the United States
- Vocational education
- Educational institutions established in 1890
- Council of Independent Colleges
- National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities members
- North Central Association of Colleges and Schools