Columbia College Chicago

Coordinates: 41°52′26″N 87°37′30″W / 41.87391°N 87.62498°W / 41.87391; -87.62498

Columbia College Chicago
Columbia College Chicago seal
Motto	Esse Quam Videri
Motto in English	To be rather than to seem
Established	1890
Type	Private
Endowment	$93.1 million[1]
President	Warrick L. Carter, PhD
Academic staff	2,000
Students	11,922[2]
Undergraduates	11,400
Postgraduates	522
Location	Chicago, IL, USA
Campus	Urban
Website	www.colum.edu

Columbia College Chicago is one of the largest art colleges in the United States with nearly 12,000 students pursuing degrees within 120 undergraduate and graduate programs.^[3] 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^[4] 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^[5] is composed of six departments: ASL-English Interpretation; Education Department; English Department; Humanities, History and Social Sciences; First Year Seminar; and Science and Mathematics.

• The School of Media Arts^[6] is composed of eight departments: Audio Arts & Acoustics; Film & Video; Interactive Arts & Media; Interdisciplinary arts; Journalism; Marketing Communication; Radio; and Television.

It also is home to many research centers^[7] as well as to the Garment Collection and the Center for Book and Paper Arts. It is also home to one of the very few, but very popular undergraduate program in cultural studies.

Columbia College Chicago is not affiliated with Columbia University, Columbia College Hollywood, or any other Columbia College in the United States.

History

Columbia College Chicago was founded in 1890 as the Columbia School of Oratory by Mary A. Blood and Ida Morey Riley, both graduates of the Monroe Conservatory of Oratory (now Emerson College), in Boston, Massachusetts. Mary Blood became the College’s first president, serving in this capacity until her death in 1927. The women established a co-educational school that “should stand for high ideals, for the teaching of expression by methods truly educational, for the gospel of good cheer, and for the building of sterling good character”^[8] in the Stevens’ Art Gallery Building, 24 E. Adams Street.

After the death of Ida Riley in 1901, the school changed its name to the Columbia College of Expression in 1905, adding coursework in teaching to the curriculum. In 1928, the college was associated with the Pestalozzi-Froebel Teachers College, a family-run school centered on training its students for teaching kindergarten. By 1934, Columbia College curriculum also focused on the growing field of radio broadcasting.

In 1944, the College left its partnership with the Pestalozzi-Froebel school and changed its name to Columbia College with Norman Alexandroff as its president. During the late 1940s and early 1950s, the College broadened its educational base to include television, journalism, marketing, and other mass communication areas. Prosperity was short lived, however, and by 1961, Columbia held fewer than 200 students and a part-time faculty of 25.

In 1961, Mirron (Mike) Alexandroff, son of Norman Alexandroff, who worked at the school since 1947, became president, and created a liberal arts college with a “hands-on minds-on” approach to arts and media education with a progressive social agenda. He established a generous-admissions policy^[9] so that qualified high school graduates could attend college courses taught by some of the most influential and creative professionals in Chicago. For the next thirty years, Alexandroff worked to build Columbia College into an urban institution that helped to change the face of higher education.

With this renewed focus on building its academic program, the institution was awarded full accreditation in 1974 from the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools and in 1984, received accreditation for its graduate programs. In 1975, when Columbia’s enrollment exceeded 2,000, the College purchased its first real estate, the 175,000-square-foot (16,300 m²) building at 600 S. Michigan, (currently the Alexandroff Campus Center). 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.

From 1992 until 2000, John B. Duff, former commissioner of the Chicago Public Library and former chancellor of the Massachusetts Board of Regents of Higher Education, served as the College's president. During his tenure, Columbia College changed its name to Columbia College Chicago and the school continued to expand its educational programs and add to its physical campus by purchasing available buildings in the South Loop. This played a significant part in Columbia’s presence in the South Loop and downtown Chicago. Today, Columbia’s campus occupies almost two dozen buildings and utilizes over 2.5 million square feet.

In 2000, Dr. Warrick L. Carter became president of Columbia College Chicago. 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, one of the world’s largest independent schools of music, where he served as dean of faculty and then provost/vice president of academic affairs.

Through 2010, under his leadership, the College has created new student-based initiatives such as Manifest,^[10] the annual urban arts festival celebrating Columbia’s graduating students and ShopColumbia,^[11] a store where students can showcase and sell their work on campus; partnered with local universities to construct the University Center;^[12] purchased new campus buildings; added new curricula; and oversaw Columbia's first newly constructed building, the Media Production Center.

Today, Columbia continues its mission of providing a strong arts and media education and has a growing program of international exchanges,^[13] including associations with Dublin Institute of Technology and the University of East London. Through the vast diversity of students and graduates, the school brings a rich vision and a multiplicity of voices to American culture, encouraging students to “author the culture of their times”.^[14]

Locations

Alexandroff Campus Center

Congress Campus

Wabash Campus Building

1104 Wabash Campus Building

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 it expanded. Most buildings contain 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,^[15] 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 locomotives, farm equipment and hydraulic systems. It was acquired by Columbia College in 1975. 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). The building is home to Columbia's American Sign Language-English Interpretation, Audio Arts and Acoustics, Journalism and Radio departments.

Wabash Campus Building

623 S. Wabash Avenue was built in 1895, designed 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 Corporation, 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 and two public gallery spaces. The building is also home to Anchor Graphics^[16] and ShopColumbia, a retail venue that sells the work of Columbia studentsand alumni artists, musicians, filmmakers etc. exclusively.

South Michigan Campus

624 S. Michigan Avenue was built by Christian A. Eckstorm^[15] in 1908 as an eight story building to house the Chicago Musical College, a concern headed by Florenz Ziegfeld Sr., father of Ziegfeld Follies producer Florenz 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 period marble and brass lobby. Columbia College acquired the building in 1990 and it now houses the College's five-story library, classrooms, departmental offices, student and faculty lounges and the College’s bookstore^[17]

1104 Wabash Campus

1104 S. Wabash Avenue, built in 1891, is on the City of Chicago Landmarks (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 Building 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 (1890), 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 “Printers 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 Station (Chicago) at Harrison and Wells Streets and the Illinois Central Railroad 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 ^[15] 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 the Music Center of Columbia College.

Getz Theater

72 E. 11th Street was built in 1929 by Holabird & Root, architects of notable 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

Ballet room, 1979

The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago is one of the region's leading education centers offering programs to encourage the development of professionals in dance, and is also one of Chicago's leading presenters of world-class dance companies.

Presenting companies have included: 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.^[18] 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

Since 1999 Columbia College Chicago has operated the Semester in Los Angeles program ^[19] which recently moved onto the premises of Raleigh Studios ^[20] in Hollywood, California. The program offers highly intensive coursework for television, arts, entertainment and media management, and film majors.

Campus media

The Columbia Chronicle is the college's ^[21] 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 Chronicle and Frequency TV can get paid for their work. The 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 nominated for a local Emmy Award. Radio students work on WCRX producing live mixes by local DJs, their own imaging, PSAs^{[disambiguation needed ]}, and carrying select sport games. In 1998-1999, WCRX produced and broadcast Entertainment Primetime Weekly, a show that is produced in newsradio style. It has also broadcast the Emmy Awards.

Journalism Department student in the Magazine Workshop class produce a magazine each semester called Echo.

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.

Other Columbia College Chicago publications^[22] include: Hair Trigger, Columbia Poetry Review, South Loop Review, Center for Black Music Research Journal, DEMO, and@LAS

ShopColumbia

ShopColumbia is Columbia College Chicago's student art store that features a curated collection of Columbia student and alumni 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.

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),^[23] Columbia Urban Music Association, 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, the on-campus LGBT student group. Other notable organizations are the Latino Alliance and Black Student Union, two of the oldest student groups on campus. 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.^[24]

Student Government Association

The Student Government Association (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 and faculty members

Main article: List of Columbia College Chicago people

Reception, reputation, awards and criticism

In 2010 Forbes magazine listed Columbia College Chicago as #600 in their list of America's Best Colleges.^[25] In 2009, Columbia College Chicago was ranked #252.^[26]

In 2010, Gamepro listed Columbia College Chicago in their list of 6 Game Design Schools to Watch.^[27]

In 2010, Columbia Journalism students won an Emmy Award in the Student News Feature category^[28] for the piece "Youth Programs Aim to Combat Chicago Violence"

In 2011, YouTube chose Columbia College Chicago and the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts to launch the first YouTube Creator Institute^[29] programs.

References

Notes

1. ^ As of June 30, 2010. "U.S. and Canadian Institutions Listed by Fiscal Year 2010 Endowmen t M arket Value and Percentage Change in Endowment Market Value from FY 2009 to FY 2010" (PDF). 2010 NACUBO-Commonfund Study of Endowments. National Association of College and University Business Officers. http://www.nacubo.org/Documents/research/2010NCSE_Public_Tables_Endowment_Market_Values_Final.pdf. Retrieved October 4, 2011. 
2. ^ "Columbia College Chicago Fact Book". Columbia College Chicago. http://www.colum.edu/Research_Evaluation_Planning/PDF_Folder/Fact%20Book%202010/Section%201.pdf. Retrieved 03/19/2011. 
3. ^ Columbia College Chicago : About Us
4. ^ "School of Fine and Performing Arts". Columbia College Chicago. http://www.colum.edu/Academics/School_of_Fine_and_Performing_Arts/index.php. Retrieved 03/19/2011. 
5. ^ "School of Liberal Arts and Sciences". Columbia College Chicago. http://www.colum.edu/Academics/School_of_Liberal_Arts_and_Sciences/index.php. Retrieved 03/19/2011. 
6. ^ "School of Media Arts". Columbia College Chicago. http://www.colum.edu/Academics/School_of_Media_Arts/index.php. Retrieved 03/19/2011. 
7. ^ "Office of Academic Research". Columbia College Chicago. http://www.colum.edu/Administrative_offices/Academic_Research/. Retrieved 03/19/2011. 
8. ^ Columbia College of Expression Catalog. 1911. pp. introduction. 
9. ^ "DEMO9". Columbia College Chicago. http://cms.colum.edu/demo/2009/04/dismantling_the_admissions_myt.php. Retrieved 03/19/2011. 
10. ^ "Columbia College Chicago". Website. http://go.colum.edu/manifest/. 
11. ^ "Shop Columbia". Columbia College Chicago. http://www.colum.edu/ShopColumbia/index.php. Retrieved 03/19/2011. 
12. ^ "University Center of Chicago". http://www.universitycenter.com/. Retrieved 03/19/2011. 
13. ^ "International Programs". Columbia College Chicago. http://www.colum.edu/Administrative_offices/Academic_Initiatives/International_Programs/. Retrieved 03/19/2011. 
14. ^ Columbia College Chicago. Arcadia Publishing. 2011. ISBN 0738583499. 
15. ^ ^{a b c} "Christian Eckstorm". Columbia College Chicago. http://www.lib.colum.edu/archives/college/buildings/eckstorm.htm. Retrieved 03/19/2011. 
16. ^ "Anchor Graphics". Columbia College Chicago. http://www.colum.edu/Academics/Art_and_Design/Facilities/Anchor_Graphics/index.php. Retrieved 03/19/2011. 
17. ^ "Columbia Bookstore". Follett Books. http://www.bkstr.com/. Retrieved 03/19/2011. 
18. ^ "Anker S. Graven". Columbia College Chicago. http://www.lib.colum.edu/archives/college/buildings/graven.htm. Retrieved 03/19/2011. 
19. ^ "Semester in L.A.". Columbia College Chicago. http://www.colum.edu/Academics/Semester_LA/. Retrieved 03/19/2011. 
20. ^ "Raleigh Studios". http://raleighstudios.com/. Retrieved 03/19/2011. 
21. ^ "Chronicle awards". Columbia Chronicle. http://columbiachronicle.com/awards/. Retrieved 03/19/2011. 
22. ^ "College Publications". Columbia College Chicago. http://www.colum.edu/About_Columbia/Publications.php. Retrieved 03/19/2011. 
23. ^ "Renegades". Columbia College Chicago. http://www.colum.edu/students/Engagement/Renegades/index.php. Retrieved 03/19/2011. 
24. ^ "Columbia College Chicago Student Organizations". Columbia College Chicago. http://www.colum.edu/students/Engagement/student-organizations.php. Retrieved 03/19/2011. 
25. ^ America's Best Colleges #600 Columbia College Chicago
26. ^ America's Best Colleges #252 Columbia College Chicago
27. ^ 6 Game Design Schools to Watch
28. ^ "Columbia Students Win Emmy". Columbia College Chicago. http://theloop.colum.edu/s/644/newsletter.aspx?sid=644&gid=1&pgid=252&cid=9768&ecid=9768&crid=0&calpgid=1206&calcid=3839. Retrieved 03/19/2011. 
29. ^ "WebProNews". March 10, 2011. http://www.webpronews.com/youtube-launches-the-creator-institute-2011-03. Retrieved 03/19/2011. 

External links

• Official website
• College Archives
• Columbia College Chicago Timeline
• President Biographies
• Oral Histories
• Honorary Degree Recipients

Campus media

• Columbia Chronicle (newspaper)
• Frequency TV
• WCRX 88.1 FM
• AEMMP Records
• Echo Columbia
• DEMO

Other

• ShopColumbia Student art store
• DEMO Magazine building history article
• Historic Building Histories
• Columbia College Renegades - Fitness, Intramural and Club Athletics
• The Dance Center