Provost Advisory Committees

The Advisory Committee on Conflict of Commitment was appointed by the Interim Provost in the Spring of 2020. The Committee was charged with advising the Interim Provost and University leadership regarding: whether changes are needed to Columbia’s existing policies on conflict of commitment to protect the University’s key mission – research, teaching, and service – while continuing to acknowledge that outside activities make faculty better scholars and teachers and thereby better equip them to serve the University. Considerations include evolving regulatory requirements and external sponsor requirements; how to handle part-time or split appointments [i.e., concurrent appointments as described below] at other institutions or entities; any required prior approvals; how to ensure that responsibilities to the University are prioritized; and concerns about science and security. The Committee will also consider procedural issues related to disclosure, review and management of potential conflicts of commitment.

Note: This group is currently dormant.

Current Members

Angela Christiano
Richard and Mildred Rhodebeck Professor of Dermatology and Professor of Genetics and Development

Anil Rustgi
Interim Executive Vice President and Dean of the Faculties of Health Sciences and Medicine; Herbert and Florence Irving Professor of Medicine; Director, Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center

Gil Eyal
Professor of Sociology

Charles Calomiris
Henry Kaufman Professor of Financial Institutions in the Faculty of Business and Professor of International and Public Affairs

Cliff Stein
Professor of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research and of Computer Science; Associate Director of Research, Data Science Institute

Daichi Shimbo
Professor of Medicine

Debra Wolgemuth
Professor of Genetics and Development (in the Center for Reproductive Sciences, in Obstetrics and Gynecology, and in the Institute of Human Nutrition)

Charles Hailey
Pupin Professor of Physics; Co-Director, Columbia Astrophysics Laboratory

Luca Carloni
Professor of Computer Science

Martha Howell
Miriam Champion Professor of History

Tomislav Rovis
Professor of Chemistry; Chair, Department of Chemistry

Serena Ng
Edwin W. Rickert Professor of Economics

Vishal Misra
Professor of Computer Science

Ex Officio: Shih-Fu Chang, Senior Executive Vice Dean (SEAS); Robert Mawhinney, Dean of Science (Arts & Sciences); Michael Shelanski (Senior Vice Dean for Research, Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons)

Co-Chairs: Naomi Schrag, Vice President for Research Compliance, Training and Policy; Anne L. Taylor, John Lindenbaum Professor of Medicine at the Columbia University Medical Center and Senior Vice President for Faculty Affairs and Career Development at the Columbia University Medical Center; and Latha Venkataraman, Lawrence Gussman Professor of Applied Physics and Professor of Chemistry and Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs

The Provost's Advisory Committee on the Libraries is the structural mechanism by which ongoing collaboration between the Libraries, the faculty, and the Provost occurs.  It was established by then-Provost Jonathan Cole in 1997 but it had not met in recent years.  In the 2015 academic year, the Committee was reinstated by Provost John Coatsworth following the recommendations of an external and internal review of the University Libraries.  

Members of the Provost's Advisory Committee on the Libraries serve the University by "reviewing the current state of the Libraries; reviewing proposed actions needed to be taken to improve upon the current situation; helping to formulate policy related to libraries and academic information systems; discussing the types of investments the University should make; and acting as a communications conduit between the Libraries and the academic units that it serves."

The Provost relies on the Committee to provide faculty input and guidance to ensure that the Libraries are as responsive as possible to the needs and aspirations of Columbia's schools and departments and their faculties.  The Provost meets with the Committee each academic year to review its recommendations.

2023-24 Members 

Vanessa Agard-Jones
Assistant Professor of Anthropology

Lucia Allais
Associate Professor, Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation

Bruno Bosteels
Professor of Latin American and Iberian Cultures; Chair Department of Latin American and Iberian Cultures

Carri Chan, John A. Howard Professor of Business, Division of Decision, Risk, and Operations; Faculty Director, Healthcare and Pharmaceutical Management Program

Lydia Chilton
Assistant Professor of Computer Science 

Seth Cluett
Lecturer in Music, Assistant Director of the Computer Music and Sound Art Program

Rόisín Commane
Assistant Professor of Earth and Environmental Science

Zoë Crossland
Director of the Columbia Center for Archaeology, Department of Anthropology

Nicholas Dames
Theodore Kahan Professor of Humanities

Brent Hayes Edwards (Chair)
Peng Family Professor of English and Comparative Literature

Yasmine Ergas
Senior Lecturer in the Discipline of International and Public Affairs

Kevin Fellezs
Associate Professor of Music, Ethnomusicology, and African American and African Diaspora Studies

David Helfand
Professor of Astronomy

Lisa Hollibaugh (Co-Chair, Education Subcommittee)
Dean of Academic Affairs, Columbia College

Joseph Howley (Co-Chair, Education Subcommittee)
Associate Professor of Classics

Valentina Izmirlieva
Professor of Slavic Languages; Director, Harriman Institute  

Seth Kimmel
Associate Professor of Latin American and Iberian Cultures

Ioannis Kymissis (Chair, Research Subcommittee)
Kenneth Brayer Professor of Electrical Engineering;
Chair, Department of Electrical Engineering

Reinhold Martin
Professor, Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation

Tamar Mitts
Assistant Professor of International and Public Affairs

Caterina Luigia Pizzigoni
Associate Professor of History

Shana Redmond
Professor of English and Comparative Literature

David Schiminovich
Associate Professor and Chair, Columbia Department of Astronomy; Co-Director, Columbia Astrophysics Laboratory

Soumitra Sengupta
Associate Professor of Biomedical Informatics at the Columbia University Medical Center

Avinoam Shalem
Riggio Professor of the History of the Arts of Islam, Department of Art History & Archaeology

Jill Shapiro
E3B Senior Lecturer; Program Advisor for the Evolutionary Biology of the Human Species Major; Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology

Shelly Silver
Associate Professor and Director of Moving Image, Visual Arts Program, School of the Arts 

Kavita Sivaramakrishnan
Associate Professor of Sociomedical Sciences

Clifford Stein
Professor of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research and Professor of Computer Sciences

Simon Tavaré
Professor of Statistics and Biological Science and Director, Herbert and Florence Irving Institute for Cancer Dynamics

Dennis Tenen 
Associate Professor of English and Comparative Literature

Jennifer Wenzel
Director of PhD Careers Advising; Professor of English and Comparative Literature and Professor of Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies

Michael J. Witgen
Professor of History

Sally M. Yerkovich (Chair, Collections Subcommittee)
Adjunct Professor of Anthropology

The Provost's Advisory Council for the Enhancement of Faculty Diversity was established to attract, develop, advance, and retain outstanding scholars from historically underrepresented groups. Members are senior faculty from across the University who serve two-year, renewable terms. The Council meets on a quarterly basis, and advises the Provost on a myriad of faculty initiatives, publications, recruitments, and awards. 

2023-24 Members

Ana Abraido-Lanza
School of Social Work

Walter Bockting
Department of Psychiatry, College of Physicians and Surgeons; School of Nursing

Nabila El-Bassel
School of Social Work

Ruben L. Gonzalez Jr.
Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Arts and Sciences

Farah Jasmine Griffin
Department of African American and African Diaspora Studies, Department of English and Comparative Literature, Faculty of Arts and Sciences

Karl Jacoby
Department of History, Faculty of Arts and Sciences

Gita Johar
Columbia Business School

Olatunde Johnson
Columbia Law School

Kathryn Johnston
Department of Astronomy, Faculty of Arts and Sciences

Kellie Jones
Department of Art History and Archaeology, Department of African American and African Diaspora Studies, Faculty of Arts and Sciences

Helen H. Lu
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science; College of Dental Medicine

Dennis A. Mitchell (Chair)
Office of the Provost; Office of the Dean and Division of Community Health, College of Dental Medicine

Maria Victoria Murillo
Department of Political Science, Faculty of Arts and Sciences; School of International and Public Affairs

Jorge Otero-Pailos
Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation

Samuel K. Roberts
Department of History, Faculty of Arts and Sciences; Department of Sociomedical Sciences, Mailman School of Public Health

Anne L. Taylor
Office of the Dean and Department of Medicine, College of Physicians and Surgeons

Gina Wingood
Department of Sociomedical Sciences, Mailman School of Public Health

The Provost convened the Provost’s Faculty Committee on Educational Innovation (CEI), formerly Provost’s Faculty Advisory Committee on Online Learning (PFACOL), in early 2013 to help Columbia navigate the changing landscape of online education and play a key advisory role in shaping the University’s future strategy in online and digital learning. 

The Provost's Faculty Advisory Committee was established to provide a forum in which faculty consider and provide guidance on key academic and administrative topics including academic excellence, faculty life, and more.

Note: This group is currently dormant.

Ying Kuen Cheung
Professor of Biostatistics
Mailman School of Public Health 

Thomas Christensen
Professor of International and Public Affairs
School of International and Public Affairs  

Henry Colecraft
John C. Dalton Professor of Physiology and Cellular Biophysics and Professor of Pharmacology
Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons

Nabila El-Bassel
University Professor
School of Social Work

Page Fortna
Harold Brown Professor of US Foreign and Security Policy, Political Science
Graduate School of Arts and Sciences

Mario Gooden
Associate Professor of Professional Practice in the Faculty of Architecture, Planning and Preservation Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation

Jean Howard
George Delacorte Professor in the Humanities, English and Comparative Literature
Graduate School of Arts and Sciences

Wei Jiang
Arthur F. Burns Professor of Free and Competitive Enterprise
Columbia Business School

Holger Klein
Lisa and Bernard Selz Professor of Medieval Art History
Graduate School of Arts and Sciences

Nicholas Lemann
Joseph Pulitzer II and Edith Pulitzer Moore Professor of Journalism; Dean Emeritus
Columbia Journalism School

Helen Lu
Percy K. and Vida L.W. Hudson Professor of Biomedical Engineering
The Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science

Carol Mason
Professor of Pathology and Cell Biology, Neuroscience and Ophthalmic Science (in Ophthalmology); Chair of Interschool Planning in the Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute
Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons

Thomas Merrill
Charles Evans Hughes Professor of Law
Columbia Law School

Maureen Ryan
Associate Professor of Professional Practice in Film in the Faculty of the Arts
School of the Arts

Jose Scheinkman
Senior Research Scholar in the Department of Economics
Graduate School of Arts and Sciences

Rocco Servedio
Professor of Computer Science; Chair, Department of Computer Science
The Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science

Brent Stockwell
Professor of Biological Sciences and Chemistry
Graduate School of Arts and Sciences

Jane Waldfogel
Compton Foundation Centennial Professor for the Prevention of Children's Youth Problems
School of Social Work

Sharon Wardlaw
Dr. Robert C. and Veronica Atkins Professor of Obesity Research (in Medicine)
Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons 

The Interdisciplinary Working Group (IDWG) was convened by Provost John Coatsworth in 2017 and meets regularly to determine practical ways to tackle the difficulties of interdisciplinary research and education at Columbia.

2018-19 Members

Note: This group has been dormant since the 2018-19 academic year.

John H. Coatsworth
Provost

Melissa Begg
Vice Provost for Academic Programs

Matthew Connelly
Co-Director, Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy

Patricia J. Culligan
Associate Director, Data Science Institute

Thomas DiPrete
Co-Director, Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy

Carol Gluck
Chair, Committee on Global Thought

Carol Mason
Chair of Interschool Planning, Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute

Justin Pearlman
Vice Provost for Communications and Engagement

Muredach Reilly
Director, Irving Institute for Clinical and Translational Research

H. Blair Simpson
Vice Chair of Research, Department of Psychiatry

Pamela H. Smith
Director, Center for Science and Society

Susan V. Smith
Associate Provost for Academic Programs

Debra J. Wolgemuth
Associate Director for Research, Institute of Human Nutrition

Columbia employs a standing committee system to conduct a final University-wide evaluation whenever a school or department, including Barnard College but excepting the Faculty of Law and Teachers College, recommends a candidate for tenure. By examining both the process by which candidates are nominated and their qualifications, the standing committee seeks to ensure a University-wide consistency in the evaluation of nominations to tenure and thereby to promote the appointment of faculty of exceptional quality and distinction throughout the institution.

The standing committee–the Tenure Review Advisory Committee (TRAC)–serves in an advisory capacity to the provost, who determines whether the candidate should be recommended to the president and trustees for tenure. The University’s standing committee system of tenure review is administered on behalf of the provost by the vice provost for faculty affairs.

Douglas V. Almond, Professor of Economics and International and Public Affairs

Keren Bergman, Charles Batchelor Professor of Electrical Engineering; Scientific Director, Center for Integrated Science and Engineering

Bruno Bosteels, Dean of Humanities in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences; Jesse and George Siegel Professor in the Humanities

Richard Briffault, Joseph P. Chamberlain Professor of Legislation

Ying Keun Cheung, Professor of Biostatistics; Vice Dean of Faculty Affairs at Mailman School of Public Health

Carmen DeLeon, Associate Provost for Academic Appointments

Ruth DeFries, University Professor; Denning Family Professor of Sustainable Development in the Department of Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology; Chief Academic Officer for the Climate School; Co-Founding Dean Emerita of the Climate School

Tim Frye, Marshall D. Shulman Professor of Post-Soviet Foreign Policy

Andrea Howard, Associate Professor of Epidemiology (in the International Center for AIDS Care and Treatment Programs) at the Columbia University Medical Center

Eugenia Lean, Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs; Professor of East Asian Languages and Cultures

Dennis Mitchell, Interim Provost, Professor of Dental Medicine

Shiva Rajgopal, Roy Bernard Kester and T.W. Byrnes Professor of Accounting and Auditing

David Schiminovich, Professor of Astronomy; Co-Director, Columbia Astrophysics Laboratory

Sam Sia, Vice Provost for the Fourth Purpose and Strategic Impact; Professor of Biomedical Engineering

Cliff Stein, Wai T. Chang Professor of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research and Professor of Computer Science; Interim Director, Data Science Institute

Anne Taylor, John Lindenbaum Professor of Medicine at the Columbia University Medical Center; Vice Dean, Academic Affairs, College of Physicians and Surgeons; Senior Vice President for Faculty Affairs and Career Development at the Columbia University Medical Center