Leading a multifaceted research university with nearly 25,000 students, some 3,400 faculty members, and sixteen schools is only possible with a team of senior administrators experienced in the tasks of teaching, research, and original scholarship.

Alan Brinkley, Provost of Columbia University and the Allan Nevins Professor of American History
Alan Brinkley, an admired American historian and former chair of Columbia’s history department, took on the role of University Provost in 2003.

As chief academic officer, the provost has the broad responsibility of ensuring that its program and faculty are of the highest quality. He directs the development and implementation of the University’s academic plans and policies, and supervises the work of its faculties, departments, and research centers. He authorizes, directly or through a representative, all academic appointments and is a member of all faculties and administrative boards.

While continuing to teach and write for both academic and general audiences, Brinkley has focused as provost on implementing several key initiatives:

• arts planning, including co-chairing the search for the new School of the Arts dean with Nicholas Dirks
  
  
• diversity, in particular developing a faculty recruitment proposal and working to implement it with the help of the new vice provost;
  
  
• faculty quality of life, helping to oversee improvements such as a school search service, enhanced child care and the appointment of a Work-Life vice provost; and
  
  
• the Task Force on Undergraduate Education
  
  
  

Nicholas Dirks, Vice President for Arts and Sciences
Nick Dirks, a widely respected scholar of South Asian and British colonial history, has been the vice president for Arts and Sciences since fall 2004.

As vice president for Arts and Sciences and dean of the faculty, Dirks is responsible for the academic administration and direction of twenty-nine departments (covering the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences), twenty-seven institutes and centers, and six schools (the School for International and Public Affairs, Columbia College, the School of General Studies, the School of Continuing Education, the School of the Arts, and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences). In addition, he oversees the operational and financial management of the Arts and Sciences in conjunction with long-term academic and financial planning. Vice President Dirks is also actively engaged in building closer relationships with schools and centers outside of the Arts and Sciences.

Lee Goldman, MD, MPH, joined Columbia in 2006 as the Harold and Margaret Hatch Professor and executive vice president for Health and Biomedical Sciences at Columbia University, where he also serves as dean of the Faculties of Health Sciences and Medicine at Columbia University Medical Center. As EVP and dean, Goldman oversees the clinical, teaching and research missions of CUMC. He is responsible for the administration, business strategy, and academic direction for the College of Physicians & Surgeons (P&S), the Mailman School of Public Health, the College of Dental Medicine, the School of Nursing, the biomedical departments of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and allied research centers and institutions. He oversees eighteen clinical departments within the health sciences schools including the active and well-regarded departments of medicine, neuroscience, pediatrics, psychiatry, and surgery, to name a few. Goldman also manages the basic science research departments including research efforts into stem cells, microbiology, and genetics. In addition, sixteen centers and seven institutes — including the Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center, the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center, the Irving Institute for Clinical and Translational Research, and the Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer's Disease and the Aging Brain — report to him. Goldman's key initiatives include strengthening the curriculum at P&S, upgrading CUMC facilities, fostering collaboration and efficiencies across the medical center and the University, and investing in the medical center's strengths while at the same time identifying new opportunities for growth and excellence.