AitN: May 7, 2018

Congrats to the Lions nominated for Tony Awards! Composer Tom Kitt ’96 received a nod for Best Orchestrations for his work on SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical, while playwright Tony Kushner ’78’s Angels in America received a nomination in the category Best Revival of a Play.

Negar Ahkami '92

Negar Ahkami ’92 is a featured artist in “The Beyond: Georgia O’Keeffe & Contemporary Art” at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Ark. The exhibit, which runs May 26–September 3, showcases 30 of O’Keeffe’s paintings as well as the work of 20 other artists focusing on similar themes. Additionally, Ahkami's exhibit “Fantasy Will Set You Free” is still running at the Arlington Arts Center (it is on display April 14-June 2).

John Osburg ’97, associate professor of anthropology at the University of Rochester, has been named to the Andrew Carnegie Fellows Program Class of 2018. The fellowship includes a stipend of $200,000 to support “high-caliber scholarship that applies fresh perspectives from the humanities and social sciences to some of the most pressing issues of our times.”

Nick Vita '95

Nick Vita ’95 received an Innovative Disruptor Award from the TriBeCa Film Festival for his company’s work as it relates to alternative treatments in the opioid crisis. Vita is the CEO of Columbia Care, the country’s largest medical marijuana company. Also at TriBeCa was Nancy Schwartzman ’97, whose debut film Roll Red Roll premiered on April 22. The documentary covers the 2012 rape of a teenage girl by players from the Steubenville, Ohio, football team and the town’s subsequent cover up.

On April 18, the University named Lisa Carnoy ’89 and Jonathan Lavine ’88 as the new co-chairs of the Board of Trustees; their terms will start in September. The two are leaders in the finance industry, have both received John Jay Awards, and were even Carman Hall RAs together during their student days. President Lee C. Bollinger said of Carnoy and Lavine, “We know from the many years they have already devoted to serving Columbia as loyal alumni and dedicated trustees that we will greatly benefit from their leadership in the years to come.”