The following message was sent to Columbia College upper-class students on Thursday, August 29 by Deans Josef Sorett and Lisa Hollibaugh.

Dear returning Columbia College Students,

We hope that you’ve all enjoyed a good summer, and we’re looking forward to welcoming you back to campus this week. Prior to the start of term, we would like to share some important updates regarding the undergraduate curriculum for Columbia College students.

You may remember that, around this time last year, we informed you that the CC-GS Committee on Instruction had affirmed significant changes to the structure of the curriculum for Columbia College and The School of General Studies, and we are confirming that those changes are now officially in effect as of Fall 2024:

• Columbia College and The School of General Studies will recognize minors as an optional secondary course of study.
• The concentration and the special concentration will be phased out of the undergraduate curriculum over the next several years. All College students who begin their studies in Fall 2024 or beyond will be required to complete a major.

What is the purpose of a minor?

Smaller than a major – typically requiring 5-6 courses – a minor can provide students with an opportunity to increase their exposure to the breadth of the liberal arts curriculum in ways that are curated by the faculty’s expertise and interests. Some minors offer an introduction to a discipline that stops short of the advanced coursework required of a major; some minors offer an interdisciplinary approach to a particular topic or theme; and still other minors will offer advanced, complementary programs of study for students who have foundational knowledge in a related discipline.

There are currently 45 approved minors open to College students, and we expect that number to increase as additional departments put forward new proposals over the next year. The full list of minors is available on the Majors, Minors, and Special Programs page on the College’s website. The title of each major, minor, or special program is linked to the relevant pages in the Columbia College Bulletin, where you can find details about the requirements for each program of study, and the relevant director of undergraduate studies is ready to talk with you about the requirements for any minor listed.

What will happen with concentrations and special concentrations?

Although concentrations and special concentrations will be phased out of the curriculum after the 2026-2027 academic year, the College will continue to honor the curricular structure that was in place when students matriculated. Therefore, as students who began your Columbia studies before Fall 2024, you can still choose to complete a concentration. The Majors, Minors, and Special Programs page on the College’s website includes a section that lists the concentrations still available to you.

However, you may feel that the newly established minors would be preferable for your schedule and your future plans, and we want you to have the benefit of these new opportunities. Therefore, you can choose to complete a minor. If you have questions about whether a minor or a concentration would be the better option for you, please seek out advice from your advising dean and from the relevant director of undergraduate studies.

A note about “special concentrations”: Special concentrations in our Arts & Sciences departments, institutes, and centers have been converted to minors. In the case of those special concentrations that offer opportunities for preprofessional study with some of our partner schools at Columbia, the special concentrations have been renamed “Special Programs”. Special Programs include those in Business Management, Public Health, and Urban Teaching; the requirements for these programs have not changed.

What other academic policies are part of the new curricular structure?

Given the smaller size of minors, the maximum number of programs of study that students can declare has now been adjusted to three. You should not feel any obligation to declare multiple programs of study: the majority of Columbia College students graduate with one declared program of study, and, as you know, the depth of our majors and the breadth of our Core Curriculum requires plenty of time and effort from you. But if you do decide that you want to declare more than one program of study (whether major, minor, concentration, or special program), please note that there are conditions for the combination of programs that you can declare and for the possibilities for double-counting that exist. You can read more about these policies on the Requirements pages of the current Columbia College Bulletin. Again, please seek out advice from your advising deans to make sure that you understand all of the relevant details.

We hope you find this change in the College’s curriculum to be an exciting one, and we all look forward to talking with you about where you see opportunity for yourself in the variety of programs of study from which you can choose.

In the meantime, we wish you a smooth return to campus as we look forward to the year ahead together.

Respectfully,

Josef Sorett
Dean of Columbia College
Vice President for Undergraduate Education

Lisa Hollibaugh
Dean of Academic Affairs, Columbia College