Student Affairs
Student Affairs is the primary administrative umbrella for undergraduates at Columbia. Student Affairs oversees pretty much all non-academic aspects of student life for CC and SEAS students. Some of the many operations Student Affairs oversees include Admissions, Financial Aid, Residential Programming, Advising, etc. The current Dean of Student Affairs is Kevin Shollenberger, who held the position on an interim basis but is now the man in charge. The senior associate dean in the office is Kathryn Wittner.
Student Affairs is the way in which the gap between CC and SEAS is bridged, since they're ultimately separate schools, academically. Creating a united student administration for both schools helps ensure that students in both schools are essentially part of the same student body who live together, eat together, and work together. This also keeps the bureaucracy from getting too messy by eliminating the need for redundant and parallel offices providing the same services to students at each school.
Student Affairs was formed in 1998 as the Division of Student Affairs when the offices of Dean of Students at SEAS, undergraduate admissions and financial aid, all overseen by Chris Colombo, were merged with the office of Dean of Students at CC after the retirement of Roger Lehecka from that post. Colombo became the first Dean of Student Affairs, a post he held until 2008 before leaving for MIT. In 2012, the office dropped the "Division" from its name, becoming simply "Student Affairs".
Contents
Offices
Office of the Dean
Center for Student Advising
Community Development
- Office of Multicultural Affairs
- Office of Residential Programs
- Student Development and Activities
- Office of Civic Action and Engagement
Enrollment Group
Student affairs also creates Student-Alumni programming, offers access to tutoring services, and runs NSOP (which falls under Student Development & Activities).
