Faculties
Faculties at Columbia are the formal bodies that form the academic backbone of Columbia's 16 schools and two affiliates. Each is large, prestigious, and like everything else at Columbia, complex and decentralized.
In general, the "faculties" correlate to what most people know as "schools" within the University. Faculties can be made up of many departments or just one, and conversely departments can be part of multiple faculties or just one. The difference between faculties and departments in general is that faculties as a body are in charge of organizing curricular programs that lead to degrees and certificates, while departments are bodies in charge of instruction.
Each faculty is led by either a dean, or in the case of the two unified super-faculties, an academic vice president (who is simultaneously dean of the super-faculty). They are appointed by the Trustees on nomination by the President, and serve renewable terms of usually five years. The exception to this rule is the Law School, where the Dean is selected by faculty election. All deans are subordinate to the Provost, and in the case of the Arts and Sciences and Health Sciences, the constituent faculty deans are also subordinate to their respective academic vice president/dean who is in turn subordinate to the Provost.
Columbia counts a total of 20 faculties, of which 18 are part of the university proper and 2 are affiliated.
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Columbia University faculties
Columbia University has 18 faculties, of which 16 are schools and 2 are organizational constructs (FAS and Health Sciences).
- Faculty of Arts and Sciences, comprising the following 6 faculties (making 7 in total):
- Columbia College (unified with GSAS and GS)
- Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (unified with CC and GS)
- School of General Studies (unified with CC and GSAS)
- School of International and Public Affairs
- School of the Arts
- School of Continuing Education
- 6 Morningside professional faculties:
- Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation
- Columbia Business School
- Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science
- Journalism
- Columbia Law School - only professional faculty at Columbia that can grant tenure without approval from the central administration
- School of Social Work
- Faculty of Health Sciences at Columbia University Medical Center, comprising the following 4 faculties (making 5 in total):
- College of Dental Medicine
- College of Physicians and Surgeons
- School of Nursing
- Mailman School of Public Health
Affiliated faculties
There are two affiliated faculties:
The university has oversight of both in tenuring.
Extra-faculty Administrative Boards
The university also has three administrative boards that exist outside of the faculties, but act like them, to oversee special programs:
- Executive Committee of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences - All PhDs, regardless of which faculty the program is a part of, are granted by the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. This is the committee that deals with that quirk.
- Administrative Board for the Master of Arts in Teaching - oversees the MA program at TC
- Parker School of Foreign and Comparative Law - a program housed within the Law School and undertaken jointly with SIPA
