Athletic Director

The Athletic director of many colleges and universities is usually a powerful figure, overseeing a multi-million dollar budget and one of the schools highest profile assets, its intercollegiate athletics programs.

At Columbia, its probably among the most thankless jobs in the world, and quite possibly one of the least desirable.

The current Athletic director is M. Diane Murphy. She succeeded John Reeves, who in turn succeeded Al Paul.

The Columbia AD used to report to the Dean of Student Affairs prior to Reeves' term. As part of his agreement to take the job on Reeves demanded that he report directly to the Provost. When Lee Bollinger took over as President of the University, he ordered the AD to report directly to him instead of the Provost. This in theory signals the growing importance of athletics at Columbia, but a mini-scandal involving the Athletics departments failure to get any new facilities constructed in Morningside Heights during Reeves' tenure suggests otherwise.