Jacques Barzun
Barzun on the cover of Columbia College Today
Jacques Barzun CC '27 is a cultural historian and, as Seth Low Professor of History, was one of the great professors a Columbian could have in the mid-20th century. He is still alive, amazingly. He most recently wrote a mammoth 500 year history of the West entitled From Dawn To Decadence.
When he was an undergraduate, Barzun was a member of Philo.
Barzun was instrumental in the development of the Core, co-teaching a proto-Lit Hum class with Lionel Trilling in the 1930s called the Colloquium on Important Books.
Columbia's graduation robes were changed from the traditional black to slate blue at Barzun's prompting, the newer color being more comfortable in warm weather, as is typical during Commencement.
| Preceded by John A. Krout |
Provost 1958-1967 |
Succeeded by David B. Truman |
