Administrators Join Columbia Staff

Key college hires arrived on campus over the summer. Stanley T. Wearden, PhD, became Columbia College Chicago’s senior vice president and provost, the chief academic officer for the institution, on July 1. Formerly dean of the College of Communication and Information, and professor of journalism and mass communication at Kent State University, Wearden will work with President and CEO Kwang-Wu Kim, DMA, to lead Columbia College’s academic affairs enterprise.

Michelle Gates began her duties as vice president of business affairs and CFO on July 14. Formerly the senior associate vice president of financial affairs at Emerson College in Boston, Gates has extensive experience in financial posts at higher education institutions.

Jonathan Stern is Columbia College Chicago’s new vice president for development and alumni relations. Stern, who started on Aug. 4, comes to Columbia from Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Ind., where he served as the dean for advancement, overseeing all aspects of fundraising, alumni and parent relations.

Faculty-Focused Ad Campaign Hits the Streets

The latest phase of Columbia College Chicago’s image campaign, launched in July, focuses on faculty, with ads on billboards, bus shelters and magazines. The dynamic series of photographs highlights faculty members from across Columbia’s creative academic community.

The research-based campaign, which launched in September 2013 with ads highlighting students, went through an extensive brand review with global public relations and communications firm Burson-Marsteller to focus appeal to key audience groups including prospective students, parents and high school guidance counselors.

President Kim’s Vision Paper Focuses on Fulfilling College’s Potential

In his first vision paper, Redefining Our Greatness, President Kwang-Wu Kim discusses how the college will re-embrace its mission and commit to changes, allowing the institution to achieve its full potential. Released in May, the paper reflects on President Kim’s first year of the presidency and focuses on a future full of improvements and ambition.

“We must strengthen our sense of community and raise the bar of our collective aspiration, setting our sights on nothing less than achieving our full potential as an educational innovator, a generator of student success and an incubator of new creative process,” writes Kim. The full vision paper is available at colum.edu/president.

Columbia Named a Top Film School

In its Aug. 8 issue, The Hollywood Reporter named Columbia College Chicago as one of this year’s Top 25 Film Schools in the United States. Columbia is ranked No. 20. DePaul University is No. 17, and Northwestern University is No. 14. The magazine credited Columbia with producing “a parade of talent” including HBO Films president Len Amato, FilmEngine president Navid McIlhargey and director Collin Schiffli.

Columbia Unveils New Website

In September, Columbia College Chicago launched its new website, colum.edu, focused on prospective students. The clean, streamlined design and recruitment-focused content tested well with prospective students, who especially liked interactive features like a page that allows users to explore Columbia’s majors and programs. Plus, the new site is mobile friendly. Check it out at colum.edu.

Meet & Greet: Independent Study Turns Physics into an Art Form

Interactive Arts & Media student Justin Terry (’15) and assistant professor of science and mathematics Luis Nasser teamed up to push video game coding to the limit. In spring 2014, Nasser and Terry applied physics to game design through an independent study (in which students and faculty work one-on-one to learn subjects outside the normal curriculum).

Now, Terry hopes his focus will become a full-fledged class by the time he graduates. The two met weekly for physics lessons throughout the spring semester, and Terry incorporated the knowledge into a simple computer program that shows an adjustable number of balls bouncing around the computer screen. But that’s hardly the limit of what a physics engine can do. The code can be incorporated into any video game to make it follow the rules of physics, and therefore look more realistic—Terry plans to use the code in his collaborative game design project next year.

“That already puts him in a different situation professionally because now he’s the guy who gets the math,” Nasser says. Terry says the independent study was one of his best experiences at Columbia. He and Nasser focused on whatever aspect of physics he wanted to learn that week and weren’t restrained to a curriculum.

“That was a really cool way to learn, because instead of trying to force myself to think about one topic when other things are coming up, [Nasser was] like, ‘Let’s just run with it,’” Terry says. “Because of that, I learned a lot more than I would have in a traditional class.”—Hannah Lorenz (’16)

Give & Take: Emmy-Winning Producer Says Columbia Is “Where It All Started”

For many in the television industry, winning an Emmy award is the finish line. For Karen Lee Cohen (BA ’68), it’s a habit. Throughout her 46-year career, Cohen has served as creator or executive producer on eight Regional Emmy Award-winning projects, working with some fascinating people, including Frank Sinatra and the Dalai Lama.

The Los Angeles-based alumna still finds time to support Columbia. From 1996 to 2004, Cohen served on the Columbia College Board of Trustees, and she donates to capital campaigns, the Alumni Scholarship Fund and many other programs.

Columbia’s diversity and creativity are particularly important to Cohen, and she says she can see firsthand the positive impact of her contributions. “Columbia, to me, has always stood for being open to creativity for everyone,” she says. “I’ve seen so many people shine from that nurturing.” Cohen served as a program administrator and executive producer for NBC Chicago from 1973 to 1981, receiving a Regional Emmy Award for the show NBC Salutes Chic Chicago. She then became the director of programs for WNBC-TV in New York City until 1989, where she received another seven Emmy awards for a variety of documentary, business and teen programs. While producing The Prime of Your Life, a show hosted by Arlene Francis and Joe Michaels, Cohen worked with the legendary Frank Sinatra. “We were together for about six hours during filming,” she says. “[Sinatra] sang, we talked; it was a great day.”

For the religious talk show The First Estate, Cohen collaborated with the Dalai Lama. “He has this wonderful, infectious laugh that I remember,” Cohen says. “It was his presence that was just so extraordinary, being with someone that has been so spiritually inspired.”

Today, Cohen is developing an online health and wellness channel called Anthus.com, and is the president of Crystal Pyramid Productions, Inc., a Los Angeles-based production consulting company. Cohen says Columbia’s creative environment continues to inspire her. “Columbia represents to me what good education can and should be,” she says. “Everything I do, the foundation, goes way back to when I was at Columbia. That’s where it all started.”—Joshua C. Robinson (’15)

Wabash Arts Corridor Welcomes Art Installations

1. Cleon Peterson works on his dystopian mural on the side of 634 S. Wabash Ave.
2. Artist RETNA incorporates freehand graffiti and hieroglyphics on the south wall of 33 E. Congress Ave.
3. Shepard Fairey adds a few spray-painted touches to his “We Own the Future” mural at 916 S. Wabash Ave.
4. “We Own the Future”, Shepard Fairey

The Wabash Arts Corridor on Columbia’s campus continues to grow in color and scope. Today, the initiative to bring art to the South Loop includes eight educational institutions, 19 galleries, five hotels and more than 40 restaurants in a dynamic bridge between art, commerce and education.

Columbia College Chicago teamed up with the Hilton Chicago to install a series of eight 15-by-25-foot fashion photographs (taken by fashion photography students) along 8th Street and Wabash Avenue. The Papermaker’s Garden continues to bloom, with plants ready to harvest for the fall semester. And four renowned street artists permanently left their marks on the South Loop through Art Alliance: The Provocateurs, a contemporary art exhibition. Cleon Peterson, POSE, RETNA and Shepard Fairey (creator of the iconic OBEY and Obama HOPE campaigns) crafted large-scale murals to remain in Chicago indefinitely.

On Sept. 19, the second annual Wabash Arts Corridor Crawl celebrated the new additions to the “living urban canvas.”