Curated playlist
Columbia College, Columbia University alumni
- Jay RasuloJay Rasulo spent nearly three decades inside one of the most complex entertainment empires on earth, and his path from New York to the top of The Walt Disney Company's financial operations ran through Paris, Orlando, and the boardrooms of…
- Barack ObamaBarack Obama was born on the 4th of August 1961 at Kapiolani Medical Center for Women and Children in Honolulu, Hawaii, making him the only person to become president of the United States who was not born in the contiguous 48 states. His…
- Jack KerouacJack Kerouac learned English at age six and spoke with a marked accent into his late teens, because the language of his Lowell, Massachusetts home was French. His parents, Leo and Gabrielle, were French Canadians, and around the house the…
- Joseph CampbellJoseph Campbell once told a packed lecture hall that if you follow your bliss, a track that has been there all the while will open up beneath your feet. That single sentence, first spoken to students in the 1970s, went on to reach tens of…
- Jerry FodorJerry Fodor walked into philosophy at a moment when the mind was considered either a black box of behavioral inputs and outputs, or a tangle of neurons best left to biologists. He disagreed with both camps. Born in New York City on the…
- George Templeton StrongGeorge Templeton Strong entered the world at 50 Franklin Street in New York City on the 26th of January 1820. His family background placed him within the city's established circles from birth. He received his early education at Columbia…
- Sean LennonSean Lennon was born on the 9th of October 1975, at Weill Cornell Medical Center in the Lenox Hill neighborhood of Manhattan, sharing a birthday with his father John Lennon, who turned 35 that day. His godfather is Elton John. His…
- James S. ShapiroJames S. Shapiro is Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University, where he specializes in Shakespeare and the Early Modern period. In 2023, one of his earliest books, 1599: A Year in the Life of William…
- William Ordway PartridgeWilliam Ordway Partridge entered the world on the 11th of April 1861, in Paris. His father served as the Paris representative for the New York City department store A.T. Stewart. His mother was a cousin of the painter George Catlin. The…
- Richard G. Salomon (professor of Asian studies)Richard G. Salomon carries an unusual academic title at the University of Washington. He is the William P. and Ruth Gerberding University Professor in the Department of Asian Languages and Literature. A named professorship like that…
- Beau WillimonBeau Willimon was born on the 26th of October 1977, and by his own account, he was the worst student in his playwriting cohort at Columbia. He did not know a single person in the theater world. He had no idea how to write a play. What he…
- Eric FonerEric Foner, born on the 7th of February 1943 in New York City, is the historian that college professors reach for most often. According to the Open Syllabus Project, Foner is the single most frequently cited author on college syllabi for…
- Nicholas Murray ButlerNicholas Murray Butler ran Columbia University for 43 years, the longest presidency in that institution's history. He won the Nobel Peace Prize. He shook hands with presidents and persuaded Andrew Carnegie to fund one of the world's great…