Welcome to Columbia University Academic Life

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Butler Library - Main Campus Library

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Welcome to Columbia University in the City of New York! Specifically, we're on the island of Manhattan, which means 'island of many hills' in the language of the Lenni Lenape people. My name is Jasmine and I'm a Computer Science major in the School of Engineering and Applied Science, originally from Hanover, New Hampshire, and I'll be leading you through the beginning of our Academic Tour. The Columbia library system is among the top ten academic libraries in the country, with twenty-two different libraries and thirteen million volumes. Our largest library is Butler, which houses the Reference Room, a huge, ornate room with high ceilings and beautiful views of campus. You'll also find the Digital Humanities Center, the Center for Oral History, study rooms, and a popular cafe. Before we move on, let me explain how to use this Virtual Tour. You can jump to the Next Stop by clicking on the Next Stop button. If you already know where you want to go, you can select any location by using the list OR by clicking directly on the map. You can explore any particular location in more detail by clicking on the icons for 360s, Photos, or Videos. Enjoy your visit!

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This building is Mudd, home to The Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science, also known as SEAS or Columbia Engineering. This is the third oldest engineering school in the country. As a Columbia engineer, you're learning from world-class faculty while also grounding technical expertise within a liberal arts education. You might take a class with Disney animator Eitan Grinspun, or with New York Times chief data scientist Chris Wiggins. Columbia engineers have been involved in the design of New York's extensive municipal services, communications links, and physical infrastructure. It's no surprise that the motto of SEAS is ""Engineering for Humanity."" Our engineers are trained to be sustainable, healthy, secure, connected, and creative. Upstairs in Mudd, you'll find the Makerspace, a shared workshop with tools, mentors, and seminars to enable members of the Columbia community to bring their ideas to reality.

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Pupin Laboratories, or just Pupin, is one of the world's leading centers of physics research. In 1965, it was designated as a national landmark, as it was here that scientists first split the uranium atom, invented the laser beam, and developed FM radio. It is also the namesake and origin point of the Manhattan Project. Every year, Columbia receives approximately one billion dollars for research, and a significant percentage of those funds goes to our 200 research centers, institutes and labs -- many of which employ undergraduate researchers. Whether you're discussing a recent research breakthrough at a professor's office hours or working in a Nobel laureate's lab, you'll be supported by advisors and faculty members who want to see you succeed from your very first year.

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The Northwest Corner Building, or "NoCo," is the newest building on the Morningside campus. NoCo has been certified LEED Gold for its environmentally sustainable design, and it was built to celebrate interdisciplinary research that bridges the natural and applied sciences. It is home to seven floors of science and engineering labs; our Science and Engineering Library, one of the most popular study spaces on campus; and Joe Coffee, located literally in the northwest corner, which has some of the neighborhood's best drinks and sweets, and giant floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking Broadway.

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We're standing outside of Havemeyer Hall, home to Room 309, the most filmed classroom in America. Movies that have been shot here include the original Spider Man trilogy and Ghostbusters. Can you imagine Peter Parker taking a test here? In real life, Havemeyer houses the Columbia University Department of Chemistry. Classes you might take here include General Chemistry, Data Structures in Java, and other courses in chemistry or the sciences.

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Hi, my name is Riley and I'm an Economics and Psychology major in Columbia College, originally from Port St. Lucie, Florida, and I'll be leading you through the rest of the Academic tour! Just as it says on its facade, Schermerhorn Hall is home to many of our natural and social sciences. The country's first anthropology department was founded by Franz Boas here, and it also houses a variety of other departments, ranging from African American and African Diaspora Studies to Earth and Environmental Science. Esteemed social scientists like Margaret Mead, Ella Cara Deloria, Zora Neale Hurston, Saidiya Hartman, and Gayatri Spivak walked and still walk these halls. Schermerhorn Room 613, a tiny lab called ""the fly room,"" has also produced six of Columbia's Nobel Prize winners, including Thomas Hunt Morgan, who developed the modern theory of the gene.

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Revson Plaza is a wide, walkable bridge that connects the main campus to East Campus. Here, regardless of the time of day, you can relax with a friend and enjoy the spectacular views. You can also find entrances to Columbia Law School, the School of International and Public Affairs, the Center for Career Education, and the East Campus and Wien upperclassmen residence halls. The East Campus residence hall overlooks neighboring Morningside Park, and when you're on one of the upper floors, you can even see the southern tip of Manhattan island, 8 miles away. In front of us is Casa Italiana, our Italian Academy that offers Italian cultural classes, events, and even a library. In all, Columbia students can study over 50 languages here.

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Columbia prides itself on its strength in the liberal arts. Philosophy Hall hosts many departments in the humanities and languages, and is home to the Philosophy, English, and French departments, as well as the Writing Center, a resource for one-on-one writing support. The statue in front of Philosophy Hall is an authentic bronze casting of Rodan's Le(r) Ponser, or The Thinker. In front of The Thinker is the oldest building on campus, Buell Hall, also known as La Maison Française, or The French House. This building was designed in 1885, and today it hosts many French language and cultural workshops and events, in addition to musical performances. Beyond Buell and Philosophy lies Kent Hall, which features the Starr East Asian Library and our renowned centers in East Asian Languages and Cultures.

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Columbia undergrads can explore dozens of world-class humanities departments and 12 conservatory-caliber arts departments. Miller Theatre, which is housed here in Dodge Hall, hosts events in dance, jazz, opera and contemporary music. Dodge is also home to the graduate School of the Arts. Some of the other graduate schools on this campus include Business and Law, alma maters of Warren Buffett and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, respectively; and the School of Journalism, which awards the Pulitzer Prizes. Our graduate schools also stretch beyond the main campus. Our medical, dental, nursing, and public health schools are located fifty blocks north, and a campus extension in the neighborhood of Manhattanville houses the Lenfest Center for the Arts, the Jerome L. Greene Science Center, and the Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute.

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Hamilton Hall, named for the first Secretary of the Treasury and our most famous dropout, houses the Columbia College Dean's Office, Undergraduate Admissions, and the Center for the Core Curriculum. The Core Curriculum is the hallmark of the undergraduate experience at Columbia, a set of classes every student takes, regardless of major, featuring small-group seminars on topics ranging from the humanities to the arts to the sciences to even physical education, all with the mission of defining what it means to be human in the world we live in today. The names of some of the authors in the Core can be seen written across Butler Library's facade.

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These are the main gates to Columbia's campus, at the corner of 116th and Broadway. The New York City subway, designed by a Columbia alum in the 1890s, has a stop just outside campus. It's how students get to their favorite spots in the city, like Chelsea Market, Lincoln Center, and the American Museum of Natural History. Students can access more than two dozen museums free of charge with their Columbia ID. The city really is your classroom - you can look at art on a powerpoint slide in your Art Humanities class, and see it the next week in person on a field trip to the Met. In addition to Columbia's physical campuses in New York City, our networks extend all over the world. Over a quarter of undergraduates study abroad, and nine Global Centers serve as direct, international platforms for the exchange of ideas, cultural dialogue, and enrichment. This concludes our academic tour. We hope you enjoyed exploring Columbia University's academic life! If you're interested, check out our student life tour next. Don't forget to register for other opportunities to learn about Columbia at the links above.

Welcome to Columbia University Academic Life

Butler Library - Main Campus Library

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Mudd Building - Engineering Labs and Classrooms

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Pupin Hall - Science Labs and Classrooms

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Northwest Corner Building - STEM Library, Labs and Classrooms, and Joe Coffee

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Havemeyer Hall - Science Labs and Classrooms

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Schermerhorn Hall - Natural and Social Sciences Classrooms

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Revson Plaza - Overlooking 116th Street and Amsterdam Avenue

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Philosophy Hall - Humanities and Languages Classrooms and the Writing Center

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Dodge Hall - Arts Building and Miller Theater

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Hamilton Hall - Humanities Classrooms and Center for the Core Curriculum

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Broadway and 116th Street - Main Campus Gate

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