Columbia’s new President and CEO Shantay Bolton received a standing ovation at the all-college faculty meeting on Wednesday, Aug. 20 after she urged faculty to help her focus on student success and elevate Columbia’s brand.

More than 200 faculty and staff were in attendance for Bolton’s first formal address since assuming her new position on July 1.

Faculty told the Chronicle that Bolton cited the college’s recent 135th anniversary and her desire to stabilize enrollment.

Ted Hardin, Faculty Senate secretary and associate professor in the School of Film and Television, said in an interview after her address that the energy in the meeting was “infectious and real.”

Hardin said he was able to meet Bolton and her team prior to the faculty meeting, but it was “nice to see the effects that this new leadership team has on the whole faculty.”

The tone at the meeting was far different from the one last year when former Senior Vice President and Provost Marcella David first shared the college’s plans to eliminate or merge nearly half of all of its academic programs. 

Even before that, the college had started to undertake a historic restructure to address a growing financial deficit due to declining enrollment and shifts in higher education. In May 2024, 70 staff members lost their jobs, and this year, 43 full-time faculty were laid off.

Bolton and other college leaders acknowledged the losses at the meeting, faculty said.

“I miss the colleagues that are not with us here,” Hardin said. “There’s a need to honor. They’re with us as well in terms of the legacy.”

The college’s Board of Trustees announced in a campuswide email in March that Bolton would become Columbia’s new leader after former President and CEO Kwang-Wu Kim stepped down in 2024. After Kim’s departure, Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Jerry Tarrer, who previously was the college’s chief financial officer, served as interim president and CEO.

Bolton was the former executive vice president and chief business officer at Georgia Institute of Technology.

In an exclusive interview with the Chronicle in March, Bolton said that one of her passions was working with students and the community to “amplify the stories of who we are.”

She attended the Manifest Urban Arts Festival and commencement in May but had not yet talked to a large group of faculty.

“I was really looking forward to being in this space with her, because I haven’t had that opportunity,” said Wilfredo Rivera, assistant professor in the School of Theatre and dance.

Rivera said some of the information felt repetitive, but the core message about being realistic in the context of higher education and Columbia’s place in the Midwest resonated. 

“It’s continuing to evolve, reconnect with our identity as an institution and really, like they’re saying, celebrate and bank on our achievements,” he said. 

Emmanuel Lalande, Columbia’s new senior vice president of enrollment strategy and student success spoke to faculty about enrollment declines and how he plans to increase it and stabilize the college’s significant revenue losses.

Fall enrollment dipped to about 4,300, a significant drop from prior years, though one Lalande attributed to some of the negative attention the college has received in the last few years, faculty told the Chronicle.

Columbia’s enrollment in Fall 2024 was 5,570, according to the Office of Institutional Effectiveness. 

In an interview after his presentation, Lalande told the Chronicle that he considers this a moment when the college can develop a new strategy and “really continue to understand where we are.”

“There’s an opportunity for us to reimagine our financial aid strategy that responds to who we actually attract and who we want to attract,” Lalande said. “How do we become a transfer friendly institution? How do we make sure that we create access for those who, quote, unquote, may not be academically prepared?”

A drop in transfer students is part of the decline.

Holly Herrera, associate provost for transfer initiatives and academic partnerships, told the Chronicle that there are roughly 300 transfer students enrolled for Fall 2025, down from 416 in Fall 2024.

The goal is to enroll 450 transfer students in Fall 2026, she said. 

Karla Fuller, Faculty Senate president and professor in the School of Film and Television, said that overall the meeting felt “really positive.”

“Everybody commented on her energy, but I was really most impressed by her clarity in her strategies for righting the ship of this college,” Fuller said.

“She was very well received,” Fuller said. “She’s focused on results.”

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