At Columbia’s all-college faculty meeting, President Shantay Bolton outlined her vision with a focus on clarity, research-based strategy and community engagement. In this week’s Chronversations, host Stella Huang speaks with some faculty and staff about their perspectives on the meeting and the themes of collaboration, challenges in higher education and the path forward for Columbia.

Transcript:

0:07: Welcome back to Chronicle Conversations. 

0:10: I’m your host, Stella Huang. 

0:15: Change is never easy, and Columbia has faced its share of challenges, financial pressures, enrollment shifts and painful cuts that many of us still feel today. 

0:26: But with the new president at the helm, there’s a fresh sense of possibility. 

0:30: At the all-college faculty meeting on Wednesday, Aug. 20, President Bolton offered something different: clarity, energy and an invitation to move forward together. 

0:42: The vision is to engage the community in what Columbia is all about and to absolutely get people to understand the value of Columbia and to get people to help finance, you know? We need philanthropic support which we haven’t had in the past. 

1:01: That’s Zeline Kelly Bates, a part-time instructor in the School of Communications and Culture. 

1:06: Zeline was candid about the challenges ahead, declining enrollment, financial strain and the sadness after downsizing, but at the heart of her reflection was a call for unity. 

1:16: I hope that we speak in one voice so that we promote Columbia wherever we are to attract people to such a fabulous institution. 

1:27: It’s just collaboration and working together with a desire to continue to see. 

1:34: We’ve been around for 135 years and we want to continue that, but we need a joint message and a joint commitment and a joint collaboration to help things get better and to grow and be as wonderful as I know they can be. 

1:49: Hope alone isn’t enough. 

1:51: For Monika Jaiswal-Oliver, an academic manager in the School of Business and Entrepreneurship, the power of President Bolton’s message came from how grounded it was in research and strategy. 

2:01: She explains why this approach feels like a turning point. 

2:04: I see a lot of things happening quickly with the strategy behind why we are doing what we are doing, and she’s put in a lot of thought, a lot of research, not just by herself but people she has put in places, and that’s very exciting; putting in time, effort, meeting people who have information, connecting with alumni, being on the road and talking to alumni, talking to our students. 

2:31: She has a plan of, like, meeting the students, attending more events, meeting staff and faculty. 

2:38: That same sense of inspiration and unity was at the core of Monika’s reflections. 

2:44: I have to tell you she is very, very inspiring. What we heard today is so motivating and bringing everyone together. 

2:53: She has the four pillars and has a vision of where she collectively as a team as the whole community move forward and this is in my 12 years, 13 years actually that I have been here. 

3:08: I have never had a leader who is bringing everyone together to move forward and it is very exciting. 

3:16: Visda Goudarzi, an associate professor in the School of Audio and Music, picked up on the same theme of honesty and clarity. 

3:23: I saw a huge enthusiasm and new direction. 

3:27: I see that, like, there is a strategy and clarity and, like, seeing problems and not kind of trying to cover them but trying to face them and it’s good to see someone comes in with a new energy and she is also not saying that I am going to solve it. 

3:42: She says we are going to solve the problems we have together, because she is also one person, one person cannot move the rocks. 

3:50: We all do it together. 

3:52: And of course, a vision doesn’t erase the realities facing higher education across the country. 

3:58: I think the main challenge is what is going on in the whole country, to academia in general. 

4:04: There is lack of support from government, lack of support culturally for education. 

4:09: That is something that we are all dealing with and I think that is an additional factor that is in this environment dealing with the challenges that she has, and this is something we cannot change this environment. 

4:20: We have to see how can we move positively in this environment. 

4:24: And finally, optimism. 

4:26: A part-time instructor in both the School of Communications and Culture and the School of Business and Entrepreneurship, Dominic Calabrese, reminded me that while leadership matters, Columbia’s strength will come from what we do together as faculty, staff and students. 

4:42: I’m very impressed. It’s a very positive, upbeat mission for the college so we can, you know, grow our students to deal with recruitment and retention issues. 

4:50: So I was very impressed with her presentation and feeling very positive about the future of the college. 

4:55: The president and her team were again talking about their vision for the college and how faculty can play a critical role in that in terms of, well, basically, you know, honoring the faculty, recognizing their accomplishments and the wealth that they bring to the classroom in terms of their professional accomplishments and the creative work that they do and the enthusiasm they have for being teachers and to really again make this the most positive learning experience it could possibly be. 

5:19: So I think it’s going to be a collaborative relationship. 

5:21: The president talked about her, you know, wanting to be available, wanting to be transparent in her relationships with the faculty. 

5:27: So I think it’s going to be a terrific partnership between the faculty and the new president and her administration. 

5:33: The road ahead won’t be easy, but from inspiration and strategy to realism and hope, one thing is clear. 

5:39: President Bolton’s vision is sparking conversation, facing hard truths and believing in Columbia’s creative spirits to lead the way. 

5:46: Faculty and staff seem ready to engage, collaborate, and move the rocks together. 

5:54: Make sure to stay up to date with campus and Metronews at columbiachronicle.com. 

5:59: And sign up for our newsletter at columbiachronicle.com/newsletter. 

6:05: I’m Stella Huang. Thanks for listening. 

Copy edited by Matt Brady