Institution
Columbia College Chicago was founded in 1890 as the Columbia School of Oratory by Mary A. Blood and Ida Morey Riley, both graduates of the Monroe Conservatory of Oratory (now Emerson College), in Boston, Massachusetts. After the death of Ida Riley in 1901, the school changed its name to the Columbia College of Expression in 1905 and added coursework in teaching to the curriculum. In 1928, the college was incorporated into the Pestalozzi-Froebel Teachers College, a family-run school centered on training its students for teaching kindergarten.
In 1961, an open-admissions policy was established so that any qualified high school graduate could attend college and be taught by some of the most influential and creative professionals in Chicago. During the next thirty years Columbia College became an urban institution that has helped change the face of higher education. With this renewed focus on building its academic program, the institution was awarded full accreditation in 1974 from the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. In 1984 the College received full accreditation for its graduate programs.
Through the vast diversity of students and graduates, the school brings a rich vision and a multiplicity of voices to American culture, encouraging students to “author the culture of their times.” Building on its heritage of creativity, innovation, and strength, Columbia College Chicago continues to challenge its students to realize their abilities. The College is currently engaged in a self-study evaluation encompassing the entire spectrum of the college’s mission and function as part of the periodic process to maintain its accreditation status with the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools.
Columbia College Chicago’s Mission
Columbia is an undergraduate and graduate college whose principal commitment is to provide a comprehensive educational opportunity in the arts, communications, and public information within a context of enlightened liberal education. Columbia’s intent is to educate students who will communicate creatively and shape the public’s perceptions of issues and events and who will author the culture of their times. Columbia is an urban institution whose students reflect the economic, racial, cultural, and educational diversity of contemporary America. Columbia conducts education in close relationship to a vital urban reality and serves important civic purpose by active engagement in the life and culture of the city of Chicago.
Columbia’s purpose is:
In 1961, an open-admissions policy was established so that any qualified high school graduate could attend college and be taught by some of the most influential and creative professionals in Chicago. During the next thirty years Columbia College became an urban institution that has helped change the face of higher education. With this renewed focus on building its academic program, the institution was awarded full accreditation in 1974 from the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. In 1984 the College received full accreditation for its graduate programs.
Through the vast diversity of students and graduates, the school brings a rich vision and a multiplicity of voices to American culture, encouraging students to “author the culture of their times.” Building on its heritage of creativity, innovation, and strength, Columbia College Chicago continues to challenge its students to realize their abilities. The College is currently engaged in a self-study evaluation encompassing the entire spectrum of the college’s mission and function as part of the periodic process to maintain its accreditation status with the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools.
Columbia College Chicago’s Mission
Columbia is an undergraduate and graduate college whose principal commitment is to provide a comprehensive educational opportunity in the arts, communications, and public information within a context of enlightened liberal education. Columbia’s intent is to educate students who will communicate creatively and shape the public’s perceptions of issues and events and who will author the culture of their times. Columbia is an urban institution whose students reflect the economic, racial, cultural, and educational diversity of contemporary America. Columbia conducts education in close relationship to a vital urban reality and serves important civic purpose by active engagement in the life and culture of the city of Chicago.
Columbia’s purpose is:
·to educate students for creative occupations in diverse fields of the arts and media and to encourage awareness of their aesthetic relationship and the opportunity of professional choice among them;
·to extend educational opportunity by admitting unreservedly (at the undergraduate level) a student population with creative ability in, or inclination to, the subjects of Columbia’s interest;
·to provide a college climate that offers students an opportunity to try themselves out, to explore, and to discover what they can and want to do;
·to give educational emphasis to the work of a subject by providing a practical setting, professional facilities, and the example and guidance of an inventive faculty who work professionally at the subjects they teach;
·to teach students to do expertly the work they like, to master the crafts of their intended occupations, and to discover alternative opportunities to employ their talents in settings other than customary marketplaces;
·to help students to find out who they are and to discover their own voices, respect their own individuality, and improve their self-esteem and self-confidence;
·to offer specialized graduate programs which combine a strong conceptual emphasis with practical professional education, preparing students with mature interests to be both competent artists and successful professionals.
