College Signs Ten-year Lease for Space at Wabash and Adams; Some Research Centers, Administrative Offices to Move North
Columbia College has signed a ten-year lease for 34,000 square feet in the building at 218 S. Wabash. The new space is in a ten-story building several blocks north of the college’s core campus.
In March, several of the college’s research institutes and centers will move to the rental space. Making the move will be the Center for Arts Policy, the Center for Asian Arts and Media, and the Institute for the Study of Women and Gender in the Arts and Media (all currently housed in the 33 E. Congress building), the Chicago Jazz Ensemble (currently at 1006 S. Michigan), and others. Several administrative units will also be moving to the new address during the summer of 2007.
“Because enrollment continues to grow and the student experience is our top priority, we feel it is important to keep classroom, lab, and studio space as convenient and centrally located as possible,” explains Alicia Berg, vice president of campus environment. “Moving these administrative functions and research centers will free up much-needed academic space. This arrangement is an excellent economic solution for the college at this time.”
Reports of Imminent Demise of Buddy Guy’s Legends Exaggerated
Mark Twain once remarked that news stories about his own death were “greatly exaggerated.” So, too, are news reports about Buddy Guy being evicted from his Legends blues club at the corner of Wabash and Balbo.
A flurry of media reports earlier this month led to a misperception that Columbia College Chicago, which owns the property and leases space to Guy, planned to force the blues legend to move his club elsewhere when his current lease expires in May. In fact, the college is prepared to maintain flexibility as “landlord”—although not indefinitely.
When Columbia acquired the property in 1999, plans were announced to construct a campus center on that particular parcel. The college’s intended use of the site is no surprise to Guy. That intent was reinforced when the current lease was negotiated two years ago.
As has been indicated in the past, the college is willing to talk with Guy, who received an honorary degree from Columbia last year, about continuing to rent the facility to Legends until a timetable for new construction is identified.
Army Recruiting Center to Open at the UCC
A U.S. Army Recruiting Center is slated to open later this month in storefront retail space on the Harrison Street side of the University Center. Rental of the space to the Army was a decision taken by the Educational Advancement Fund (EAF), the independent, nonprofit corporation that owns and operates University Center, the “superdorm” at the corner of State Street and Congress Boulevard. The EAF board includes voting representatives from Columbia College Chicago, DePaul University, and Roosevelt University.
Columbia College to Implement New Online Communication System
Over the next several months, the college will begin implementation of a new, interactive online-communication system that will dramatically improve the ease and efficiency with which we communicate with various audiences. An initiative of the marketing/communication division of the Office of Institutional Advancement, the system utilizes a new product, called iModules, to organize, personalize, and distribute content and information to individuals based on their interests and preferences.
The iModules system combines an online community with a continually updated library of content to deliver information about the college in a highly personalized format. It also offers great flexibility, enabling us to communicate with diverse constituencies in a useful, engaging way that reflects the creative ethos of the college.
The system will be rolled out to alumni first, replacing our current online alumni community, with resources for students, parents, and faculty and staff following soon after. Members of the marketing/communication staff will provide additional information to the college community in the coming weeks, to better illustrate how the new system can benefit each department and the college as a whole.
Faculty & Staff Discounts Available to Conversations in the Arts: Up Close with…Richard Roundtree
Columbia College Chicago continues its celebrity speaker series, “Conversations in the Arts: Up Close with…” on February 15 with an appearance by actor Richard Roundtree. Although Roundtree has appeared in more than 70 feature films and many television movies, and held recurring roles on series including “Outlaws” and “413 Hope Street,” he is perhaps best-known for his groundbreaking role as John Shaft, private detective and super-cop hero in the feature film Shaft.
Tickets to the general public are $50.00 each, but are available to faculty and staff of Columbia College at a discounted rate of $35.00 by calling 312-344-7420.
Silver and Gold: Double NASPA Awards for Student Affairs
Columbia’s Office of Student Affairs won both a gold and a silver award in this year’s NASPA (Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education) Excellence Awards program. The only institution to win two awards, Columbia took the gold in the Student Union, Student Activities, Greek Life, Leadership category for our Manifest Urban Arts Festival; and the silver in the Careers, Academic Support, Service Learning, Community Service category for the Portfolio Center.
Congratulations are in order for the entire Student Affairs staff, especially those working to make Manifest and the Portfolio Center so exceptional.
Columbia Gallery Season Opens Thursday with Seven New Exhibitions
On Thursday, January 25, there are opening receptions for seven major new exhibitions on campus, including lectures and conversations with internationally celebrated artists and curators. Discover for yourself why Columbia College has the most dynamic gallery and exhibition scene of any college in the country.
Museum of Contemporary Photography
600 S. Michigan Ave.
reception: 5:00 to 7:00
Misty Keasler: Love Hotels This Columbia alum documents the uniquely Japanese cultural phenomenon of "love hotels," hourly rooms rented by couples for amorous liaisons, in a series of photographs that expose these peculiar, kitschy, private-in-public spaces with unruffled objectivity. Keasler will present a lecture on her work at 4:00 p.m. in the Ferguson Theater
Larry Sultan: The Valley Sultan's provocative series investigates the ordinary suburban San Fernando Valley homes rented on a daily basis as sets for adult films. Sultan exposes the mundane aspects of the pornography industry as well as our notions of American domesticity. More information at: http://mocp.org
Sex and Food: A Robert Heinecken Memorial Exhibition Beginning in the late 1960s and continuing to the late 1990s, Robert Heinecken produced a series of projects that involved manipulating and recombining media imagery in order to understand how this imagery, chiefly photographic, works on and through our imaginations.
A + D Gallery
619 S. Wabash
Reception: 5:00 to 8:00
Pandemic In Print: African HIV/AIDS Posters African posters concerned with HIV/AIDS education, prevention, and treatment provide a unique opportunity to examine how the disease is presented to the African public and to understand the attitudes and issues that shape strategies for dealing with it. Dr. Mardge Cohen, founder of the Women and Children HIV Program at Cook County Hospital and the Director of Women's HIV Research at the CORE Center, will discuss the AIDS crisis in Africa, particularly in Rwanda, at the Hokin Auditorium from 6:30 to 7:30.
Hokin Gallery + Hokin Annex
623 S. Wabash
Reception: 6:00 to 8:30
Boombox with Power Speakers Boombox is an art collective of three Chicago artists: Dustin Harris, Joel Maximé Jr., and Lea Pinsky, all affiliates of Columbia College, who share an interest in contemporary urban life, current and historical socio-political issues and popular culture. They incorporate graffiti and graphic painting styles, manipulate images from popular culture and current events, and offer bold commentary on the state of social and racial politics in the U.S.
Re[Collect] An intimate grouping of 15 works from the [C]Spaces permanent collection, including paintings and prints from recent acquisitions.
C33 Gallery
33 E. Congress
Reception: 5:00 to 7:00
Ethnic Dress Art & Culture Curated By Virginia Heaven and Andrew Causey, this exhibition showcases 25e garments from around the world, selected from the Fashion Columbia Study Collection to explore the interrelationships of technology and aesthetics through the material culture of dress.
Feeling Voyeuristic? Satisfy that Impulse with Glass Curtain’s Webcam
Glass Curtain Gallery’s new exhibition, “Africa.dot.Com,” begins with a selection of drums and instruments that African cultures have utilized for communication in the past—an continues with a look at the ways recent technologies, such as cell phones, text messaging, and IM, are affecting current communications. There’s also a live webcam, so viewers—or voyeurs—can log on from virtually anywhere and watch what’s happening in the gallery. To access the webcam, click the links below and enter the username and password:
If you’re on campus, click here
If you’re off campus, click here
For both, enter:
Username: Glass1104
Password: Gla555
Or use the link from the C-Spaces website.
“Africa.dot.Com” was curated by alum Deborah Stokes (M.A. ’00, Photography: Museum Studies). There will be an opening reception on Thursday, February 1, from 5:00 to 8:00.
Columbia Partners with The Second City to Offer New Comedy Studies Program
On Monday, the first group of students enrolled in the new Comedy Studies program met for their first class at The Second City, a cornerstone of comedy, improv, and satire for decades. Students in the new program participate in a semester-long immersion in comedic performance, history, writing, and improvisation. Comedy Studies, collaboratively developed and presented by the theater department and The Second City, provides a unique opportunity for students to study full-time at The Second City for an entire semester.
“Comedy Studies students will enjoy an intense level of learning and growth,” says Sheldon Patinkin, chair of Columbia’s theater department and one of the original founders of The Second City. “They’ll be in the thick of the professional environment yet will continue to make their parents happy by staying in school!”
All students in Comedy Studies take the same full load of 16 credit hours during the 15-week semester. Students with a minimum of junior-level status and a demonstrated interest in performance, comedy writing, and improvisation are invited to apply. Application deadline for Spring 2007 is October 16, 2006.
Information at 312-344-6100 or www.comedystudies.com
Coffee Achievers, Unite!
Starting February 1 and continuing through the spring semester, the Center for Teaching Excellence will sponsor a coffee break for all full- and part-time faculty from 3:30 to 5:00 p.m. each Thursday. Faculty are invited to come to the Faculty Center on the eighth floor of the Alexandroff Center, 600 S. Michigan, for a stimulating beverage and stimulating conversation with your colleagues.
Another faculty resource begins this Friday, January 26, when the Center for Instructional Technology will begin holding monthly Oasis Exchange Seminars the last Friday of each month, from 10:00 a.m. to noon in room 811F of the Alexandroff Center.
The purpose of these seminars is to allow an exchange of ideas and techniques among faculty working with the Oasis learning management system. Faculty are invited to share examples of how they are using online materials and coursework to teach their courses, as well as grading tips and techniques to make teaching through Oasis more productive and enjoyable for students and faculty. Staff will be available for questions and troubleshooting. For more information or suggestions, contact David Noffs at dnoffs@colum.edu.
Faculty & Staff Accomplishments
Ann Hetzel Gunkel (Cultural Studies) was honored with the Creative Arts Prize of the Polish American Historical Association at this month’s meeting of the American Historical Association. The award recognizes contributions in the field of creative arts by individuals or groups who have promoted an awareness of the Polish experience in the Americas. Gunkel, specialist in urban cultural studies, is widely regarded as the leading scholar of polka in the United States.
