Media Contact: Micki Leventhal, 312-369-7383; mleventhal@colum.edu
Chicago, IL (October 14, 2008) -- In an overwhelming show of support the Columbia College Chicago Board of Trustees unanimously approved the extension of college President Dr. Warrick L. Carter’s contract through August 2012.
“The college’s growth – both quantitatively and qualitatively – during Dr. Carter’s tenure has taken us to a position of national prominence,” said Allen M. Turner, board chairman. “We are secure and strong fiscally, our enrollment continues to grow and our academic programs receive international recognition. It is truly Columbia’s moment and it is due to Dr. Carter’s leadership that we have attained this position. We are depending on him to lead us into the next decade with the same outstanding level of vision and skill we have come to depend upon.”
Carter took the helm at Columbia in summer 2000; his inauguration into the office of President occurring during September of that year. His 4-year contract was unanimously renewed in 2003, with a further extension until 2010.
“With this extension through 2012, he will be the Dean of Chicago-area college Presidents,” notes Turner. When Henry Bienen of Northwestern University retires on August 31, 2009 Carter will stand as the longest-serving college president among peer institutions in the Chicago area. “As Columbia looks toward and beyond attaining the goals Carter set for the college in its strategic plan, Columbia 2010, the board of trustees deemed continuity of primary importance to guide us into our next phase of growth,” added Turner.
He has overseen the academic restructuring of the institution from a small college in which all 23 academic departments reported to one dean, to a professionalized academic structure in accord with best practices industry standards. Under Carter’s leadership, Columbia has attracted top-notch academic administrators and recruited highly credentialed faculty, working with them, along with the college’s long-term, dedicated and gifted faculty, to expand academic offerings and build the rigor of the core liberal arts and sciences curriculum.
“While Columbia continues to emphasize developing the artistic voice and teaching state of the art skills geared toward success in the arts, entertainment and media industries, we are also engaged in enhancing the liberal arts and sciences curriculum,” explains Carter. “We are at a crossroads in our evolution as an institution of higher learning. How will we define our course in the years to come? Regardless, we will encounter both risks and rewards as the surface and the substance of the college changes and evolves. We are prepared for both.”
Carter’s guiding principals, reflected in the college’s mission, adhere to a firm belief in the importance of access and opportunity in higher education and the importance of a diversity of voices in the American cultural product.
As Columbia has grown in size and reputation it has attracted an increasing number of students who are enrolling at the college as a school of first choice. Since 2004, the number of out-of-state freshman enrollments has increased a whopping 94%; overall out-of-state enrollment has increased 151% since 2000. Carter has been working with academic leadership to explore ways in which Columbia can continue to serve students across a broadening spectrum of preparedness, ensuring that each individual has an optimum learning experience, including standardizing learning outcomes, providing increased in-service pedagogical training for full and part-time faculty, and planning for an honors program.
Carter has also guided Columbia into the global arena. When he came into office, the college did not participate in any foreign exchange programs or engage in relationships with institutions of higher education outside the United States. Columbia now offers over a dozen of its own programs of international study and has institutional relationships with colleges and universities in London, Dublin, Paris and Florence which provide opportunities for Columbia faculty and students to work and study overseas.
In terms of physical growth, since taking the helm, Carter has added more than 230,000 square feet of property to the college’s portfolio, and has brokered more than 64,000 square feet in long-term lease arrangement. The resident student population has grown from less than 500 to more than 2,650, with students occupying the college-owned residence hall at 731 S. Plymouth as well as leased luxury dorm residences around the South Loop and in the 1,700-bed University Center Chicago, a model residence arrangement in collaboration with Roosevelt and DePaul Universities. With its two dozen buildings totally more than 4 million square feet of space in service to the cause of higher education in the arts and media, Carter has grown the institution into a real force for economic development in the South Loop.
The next project on line is the Media Production Center (MPC). The Chicago City Council approved the sale of a parcel of land at 16th and State and Columbia will be breaking ground on its first new construction in winter of 2009 with a projected occupancy date of spring 2010. The 38,000 square foot MPC, designed by Studio Gang Architects, will includes two sound stages, a motion capture studio, animation lab, classrooms and space for production design and costumes and serve the students of the college’s school of media arts. In keeping with the college’s commitment to sustainability and environmental responsibility, the MPC will aim for LEED certification at the silver level.
Fundraising for the MPC is in full swing and is a watershed in the change in development efforts at Columbia since Carter joined the college. “Giving has nearly tripled since Dr. Carter’s tenure at Columbia,” says Eric V.A. Winston, vice president of institutional advancement. “This is a sea change for Columbia because until Dr. Carter’s arrival, the college had a tradition of eschewing development efforts and depending almost entirely upon student tuition dollars.”
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