Over the last five weeks, Amelia hosted Town Halls to discuss the campaign: where we are and where we’re going, what we most want to know. To follow up, we sat down with Amelia to ask her four questions…

Q: Are there particular topics that emerged from the Town Halls?

People have voiced that they want more information. There will be many ways to share material as we move toward public launch in the fall of 2017, including a new giving site and other digital platforms. We are planning to launch a campaign insiders’ app in the fall to provide up-to-date information on the campaign and the Big Ideas to staff and volunteers on their smartphones. And, of course, as I stressed at every Town Hall, Campaign Countdown will continue to provide the details.

Q: What was been most telling to you from the conversations?

Structural challenges remain. While we have become less siloed in our thinking, that’s not enough. For the new campaign to succeed, we need to encourage further collaboration and interdisciplinary work among staff, as well as among faculty, through concrete means to strengthen partnerships across traditional boundaries and reporting structures.

Q: What would you most like everyone to know?

In President Bollinger’s 2016 Commencement address he said, “[Columbia] can and should be more engaged than we are with the problems of the world, in the way that only one of the greatest universities in the world can.”

This is the biggest Big Idea for the campaign. The more specific Big Ideas are not merely themes, but reflect strategic directions underway at a University that now, more than ever, is geared for interdisciplinary work on solving the world’s problems.

Q: As an ambassador for this campaign, what do I need to know?

That Columbia is in one of the most exciting moments in our long history—more ready than ever to have an impact around the globe. As we continue to shape and define the campaign and related messaging, here are a few tools and key pieces of information to keep in mind:

• Timeline
  • Insiders’ launch: Fall 2016
  • Trustee approval of campaign dollar goal: Spring 2017
  • Public launch: Fall 2017
• Campaign Countdown (monthly newsletter) features ongoing campaign updates
• Members of the Campaign Executive Committee can be found here
• Big Idea descriptions are updated regularly and posted on Essentials here (log-in required)

Send your thoughts and suggestions to [email protected].

Interview conducted by Carolina Castro, program coordinator, Marketing and Communications. If you have comments or questions, please write to [email protected].