Demystifying Office Hours 

Posted on January 19, 2022 by Cecilia Guan

I may not be a professor, but my office hours are also open to all! Photo credit, Unsplash.

Welcome to the start of a new semester! I am in a bit of disbelief that this is the last one of my undergraduate Columbia experiences. I thought I would start off my posts this new year by unpacking possibly one of the most mysterious parts of the academic experience: office hours. If you are nervous about approaching or meeting with a professor, read on. I hope I can share some insights and general recommendations about overcoming your initial hesitations about office hours and making the most of this wonderful resource.  Continue reading →

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Memory & Melody: The Core Curriculum and the Musical Imagination

Posted on January 12, 2022 by Adam Kluge

Metropolitan Opera House. Photo Credit: Niall Kennedy, Creative Commons

“Wait, the best is yet to come: Don Basilio, my / singing teacher and his factotum,/ while giving me lessons/ repeats the same theme every day.” 

― Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Le nozze di Figaro

 

While Columbia’s notable Core Curriculum  is particularly revered for its Literature Humanities and Contemporary Civilizations course offerings, having first introduced the latter in 1919 (just one year after the conclusion of World War I), there is a certain charm that colors its lesser known components. Art Humanities introduces students to the oil paintings of Rembrandt and the grinning Monroe of Andy Warhol, while the Foreign Language requirement offers burgeoning scholars the ability to conduct research in a region that transcends their vernacular. In a similar way, the Music Humanities curriculum––introduced in 1947 and focused on the many forms of Western musical imagination––provides students the chance to understand creation as a medium that can both be written, heard, and viscerally felt.

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Research Symposium!

Posted on January 4, 2022 by Christian Flores

Astrid Liden (Laidlaw ’20) and Ava Sanjabi (Laidlaw ’21) at Columbia’s Undergraduate Research Symposium, October 2021. Photo credit: Ariella Lang.

About two months ago, Columbia and URF hosted their annual Undergraduate Research Symposium, an event that allows students to showcase research projects they have been working on. It happened to coincide with Family Days Weekend, and I eagerly waited on line with parents who were excited to see their student’s research spanning the Humanities, Social Science, and STEM. As I walked in, the 150+ student presenters were well under way, chatting with visitors and sharing color copies of their posters. Full of positive energy, the symposium offers insight for students who are unaware of what undergraduate research looks like to get a sense of not only what each discipline aims to study, but also how to go about finding opportunities, funding, and an advisor. I interviewed four students about their projects and experiences within the research community with the goal of understanding what motivates students. Apart from asking about their individual projects, I posed four questions to each student about their respective fields, and surprisingly came away with distinct conversations. 

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Reimagining Research during COVID-19

Posted on December 27, 2021 by Adam Kluge

3D Painting, British Library. Photo credit: Plashing Vole.

“Comprehension, in short, means the unpremeditated, attentive facing up to, and resisting of, reality –– whatever it may be.” ― Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism

The COVID-19 pandemic, regardless of the declaration from many that it has reached some sort of official conclusion, has left in its wake a series of strains upon institutions of higher learning. As a student at Columbia, I have found myriad challenges emerge over the course of the last eighteen months, particularly manifest in the areas of library access and independent research. As a senior, the need to compile relevant data to supplement my thesis proposal has been a point of particular contention, as I attempt to access  resources that are still available only in limited physical or solely digital forms. However, in adapting to the conditions of the surrounding world––both in Manhattan and across the varied landscapes of universities throughout the United States––I have found that the confinement of my research to digital mediums has proven remarkably revelatory in my understanding of such resources.

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A ‘Not To-Do’ Guide from Machiavelli: Being a Successful Columbia Student Leader

Posted on December 17, 2021 by Cecilia Guan

A scene from Columbia Chinese Students Club’s 2019 Night Market. Planning this event was an incredibly formative experience for me as a student leader. Photo credit: Cecilia Guan.

Throughout your year in Contemporary Civilizations (CC), you are exposed to, amongst other topics, perspectives on what ‘good’ civil society looks like, what ‘good’ government looks like, and what ‘good’ leaders look like. One of the main reasons why I enjoyed CC so much came from this ability to draw connections between the texts I engaged with and their relevance (or lack thereof) to everyday reality. This sentiment was abundantly clear for me after reading The Prince by Machiavelli. Colloquially, someone described as Machiavellian is manipulative, willing to cross moral boundaries in order to attain power. Reading the actual textual basis for these culturally significant ideas enabled me to refine my understanding of what kind of leader Machiavelli conceptualized. The conclusion I reached was that the traits of a Machiavellian leader were absolutely not the characteristics I would personally choose to embody. So, what can take away from this CC text to inform how we develop our leadership style and become stronger Columbia student leaders? 

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Classics Conferences in the Time of COVID: My Experience Presenting Research in 2020

Posted on December 10, 2021 by Virginia Ignelzi

The University of Tennessee, Knoxville (where the conference would have been held, if not for a global pandemic). Photo credit: Unsplash.

It might be helpful to think of this post as a “Part 2” to what I wrote last month. If you haven’t had a chance to take a look, in that post I discussed how I developed a final paper for a class into a piece of work ready for presentation at a research conference. In this post, I want to explain what happened next. In other words, what was the conference itself like and how did I end up there? As opposed to October’s post which talked mostly about my writing process, this will be a little bit more logistics-focused. While some of this information might seem basic or obvious to those who have already participated in similar opportunities, I hope that this explanation will serve to demystify the process for those in the earlier stages of their research.

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Classwork to Conference Presentation: Developing a Class Paper into a Conference-Ready Research Project

Posted on November 25, 2021 by Virginia Ignelzi

University of Tennessee Undergraduate Classics Conference Announcement.

If you’re reading this blog, you’re probably interested in research as an undergrad. Also, if you’re reading this blog, you may not know where to begin. In this post, I hope to demystify the process some by outlining how I prepared my first paper for presentation at a research conference, beginning with a paper I wrote for a class. This post will not be an explanation of how I got the chance to present at this conference (but that might be a later post!). Instead, I want to discuss the revision process and how I got to a “final product” ready for presentation. But, before I begin, I just want to say that the following is simply a process that worked for me, and I know that everyone’s method and timeline could look different.

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Transferring into the Core

Posted on November 20, 2021 by Adam Kluge

Library. Photo Credit: Stewart Butterfield

“As the stars made themselves visible, Milkman tried to figure what was true and what part of what was true had anything to do with him.” 

― Toni Morrison, Song of Solomon

As a transfer student, the arrival to Columbia can often be accompanied by a whole flurry of emotions––uncertainty as to where one might fit into the social fabric; anxieties related to life in New York City; confusion exacerbated by a new environment and the many wonderful quirks that make Columbia our collective home. With that said, one of the largest adjustments that comes with a transition into Columbia is enrollment in our proverbial academic tradition: the Core Curriculum. As a student who had only been introduced to the Core through admissions brochures and information sessions with members of the Undergraduate Recruitment Committee, my knowledge of this robust intellectual framework upon my arrival to Manhattan was limited. However, it is both a unique and beneficial aspect of the Core that students of all academic backgrounds are thrust into its arms in their first weeks on campus. 

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Putting It All Together: Tools for an Organized Project 

Posted on November 15, 2021 by Cecilia Guan

“What’s your work set-up like?” Photo Credit: Cecilia Guan

So your research project is finally underway: now what? For me, the natural next step is to get organized. I have compiled some of my favorite tips and tools for managing any type of project. For context, I am a visual learner who likes seeing the big picture and then structuring sub-components from there. Although these techniques work for me, my main mission is to help you think through what kinds of organizational frameworks apply to your situation, and if there is technology out there that can facilitate the way you work. 

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“Useless” Research: Applying Research Skills to an Unrelated Summer Internship

Posted on October 25, 2021 by Virginia Ignelzi

A screenshot from Virginia’s museum tour. Photo Credit: Virginia Ignelzi.

In the spring of 2021, I attended a virtual undergraduate Classics conference and presented my research on Lucian of Samosata, a 2nd Century Greek satirist. In my paper, I focused on a text called On salaried posts in great houses, exploring the nuances and layers of Lucian’s social critique. At this point, the eyes of all non-Classics students might have already glazed over. In other words, this is a very esoteric topic that few would find interesting or relevant to their daily lives. In fact, even I initially struggled to connect this very niche research interest with the rest of my life. I certainly enjoyed the process of researching and writing and found the topic interesting, but would this research ever be used? For months, my recently-gained knowledge sat in the back of my mind, gathering figurative dust. I do not think I am alone in experiencing this frustration. Research topics are often incredibly specific. Sometimes, the “real world” application of a certain project is not immediately evident. In that case, it can be tempting to dismiss the whole endeavor as useless.

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