This is a list of Presidents of Columbia University.
| President | Birth Year–Death Year | Years as President | Name of Institution; Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Samuel Johnson | (1696–1772) | (1754–1763) | King's College |
| 2 | Myles Cooper | (1735–1785) | (1763–1775) | King's College |
| 2.1 | Benjamin Moore, A.B. 1768 | (1748–1816) | (1775–1784) | King's College; acting |
| 2.2 | George Clinton | (1739–1812) | (1784–1787) | Columbia College "in the State of New York"; Chancellor (Regents government) |
| 3 | William Samuel Johnson | (1727–1819) | (1787–1800) | Columbia College "in the City of New York" (Trustees government) |
| 4 | Charles Henry Wharton | (1748–1833) | (1801–1801) | Columbia College |
| 5 | Benjamin Moore | (1748–1816) | (1801–1810) | Columbia College |
| 6 | William Harris | (1765–1829) | (1811–1829) | Columbia College; shares authority with Provost John Mitchell Mason until 1816 |
| 7 | William Alexander Duer | (1780–1858) | (1829–1842) | Columbia College |
| 8 | Nathaniel Fish Moore | (1782–1872) | (1842–1849) | Columbia College |
| 9 | Charles King | (1789–1867) | (1849–1863) | Columbia College; presides over move to Madison Avenue campus |
| 10 | Frederick Augustus Porter Barnard | (1809–1889) | (1864–1889) | Columbia College |
| 11 | Seth Low, A.B., 1870 | (1850–1916) | (1890–1901) | Columbia College; presides over move to Morningside Heights campus; name changes to "Columbia University in the City of New York" |
| 12 | Nicholas Murray Butler, A.B. 1882, M.A. 1883, Ph.D. 1884 | (1862–1947) | (1902–1945) | Columbia University |
| 12.1 | Frank D. Fackenthal, A.B. 1906 | (1883–1968) | (1945–1948) | Columbia University (acting) |
| 13 | Dwight D. Eisenhower | (1890–1969) | (1948–1953) | Columbia University; on leave while Supreme Commander of NATO, later 34th President of the United States |
| 14 | Grayson L. Kirk | (1903–1997) | (1953–1968) | Columbia University; resigned after 1968 protests |
| 15 | Andrew W. Cordier | (1901–1975) | (1969–1970) | Columbia University |
| 16 | William J. McGill | (1922–1997) | (1970–1980) | Columbia University |
| 17 | Michael I. Sovern, B.A. 1953, J.D. 1955 | (1931– ) | (1980–1993) | Columbia University |
| 18 | George Erik Rupp | (1942– ) | (1993–2002) | Columbia University |
| 19 | Lee C. Bollinger, J.D. 1971 | (1947– ) | (2002– ) | Columbia University |
Famous quotes containing the words columbia university, list of, list, presidents, columbia and/or university:
“The young women, what can they not learn, what can they not achieve, with Columbia University annex thrown open to them? In this great outlook for women’s broader intellectual development I see the great sunburst of the future.”
—M. E. W. Sherwood (1826–1903)
“Shea—they call him Scholar Jack—
Went down the list of the dead.
Officers, seamen, gunners, marines,
The crews of the gig and yawl,
The bearded man and the lad in his teens,
Carpenters, coal-passers—all.”
—Joseph I. C. Clarke (1846–1925)
“Religious literature has eminent examples, and if we run over our private list of poets, critics, philanthropists and philosophers, we shall find them infected with this dropsy and elephantiasis, which we ought to have tapped.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“A president, however, must stand somewhat apart, as all great presidents have known instinctively. Then the language which has the power to survive its own utterance is the most likely to move those to whom it is immediately spoken.”
—J.R. Pole (b. 1922)
“Although there is no universal agreement as to a definition of life, its biological manifestations are generally considered to be organization, metabolism, growth, irritability, adaptation, and reproduction.”
—The Columbia Encyclopedia, Fifth Edition, the first sentence of the article on “life” (based on wording in the First Edition, 1935)
“His role was as the gentle teacher, the logical, compassionate, caring and articulate teacher, who inspired you so that you wanted to please him more than life itself.”
—Carol Lawrence, U.S. singer, star of West Side Story. Conversations About Bernstein, p. 172, ed. William Westbrook Burton, Oxford University Press (1995)