This spring the University announced the creation of a new institution called Columbia World Projects, which will help academics and outside organizations work together to solve real-world problems.
To be housed in the University Forum, a new academic conference center on the Manhattanville campus, Columbia World Projects will provide teaching and staff support, project-management expertise, and legal, financial, and fundraising assistance to competitively selected research projects that have the potential to make profound contributions to society.
In an e-mail announcing the creation of Columbia World Projects on April 11, President Lee C. Bollinger said the formation of the institution follows more than two years of discussions with faculty, deans, and outside advisers about how Columbia might build new connections with “organizations and parties beyond the academy that possess the power and influence to transform [scholarship] into concrete consequences benefiting humanity.”
He said the institution’s mission is to help Columbia “better connect with the world at-large where laws and policies are made, actions taken, and norms and attitudes shaped.”
