Alumni honored at John Jay Awards Dinner

At the John Jay Awards dinner on Wednesday night, honoree Kenneth Ofori-Atta, CC ’84, said Contemporary Civilization helped him fall in love with his wife.

Ofori-Atta, the first African ever to receive the award, said he spoke over the phone to his wife Angela nearly every day for six months before they met in person.

“One falls in love with somebody’s mind and there’s no going back. That’s what Contemporary Civilization will do for you,” the chairman of Databank Financial Services Ltd., joked.

Other award recipients also sang high praises for the Core Curriculum at the fundraising dinner for the John Jay National Scholarship Program, an award program that honors high-achieving first-years.

Ofori-Atta, Andrew F. Barth, CC ’83, a former wrestler and investment banker, Alexander Navab, CC ’87, also an investment banker, Michael Oren, CC ’77, the Israeli ambassador to the United States, and Elizabeth Rubin, CC ’87, a journalist, were honored by the College for “distinguished professional achievement.”

“These are five spectacular winners. What phenomenal representatives they are of Columbia College,” William Campbell, the chair of the board of trustees, told Spectator after the event.

Michele Moody-Adams, the dean of Columbia College, said the dinner raised $1.5 million for the scholarship program.

“All of us here are very proud of your accomplishments and look forward to the day you can stand up here as recipients of this award,” Moody-Adams said of the John Jay scholars and other students who made the trek to Cipriani on 42nd Street.

Leeza Mangaldas, CC ’11 and a John Jay Scholar, addressed the 500-plus attendees about her journey from a small fishing village in India to the streets of Morningside Heights.

“Though the rural, sea-salt air made for an idyllic childhood, Columbia University in the City of New York seemed like the glorious antithesis to everything I’d known,” she said, beaming. She added that “everyday is extraordinary at Columbia.”

As a transfer student in the 1980s, Rubin’s first days at Columbia wouldn’t have made it into a brochure for the College. During her first week someone was killed in the lobby of her dorm. Later her friends found a carpet, brought it home and unfurled it to find a dead body.

“I had no idea at the time that Morningside Heights would be the perfect boot camp for reporting in war zones, but it was,” she said.

University President Lee Bollinger, ABC news anchor Christiane Amanpour, Campbell, Moody-Adams, Dean of Student Affairs Kevin Shollenberger, Vice President for Arts and Sciences Nicholas Dirks, and Class Day speaker and NBC News senior vice president Alexandra Wallace Creed were among the many heavy-hitters in attendance.

Guests drank Bellinis, snacked on calamari hors d’œuvre, and had cinnamon ice cream for dessert at the lavish midtown venue, which was once a large bank.

Bollinger said the University has come a long way since last year’s John Jay Awards dinner. He referenced the launch of Columbia’s global centers in Paris, Amman, Mumbai, and Bejing, the opening of the Northwest Corner Building, and the end of Columbia’s legal battles in Manhattanville as great achievements.

“With the prospects that we have we can now focus on the most important thing we do which is to take knowledge and transmit it to future generations,” he said.

Bollinger also said the University hopes to open global centers in Kenya and South America next year.

Ofori-Atta, a Ghanaian, said he was pleased to hear it that the University would be moving into his native continent.

“Africa is truly the next frontier, and Columbia should be taking the lead in bringing us into the community of states,” he said.

leah.greenbaum@columbiaspectator.com

An earlier version of this article stated that Michael Oren is the U.S. ambassador to Israel. He is the Israeli ambassador to the United States. Spectator regrets this error.