Judith Shapiro

In what could have been her final public appearance as Barnard’s president, Judith Shapiro sang happy birthday in Portuguese to a roomful of Barnard donors at Monday’s 2008 scholarship gala and auction.

In an e-mail to Barnard students and affiliates today, outgoing President Judith Shapiro announced slight delays with construction of the new Nexus building. The center, originally scheduled to open for the Fall of 2009, should now be ready by January 2010.

When outgoing Barnard president Judith Shapiro was asked whether her time as head of the college was similar to running an institution somewhere between a “faltering corporation and a hotel,” Shapiro said she had a better comparison. “Being the president of Barnard is more like being the mayor of Brigadoon,” Shapiro said to a packed room.

At a Wednesday night discussion hosted by Hillel’s Orthodox student organization Yavneh, Barnard President Judith Shapiro engaged students in conversation on Jewish identity in the academic realm as the audience sounded off about attending college as observant students. In an audience made up largely of Orthodox students, Shapiro touched on questions of how to best embody feminism, pursue careers and families, and participate in activism and leadership, as well as the role of the college in accommodating observant students.

Barnard College strictly adheres to its policy against having dogs on campus, but the school seems to have made an exception for President Judith Shapiro’s furry friend.

With Columbia’s four billion dollar fundraising capital campaign now two years underway, some wonder what type of financial growth is occurring on the other side of Broadway—and exactly what role Barnard alumnae appear to play in that development.

While knitting a brown scarf with long-time friend and Barnard College Dean Dorothy Denburg, President Judith Shapiro reminisced about her time at Barnard, revealed her future plans, and talked about the college’s new leader at the final fireside chat of her 14-year tenure Thursday evening.

Barnard College announced the selection of Debora Spar, a senior associate dean at Harvard University Business School and widely-published political scientist, as its eleventh president on Tuesday. Spar will take the post on July 1 when current president Judith Shapiro steps down.

While the position of Barnard College president remains unfilled with scant information available about the progress of the search, officials say they have had a large response to the position, and that the process is continuing as expected.

As Committee on Instruction administrators evaluate Barnard’s Nine Ways of Knowing, college student government representatives are calling for immediate diversification of the college’s requirements.