University Trustee Shirley Wang, Business ’93, and her husband Walter Wang have donated $2.5 million to the School of General Studies to support undergraduate military veterans on campus. The money will go to increase support for Columbia’s Yellow Ribbon Program, which recently expanded to meet 100 percent of student veterans’ tuition and fees. The Yellow Ribbon Program aims to supplement governmental veteran support by working with universities across the country to cover more of student veterans’ tuition and costs.

Members of Equality for GS gathered at the Sundial Friday afternoon in their first-ever rally, highlighting financial aid and socioeconomic disparities between the School of General Studies and Columbia’s other undergraduate schools. The rally heard testimonials from General Studies students who have been impacted by current financial aid policies and chants such as “Hey hey, ho ho, unequal aid has got to go!”

Kikka Hanazawa, GS ’00, and Shoshana Shendelman, VP&S ’05, were named as new Columbia trustees, the University announced on March 17. Their appointments come as former co-chair and trustee emerita Lisa Carnoy, CC ’89, completed her term on Sept. 5, and as current chair Jonathan Lavine, CC ’88, plans to step down at the end of 2023.

Upmanu Lall—the Alan and Carol Silberstein professor of engineering and director of the Columbia Water Center—recently won the 2023 Ven Te Chow award for his years of work in hydrology and water resource management, Columbia Engineering announced in a press release on Feb. 8.

Elan Ganeles, GS ’22, was killed outside Jericho last Monday “in a terror attack,” School of General Studies Dean Lisa Rosen-Metsch announced in a Feb. 28 email to the General Studies community with “profound sadness.” He was 26.

As Nemat “Minouche” Shafik, the successor of long-standing University President Lee Bollinger, prepares to step into the presidency, the resounding sentiment among Columbia faculty is one of high confidence in Shafik.

Julia Zhao, SEAS ’23, was named one of the four Rhodes Scholars for China last November. She is Columbia’s second-ever Rhodes Scholar for China.

The General Studies Student Council held an unsuccessful vote to impeach Student Body President Emily Robinson, GS ’23, during its Tuesday meeting. Robinson was accused of overstepping her duties and silencing dissent, among other allegations. Council members ultimately determined that Robinson’s offenses were not in explicit violation of the constitution.

On Nov. 18, the University announced a new global center in Athens, Greece—the first center to open since the recent establishment of Columbia Global. The Athens center will be the tenth global center in Columbia’s history, joining centers in cities including Beijing, Istanbul, and Rio de Janeiro.