2010s and Today > People
Roosevelt Montás
Prior to becoming director of the Core Curriculum in 2008, Roosevelt Montás (CC 1995, GSAS 1996, and GSAS 2004) taught Lit Hum as a graduate student, for which he received the Presidential Award for Outstanding Teaching by a Graduate Student. He then taught in the Core full-time as a Lecturer. During Montás' ten-year tenure as Director, the Literature Humanities syllabus saw a host of new texts, including the introduction of Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon, which was the first text on the syllabus written by a living author as well as the first text by a Black author.
Also during Montás' tenure, the Core partnered with universities in China, Europe, and Latin American to initiate liberal arts programs inspired by the Core and hosted summer institutes for faculty on teaching Core texts. In addition, Montás co-chaired the University Senate task force that in 2011 prompted the University to allow Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) recruitment on campus for the first time since the 1968 Vietnam War protests. Although he is no longer Core director, Montás continues to teach in the Core and to write about the meaning and future of liberal arts education.
Senior Lecturer Roosevelt Montás with Contemporary Civilization class, 2017
Photograph Courtesy of Columbia College; Photographer: Char Smullyan
James J. Valentini
James J. Valentini has served as the 16th Dean of Columbia College and Vice President for Undergraduate Education since September 2011. Affectionately called "Deantini" by Columbia undergraduates, he has been a member of Columbia's faculty in the Department of Chemistry since 1990. Under his leadership, Columbia College has developed a multi-year strategic plan and launched a $750 million Core to Commencement campaign in 2015, the first campaign devoted exclusively to Columbia College students and faculty.
Operating from the Dean's office, the campaign seeks to endow the Core in order to increase teaching fellowships, introduce new classroom technologies and reward the support of the many university departments whose faculty have made the Core possible over the past 100 years.
James J. Valentini
Courtesy of Columbia College; Photographer: Killian Young
Eric H. Holder, Jr.
As the 82nd Attorney General of the United States, Eric H. Holder Jr. CC'73, LAW'76, shaped and bore witness to some of the most critical issues facing this nation and the world. Holder sought to ensure equal treatment under the law, endeavored to safeguard the rights and freedoms of all individuals, and attempted to remedy corrosive mistrust between citizens and government. His tenure was dedicated to strengthening the bedrock pillars that uphold all human communities — truth, justice, and law.
The Eric H. Holder Jr. Initiative for Civil and Political Rights, founded in 2018, provides students with opportunities to "live the Core" by engaging in civic action.
Eric H. Holder Initiative for Civil and Political Rights Website, 2020