The Columbia Institute for Ideas and Imagination

In 2016, President Lee C. Bollinger approved the creation of the Columbia Institute for Ideas and Imagination at Reid Hall. Inaugurated in Fall 2018, the Institute is led by Director Mark Mazower, Ira D. Wallach Professor of History, and Associate Director, Marie d'Origny. It hosts fifteen full-time resident Fellows each semester, comprised of Columbia faculty, artists, and scholars the world over. 

Designed as an incubator of innovative ideas, the Institute has advanced President Bollinger's agenda to ensure that Columbia University is a global leader in humanities-driven thought, responsive to the changing conditions of the contemporary world. A University-wide academic organization, the Institute challenges the "siloisation" of academia by bringing scholars and creative artists side by side, allowing for collaborative opportunities between promising researchers, artists, and writers.

The Institute's location in Paris establishes it as a forum of global research and creativity. It draws on long-standing ties locally and nationally, and on the interactions of its Fellows with universities, institutes, and cultural centers in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, South America, and South and East Asia. The Institute not only hosts Fellows, workshops, and conferences; it also partner with parallel events around the world, taking advantage of Columbia's network of nine Global Centers.

An unrivalled network of academic resources, it ensures robust intellectual and pedagogic feedback to Columbia's campus in New York City, including: the School of Arts and Sciences; Columbia College; the Heyman Center; the Society of Fellows; the European Institute; the Maison Française; the Alliance Program; and the Columbia University Libraries.