Columbia University in the City of New YorkA Brief History of ColumbiaColumbia University was founded in 1754 as Kings College by royal charter of King George II of England. It is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York and the fifth oldest in the United States.In July 1754, Samuel Johnson held the first classes in a new schoolhouse adjoining Trinity Church, located on what is now lower Broadway in Manhattan. There were eight students in the class. At Kings College, the future leaders of colonial society could receive an education designed to enlarge the Mind, improve the Understanding, polish the whole Man, and qualify them to support the brightest Characters in all the elevated stations in life. One early manifestation of the institutions lofty goals was the establishment in 1767 of the first American medical school to grant the M.D. degree.In 1857, the College moved from Park Place, near the present site of city hall, to Forty-ninth Street and Madison Avenue, where it remained for the next forty years. During the last half of the nineteenth century, Columbia rapidly assumed the shape of a modern university. The Columbia School of Law was founded in 1858. The countrys first mining school, a precursor of todays Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science, was established in 1864 and awarded the first Columbia Ph.D. in 1875.The college reopened in 1784 with a new nameColumbiathat embodied the patriotic fervor that had inspired the nations quest for independence. The revitalized institution was recognizable as the descendant of its colonial ancestor, thanks to its inclination toward Anglicanism and the needs of an urban population, but there were important differences: Columbia College reflected the legacy of the Revolution in the greater economic, denominational, and geographic diversity of its new students and leaders. Cloistered campus life gave way to the more common phenomenon of day students who lived at home or lodged in the city.The Columbia University CampusIn 1897, the university moved from Forty-ninth Street and Madison Avenue, where it had stood for forty years, to its present location on Morningside Heights at 116th Street and Broadway. Seth Low, the president of the University at the time of the move, sought to create an academic village in a more spacious setting. Charles Follen McKim of the architectural firm of McKim, Mead, and White modeled the new campus after the Athenian agora. The Columbia campus comprises the largest single collection of McKim, Mead & White buildings in existence.The architectural centerpiece of the campus is Low Memorial Library, named in honor of Seth Lows father. Built in the Roman classical style, it appears in the New York City Register of Historic Places. The building today houses the Universitys central administration offices and the visitors center.A broad flight of steps descends from Low Library to an expansive plaza, and from there to College Walk, a promenade that bisects the central campus. Beyond College Walk is the South Campus, where Butler Library, the universitys main library, stands.DepartmentAccounting Division.Anatomy and Cell Biology DepartmentAnesthesiology DepartmentAnthropology DepartmentApplied Physics and Applied Mathematics DepartmentArchitecture DepartmentArt History and Archaeology Department Astronomy and Astrophysics Department Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics Department Biological Sciences Department Biomedical Engineering Department Biomedical Informatics Department Biostatistics Department Chemical Engineering Department Chemistry Department Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics Department Classics DepartmentClinical Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, Division of Computer Science Department Dermatology Department Earth and Environmental Engineering Department Earth and Environmental Sciences Department East Asian Languages and Cultures Department Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology Department Economics Department Electrical Engineering Department English and Comparative Literature Department Environmental Health Sciences Department Epidemiology Department French and Romance Philology Department Germanic Languages Department Health Policy and Management Department History Department Italian Department Latin American and Iberian Cultures Linguistics Department Mathematics Department Mechanical Engineering Department Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies Molecular Medicine, Division of Music Department Neurology Department Neurosurgery Department Obstetrics and Gynecology Department Ophthalmology Department Orthopaedic Surgery Department Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery Department Pathology, Department of Pediatrics Department Pharmacology Department Philosophy Department Physical Education and Intercollegiate Athletics Department Physics Department Physiology and Cellular Biophysics Departme