MISSION AND PURPOSE

The goal of the CUSP Columbia Journey Seminars (CJS) is to foster an environment in which first-year Scholars begin to cultivate a relationship between their emerging individual interests and the needs and opportunities of Columbia’s academic and social communities. The CJS curriculum offers Scholars the unique opportunity to learn about themselves, Columbia, and the immediate Columbia community (Harlem and Morningside Heights), while refining their ability to work together on common projects and develop partnerships with community leaders. Building upon the “Four Pillars of CUSP” (Academic Excellence, Leadership, Global Awareness, and Civic Engagement), Scholars learn to embody the ideal of the engaged citizen. The structure of CJS – through its openness to discovery, dialogue, and debate – encourages participation that is not bound by disciplines, and, therefore, leaves no interest or opportunity unexplored. Participation in this Program and interaction with leaders encourages Scholars to understand the intrinsic connections between their intellectual development, the Columbia campus experience, life in New York City, and events around the world. As the cornerstone of CUSP, the Columbia Journey Seminars are designed to offer Scholars a holistic experience as they encounter Columbia in their first year. The seminars offer Scholars the opportunity to reflect upon how they can take the knowledge learned in their Core Curriculum and other courses and apply this knowledge to the wider world. By the end of their first year in the Program, Scholars will have developed a skill set that prepares them for active engagement with the community and lays a strong foundation on their academic and professional future.

The translation of awareness into advocacy and activism stems from the natural synthesis of the Program's goals. Through specialized programming, we encourage this sense of enacted responsibility, as it fulfills the broader theoretical concepts of intellectual growth, leadership development, and global awareness. An implicit goal of CUSP is the motivation of students to reach beyond their individual niches, to know that they too can effect change in society, and in fact have a responsibility to do so.