| Description |
1 online resource (325 pages) |
| Note |
Print version record. |
| Contents |
Table of Contents; List of Illustrations; Foreword by Walter F. Mondale; Foreword by Lee C. Bollinger; 1. A Shared Story; 2. Riot; 3. Rebuilding; 4. Aftermath; 5. Condoms and Wrinkle Cream; 6. Becoming a Dean; 7. Litigating: Tuskegee and the Supreme Court; 8. Provost; 9. Building an Administration; 10. Beginnings; 12. Columbia College; 12. Columbia Law School; 13. Minnesota; 14. Coming Home; 15. Publishing and Moonlighting; 16. Climbing Out of a Hole; 17. Ceremonies; 18. Doing the Right Thing: Coeducation, Charter Revision, and Columbia Football; 19. The Pulitzer Prizes. |
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20. Reagan Versus Mondale21. Disappointing My Peers: Divestiture and Earmarks; 22. City Corruption and Columbia Unrest; 23. A Sabbatical Leave and a Return to Celebrations; 24. Remembering Malcolm X and Working with the Community; 25. International Guests, Anniversaries, Dedications, and a New Campaign; 26. Closing a School; 27. Salman Rushdie at Risk; 28. Hail and Farewell; 29. The Last Year; 30. A Backward Glance; 31. There Is Life After a Presidency; 32. Shubert-a Great Gig; 33. Almost a Justice; 34. Sotheby's; 35. America's Challenge; 36. What Next?; Acknowledgments; Notes; Index. |
| Summary |
Columbia University began the second half of the twentieth century in decline, bottoming out with the student riots of 1968. Yet by the close of the century, the institution had regained its stature as one of the greatest universities in the world. According to the New York Times,?If any one person is responsible for Columbia's recovery, it is surely Michael Sovern." In this memoir, Sovern, who served as the university's president from 1980 to 1993, recounts his sixty-year involvement with the institution, as well as his experiences growing up poor in the South Bronx and attending. |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| Subject |
Sovern, Michael I.
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Columbia University -- Presidents -- Biography.
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Columbia University -- History.
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Sovern, Michael I. (OCoLC)fst00271001
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Columbia University. (OCoLC)fst00554594
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College presidents -- United States -- Biography.
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Columbia University -- Presidents -- Biography.
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College presidents. (OCoLC)fst00867876
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Presidents. (OCoLC)fst01075723
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United States. (OCoLC)fst01204155
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BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY -- Educators.
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EDUCATION -- Higher.
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HISTORY / United States / 20th Century.
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| Genre/Form |
Biography. (OCoLC)fst01423686
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History. (OCoLC)fst01411628
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| Other Form: |
Print version: Sovern, Michael I. An Improbable Life : My Sixty Years at Columbia and Other Adventures. New York : Columbia University Press, ©2014 9780231167628 |
| ISBN |
9780231537056 (electronic bk.) |
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0231537050 (electronic bk.) |
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