Dart Center at Columbia University

Old friends of the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma have probably noticed an important change:  a new university affiliation.  The Dart Center is now a project of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in New York City.

The Dart Center’s new home at Columbia – established at the invitation of Journalism School Dean Nicholas Lemann and made possible by an extraordinary $7 million, 5-year gift from the Dart Foundation – extends and deepens an old and valued partnership.  Following the attacks of September 11, 2001, Columbia hosted discussions and support meetings for journalists as part of our Dart Center Ground Zero project. Columbia faculty have long served as Dart Center advisors and participated in our programs. And for the last three years the journalism school has hosted the annual Dart Awards and a series of public panels and discussions on such issues as covering immigration and refugees, veterans and violence against women.

As you may know, the Dart Center was founded in 1999 at the University of Washington in Seattle. For a decade UW has been a generous and supportive incubator for what started as a small research project.  Happily, the Dart Center will maintain this historic relationship. UW will now be the site of Dart Center West, a satellite office, focusing on the development of journalism education programs and providing an ongoing venue for West Coast activity.

You can read Columbia’s official announcement online. We’re proud to join a journalism school committed to a global and interdisciplinary vision of professional education, and to the values of quality, thoughtful journalism and civic vision which underlie the Dart Center’s mission.