Michael Thaddeus

Sen. Michael Thaddeus was brought up in Morningside Heights.  He spent his student years at Harvard College and the University of Oxford and was then a Junior Fellow at the Harvard Society of Fellows.  He has been a faculty member at Columbia since 1997, first as Associate Professor, then as Professor of Mathematics.  He has served on the Executive Committee of GSAS and the Committee on Science Instruction.  In the Department of Mathematics, he served as Director of Graduate Studies in 2009–12 and as Department Chair in 2017–20.

He has long advocated for transparency in University affairs, especially regarding enrollments, staffing, and finances, and for a powerful faculty role in decision-making.  A motion that he presented to the Faculty of Arts and Sciences in 2021 has led to the annual release of Arts and Sciences operating budgets to the Faculty.  Likewise, his 2022 investigation of Columbia's U.S. News ranking has led to the annual release of Common Data Sets by our undergraduate schools, making public a wealth of numerical information.

In 2023, he was elected to a two-year term as vice-president of the Columbia chapter of the American Association of University Professors.  In that role, and as a University Senator, he continues to advocate for transparency, shared governance, academic freedom, and the rule of law.