Interim president Katrina Armstrong is stepping down according to a University statement. Board of Trustees Co-Chair Claire Shipman has been appointed Acting President effective immediately. 

Today, March 28, Columbia’s Board of Trustees announced that Interim President Katrina Armstrong is stepping down from her tenure and “returning to lead the University’s Irving Medical Center.” Board Co-Chair Claire Shipman has been appointed Acting President, effective immediately, and will serve “until the Board completes its presidential search.” 

David J. Greenwald, Chair of the Board of Trustees, remarked in the announcement that “Katrina has always given her heart and soul to Columbia. We appreciate her service and look forward to her continued contributions to the University.” 

Acting President Claire Shipman stated she “assume[s] this role with a clear understanding of the serious challenges before us and a steadfast commitment to act with urgency, integrity, and work with our faculty to advance our mission, implement needed reforms, protect our students, and uphold academic freedom and open inquiry.” 

She added, “Columbia’s new permanent president, when that individual is selected, will conduct an appropriate review of the University’s leadership team and structure to ensure we are best positioned for the future.”

Shipman, a Columbia alumna (‘86 CC, MIA ‘94), joined the Board in 2013 and has served as Co-Chair since 2023. She is one of the individuals who testified before Congress last April. 

This comes after the Trump administration’s cancellation of $400 million in funding to the University and subsequent requests for changes in academic and disciplinary policies. In response to these demands, the University established masking restrictions for students and placed the Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies department under academic receivership. Many groups, including the Columbia chapter of the American Association of University Professors, have condemned this “compliance” with the Trump administration.

Update on Armstrong’s address to the Columbia Community as of March 28 at 8:25 pm:

In an email to the Columbia community, former Interim President Katrina Armstrong addressed the transition. She stated, “It has been a singular honor to lead Columbia University in this important and challenging time. This is one of the world’s great universities, in its most vital city, and I am proud to have worked with extraordinary faculty, students, and alumni. But my heart is with science, and my passion is with healing. That is where I can best serve this University and our community moving forward.”

She added she “appreciate[s] having had the opportunity to play a small part in navigating this vast enterprise through some of the most difficult moments in its history. The world needs Columbia University, and you can be assured that I will do everything I can to tell that story.”

Email to the Columbia Community from Chair of the Board of Trustees David Greenwald sent on March 28, 2025 at 7:46 pm: 

Dear members of the Columbia community:

This evening, the Board of Trustees announced that Dr. Katrina A. Armstrong is returning to lead the University’s Irving Medical Center. Board of Trustees Co-Chair Claire Shipman has been appointed Acting President, effective immediately, and will serve until the Board completes its presidential search. You can read more about today’s announcement here.

The Board of Trustees appreciates Dr. Armstrong’s service at a time of great uncertainty for the University. She worked tirelessly to promote the interests of our community and has always given her heart and soul to Columbia. We look forward to her continued contributions to the University.

Acting President Shipman steps into this role with a clear understanding of the serious challenges facing our community. She brings a steadfast commitment to lead with urgency and integrity and will work closely with our faculty to advance our mission, protect our students, uphold academic freedom, and preserve open inquiry.

Sincerely,

David J. Greenwald Chair, on behalf of the Trustees of Columbia University

Email to the Columbia Community from former Interim President Katrina Armstrong sent on March 28, 2025 at 8:09 pm: 

Dear Colleagues,

As I planned when I took on this interim position, and with the support of the Board of Trustees, I am returning to my role as Chief Executive Officer of Columbia University’s Irving Medical Center, Executive Vice President for Health and Biomedical Sciences, and Dean of the Faculties of Health Sciences and Medicine and the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. The Board has now appointed Co-Chair Claire Shipman as the Acting President, effective immediately.

It has been a singular honor to lead Columbia University in this important and challenging time. This is one of the world’s great universities, in its most vital city, and I am proud to have worked with extraordinary faculty, students, and alumni. But my heart is with science, and my passion is with healing. That is where I can best serve this University and our community moving forward.

Columbia University is a special place. What we do on our campuses every day changes lives around the world. Our students are transformed by their experiences here, our faculty represent the best of teaching and scholarship, our dedicated staff bring the university to life in so many ways, and we get to serve New York, in all its messy glory.

Over the last few months, I appreciate having had the opportunity to play a small part in navigating this vast enterprise through some of the most difficult moments in its history. The world needs Columbia University, and you can be assured that I will do everything I can to tell that story.

Standing together for Columbia,

Katrina A. Armstrong, MD
Dean of the Faculties of Health Sciences and the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons
Executive Vice President for Health and Biomedical Sciences, Columbia University

Email to the Columbia Community from Acting President and Board of Trustee Claire Shipman on Monday, March 31 at 1:33 pm:

Dear members of the Columbia community,

Today, I write to you in my new capacity as Acting President. I do so with awe for the role, reverence for this institution, and clarity about our challenges. Ornamental language can’t disguise the fact that this is a precarious moment for Columbia University. In serving our community and navigating what’s to come, I pledge to be as transparent as possible, and to work as hard as I can to do right by a place that is so critical to all of us, and to the world.

There is no overstating the influence Columbia has had on my life. When I arrived on College Walk in 1982, I wasn’t your typical student. I had transferred into the first class of women, not appreciating that fact at the time. I grew up in the Midwest, and I wasn’t particularly well-versed in the Ivy League. What I found here was a place that ignited my curiosity and drive to explore. As is the case for so many students, I arrived at Columbia, and something clicked. I recognized myself.

This is what happens at Columbia. We love the sharp argument, the intellectual sprawl, the sense that anything feels possible. I returned for graduate school and then served on the SIPA Advisory Board, the College Board of Visitors, and the Board of Trustees, hooked on all the ways this remarkable place keeps pushing the frontiers of scholarship and discovery.

I want to express my deep gratitude to Dr. Katrina Armstrong for taking on the challenge of stepping in as Interim President, and for her heroic efforts over the past seven months.

Over the coming days and weeks, I hope to meet and talk with as many of you as I can. If you see me, please come and say hello. I want to hear from you, and I would welcome input about how we can build a shared sense of community.

We will continue to build on the significant progress we’ve made, and the plan outlined to move our community forward.

To be clear—our task is not an easy one. But a skill Columbia teaches all of us is perseverance; my request, right now, is that we all—students, faculty, staff, and everyone in this remarkable place—come together and work to protect and support this invaluable repository of knowledge, this home to the next generation of intellectual explorers, and this place of great and continuing promise.

I look forward to seeing you on campus.

Sincerely,
Claire Shipman
Acting President, Columbia University in the City of New York

Email to the Columbia Engineering Community from Dean Shih-Fu Chang on Monday, March 31 at 2:29 pm:

Dear Students,

Following the recent message from Claire Shipman, our new Acting President, I want to take a moment to acknowledge this period of transition and reiterate our unwavering support for the community.

I am deeply grateful to our outgoing Interim President, Katrina Armstrong. Her leadership and guidance during an especially complex time has been of great value to our university. I also want to thank Board of Trustees Co-Chair Claire Shipman (‘86CC MIA ’94) for stepping into this role at a critical moment. Her long-standing service as a trustee and deep commitment to Columbia will be a source of stability through this period.

As we navigate these changes, our mission remains unchanged. We are here to support our community members, especially our seniors and graduate students as they prepare for graduation. We are committed to upholding our research and academic mission, with particular attention to our PhD students, junior faculty, and all members carrying out our critical research and education mission. As always, our highest priority is to foster a safe and inclusive environment for our community, including our international students, who may be feeling heightened anxiety or uncertainty.

For those with immigration-related concerns, the International Students and Scholars Office (ISSO) will host a webinar this Tuesday to provide guidance and answer questions. I encourage anyone with questions to attend. 

In times of uncertainty, our strength lies in supporting one another. I am confident that, together, we will continue to advance with resolve and a steadfast dedication to our mission of Engineering for Humanity.

Sincerely,

Shih-Fu Chang
Dean, Columbia Engineering

Email to the Columbia Community from Board of Trustees David Greenwald on Tuesday, April 1 at 11:15 am:

Dear members of the Columbia community:

I am writing to you as the Chair of the Board of Trustees to provide further context to the announcement of Claire Shipman as Acting President of Columbia University.

Claire comes to this position after serving as a trustee for almost 12 years and as my co-chair of the Board of Trustees since 2023. She has a relationship with, and a commitment to, Columbia that goes back more than 40 years—as both an undergraduate and graduate student, a volunteer leader, a trustee, and a friend and mentor to so many on campus.

Claire has also been deeply involved in every aspect of Columbia’s response to the extraordinary events of the past several years. Her knowledge of our mission and priorities is unmatched, which is why the Board is both grateful and inspired that she agreed to serve as Acting President.

To be clear, this is a temporary appointment pending the completion of a search for the next President of Columbia University. That search process will be run by a search committee including trustees and faculty, will be thorough, and will include input from all parts of the Columbia community. Over the coming weeks, we will provide more details to the campus about the search process, the membership of the committee, and how the committee will engage the Columbia community.

On behalf of my colleagues on the Board, I thank you for your support as we continue to secure Columbia’s future.

Very truly yours,

David J. Greenwald
Chair, on behalf of the Trustees of Columbia University

Update made on Tuesday, April 1 at 3:13 pm:

In an email to the Barnard community on Monday morning, Barnard President Laura Rosenbury acknowledged and discussed the stepping down of former Interim Columbia President Katrina Armstrong and her replacement, Acting President Claire Shipman. In the email, Rosenbury thanked Armstrong for her partnership and noted that she has been in contact with Shipman and “look[s] forward to continuing the open dialogue that has been so critical in recent months.”

Rosenbury also reiterated the relationship between Barnard and Columbia and announced that the Barnard College News page would now include University statements and announcement, which Barnard students previously did not receive.

On Monday afternoon, Columbia Engineering Dean Shih-Fu Chang also wrote to the Engineering community thanking Armstrong and Shipman for their commitment. Chang emphasized his commitment to upholding research and academics as the University “navigates [recent] changes” and also provided information to attend a webinar hosted by the International Students and Scholars Office for students with “immigration-related concerns.” The webinar will be led by immigration attorney Dan Berger and provide guidance and answer questions regarding immigration policy.

This is a developing story. Bwog will continue to provide updates as more information becomes available.

Editor’s Note as of April 2: This article has been updated to include communications from the Board of Trustees, Claire Shipman, and Dean Shih-Fu Chang.

Columbia via Bwog Archive