Clearly, the students at the Columbia Publishing Course this year have lost nothing on their ultra-achieving predecessors in the move from Harvard to NYC. As in years past, we have compiled a composite biography of the terminally caffeinated graduate (achievements are from actual student biographies). Publishers may catch the buzz at Columbia’s Publishing Course career day, Monday, August 6, from 9 a.m. to noon at the Time Life Building. To RSVP call (212) 854-0034.
With the ink still drying on the emergency education proposal Ms. Student wrote for victims of the armed conflict in Colombia, President Bush chose her as a White House Fellow in 1991. Bouncing back from a stint as a corporate paralegal, she was again lured to Washington when President Clinton tapped her to transform the Education Department into a high-performance organization. Delving into Ashtanga Yoga and Zen meditation, she utilized her superior powers of concentration to lead a successful turnaround of Herman Miller East Asia, where she was president. A Phi Beta Kappa inductee at Dartmouth, Ms. Student taught her journalism professor to run, in exchange for lessons in ornithology. Though she only picked up a little Japanese while working in Japan as a Fulbright Memorial Fund Fellow, Ms. Student had ample time to learn both Russian and Ukrainian while a Peace Corps volunteer in Ukraine. More than fluent in Samoan and literate in French as well, she listens rapturously to Urdu ghazals when not transfixed by the fortunes of the Indian cricket team. Moving on to develop branding campaigns for USA Today, Ms. Student has written five Chinese-language bestsellers and, concurrently, has summited mountains around the world, including the Grand Teton, Mont Blanc, and Mt. Fuji, while also earning her first-degree black belt in tae kwon do. Fascinated by the Gosain sanyasi sect in India, which was the subject of her dissertation in medieval Indian history, her less cerebral but equally challenging pastimes include wrestling a world champion Siberian on his own tundra. Due to inclement economic conditions, Ms. Student has been working as a bartender, wearing the world’s most hideous vest. Happily, many children also know her as Bow Tie because she is a professional clown at birthday parties and other celebrations.
