Columbia Love Stories 2023

Tortillas, a staple of our shared heritage, brought us together in early Fall 2018. I was an incoming member of the Latinx Tree of the Columbia Mentoring Initiative, and the mixer planned was a tortilla-making event. He was the one in charge of bringing the tortilla press (his own personal one he brought from home in Texas I later learned). We spent the evening bonding over cooking, eating, and dancing. Later that night, a Casa Latina party brought us back together, and for the next two weeks--nothing, until the Homecoming Yard Show on Low Steps.

I was alone, struggling to find my friends among the sea of people watching the performances. As I was looking at my texts, waiting for clearer directions on their whereabouts, one sound broke through everything else going on. My attention immediately shifted to the unrestrained and riotous laugh I somehow recognized from that first day. He was standing near his friends who were at their Phi Iota Alpha table on the other side of the plaza. I made my way over and casually, just so happened to coincidentally "bump into" him. And then we were inseparable...for a while.

The pandemic abruptly forced us apart in early 2020, and we found ourselves in a long-distance relationship for long spurts of time until my graduation in May '22. Now, we are finally settling down a bit as a newly-engaged couple over in Hamilton Heights. A lot has happened since that first day we met, and I'm forever grateful to whoever it was that told a joke so funny it made David laugh like that. We have come out of Columbia with great experiences, amazing friends, and a love story I'll never tire of reminiscing on.

During senior year, January 2005, my now-wife and her friends hosted a birthday party in her apt (616 W 116). However, being a Barnard party, they needed guys and one attendee was in SEAS and knew some engineers. I arrived among a group of 4 strapping young men (all over 6' tall) and began chatting with my future wife. I was more interested from the outset, and it took several more encounters to finally hit it off with her. We had our first official date on Valentine's Day and got married in October 2008. We now have two children - Alma, 7, and Desmond, 9mo, and live in Ithaca, NY.

Jon Knapp and I met in 1990. We were set up by mutual friends who were dating at the time. A year before that I had been to a Columbia basketball game and, after seeing a player on the court with the jersey “Knapp,” I joked to my friend, Yvonne Knapp, that if I married him my name would be Melissa Yvonne Knapp. A year later Jon and I started dating and it dawned on me that this was the same basketball player I had seen a year before. We got married in 1997 and have two daughters, Isabella (17) and Lily (12). Isabella will be a Freshman at Columbia College in the Fall. Roar Lions Roar!

One rainy November evening, I was visiting a friend near Columbia. Having recently graduated in the midst of the pandemic, I missed the serenity of campus and all the friends I had made over the years, from the public safety officers to the dining hall staff to the book sellers and shop owners who made Morningside Heights so special to me. As the evening went on, I realized I had to be downtown in half an hour. I covered my head and ran to the 110th street subway station, just in time to catch the train that was arriving in one minute. It wasn't a lot of time-- just enough to say hello to the owner of the kiosk in the station that sells candy, drinks, and chips. Chacha, an immigrant from Bangladesh, became my friend while I was studying at Columbia. He would tell me bad jokes, speak to me in Bangla (my mother language), and give me a Ferrero Rocher every time I stopped by.

On that November evening, with one minute until the train arrived, I rushed towards Chacha's kiosk when I saw that there was someone in front of me in line. Getting closer, I realized they were actually having a conversation, nonetheless in Bangla! Chacha briefly introduced us, handed me a Ferrero Rocher and waved goodbye as the two of us got on the 1 train together. In the crowded car, Hari told me he was from London, his father was from Bangladesh, and he was doing his PhD in physics at Columbia. When he got off to take the express at 96th St, I felt that something unnameable but undeniably special had just happened. It turned out he did too. Now, we've been together for a year and couldn't be more excited for the future ahead of us.

A Magical Connection

It all began when I was near the end of the first year of my Master's degree at Columbia, when an old friend of mine, Ameen, messaged me to hangout with him and some friends. Around that time, my focus was on finishing the semester and preparing to travel to London soon for the second half of my degree. I did not expect the magical connection that was coming to me from this reconnection.

We met at Williamsburg's popular Yemeni café, Qahwah House, and that is where I first laid eyes on whom I would soon call my wife, Diana Mojahed. She was also preparing to leave Columbia as she was finishing her PhD in Engineering, and she was Ameen's friend from high school. The spark that we shared that day never died, as we texted, video-called, and travelled our way across the Atlantic throughout the following year in order to make our dream of being with each other a reality forever. A year later, we had a beautiful pre-wedding ceremony in my home country Bahrain, and an even more beautiful and magical wedding ceremony in her mom's family's home country Lebanon surrounded by family and friends, many of whom are lifelong friends we made at Columbia. We are two years strong since we first met and will always remember Columbia and New York City as the magical places that incubated our love.

It didn’t start at Columbia for both of us, but I met Jordan while working for and studying at Columbia. He was living in Florida at the time but immediately became a part of my Columbia experience by meeting my classmates and meeting me for a study abroad class in Italy. Essentially, Jordan became an honorary Columbian!

Excerpted from TO TELL THE TRUTH: My Life as a Foreign Correspondent, by Lewis M. Simons

I fell in love on my first day at Columbia.

Leafing through the class’s black, loose-leaf “face book” (yes, Virginia, those were the originals), my eyes settled on a postage-stamp-sized photo and thumbnail bio of one Carol Seiderman. She was stunning. But something more showed through the grainy, black-and-white photo. Reflected in the large, bright eyes, I saw intelligence and gentle awareness.

I had to meet her, without delay.

I lurked near the registration table at the front of the school’s newsroom until she walked in. Those eyes were green. She was tall and willowy. Wavy, auburn hair. I introduced myself and tossed one of the lamest pitches in the history of boy-meets-girl:

“I’ve got an hour to kill. How about a cup of coffee?”

Perhaps having an hour of her own to kill and, what the hell, a cup of coffee is a cup of coffee, she accepted.

We strolled from the campus across Broadway to Chock Full o’Nuts. She dazzled me....

We were married on February 7, 1965.

In October 1966, Roberta Marx stepped out of the elevator on the fourth floor of Schermerhorn Extension and saw Eric Delson for the first time. Sparks flew. After a few minutes discussion, Eric volunteered to tutor Roberta for the biological anthropology portion of her introductory anthropology course. Roberta was a first-year cultural anthropology graduate student interested in Latin America who had to pass a broad "4-field" course in order to move on to more advanced classes. Eric was a biological anthropologist who was in his first year of graduate study of vertebrate paleontology within the Geological Sciences department.

The tutoring was successful, and a month later they were dating. They became engaged in February and were married on September 17, 1967, less than a year after their elevator encounter. They traveled together from August 1969 through July 1971 while conducting dissertation research (Eric in Europe and Africa, Roberta in Brazil). Eric received his PhD in January 1973, while Roberta received an MA in Anthropology and her PhD in History in January 1975 (which she defended in May 1974 while 7 months pregnant with their son). They have been happily married for over 55 years and have continued their connection with Columbia while teaching at other area institutions: Roberta co-directed the University Seminar on Brazil from 1983-1987 and 1999-2008; Eric founded the New York Consortium in Evolutionary Primatology graduate training program, of which Columbia was and remains a member. Both Delsons are now retired from teaching and continue their scholarship as Research Associates at the American Museum of Natural History.

We met for the first time during grad school orientation at Mailman, and, as luck would have it, were placed in cohort two. Thanks to alphabetized group selection, we became quick friends in our ISP group. Many mornings of the semester became bonding sessions over Mike's Bagels with our awesome classmates. As has happened so frequently throughout human history, this love of bagels eventually blossomed into romance, and we began dating in February of 2017.

After graduating in 2018, we spent a year and a half enduring long-distance dating, which overlapped with the pandemic. Finally closing the distance and settling in Chicago, we were thankfully able to plan a reunion with our friends and family at our wedding. Thanks for bringing us together, Columbia! Happy Valentine's Day, Derek!

Nik and I met freshman year at CC, outside of Carmen through mutual friends and we've been together since. We got engaged in August of last year, and are getting married in early 2024.

Jay and I met in LitHum my first semester at Columbia GS in Fall 2019. We hit it off quickly, and always joke with each other that we were sledding down a hill together and instead of taking it slow we kept buttering the slope and going faster and faster.

We were inseparable after that class. Eventually we welcomed our son Harold, who is now two years old. We also have my stepson Henry who is seven years old.

This May 2023, Jay and I will both be first-generation graduates. Our journey has been an unpredictable one between managing our relationship, our children, and our individual paths to education, but we’ve made it. To think none of the beautiful memories we have, including our beautiful children, would be here if it wasn’t for that single LitHim class in 2019 and a conversation about The Iliad.

My now husband and I met at Columbia's EMBA program, graduating class of 2020. We began as strangers, became classmates, then friends, and eventually started dating in our last semester of the program.

William is originally from Australia and had been in NYC for 9 years when we met. I am from Virginia and had been in NYC for 9 years as well. It took almost a decade but Columbia brought us together. We got married this past October 22, 2022 surrounded by family friends and many fellow classmates.

My husband and I both attended grad school programs at Columbia. Just after he graduated, we welcomed our little lion, Finn to the pride!

I met my partner Sarang in 2017 on Columbia SIPA's orientation day, where we instantly hit it off and became the best of friends. Four years later, Sarang proposed to me on Columbia's campus, and it was truly the most beautiful, thoughtfully planned out, and loving proposal. We got married in April last year surrounded by family and friends. We felt so fortunate to have had our celebration across from the Manhattan skyline to signify Columbia's presence in our blossoming union. We grew our family by one a few months ago when we adopted a kitten, and together we live in Boston. Over the years, we try to visit Columbia's campus at least a few times annually to revisit the memories, which are only getting sweeter with time.

Greg Zimmermann and I met as undergraduate engineering students. We married at the chapel on campus, bringing our families from Alabama, Connecticut, and a Switzerland together.

We just celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary. We now look forward to our our older daughter, Kat (GS ‘24), graduating next year!

The photo is from the waaay back machine - a formal on campus.

We met in our first year of undergrad at Columbia Engineering as we were both regular attendees of the physics help room office hours in Pupin.

Though not in the same major, we still had a few classes together and eventually started dating in 2017.

Five years later in Dec. 2022, we got engaged under the winter tree lights on college walk. Now its time to plan a wedding!

My fiance and I met at Columbia almost 3 years ago, pursuing an MBA at the Business School. We're both born and raised in Lebanon and went to the same college; however, despite how small Lebanon is, it is at Columbia where we finally started our love journey.

I as a CC’82 was fascinated by the Alma Mater lore of finding the owl and marrying a woman from Barnard. Well, September 3, 1981 during Columbia college orientation and the dance at the now defunct New York New York disco I met Elyse sloop Barnard class of 1984. After asking a classmate Charles Mayron to hold my beer, I found Elyse so beautiful that we danced the whole night. 5 years later we were married and became parents of two children, Nate is a graduate of University of Rochester and Rebecca, graduate of Class of 2021 Columbia University General Studies. Columbia was so special to me as a student and even more special that I have been married to my beautiful wife for 36 years and counting.

Suzy (CC99) and I (CC00) are celebrating our 20th anniversary this year! Our story began in Butler Library when Suzy was a Physics major and I needed help in Physics for Poets. Our first date was at AmCaf in 1998, proposal by the Thinker in 2002 and many fun memories visiting campus with our kids Ari (14) and Jonah (10) throughout the years!

Akira (SEAS '16) and Alison (CC '16) are native New Yorkers who first crossed paths as kids attending summer science camp at Teachers College back in 2000. They later got to know each other while taking a Speech Recognition class during their final semester of college before moving out west to California.

During a recent trip to NYC, Akira surprised Alison with a scavenger hunt, which he disguised as a SEAS holiday activity. The clues led Alison to various spots around Columbia's campus that reflected their own journey - Mudd, where they took their class together, or East Campus, where they both lived senior year - and culminated in Akira proposing in front of Alma Mater. Meanwhile, their friends and family were hiding behind the columns of Low Library to photograph the event. After taking photos on a beautifully lit college walk, they celebrated the engagement with their families down the street at Toast, where they'd had their first date over 6 years ago.

My name is Diana Ding and I am a proud graduate of Columbia College 2015. I met my fiancé Tommaso Verderame (also CC 2015) our freshman year in Butler Library as we were both in a study group checking homework for Calculus III our first semester. We both lived in Carmen our freshman year, and have been together ever since - 11 years later!

Tommaso and I now live in San Francisco, but we got engaged on Columbia's campus in August of 2021 and our wedding is this June. Our bridesmaids and groomsmen are almost 100% friends from our class, and we can't wait to celebrate with our friends and family. I'm still so grateful that we met in Butler that fateful day freshman year!

Nick and I met at an event at the Columbia University Club of New York. It was a cold, snowy January night and we were both on the fence about going. I wasn't part of Columbia yet--I was a guest of my best friend (Natasha Cline-Thomas, Barnard '12)--and Nick was finishing up his studies at GS. We instantly connected. Nick won my heart by getting me food from the bar as I was loudly complaining about being hungry.

In our first year of dating, we celebrated Nick's graduation, my acceptance and start at SIPA and attended a handful of Columbia events together. One of the most memorable was an outing to Carnegie Hall where we walked away from it knowing this would be a big deal romance. After almost 10 years together, we got married in 2021 and look forward to what's to come.

We met freshman year and became great friends. We both majored in Industrial Engineering and started dating junior year. After graduating in 1998 we joined Accenture and got married in 2001. We have settled down in New York and are raising our daughter and son Caroline and Colin. Almost 30 years after we first met, we still laugh about our memories at Columbia. Being so close, we sometimes stop by to reminisce and show the kids where we first met.

Love these ladies!

'97 Reunion 2017

My husband and I first met when we were cast in a promotional video for the brand new School of Social Work. I was directed to pick up a boom and sit at a table in the library, where he was sitting, so the first time we met is actually caught in film. After discovering that I was a Red Sox fan and he was a Yankees fan, it seemed like a dead end. It was 2004 and the Red Sox would go in to win the World Series for the first time in 86 years. Somehow we still forged a friendship which blossomed into a love story. We were engaged just a few months later, got married on campus at St. Paul's Chapel in September 2006. After 16 years of marriage and 7 year old twins, we're still going strong!

It was love at first sight at the Columbia University Dance Marathon in 2007. Christina was in gold leggings and Cesar was in a shiny purple toga, and together they danced the night away. Endless study nights at Butler to wedding photos in Butler, Christina and Cesar will always be connected to Columbia - the magical place that brought them together 16 years ago.

In 2015, I was a peer facilitator for a community leadership retreat. He was a freshman in my group. We ran into each other a few months later in Lerner Hall, and he asked me out. I gave him a shot. Nearly eight years later, we're still together. He came to the US/Columbia from Botswana, but we joke that he actually came here to meet me.

We met on the 116th street + Broadway subway platform. In the same macroeconomics class / I was with a friend who recognized Andy Lerner. We approached him to find out about the homework. The rest is history.

We met over 35 years ago. He was cooking in Wallach Hall at Columbia. I was dropping off a dish I had prepared for the potluck dinner hosted by the Organization of Pakistani Students that evening. As he likes to tell the story – I walked into the suite, he turned around and saw me, and poured the whole bottle of red pepper in his curry!

That evening, he tried to impress me – with his knowledge of world politics, his worldliness, his travels across the globe. I wasn’t the least bit interested. You have to imagine, here’s a guy wearing a blazer, bow tie and suspenders, speaking in a thick English accent, looking and sounding a bit too full of himself; and there I was, shy and reserved, hardly haven spoken to a boy in high school, feeling way too self conscious and nervous, just waiting for an excuse to leave. For the next two years, he persisted.

He was an Engineering major; I was Poli Sci. When he realized I wouldn't go out with him, he somehow ‘engineered’ finding out which courses I was taking, changed his major (!), and turned up in several of my classes every semester. That's how we got to know each other — over game theory and bagels on the Low Library steps. He tucked poems he had written in my locker at Butler Library, woo'd me by singing Elvis songs, and planned picnics on the quad. He painted a picture of the world we would discover together.

It was irresistible. ❤️

(* Now our son Zayd is at Columbia!)

It all started in the halls of our middle school in China, where our paths first crossed. A graduation trip after high school reignited the spark between us, and we fell deeply in love. Despite the challenges of a long-distance relationship as I studied in the US and he in China, our love only grew stronger. We believed in the power of love and determination and embarked on a journey to pursue our graduate studies together at the prestigious Columbia University. With each step, we proved that distance couldn't keep us apart and that true love can conquer all. Our future shines bright as we continue our journey hand-in-hand, with Columbia University as our guiding light.

I met Steve Taub SEAS’91 when I became friends with the women next door to him in Carmen in 1987. Back then he was just a long-haired guitarist I saw from time to time around campus. Mutual friends, a really good concert at The Plex and a first date seeing Naked Gun changed all that.

Now with joint adventures too many to count, two children and 3 dogs later, we’re about to celebrate our 30th anniversary in May. Cheers to Columbia, NYC and starting out as friends!

As part of Columbia’s dental school orientation we did a boat cruise around the city. It was that night we spotted each other. Not many words were exchanged, but as everyone said their goodbyes at the end of the night with waves or handshakes I gave Eric a kiss on the cheek goodbye. There was something there, but we weren’t quite sure what just yet.

Fast forward to walking me home from lectures, dinner dates post anatomy lab, long nights in the pre-clinic drilling plastic teeth, local anesthesia shots to each others faces for practice, all nighters at Hammer Library to ace those dreaded pathophysiology exams. There was true connection. Some might call it “tooth” love. 😂

We began what is now our love for travel. Our first trip together was to Puerto Rico during our second year. I recently learned Eric knew I was “the one” when we were on the tiny island off Puerto Rico — Cuelebra — & intended to do a night of camping. However our ferry left too early the next morning for the tent rental to be returned & they would not rent us one. So we made the best of it & slept on the beach with a sheet & our luggages as pillows in the rain. Apparently that sealed the deal!

After dental school graduation Eric continued his residency at Columbia for orthodontics & I matched in Boston for pediatric dentistry. While the long distance was not easy, we got to know Bolt Bus very well alternating weekends in each of the two cities. Mid residency we took a big trip to Southeast Asia & while on Phi Phi Leh — a beautiful island in Thailand — Eric proposed.

We moved in together after residency & soon after married. We continued to live in New York City — as dental school taught us clearly the best city in the world.

Our dental specialties paired so well together it became very obvious the next move was to open a practice together.

In 2017 we had our first child, began the construction on our very own dental office & said goodbye to the city that brought us together as we moved to Westfield, New Jersey.

Columbia University even played a role in where we ended up. Kind of a long winded story but the program director of post graduate studies at the dental school at the time - his wife owned a tiny satellite office in Mountainside NJ that Eric started working at. She chose to retire early & Eric had the option to take over the practice. Being from Long Island I had some major hesitations about New Jersey, but our options were close our eyes & pick a random town in New York to start an office completely from scratch or take this tiny little orthodontic practice add pediatric dentistry on & turn it into something.

5 years later we are so proud of the office & family we have built & we have Columbia University to thank for that 🙏🙏🙏. So much love.