The General View

Brilliant Things Will Happen Here

With a mission to support GS students in achieving academic excellence, the School of General Studies Academic Resource Center’s (ARC) programs and services—including peer tutoring, reading and argument coaching, individual consultations, and more—are designed based on the latest research in metacognition and educational psychology. Now, rising to match its charge, the ARC has a new home, and it is revolutionary. The new 3,500 square foot center, which is located on Broadway at 111th Street, possesses a formal reception area, five advising deans’ offices, four flexible workstations, an eight-seat round-table conference room, a pantry, and a flexible tutoring/ conference and events space that easily seats 35. All in all, the new facility can serve more than 50 students simultaneously, plus staff. “We have expanded from an office that could serve about eight students at once uncomfortably, to a modern, state-of-the-art center that can easily support six tutors working with groups of two to six students at the same time,” said Sara Remedios Bloom, Associate Dean of Students and Director of Academic and Learning Initiatives. “It’s truly a game changer, and we are thrilled to put the space to use this fall.”

FINANCING FROM THE HEART

DAWSON HER MANY HORSES ’04 FOUND ALL THE DIFFERENCE THAT DEALS CAN MAKE

By Eric Butterman

Dawson Her Many Horses ’04 sees a beauty in banking that many may miss— the nuances, the opportunities, the bolstering of dreams. Growing up, he did not aspire to work in finance. In fact, at Columbia he earned a degree in political science. But, over time, he saw that investment banking could partly be a way to help tribes, and he grew passionate about how making deals could make a difference. Beginning his banking career as director of Native American business development at Merrill Lynch in 2004 in New York City, he later became an investment banking analyst for them. Today, based in Las Vegas, Her Many Horses holds the role of Senior Vice President & Head of Native American Banking, Commercial Banking, at Wells Fargo. “I grew up on Rosebud Reservation” he said. “As a tribal member, to walk into the room and have an understanding of the issues that our clients and prospective clients are contending with is helpful. Because of the maturation of the gaming industry across the United States, you don’t see a lot of building of new hotel towers or new casinos. The discussions I’m having with our clients right now are what is the next business? And how can we help our tribal clients diversify their businesses?” Her Many Horses finds his Columbia political science education informs much more of his approach than he expected. “It’s helped me a lot because as I’ve worked as a banker and an advocate for my clients in whatever institution I’ve worked, a lot of my discussions center on and go back to tribes as sovereigns and tribes as governments with legal autonomy and distinction.” Having participated in the Program for Academic Leadership and Service (PALS) at GS, Her Many Horses fondly looks back on his undergraduate days. He recalls how PALS, a scholarship designed to provide access to a Columbia undergraduate education for students who might not otherwise be able to attend an Ivy League university, offered him a chance to have an even more personalized experience as a student, through working with deans and staff who mentored him to opportunities such as programming events PALS scholars facilitated together. Another standout opportunity to him was being a student representative on the University’s Advisory Committee on Socially Responsible Investing. Analyzing proxy statements and being part of offering advice on how the Columbia University endowment could be used with a sense of social concern is something that has informed his work in investment banking. “It gave me an interest and understanding in how you can marry finance and social concerns, which later translated into what I do today. I bring in deals, but as a part of that process, we’re also helping tribal communities, tribal programs, and individual tribal members.”