Faculty Club Hosts First Community Hour

Around 100 CUIMC employees attended the medical center’s first Community Hour, hosted last month by the Faculty Club, which provides on-campus dining, catering, and event services. The event was designed to enhance community building and create an opportunity to connect and relax with colleagues in a casual and fun environment.

The event followed the model of the Faculty House Community Hour hosted monthly on Columbia’s Morningside campus. Drinks and appetizers from the Faculty Club’s reception menu are provided as part of the entrance fee.

“It was great to see everyone having conversations and people catching up with old friends or old colleagues,” says Michael Alberto, executive director of the Faculty Club. “The medical center as a whole is looking to build community and offer more platforms where people can come together, and this was a perfect opportunity for that.”

Michael Alberto led the attendees at Faculty Club Community Hour in singing karoake.

Drinks and appetizers including a charcuterie spread from the Faculty Club’s reception menu are provided as part of the entrance fee.

A step and repeat was set up at the event for attendees to take photos.

Attendees danced it out to lively music at the Faculty Club Community Hour event.

The new series is part of medical center leadership’s vision for a more people-oriented campus. Diana Mejia, vice president of student and campus services, says events like Community Hour show the importance of collaboration in achieving these goals.

“We have incredible service providers on campus including the Faculty Club, and now we’re threading all these services together in service of a larger mission: To create a sense of place and belonging for employees,” Mejia says.

The first CUIMC Community Hour included karaoke and dancing, and future events may feature live music. Alberto says he also hopes to introduce online RSVP to streamline the process further.

The next Faculty Club Community Hour will be January 23. Alberto and Mejia want to continue the series regularly and host pop-up events in the summer to enjoy some of the outdoor venues on campus.

“I hope the series can become a new campus tradition,” Alberto says “Somebody joked that this could be the new Coogan’s, where people can go and have a beer or just relax after work. It feels great that we were able to put smiles on people's faces and show people a good time.”