Our staff carries out the programming, business, communications, and administrative functions of the Institute for Ideas and Imagination in Paris.
OUR STAFF
Mark Mazower
Director of the Institute
Mark Mazower has written several books, including Dark Continent: Europe’s Twentieth Century (1998), Salonica, City of Ghosts: Christians, Muslims and Jews, 1430–1950 (2004) and Governing the World: The History of an Idea (2012). What You Did Not Tell: A Russian Past and the Journey Home (2017), explores his father’s family and its revolutionary past. His most recent book is The Greek Revolution: 1821 and the Making of Modern Europe (2021). He is a historian of modern Europe and has a particular interest in modern Greece. His reviews and commentaries on current affairs appear in the Financial Times and elsewhere.
Mark is responsible for the Institute’s overall cultural and intellectual direction.

Marie d’Origny
Associate Director
Marie d’Origny was the Deputy Director of the Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at The New York Public Library from 2009 to 2017. Previously she worked in film preservation and programming. She holds a B.F.A. in Cinema Studies from the Tisch School of the Arts and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from New York University.
Marie manages the overall administration of the Institute, including financial matters, programming, and relations with Reid Hall and other institutions.
Email Marie: md3155(at)columbia.edu

James Allen
Cultural Programs & Special Projects Officer
James obtained his B.A. in French and International Studies in 2017 from California State University, Long Beach. Following his graduation, James worked as an English teacher at the Université of Rouen prior to interning as a Parliamentary Assistant for the Assemblée Nationale. Just before joining the Institute, he carried out research on foreign affairs with the Center for International Policy in Washington D.C.
James coordinates the day-to-day operations of the Institute, events, and borrowing books for the Fellows.
Email James: ja3430(at)columbia.edu

Justine Benedeyt
Programming Assistant
Justine Benedeyt interned for the Institute for Ideas and Imagination during her last year of graduate school at Université de Paris-Cité. She now works in collaboration with the Institute, Columbia Global Centers | Paris, and the Undergraduate Program for the coordination and promotion of public events. Justine holds a master II in English Literature.
Email Justine: jb4788(at)columbia.edu
