I created this generic Colubmia Dissertation LaTeX template based on a classmates dissertation. I wanted to start with something simple and fresh and be sure it compiled correctly. I don't know the origin story of the formatting, but there was a README in with the other files that said:

"LaTeX template files for the PhD thesis format required by Columbia. Created by Agustin Gravano from original files by Panagiotis Ipeirotis. On Unix-like systems, run make' to create a DVI file, or make pdf' to create a PDF file. Good luck!"

You can have as many chapters as you want, you will just need to add them into the Dissertation.tex file in a similar style to Chapters 1 through 3 in this template. Note that Dissertation.tex also has an option to add Appendices that is currently commented out but the sample structure is there.

The FrontMatter folder contains tex files for the abstract, acknowledgements, and title page. The TitlePage.tex file loads all of the needed packages. If you need to include any special packages or define special functions, there is a section at the botton for your own additions.

I created a Figures folder to store all of my plots in for organizational purposes and then added:

\usepackage{graphicx}

\graphicspath{{./Figures/}}

into the FrontMatter document to point to the figure path.

I had a compilation issue when I tried to include plots in my dissertation, and spent a long time debugging it. For me it was solved by commenting out \usepackage[dvips]{epsfig} in the FrontMatter template. I have done so in this template so that you don't run into the same problem. But I know that at least one classmate of mine used this template and included files without having a problem with this. Just be aware of this change that I made and feel free to change it back if it works for you.

To use, just compile the Dissertation.tex file using PDFLaTeX, and BibTeX as needed. As usual with LaTeX you'll have to run it a few times to get the table of contents and page numbers and everything to be correct.