ARCH UN2013: Architectural Design Summer Studio

Kadambari Baxi, Professor of Professional Practice. MW, 9:00 - 1:00pm.

This architectural design summer studio course explores modes of visualization, technologies of mediation, and spaces of environmental and material transformations. These explorations will be used as catalysts for architectural analysis and design experimentation.

Introducing design methodologies that allow us to perceive and reshape spatial and material interactions in new ways, the studio will focus on how architecture negotiates, alters or redirects multiple forces in our world: physical, cultural, social, technological, political etc. The semester progresses through two projects that examine unique atmospheric, spatial and urban conditions with the aid of multimedia visual techniques; and that employ design to develop critical and creative interventions at different scales. Learning analog and digital drawing techniques, physical model-making, and multimedia image production, students will work in the studio and digital architecture lab. The course includes site visits and field trips in the city.

Barnard Students register here!

Columbia Students register here!

Visiting Students register here!

THTR UN3124: Art & Performance in Time of AIDS

Alice Reagan, Associate Professor of Professional Practice. TR 1:00-4:10pm.

This seminar explores the varied ways artists responded to the AIDS crisis of the 1980s and 90s through performance, theatre, and activist art.  As government indifference persisted and deaths soared, artists became radicalized and contemporary art and performance became a vehicle for activism.  We will follow different tactics in artwork responding to AIDS including the use of gay desire as a weapon and emblem of the fight for visibility.  The work we will view, think about, discuss, and write about is political, often angry, and always suffused with loss.  Because AIDS affected marginalized communities whose histories are still being told, we will examine a range of artists and materials that includes but also moves beyond the gay white male perspective.  We will spend time with theatre work by Reza Abdoh, Tony Kushner, and María Irene Fornés, videos by Juanita Mohammad, visual art by Kia LaBeija, Felix González-Torres, Martin Wong, and David Wojnarowicz, music by Mark Adamo and Diamanda Galás, among other lesser known artist/activists.  We will approach these works alongside critical and creative writing by José Esteban Muñoz and Audre Lorde among others.  The final project will be a research paper, built in stages throughout the semester, that engages critically with artwork that intersects with AIDS activism.

Barnard Students register here!

Columbia Students register here!

Visiting Students register here!

HIST BC3177: Capitalism and Climate Change

Carl Wennerlind, Professor. TR 1:00 - 5:00pm. 

Current patterns of economic growth are no longer environmentally sustainable. Global industrialization and the associated transference of carbon from the ground to the air are leading to a rapid exhaustion of resources and a warming of the planet. These changes have triggered a set of dangerous climactic transformations that are likely to cause massive ecological disruptions and disturbances of food production systems. These changes, in turn, might have a profound impact on poverty, migration, and geopolitics. To better understand how we have arrived at the present predicament, this seminar explores the history of how social and economic theorists have conceptualized the interaction between the economy and nature. The focus will be on the concept of scarcity as a way of understanding the relationship between economic growth and environmental sustainability. The course begins in the Renaissance and traces the evolution of the nature/economy nexus to the present.

Barnard Students register here!

Columbia Students register here!

Visiting Students register here!

HIST BC2321: Colonial Encounters - Europe and the Culture of Empire

Lisa Tiersten, Professor. MW 1:00- 4:10pm. 

Examines the shaping of European cultural identity through encounters with non-European cultures from 1500 to the post-colonial era. Novels, paintings, and films will be among the sources used to examine such topics as exoticism in the Enlightenment, slavery and European capitalism, Orientalism in art, ethnographic writings on the primitive, and tourism.

Barnard Students register here!

Columbia Students register here!

Visiting Students register here!

ARCH 1010UN: Design Futures - NYC        

Michael Schissel, Adjunct Assistant Professor. MW 1:00pm - 4:10pm. 

How does design operate in our lives? What is our design culture? In this course, we explore the many scales of design in contemporary culture -- from graphic design to architecture to urban design to global, interactive, and digital design. The format of this course moves between lectures, discussions, collaborative design work and field trips in order to engage in the topic through texts and experiences.

Barnard Students register here!

Columbia Students register here!

Visiting Students register here!

AHIS BC2013: Drawing in the City

Annabel Daou, Adjunct Associate. TR 1:00 - 5:00pm.

This course will provide an opportunity to experience New York City through drawing. It will focus on drawing as a way of experiencing and viewing the world and as a way of expressing concepts. The class takes place both in the studio and in the city itself, including in cultural institutions, parks, cafes and the street. In sketchbooks and journals, students will document and elaborate upon their encounters with the city. The class will incorporate different themes, including: history, community, intimacy, exchange, structure, motion, architecture, nature. We will learn about different drawing techniques and uses of drawing. Exercises will at times intersect with quotidian urban activities. We will, for example, document a walk through the park or sit in a cafe working out visual ideas. Students will fill their sketchbook with drawn records of their experience of the city and will learn about the history of depicting the city through the eyes of different artists such as Edward Hopper, Martin Wong, Faith Ringold, Alice Neel, Florine Stettheimer and Mina Loy.

Barnard Students register here!

Columbia Students register here!

Visiting Students register here!

EES CBC1007_001_2021_2: Earth and Environmental Science in Today  

Sedelia Rodriguez, Senior Lecturer. TR 1:00-4:10pm.

In responding to the environmental issues we face today, it is critical to recognize the science behind them. This course will teach students the basic concepts in earth science/geology essential to understanding the mechanisms of our current climate crisis. These foundational concepts are crucial for any student who is interested in not only the natural sciences, but for those who wish to pursue careers related to environmental justice, sustainability, and other social science fields. Students will explore how and where natural resources form, as well as how we are rapidly depleting these reserves. Students will also learn about natural disasters and how these affect certain communities more than others. Students will gain an understanding of the formation of rocks and minerals and their economic significance. Students will be able to use the cumulative knowledge they gained during the first weeks of class to have a better understanding of the global climate issues we face and to use this information to conduct presentations on an environmental topic of their choice. The format of the course will be as follows:  Primarily lecture, followed by class discussions, group activities and at least one lab component.

Barnard Students register here!

Columbia Students register here!

Visiting Students register here!

ECON BC3081: Economics of Work and Play

Lalith Munasinghe, Professor. MW 1:00pm - 4:10pm.

Is human activity the locus of human freedom? Is human wellbeing more or less to do with the consumption of goods and services (as the neoclassical economist would have us believe) or with the status of human actions (whether as play or work)? Do human institutions--the state, patriarchal households, educational establishments, corporations, factories, prisons, retirement homes--impact individual preferences, dispositions, tolerances? Or, do fixed and stable human preferences (underlying assumption of neoclassical consumer theory) underpin such hierarchical institutions around which human life is organized? What aspects of labor--lack of ownership of means of production, minimal control over the work process, simplification (deskilling) of tasks-- lead to alienation of the worker? Can we imagine alternative structures of social work that is cooperative and non-hierarchical? What factors are implicated in the recent increase in so-called "bullshit jobs" over the past 40 years or so? What does the future of work look like?

Barnard Students register here!

Columbia Students register here!

Visiting Students register here!

BIOL BC2342: Functional Human Anatomy         

Jordan Balaban, Lecturer. TR 1:00pm-4:10pm.

Careers in health care require an in depth knowledge of the anatomy of the human body. However, anyone can gain from an appreciation of the complexity of their own body. With this class, students will gain an understanding of how anatomical form and function are intertwined from the microscopic to macroscopic levels. Though any anatomy course necessarily involves the memorization of structures, this course has a strong focus on the functions of those structures as applied to everyday life! Rather than rote memorization, students will work to understand the anatomical, biomechanical, and physiological principles that govern how we move, feel, and think.

Barnard Students register here!

Columbia Students register here!

Visiting Students register here!

NSBV BC2006: Mind/Brain Disorders    

Luca Iemi, Term Assistant Professor. TR 1:00-4:10pm.

Mental disorders have historically been distinguished from other medical illnesses because they affect the higher cognitive processes that are referred to as the “mind”. Neuroscience offers one way for understanding mental disorders, asserting that the mind is a manifestation of brain activity, thereby categorizing these disorders as essentially brain disorders. This course explores the ongoing search for the brain correlates of mental disorders and the significant impact this search has had on our contemporary understanding of mental health. Engaging with review and research papers on schizophrenia, autism spectrum, and mood disorders, students will learn to interpret experimental evidence in Neuroscience and to evaluate known theories through both supporting and non-supporting evidence. While the course acknowledges neuroscience's progress in understanding mental disorders, it also considers some of the problems encountered in viewing them as essentially biological phenomena: Can brain-based explanations capture the lived experience of mental disorders? Could these disorders also originate from outside the brain? How should they be treated, and should they be always treated?

Barnard Students register here!

Columbia Students register here!

Visiting Students register here!

POLS BC3049: Race, Gender, and Medicine: Social Justice and the Politics of Health.          

Roberto Sirvent, Adjunct Visiting Associate Professor. MW 1:00- 4:10pm.

Why is racism so prevalent in hospitals and other health care settings? What unique challenges do trans and gender-diverse youth face as a result of recent transphobic laws and policies? How are community organizers advocating for the end of medical neglect, abuse, and torture in prisons and migrant detention facilities? How do efforts to decolonize museums connect with grassroots struggles for environmental justice? In a (largely) seminar format, we will explore these questions and many others. By centering issues of gender, race, and sexuality, political approaches to medicine and public health challenge and expand contemporary debates in the medical humanities. This class provides an overview of the theoretical landscape and social movements that ground recent developments in the field, especially as it engages feminist theory, disability justice movements, critical race theory, queer theory, anti-colonial thought, and trans liberation movements. Special attention is paid to the structuring force of anti-Blackness in various clinical and research settings, the development and racialization of transgender medicine, and what it means to view state violence as an issue in public health and the medical humanities. The course will feature a key experiential learning component that includes visits to the American Museum of Natural History, the Sylvia Rivera Law Project, the Black Alliance for Just Immigration, and key sites where the Young Lords and Black Panther Party engaged in community health organizing.

Barnard Students register here!

Columbia Students register here!

Visiting Students register here!

PSYC BC1101: Statistics Lecture & Recitation

Mariel Roberts, Term Assistant Professor. MW 1:00pm-5:00pm. 

Prerequisite (or co-requisite): PSYC BC1001. Lecture course and associated recitation section introducing students to statistics and its applications to psychological research. The course covers basic theory, conceptual underpinnings, and common statistics. The following Columbia University courses are considered overlapping and a student cannot receive credit for both the BC course and the equivalent CU course: STAT UN1001 Introduction to Statistical Reasoning; STAT UN1101 Introduction to Statistics; STAT UN1201 Introduction to Statistics.

Barnard Students register here!

Columbia Students register here!

Visiting Students register here!

ENGL BC3304: The Art of the Essay        

Alexandra P Watson, Lecturer. TR 1:00pm-4:10pm

What makes the essay of personal experience an essay rather than a journal entry? How can one's specific experience transcend the limits of narrative and transmit a deeper meaning to any reader? How can a writer transmit the wisdom gained from personal experience without lecturing her reader? In The Art of the Essay, we explore the answers to these questions by reading personal essays in a variety of different forms. We begin with Michel de Montaigne, the 16th-century philosopher who popularized the personal essay as we know it and famously asked, “What do I know?,” and follow the development of the form as a locus of rigorous self-examination, doubt, persuasion, and provocation. Through close reading of a range of essays from writers including Annie Dillard, George Orwell, Jamaica Kincaid, and June Jordan, we analyze how voice, form, and evidence work together to create a world of meaning around an author's experience, one that invites readers into conversations that are at once deeply personal and universal in their consequences and implications.

Barnard Students register here!

Columbia Students register here!

Visiting Students register here!

THRT UN3303: Unusual Stories - Clubbed Thumb Playwriting

Andy Bragen & Crystal Finn. MW 9:00-12:10pm.

Clubbed Thumb commissions, develops and produces funny, strange and provocative new plays by living American writers. Clubbed Thumb’s plays vary in style and content, but are always 90 minutes or under. They feature substantial and challenging roles for all genders, are questioning, formally inventive, theatrical, and exhibit a sense of humor. Since its founding in 1996, the company has presented over 100 productions, and has been awarded 5 Obies, including the Ross Wetzsteon award for sustained excellence.

This playwriting course will use Clubbed Thumb’s work and aesthetic as a launching point. The students will see all three of the plays in the 2023 Summerworks Festival, and will read several published scripts from previous Clubbed Thumb festivals. We will look at the stylistic and aesthetic choices of these plays, and students will engage in a series of writing assignment inspired by Clubbed Thumb’s work, culminating in a “Clubbed Thumb bakeoff” (a longer play written in a short period of time). The students will have the opportunity to engage with Clubbed Thumb artists, including the artistic leadership of Clubbed Thumb: Maria Striar and Michael Bulger.

Barnard Students register here!

Columbia Students register here!

Visiting Students register here!

ENGL BC2336: WITCHES

Wendy C Schor-Haim, Senior Lecturer. TR 9:00am-12:10pm.

What is this course about? Well, it’s about witches…but what are witches about? Witches are about
gender, sexuality, morality, fear, and authority, among other things. For millennia, female spirituality
and female sexuality have been paired in ways that reveal deep-seated anxieties about the female
body and its power. From ancient Mesopotamian goddess worship to the frenzied witch hunts of
early modern Europe to the child-devouring crones of folk tales from cultures around the world,
we’ll delve into what the witch and those who name and pursue her reveal about deeply-held cultural
beliefs, desires, and anxieties. We’ll work together to analyze the figure of the witch across time and
space and develop our own ideas about why she is so constantly compelling. We’ll also look at our
own sociocultural moment and connect what we learn about witches to the world around us.

Barnard Students register here!

Columbia Students register here!

Visiting Students register here!

DNCB BC2665: World Dance History      

Paul Scolieri, Professor. MW 9:00-12:10pm.

A survey of the major dance traditions of Africa, Asia, Europe, India, the Middle East, and the Americas. Lectures and discussions address primary written and visual sources, ethnographic and documentary films, workshops, and performances.

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Columbia Students register here!

Visiting Students register here!

ENGL BC1022: Bad Love        

Ross Hamilton, Professor. MW 1:00- 4:10pm.

This seminar reads stories of love gone bad, of romances that end catastrophically, that damage lovers or leave victims along the way.   We will illuminate the consuming fantasy of the romance genre in its quest for “true love,” as well as a range of emotions – rage and revenge, narcissism and self-protection, obsession and oblivion – that surface in its wake.  We will also look at shifting interpretations of “bad love,” from Plato, to the Galenic theory of the humors, to the sociology of court-culture, to Freudian and finally contemporary neurobiological explanations of feelings.  Students are welcome to propose texts of their own interests to open this course to the widest range of interests.  In addition to seminar discussion, there will be weekly individual tutorials with Professor Hamilton as well as zoom interviews with a neurobiologist and a psychologist if it can be arranged.

Barnard Students register here!

Columbia Students register here!

Visiting Students register here!

AHIS BC2903: Cookbook: Food as Art    

Irena Haiduk, Associate Professor. MW 1:00 - 5:00pm.

This course examines food as a medium in contemporary art. To nourish by providing healthful food experiences creates communities and a sense of belonging, care and pleasure. This course and part take in vibrant community of artist chefs in New York City and the Hudson Valley. We will start by tracing the histories of representation of food as well as collaborations between artists, chefs and food growers and proceed to visit kitchens and farms led by artists. The class will cook, bake, pickle and taste food, grow food, serve food and develop its own community of curious Epicureans. Each student will develop, design, print and bind their own cookbook/travelogue, based on their culinary heritage and experiences in class.

No prior knowledge of any medium is required.  

Barnard Students register here!

Columbia Students register here!

Visiting Students register here!

ENG BC1903: Dead Mothers, Wicked Stepmothers   

Wendy Schor-Haim, Senior Lecturer. TR 9:00 -12:10pm.

You know them well: on one side, the scheming, jealous stepmother, obsessed with her fading youth. On the other, her husband’s virginal, naive, and beautiful daughter – whose own mother is usually dead. The conflict between them is so familiar that it feels inevitable. Where, though, did these nearly universal figures come from? Why are they so ingrained in the imaginations of people around the world and across the millennia? In this course, we’ll explore the roots of the maternal in folk and fairy tales. We’ll analyze a variety of stories and films to investigate the “absent mother,” “virginal daughter,” and “wicked stepmother” from different critical perspectives, paying special attention to analytical psychology and feminist psychoanalytic theories, to try to figure out why these figures are so compelling, so ubiquitous, and so hard to shake.

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Columbia Students register here!

Visiting Students register here!

PSYC BC2152: Industrial Organizational Psychology       

Joshua Feinberg, Adjust Associate Professor. TR 5:30-8:40pm. 

Study of behavior in organizational and business-related settings. Examination of such topics as employee motivation and satisfaction, communication patterns, effective leadership strategies, and organization development.

Barnard Students register here!

Columbia Students register here!

Visiting Students register here!

PSYC BC1001: Introduction to Psychology          

Kathleen M Taylor, Lecturer. TR 9:00am - 12:10pm.

Why do people act the way they do, feel the way they do, think the way they do?  We will explore different answers to this question ranging from the biological theories (it’s all in the brain) to the social theories (it’s all about the influences around us).  We’ll examine successes (learning, memory, intelligence, consciousness) failures (psychopathologies) and ways of changing unhealthy behaviors (biomedical and psychotherapies, stress and health) and changing attitudes (racism).  Emphasis is placed on scientific analysis of behavior, understanding theories, and interpreting research findings, with the ultimate goal of understanding more about human behavior from a scientific perspective.

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Columbia Students register here!

Visiting Students register here!

FILM BC1020 : NYC in Film         

Ross Hamilton, Professor. MW 5:30-8:40pm.

This course will explore the representation of New York City in film. We will examine the way that film portrays social problems and either creates or responds to “social panics.” We will also examine the way in which film actively creates an idea of “New York” through cinematography, directing, acting and other aspects of filmmaking.  Some topics to be considered are utopia/dystopia, race, ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality, art, immigration, houselessness, and gentrification. The course follows three main themes: 1. How the filmmaking process (camera movements, lighting, dialogue, acting, etc.) is used as a method to describe space (filmmaking as a geographic method). 2. How various genres of film have been used to portray the social geography of New York City (the geography of film). 3. The relationship between the viewer’s “place” and the places portrayed in the film (communication geography). Finally, we will also consider how our personal sense of place towards New York City has altered throughout the course.

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Columbia Students register here!

Visiting Students register here!

NSBV BC3398: Psychobiology of Sleep  

Ari Shechter, Associate Professor. TR 1:00 - 5:00pm.  

This seminar will explore sleep and circadian rhythms, emphasizing how these factors and their disruption influence human health, disease, function, and well-being. Topics will include the physiologic and neurobiological generation of sleep and circadian rhythms, and the interaction between these systems with cognitive, behavioral, endocrine, metabolic, and mood/psychiatric variables in humans, as well as sleep disorders and their treatment.

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Columbia Students register here!

Visiting Students register here!

CLCV BC3121 : Studying New York Museums     

Kristina Milnor, Professor. TR 1:00-4:10pm.

In this course, we will use some of New York City’s many museums to introduce students to museum studies, a field of inquiry which looks at the process and politics of publicly displaying objects for “educational” purposes. We will use individual museums as case studies of particular issues in museology, from antiquities and the art market at the Metropolitan Museum of Art to racism and cultural appropriation at the American Museum of Natural History. We will also look at “alternative” museums, such as the Mmuseumm and the Treasures in the Trash Museum to consider how they resist and rewrite traditional museum narratives. Class time will be divided between class discussions, museum visits, student presentations, and digital workshops.

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Columbia Students register here!

Visiting Students register here!

CHEM BC1050: The Jazz of Chemistry     

Meena Rao, Senior Lecturer. MW 1:00- 4:10pm

The contribution of chemistry to everyday life is immense. The applications of chemistry in medicine, petrochemicals, cosmetics, and fertilizers are readily apparent. However, the knowledge and applications of chemistry come in handy in many other fascinating fields, some of which may be less than obvious. Examples of areas in which chemistry plays a key role include forensic science; art restoration and forgery detection; and flavors and fragrances in food, beverages and other consumer products. The goal of this course is to provide insights and spur discussion of several areas and applications of chemistry, while gaining hands-on experience in techniques used in these fields.

Barnard Students register here!

Columbia Students register here!

Visiting Students register here!

For all current undergraduate students at Barnard College and Columbia University, as well as visiting students from other colleges and universities, registrations will be processed as received (no seats saved for majors or class years). Questions? Email summersession@92ujn.com.

Pre-baccalaureate students must apply through the Pre-College Program. Questions? Emai summersession@92ujn.com

Once the summer session begins, you cannot drop your only class on SSOL. Please email the Barnard registrar at registrar@92ujn.com, to request the drop or withdrawal from a summer course. We will process it according to the date it was sent. Please see the academic calendar for dates and deadlines.

Incoming first-year students (class of 2028) who will begin at Barnard in the Fall Semester must apply to take a class through the Pre-College Program. Questions can be directed to pcp@92ujn.com.

Incoming transfer students can register as a non-Barnard visiting student. Questions can be directed to summersession@92ujn.com.

Students currently on a leave of absence should reach out to Dean Rebecca Grabiner if they are interested in taking a summer course. Refer as well to the Leaves of Absence and Returns webpage.

Contact Dean Grabiner: schedule an appointment or email leavesandreturns@92ujn.com.

No. Recent graduates or those who plan to have their degree conferred in May are not eligible to register for a summer course.

Please refer to the Registrar’s webpage that details information about taking summer classes elsewhere. For policies related to credit for Columbia summer classes, please check here.

No. All students will be charged on a per-credit basis and will be billed separately from Fall and Spring tuition. 

Access to Courseworks, our designated course portals (where students will find course materials), will be granted at the start of the summer courses in which you enroll. *Students with no prior affiliation to Columbia University will receive login credentials from the Office of Summer Session and Continuing Studies