Departments and Programs
The primary aim of the Barnard Economics Department is to provide students with a rigorous, broad, and critical program in theoretical and empirical economics.
The department offers two tracks in he economics major, as well as combined majors in Economics & Mathematics, Economics & Social History, and Economics-Statistics. In collaboration with the Department of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research (IEOR) at Columbia University, it also offers a 4+1 Bachelor/Master's program in Economics and Operations Research.
The Barnard Education Program educates students to draw on interdisciplinary research and perspectives in order to critically analyze the role of education in society, and to create and sustain equitable educational practices and policies for all. The program is committed to strengthening public education and addressing issues of equity and social justice, particularly in urban schools.
The offering in English is designed to foster good writing, effective speaking, and heightened understanding of culturally significant texts. We encourage students majoring in English to develop their responsiveness to the literary imagination and their sensitivity to literary form through disciplined attention to language, to historical contexts, and to critical and scholarly methods.
Barnard College’s Environmental Science Department provides highly motivated young women with challenging and rewarding programs in Environmental Science, Environmental Biology, and Environment and Sustainability. High academic standards, multidisciplinary courses, and training in methodologies such as field work, measurements, and data analysis, ready our students with the tools needed to think critically, evaluate and solve problems, and understand and communicate science to address the needs of society. Faculty members are nationally and internationally recognized scholars and educators, active in research and curriculum development. Courses are innovative, featuring multimedia and technologically advanced resources. The urban setting, the proximity to the Hudson River, and the numerous affiliations we maintain with Columbia University through Lamont‐Doherty Earth Observatory, the Earth Institute, and the School of Public Health, as well as Black Rock Forest, the American Museum of Natural History and other institutions, allow us to offer undergraduates unparalleled opportunities for student research and educational experiences. Upon successful completion of our program, our students are well prepared to continue their academic studies as graduate students or to pursue successful careers in a wide range of fields.
The European Studies program at Barnard College enables students to combine disciplinary approaches to the study of Europe. Students ground themselves in a core discipline (history, political science, anthropology, sociology, theater, and philosophy, among others) that provides them with methodological expertise. They also take courses in the language and literature of a chosen region of Europe and complement this program with a selection of courses exploring Europe from other disciplinary perspectives. Students are encouraged to study abroad in the region of their interest.