ARCH2013BC: Architectural Design: Summer Studio

MW 9:00 AM - 1:00 PM

Kadambari Baxi, Professor. 

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. NOTE: The course may be used to fulfill major requirements. It can replace: ARCH 2101 Architectural Design: Environment Mediations OR ARCH 2103 Architectural Design: Systems and Materials. OR students may use it as an additional optional studio course to complement their overall studies in the major. Preference will be given to students who have completed one studio course or Design Futures course.

NSBV3361BC: Cellular & Molecular Neuroscience

MW 1:00 PM - 4:10 PM

Abigail Zadina, Term Assistant Professor.

This upper-level lecture course provides an in-depth analysis of neuroscience at the molecular and cellular levels. Topics include: the structure and function of neuronal membranes, the ionic basis of the membrane potential and action potential, synaptic transmission, synaptic plasticity, and sensory transduction.

EESC2025BC: Changemakers: Shaping social change in the context of the climate crisis

MW 1:00 PM - 4:10 PM

Sandra Goldmark, Senior Assistant Dean.

In the context of the climate change, this course asks: how do we shape, spark, facilitate, and accelerate social change?

In order to mitigate and/or adapt to climate change, individuals, communities, organizations, and societies around the world – especially in wealthy nations – face the urgent need to implement significant changes, quickly. To avoid the worst climate scenarios, energy systems, patterns of production and consumption, political landscapes, daily habits, and even modes of thinking must evolve at every scale. The risks and impacts of climate change are well known and all too evident; and yet, global emissions continue to rise, natural ecosystems continue to be exploited and degraded, and frontline communities and nations continue to bear the brunt. To date, we have largely failed to implement the necessary changes to our current social and economic systems, by multiple metrics and at multiple scales. This course asks: what skills and practices are needed to more effectively spark, facilitate, accelerate, and manage the personal, social, organizational, and political changes needed at a range of scales to mitigate and adapt to climate change, all in an era of increasing disasters and social upheaval?

Students will explore a range of texts and thinkers that grapple with the subject of change; gain fluency with a range of “change management” tools and frameworks; analyze strategies for facilitating, accelerating, or shaping change process in a range of organizations and systems; learn from a series of guest “change experts;” and build their own theory of change for a specific problem or system.

Authors may include: Adrienne Maree Brown, Kate Crowley, Dennis Dalton, Ruth DeFries, Eknath Easwaran, Mahatma Gandhi, Ezra Klein, Margaret Heffernan, Brian Head, Ian Hodder, Robert Kegan, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Lisa Laskow Lahey, Jonah Lehrer, Andrew Marantz, Donella Meadows, Kendra Pierre-Louis, Horst Rittel, Isabel Romanzcy, Jonathan Safran-Foer, Leith Sharp, Twyla Tharp, Melvin Webber.

HIST2321BC: Colonial Encounters

MW 1:00 PM - 4:10 PM

Lisa Tiersten, Professor.

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.

THTR3402BC: Costume Design

TR 1:00 PM - 4:10 PM

Kara Feely, Costume Manager.

Studio course exploring designing costumes for the stage. Students become familiar with textual and character analysis, research, sketching and rendering, swatching and introductory costume history. 

Application Instructions for full semester fall and spring courses: E-mail the instructor with the title of the course in the subject line. In your message, include basic information: your name, school, major, year of study, and relevant courses taken, along with a brief statement about why you are interested in taking the course. Admitted students should register for the course; they will automatically be placed on a wait list, from which the instructor will admit them as spaces become available.

For summer courses:  Application not required.  Register directly for the course.

ENGL1903BC: Dead Mothers and Wicked Stepmothers

TR 9:00 AM - 12:10 PM

Wendy Schor-Haim, Senior Lecturer.

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.

AHIS2001BC: Drawing Studio

MW 9:00 AM - 12:10 PM

Jozefina Chetko, Term Assistant Professor.

This course will explore drawing as an open-ended way of working and thinking that serves as a foundation for all other forms of visual art. The class is primarily a workshop, augmented by slides lectures and videos, homework assignments and field trips. Throughout the semester, students will discuss their work individually with the instructor and as a group. Starting with figure drawing and moving on to process work and mapping and diagrams, we will investigate drawing as a practice involving diverse forms of visual culture.

EESC1007BC: Earth and Environmental Science in Today's World

TR 1:00 PM - 4:10 PM

Sedelia Rodriguez, Senior Lecturer.

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.

ECON3081BC: Economics of Work and Play

MW 1:00 PM - 4:10 PM

Lalith Munasinghe, Professor.

In 1930 Keynes predicted a 15-hour work week by the 21st century because he expected we would be at the foothills of the ""economic promised land."" He was more than right about technological progress and staggering productivity growth –– but dead wrong about the role work would play in our lives. Here we are, working 40+ hour weeks in mostly drab jobs, often under precarious employment conditions. 

This course is centered on the concept of ""work."" The broad objectives of the course are: first, to facilitate a critical understanding of the meaning and significance of work for human life; second, to develop a set of theoretical and analytical tools to dissect and analyze specific work arrangements that we in fact encounter in the real world; and third, and perhaps more importantly, to imagine alternative arrangements of work life that might be better suited for human flourishing. 

 We begin with some of the central ideas in modern labor economics, including definition of work, labor supply and demand, market mechanisms of wage determination, human capital theory and incentive-based management. We then assess the underlying assumptions implied in this body of knowledge –– for example, from labor as input in production to profit maximization and utility maximization based on stable consumer preferences over material goods and services and leisure time. The springboard for this critical analysis is a set of alternative viewpoints on what constitutes ""work activity"" from various other academic disciplines including philosophy, anthropology, linguistics and psychology. These readings, with their origins in different historical and intellectual settings and founded on different conceptions of human nature, stand in sharp contrast to this neoclassical economic view of ""man"" and ""work.”

The course will have a two-part structure. The first half of the course will consist of a series of lectures on modern labor economic models emphasizing the assumptions, theories and labor market “facts” that these models are designed to explain. The second half of the course will shift to a more discussion-based format that is better suited to a close ""exegesis"" of the required texts as critique of this neoclassical paradigm of work.

ENGL3105BC: Fiction & Personal Narrative

MW 1:00 PM - 4:10 PM

Alexandra Watson, Senior Lecturer.

Writing sample required to apply. Instructions and the application form can be found here: https://english.barnard.edu/english/creative-writing-courses. Short stories and other imaginative and personal writing. Interested students should send a prose writing sample (maximum 10 pages) to awatson@barnard.edu by April 1st.

URBS3253BC: Food & Society in Global Cities

MW 9:00 AM - 12:10 PM

Noah Allison, Term Assistant Professor.

Culinary practices are intricate to how urban spaces are experienced in everyday life. This course explores the nuanced ways food practices transform global cities worldwide. It investigates how personal preferences of food shape social, cultural, and spatial boundaries. Throughout the course, students will analyze urban spaces in global cities from an intersectionality theory of capitalism lens to consider how power structures shape culinary practices in terms of race, gender, sexuality, citizenship, class, ethnicity, language, religion, caste, ability, and diet. For instance, immigrant cooking and eating practices help define ethnic enclaves. And gourmet food trucks for the middle-class can become tropes for spurring gentrification. Analyzing global North and South cities, course themes focus on the politics of street food, food trucks, restaurants, markets, farmers’ markets, food deserts, food assistance programs, urban farming and agriculture, gastronomic gentrification, and food delivery services. This course comprises a mixture of active teaching strategies, short lectures, a film, and several field trips throughout New York City. By the end of the course, students will garner a deep understanding of how food and societies influence, and are shaped by, contemporary global cities.

NSBV1001BC: Introduction to Neuroscience

TR 1:00 PM - 4:10 PM

Anamaria Alexandrescu, Term Assistant Professor

This course is required for all the other courses offered in Neuroscience and Behavior. The course introduces students to the anatomy and physiology of the nervous system. The topics include the biological structure of the nervous system and its different cell types, the basis of the action potential, principles of neurotransmission, neuronal basis of behavior, sleep/wake cycles, and basic aspects of clinical neuroscience.

POLS2002BC: Introduction to US Constitutional Law

TR 1:00 PM - 4:10 PM

Jonathan Keller, Term Associate Professor.

This course will introduce students to basic concepts in American Constitutional Law - including the history and development of the U.S. Constitution, theories and practice of constitutional interpretation, and the historical context of major controversies of the Supreme Court. Students will develop the intellectual ability to read case law, properly conceptualize and analyze constitutional issues, and will foster an informed perspective on the nature and limits of constitutional decision making. Class will spend particular attention on the development of civil rights and civil liberties. Specifically, this semester will cover freedom of the press, the right to keep and bear arms, reproductive freedom, the right to privacy, constitutional police procedure, discrimination, voting rights, and political repression.

PSYC2177BC: Psychology of Drug Use and Abuse

TR 1:00 PM - 4:10 PM

E'mett McCaskill, Lecturer.

Prerequisites: BC1001 or permission of the instructor. Enrollment limited to 75 students. Examines the biological, psychological, and social factors that lead to drug use and abuse. A biopsychosocial model will be used to examine the behavioral effects of prescription, over the counter, and street drugs. Treatments, therapies, and theories of addictive behaviors will be explored.

ENGL1068BC: True Crime

TR 9:00 AM - 12:10 PM

Penelope Usher, Lecturer.

Over the centuries, readers have been drawn to accounts of “true” crime—violent narratives involving real people and real events. And yet, as with any literary object, the notion of “truth” is always unstable—stories and their tellings are always shaped by the motivations, values, and choices of those who tell them, often with an eye toward the audience that will consume them. Whether constructed in order to moralize, to enforce or critique social or political ideologies, or purely to sell copies, “true crime” is a literary genre that reveals attitudes about gender, race, and class; that illustrates—and sometimes calls into question—cultural norms and mores; that calls on readers to reflect on their own morbid curiosity and assumptions and fears. In this class we will engage with a diverse selection of literary texts—spanning from the Middle Ages to the present day and from a range of genres, including pamphlets, plays, novels, and more—as well as contemporary films, a tv series, and a podcast. Through close reading and critical analysis, we will examine the evolution of the “true crime” genre and the cultural and societal contexts that shape the portrayal of crime for popular consumption. We will explore the ways in which texts and authors sensationalize, moralize, and convey the complexities of crime. We will analyze point of view: who’s telling the story, whom we sympathize with, and what insights we get into the minds of those committing crimes as well as those who fall prey to them. We will consider justice and policing— the role played by the law and its enforcers in shaping narratives about crime and punishment, right and wrong. Finally, we will reflect on the ethical implications of representing real-life crimes in literature, and how “true crime” narratives shape social perceptions, fears, prejudices, and notions of justice and morality.

ANTH2052BC: Understanding Rikers Island and Other City Jails

TR 1:00 PM - 4:10 PM

Kaya Williams, Assistant Professor.

Municipal jails are one of the most impactful institutions of criminal justice in the United States; and yet many Americans do not even know the difference between a prison and a jail. This course will investigate the conditions of mass incarceration in America by centering the municipal jail. We will begin with the question “what is a jail,” and move from there to interrogate the cultural, economic, political and legal forces that shape the conditions of possibility for the 21st century jail. Taking as objects of study both the jail itself and the practice of incarcerating people in local jails, this course will combine scholarly work on U.S. criminal justice with a variety of non-academic texts including legal decisions, contemporary journalism, and documentary film. Over the course of the semester students will learn to “locate” the city jail in a number of different ways: within the complex political and economic structures of the American municipality, within the criminal justice system writ large, and within the country’s long history of anti-black racism and struggles for freedom. In addition to readings and discussions, students will get to know practices of municipal incarceration first-hand through observations in New York City’s criminal courthouses and other ethnographic excursions in the city. Because we are in New York City, we will pay particular attention throughout the semester to Rikers Island and the city’s proposed Borough-Based Jails Plan.

ENGL2336BC: Witches

TR 1:00 PM - 4:10 PM

Wendy Schor-Haim, Senior Lecturer.

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.

DNCE BC2665: World Dance History

MW 10:00 AM - 1:10 PM

Paul Scolieri, Professor.

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.

PSYC2141BC: Abnormal Psychology

TR 1:00 PM - 4:10 PM

Erica Musser, Assistant Professor.

Prerequisites: PSYCBC1001 

Introduction to Psychology or its accepted equivalent. . An introduction to the study of abnormal behavior and various psychological disorders such as depression, schizophrenia, anxiety disorders, eating disorders, and personality disorders. The course broadly reviews scientific and cultural perspectives on abnormal behavior with an emphasis on clinical descriptions and diagnosis, etiology, treatment, and research methods. The following Columbia University course is considered overlapping and a student cannot receive credit for both the BC course and the equivalent CU course: PSYC UN2620 Abnormal Behavior.

ENGL1022BC: Bad Love

MW 1:00 PM - 4:10 PM

Ross Hamilton, Professor.

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

AFRS2005BC: Caribbean Culture and Societies

MW 1:00 PM - 4:10 PM

Maja Horn, Associate Professor.

This course offers a chronological study of the Anglophone, Hispanophone, and Francophone insular Caribbean through the eyes of some of the region’s most important writers and thinkers. We will focus on issues that key Caribbean intellectuals--including two Nobel prize-winning authors--consider particularly enduring and relevant in Caribbean cultures and societies. Among these are, for example, colonization, slavery, national and postcolonial identity, race, class, popular culture, gender, sexuality, tourism and migration. This course will also serve as an introduction to some of the exciting work on the Caribbean by professors at Barnard College and Columbia University (faculty spotlights).

AHIS2017BC: Cell Phone Photography: Exploring Digital Media

TR 9:00 AM - 12:10 PM

Jozefina Chetko, Term Assistant Professor.

Today’s cell phones are equipped with cameras that far surpass those used by the pioneers of digital photography, offering superior resolution and multi-sensor capabilities that revolutionize how we capture and process images. This course explores the creative and technical potential of smartphone photography, focusing on accessible tools and workflows that empower students to produce compelling digital works. The curriculum emphasizes post-production and digital media techniques over traditional camera mastery. Students will develop foundational skills in Adobe Suite applications, including Lightroom and Photoshop for photo editing and After Effects and Premiere for video production. We will also discuss the integration of artificial intelligence in modern photography, examining how AI enhances editing processes and opens new creative possibilities. A significant part of the course will address fundamental questions of light in photography, the use of RAW formats—offered by many smartphones but seldom understood—and the structure of digital image files. Students will also learn about post-production techniques for preparing images for print, as well as for projection or display on digital screens, ensuring a comprehensive understanding of the end-to-end digital photography workflow. Thinking Locally: Street photography serves as a central theme in this course, encouraging students to document the vibrant life of New York City through weekly assignments. A guided photo walk in Harlem will provide hands-on experience in capturing unique, candid moments. Ethical considerations will be a key focus, addressing topics like consent, privacy, and best practices for interacting with subjects. Discussions will be complemented by readings, critiques, and a guest lecture from a professional street photographer. By the end of the course, students will have transformed their understanding of smartphone photography, creating works that push the boundaries of accessible technology while building a strong foundation in contemporary digital media.

AHUM1399BC: Colloquium on Major Texts

MW 3:00 PM - 7:00 PM

Matthew Lindfors Keegan, Assistant Professor.

This seminar is an exploration of some "great books" from the Middle East and South Asia. We will read books, plays, stories, and poems in English translation that were originally written in Arabic, Persian, Bangla, Sanskrit. From the Thousand and One Nights to an Arabic epic about a warrior princess to the Bhagavad Gita, we will examine themes of storytelling, gender, politics, and the nature of divinity. With the exception of one Sudanese novel, we will be focusing on texts from the premodern period, and our focus will be on how to interpret texts, develop arguments about those texts, and learning about cultures of reading and writing in the past.

BIOL2342BC: Functional Human Anatomy

TR 9:00 AM - 12:10 PM

Jordan Balaban, Lecturer.

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.

POLS1201BC: Introduction to American Politics

MW 1:00 PM -  5:00 PM

Michael Gerald Miller, Associate Professor.

Lecture and discussion. Dynamics of political institutions and processes, chiefly of the national government. Emphasis on the actual exercise of political power by interest groups, elites, political parties, and public opinion.

FILM1020BC: New York City in Film

MW 5:30 PM - 8:40 PM

Ross Hamilton, Professor.

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.

BIOL2323BC: Seminar in Infectious Diseases of New York City

TBD

JJ Miranda, Associate Professor.

This is an intermediate seminar course focusing on primary literature studying infectious disease in New York City. Selected topics will emphasize transmission ecology and cellular and molecular pathogenesis. The course is organized around presentation and critique of landmark papers in the field. All primary literature to be read study infectious disease in New York City. Potential examples include cholera in the 19th century, typhoid in the early 20th century, AIDS in the late 20th century, and COVID in the 21st century. Discussions will integrate the interplay of laboratory science with New York City organizations and infrastructure throughout history. Students will examine the communities and environments in which residents of New York City experience infectious diseases. Students will also study times of the past, to learn theories and methods of historical analysis, and to discover how different concepts of history shape our understanding of infectious disease, both past and present. Place-based learning will occur at historical locations in New York City.

CHEM1050BC: The Jazz of Chemistry

TR 1:00 PM - 4:10 PM

Meenakshi Rao, Senior Lecturer.

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.

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@barnard.edu.

Pre-baccalaureate students must apply through the Pre-College Program. Questions? Emai summersession@barnard.edu

Once the summer session begins, you cannot drop your only class on SSOL. Please email the Barnard registrar at registrar@barnard.edu, 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 2029) 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@barnard.edu.

Incoming transfer students can register as a non-Barnard visiting student. Questions can be directed to summersession@barnard.edu.

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@barnard.edu.

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