The Columbia College curriculum and its academic policies are determined by the following faculty committees:
Committee on Instruction
The Committee on Instruction (COI) is responsible for approving proposals for new majors and other academic programs, new courses, and policy changes. The COI also provides leadership on a range of academic matters, consulting with a broad range of faculty, students, and administrators where relevant. The COI is a joint Columbia College and School of General Studies committee. Questions? Contact cc-gs-courses@columbia.edu.
Committee on Instruction Members: 2019-2020
- Co-Chair: Dean James J. Valentini, Dean of Columbia College
- Co-Chair: Dean Lisa Rosen-Metsch, Dean of the School of General Studies
- Professor Chloe Bulinski, Department of Biological Sciences
- Professor Yinon Cohen, Department of Sociology
- Professor Steven Goldstein, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
- Professor Saskia Hamilton, Barnard College
- Professor Robert Hymes, Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures
- Associate Professor Dorothea Lasky, School of the Arts
- Professor Szabolcs Marka, Department of Physics
- Professor Barclay Morrison, Department of Biomedical Engineering; Vice Dean of Undergraduate Programs, School of Engineering and Applied Science
- Professor Molly Murray, Department of English and Comparative Literature
- Professor Oliver Simons, Department of Germanic Languages
- Professor Mark Van De Mieroop, Department of History
- Professor Katja Vogt, Department of Philosophy
- Professor Keren Yarhi-Milo, Department of Political Science
Student Representatives:
- Hanna Agbanrin, GS'20
- Yaniv Goren, CC'22
- Enoch Jiang, CC'21
- Joshua Lefkow, GS'24
Ex-Officio:
- Lisa Hollibaugh, Dean of Academic Affairs, Columbia College
- Victoria Rosner, Dean of Academic Affairs, School of General Studies
- Andrew Plaa, Dean of Advising for Columbia College and Columbia Engineering
- Marlyn Delva, Dean of Students, School of General Studies
- Amy Kohn, Associate Director, Academic Affairs, Columbia College
- Mandeep Singh, Assistant Director, Academic Affairs, School of General Studies
New Approved Courses
The following new courses have been approved for the Spring semester of the 2019-2020 academic year. As new courses are added to the list frequently, please visit this site for updates. Additional courses and major/concentration requirements may be found in the Columbia College Bulletin.
Last updated November 27, 2019.
Spring 2020
| DEPARTMENT/PROGRAM | COURSE NO. & DESIGNATOR | TITLE |
|---|---|---|
| Anthropology | ANTH UN2019 | Documentary/Ethnography/Film: Exploration and Experimentation |
| Anthropology | ANTH UN3893 | The Bomb |
| Art History and Archaeology | AHIS UN2317 | Renaissance Architecture |
| Art History and Archaeology | AHIS UN3012 | Restitution or Repatriation of Culture Heritage: New Directions? |
| Art History and Archaeology | AHIS UN3446 | Contemporary Queer Art Practices: Subculture, Sexuality, and the Politics of Performance |
| Art History and Archaeology | AHIS UN3612 | Body, Camera, Action: Japan in Conversation with the Global Avant-Garde |
| Art History and Archaeology | AHIS GU4023 | Medieval Art II: From Pope Gregory to the Eve of the Reformation |
| Art History and Archaeology | AHIS GU4520 | Gothic Nature |
| Art History and Archaeology | AHIS GU4585 | The Early Mosque: Shaping Sacred Space |
| Biology | BIOL GU4002 | Macromolecular Structure and Interactions |
| Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race | CSER UN3934 | Black/Brown History of Rock and Roll |
| Classics | CLCV UN3005 | Race and Ethnicity in the Greco-Roman World |
| Classics | CLCV UN3007 | Pagans and Christians in the Later Roman Empire |
| Classics | CLCV UN3220 | War, reality and truth in Thucydides |
| Classics | CLGM GU4300 | Retranslation: Worlding C. P. Cavafy |
| Classics | CLGM GU4450 | How to do things with Homosexual Βodies |
| Comparative Literature and Society | CLPS GU4220 | Psychoanalysis and Writing (Freud, Schreber, Lacan) |
| Comparative Literature and Society | CPLS GU4315 | Multilingual Technologies and Language Diversity |
| Comparative Literature and Society | CLPS GU4510 | Jacques Lacan: An introduction to his work |
| Comparative Literature and Society | CPLS GU4892 | Subaltern Urbanism |
| Earth and Environmental Sciences | EESC GU4009 | Chemical Geology |
| Earth Institute | ENVB OC2160 | SEE-U Costa Rica: Forest and Agroforest Systems |
| East Asian Languages and Cultures | KHMR UN2102 | Intermediate Khmer II |
| East Asian Languages and Cultures | EAAS UN3116 | Supernatural in East Asia |
| East Asian Languages and Cultures | HSEA UN3120 | Borderland Economies of China |
| East Asian Languages and Cultures | EAAS UN3122 | Modern Chinese Poetry in a Global Context |
| East Asian Languages and Cultures | EAAS UN3206 | Migrant Literature: From China to a Global World |
| East Asian Languages and Cultures | VIET UN3102 | Third Year Vietnamese II |
| East Asian Languages and Cultures | JPNS UN3611 | Tokyo Olympics Japanese II- N2 Proficiency Level |
| East Asian Languages and Cultures | JPNS GU4013 | Fourth Year Business Japanese II |
| East Asian Languages and Cultures | HSEA GU4231 | Transpacific Empires |
| East Asian Languages and Cultures | EAAS GU4233 | Sonic Modernity in East Asia |
| East Asian Languages and Cultures | JPNS GU4611 | Tokyo Olympics Japanese II- N1 Proficiency Level |
| East Asian Languages and Cultures | HSEA GU4891 | Law in Chinese History |
| East Asian Languages and Cultures | HSEA GU4816 | Comparing Indigeneities |
| Ecology, Evolution, Environmental Biology | EEEB OC3021 | Adaptation to Changing Climates |
| English and Comparative Literature | ENGL UN3042 | Ulysses |
| English and Comparative Literature | CLEN UN3125 | Medieval Encounters |
| English and Comparative Literature | ENGL UN3241 | African American Literature: The Essay |
| English and Comparative Literature | ENGL UN3255 | Victorian Relations |
| English and Comparative Literature | CLEN UN3335 | Poetry and Philosophy |
| English and Comparative Literature | CLEN UN3360 | Gods and Heroes |
| English and Comparative Literature | ENTA UN3786 | Studies in Drama: Women on Center Stage |
| English and Comparative Literature | CLEN GU4075 | Occultism, Postcoloniality, and Modernism |
| English and Comparative Literature | ENGL GU4110 | Avant-Garde Feminist Poetry |
| English and Comparative Literature | ENGL GU4215 | Epic Histories: Gibbon/Benjamin |
| English and Comparative Literature | ENGL GU4248 | Literature and Science in Early Modern England |
| English and Comparative Literature | CLEN GU4335 | Poetry and Philosophy |
| English and Comparative Literature | ENGL GU4415 | Victorian Novel |
| English and Comparative Literature | CLEN GU4728 | Literature in the Age of Artificial Intelligence |
| English and Comparative Literature | ENGL GU4750 | Clarissa |
| French and Romance Philology | FREN UN3241 | French Language and Culture through Theater and Performance |
| French and Romance Philology | FRST OC3827 | Politics in Europe- European Politics |
| French and Romance Philology | CLFR GU4720 | History & Literature: Going Micro |
| French and Romance Philology | FREN GU4426 | Rousseau, Women and Gender |
| HIST UN2235 | The First American Gilded Age, 1870-1919 | |
| History | HIST UN2298 | The Soviet Century: Russia and Eurasia 1917-present |
| History | HIST UN2323 | Nineteenth-Century Britain |
| History | HIST UN2336 | Everyday Communism |
| History | HIST UN2897 | Topics in Modern Ukrainian History |
| History | HIST UN2987 | Technology and US Politics |
| History | HIST UN3113 | Popular Culture in the Late Medieval Low Countries |
| History | HIST UN3171 | Who Counts?: U.S. Census and Politics |
| History | HIST UN3268 | The Critique of Curiosity |
| History | HIST UN3277 | History of Urban Crime and Policing in Latin America in Global Perspective |
| History | HIST GU4263 | Monuments and Memories in 20th Century Europe |
| History | HIST GU4278 | Men in Crisis: Europe, 1890-1945 |
| History | HIST GU4522 | Jews, Magic, and Science in Premodern Europe |
| History | HIST GU4699 | Medieval Franciscans and their World |
| History | HIST GU4773 | American Women’s History; Society, Politics, & the State, 1968-2008 |
| History | HIST GU4935 | Science and Art in Early Modern Europe |
| Human Rights | HRTS GU4195 | Topics in History, Memory and Transitional Justice |
| Human Rights | HRTS GU4360 | Menstruation, Gender, and Rights: Interdisciplinary Approaches |
| Human Rights | HRTS GU4380 | Advocating and Campaigning for Social and Economic Rights |
| Inst. for Israel and Jewish Studies | JWST GU4145 | Introduction to Israeli Cinema |
| Inst. for Israel and Jewish Studies | JWST GU4990 | Topics in Jewish Studies |
| Italian | ITAL GU4019 | Topics in Microhistory |
| Latin American and Iberian Cultures | SPAN UN3533 | Women, Culture, Activism & Gender in Latin America |
| MESAAS | MDES UN2004 | Conflicts: Regions and Religions |
| MESAAS | MDES UN3046 | The Intersectional Politics of Religion |
| MESAAS | MDES GU4049 | Climate and Empire |
| MESAAS | MDES GU4649 | Political Economy of South Asia |
| Music | MUSI GU4109 | Music, Musicians and Mobility in the Early Modern Period |
| Music | MUSI GU4308 | Theory and Analysis of Jazz and Improvisation |
| Music | MUSI GU4325 | Introduction to Cognitive Musicology |
| Music | MUSI GU4406 | Acoustic Ecologies |
| Political Science | POLS GU4112 | Theories of Political Action |
| Political Science | POLS GU4412 | ENVIRONMENTAL POLITICS IN LATIN AMERICA |
| Political Science | POLS GU4436 | POPULISM IN EUROPE AND THE WORLD |
| Political Science | POLS GU4716 | Quantitative Methods II: Applied Regression and Causal Inference |
| Political Science | POLS GU4848 | ISRAELI NATIONAL SECURITY STRATEGY |
| Political Science | POLS GU4863 | INTERNATIONAL POLITICAL ECONOMY OF DEVELOPING COUNTRIES |
| Political Science | POLS UN3225 | American Constitutional History |
| Political Science | POLS UN3245 | Race and Ethnicity In American Politics |
| Political Science | POLS UN3591 | CIVIL WARS & POLITICAL VIOLENCE |
| Political Science | POLS UN3871 | CHINA'S FOREIGN RELATIONS |
| Political Science | POLS UN3912 | Seminar in Political Theory (Nonviolence) |
| Psychology | PSYC GU4482 | Neural Plasticity |
| Psychology | PSYC GU4646 | Socio-Ecological Psychology |
| Psychology | PSYC GU4673 | Political Psychology |
| Psychology | PSYC UN1420 | RESEARCH METHODS - HUMAN BEHAVIOR |
| Psychology | PSYC UN1990 | Global Behavioral Science |
| Psychology | PSYC UN2470 | Fundamentals of Human Neuropsychology |
| Psychology | PSYC UN3693 | Stress in an Interpersonal Context |
| Religion | RELI GU4204 | Religions of the Iranian World |
| Religion | RELI GU4221 | Hegel and Kierkegaard |
| Religion | RELI UN1612 | Religion and the History of Hip Hop |
| Slavic Languages | CLRS UN3311 | Stalin’s Heirs: The Literature of the Thaw |
| Slavic Languages | UKRN GU4007 | Advanced Ukrainian Through Literature, Media and Politics II |
| Slavic Languages | SLCL GU4059 | Periphery and Its Empires: Ukrainian and Russian Art from Peter the Great to the Present |
| Slavic Languages | CLRS GU4191 | A Specter Haunting Europe: Radical Thought from the French Revolution to Russian |
| Slavic Languages | CLGR GU4251 | Fascism by the Book: Literature, Culture and Politics in Nazi Germany |
| Sustainable Development | SDEV GU4240 | Science Communication |
| Writing | WRIT UN3017 | Incarcerated Yet Inspired: Exploring Criminal Justice Through Creative Writing |
| Writing | WRIT UN3126 | Animal Tales |
| Writing | WRIT UN3127 | Time Moves Both Ways |
| Writing | WRIT UN3018 | Inhabiting Form: Writing the Body |
Committee on the Core
The Committee on the Core (COC) is responsible for all matters regarding the Core Curriculum. Questions? Contact Toni Gunthrope-Hardee: tg2030@columbia.edu.
Committee on the Core Members: 2019-2020
- James J. Valentini, Dean of Columbia College
- Professor Noam Elcott, Department of Art History and Archaeology, Chair of Art Humanities
- Professor Patricia Grieve, Department of Latin American and Iberian Cultures, Chair of the Committee on the Global Core
- Professor David Helfand, Department Astronomy, Chair of Frontiers of Science
- Professor Emmanuelle Saada, Departments of French and History, Chair of Contemporary Civilization
- Professor Elaine Sisman, Department of Music, Chair of Music Humanities
- Professor Joanna Stalnaker, Department of French, Chair of Literature Humanities
- Professor Nicole Wallack, Department of English and Comparative Literature, Director of the Undergraduate Writing Program
Student Representatives:
- Joon Baek, CC'21
- Matthew Linsky, GS'23
- Abraham Lyon, CC'21
- Radhika Mehta, CC'22
Ex-Officio:
- Ivana N. Hughes, Director, Frontiers of Science
- Lisa Hollibaugh, Dean of Academic Affairs, Columbia College
- Victoria P. Rosner, Dean of Academic Affairs, School of General Studies
- Larry Jackson, Associate Dean of Academic Affairs, Core Curriculum and Undergraduate Programs
- Toni Gunthrope-Hardee, Associate Director of Academic Affairs, Faculty and Student Support
Committee on Science Instruction
The Committee on Science Instruction (COSI) is responsible for all matters relating to the science requirement and providing leadership on matters related to undergraduate science education. Questions? Contact Amy Kohn: ask130@columbia.edu
Committee on Science Instruction Members: 2019-2020
- Professor Tulle Hazelrigg, Department of Biological Sciences
- Professor David Helfand, Department of Astronomy, Frontiers of Science
- Professor Jae Woo Lee, Department of Computer Science
- Professor Shaw-Hwa Lo, Department of Statistics
- Professor Caroline Marvin, Department of Psychology
- Professor Jerry McManus, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
- Professor Shahid Naeem, Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology
- Professor Mary Putman, Department of Astronomy
- Professor David Reichman, Department of Chemistry
- Professor Ovidiu Savin, Department of Mathematics
- Professor Brian A. Cole, Department of Physics
Student Representatives:
- Michelle Capuno, GS'22
- Rafael Lippert, CC'21
Ex-Officio:
- James J. Valentini, Dean of Columbia College
- Ivana Hughes, Department of Chemistry, Director of Frontiers of Science
- Lisa Hollibaugh, Dean of Academic Affairs
- Victoria Rosner, Dean of Academic Affairs, School of General Studies
- Larry Jackson, Associate Dean of Academic Affairs, Core Curriculum and Undergraduate Programs
- Amy Kohn, Associate Director of Academic Affairs
Committee on the Global Core
The Committee on the Global Core (CGC) is responsible for all matters relating to the Global Core requirement, including determining the list of courses approved for the requirement. Questions? Contact globalcore@columbia.edu.
Faculty interested in proposing new courses for the Global Core requirement can view information regarding the process.
Committee on Global Core Members: 2019-2020
- Chair: Professor Patricia Grieve, Department of Latin American and Iberian Cultures
- Professor Courtney Bender, Department of Religion
- Professor Souleymane Bachir Diagne, Department of French and Romance Philology
- Professor Madeleine Dobie, Department of French and Romance Philology
- Professor David Lurie, Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures
- Professor Avinoam Shalem, Department of Art History and Archaeology
Student Representative:
- Hayat Aljowaily, GS'20
- Clara Harter, CC'20
Ex-Officio:
- James J. Valentini, Dean of Columbia College
- Lisa Rosen-Metsch, Dean of The School of General Studies
- Victoria P. Rosner, Dean of Academic Affairs, School of General Studies
- Lisa Hollibaugh, Dean of Academic Affairs, Columbia College
- Shannon Marquez, Dean of Undergraduate Global Engagement
- Larry Jackson, Associate Dean of Academic Affairs, Core Curriculum and Undergraduate Programs
Interested Students
If you are a current student at Columbia College and you are interested in learning more about how decisions about the curriculum are made, consider serving as a student representative on one of these committees! Learn more about the application process.