The Columbia College curriculum and its academic policies are determined by the following faculty committees:
Committee on Instruction
The undergraduate curriculum for Columbia College, and all attendant policies, are governed by the Committee on Instruction (COI), a joint committee of Columbia College and the School of General Studies. The COI reviews and approves all new courses which CC and GS students can take for degree credit; reviews and approves all new programs of studies (majors and other formal programs of study) as well as all changes to existing programs of study; and determines academic policies that structure the undergraduate academic experience. The COI is composed of twelve faculty members (four from each of the three academic divisions), as well as school faculty representatives from Barnard, Engineering, and the School of the Arts. The COI also has four student representatives, and is supported by the academic deans and several administrators from the College and GS. Questions for the COI can be sent to cc-gs-courses@columbia.edu.
Committee on Instruction Members: 2023-2024
- Co-Chair: Dean Josef Sorett, Dean of Columbia College
- Co-Chair: Dean Lisa Rosen-Metsch, Dean of the School of General Studies
- Rachel Adams, Department of English and Comparative Literature
- Stuart Firestein, Department of Biological Studies
- Seth Kimmel, Department of Latin American and Iberian Cultures
- Dorothea Lasky, School of the Arts
- Qingmin Liu, Department of Economics
- Meredith Nettles, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
- Barclay Morrison, Department of Biomedical Engineering; Vice Dean of Undergraduate Programs, School of Engineering and Applied Science
- Caterina Pizzigoni, Department of History
- Laurie Postlewate, Barnard College
- Valerie Purdie-Greenaway, Department of Psychology
- Jill Shapiro, Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology
- Robert Shapiro, Department of Political Science
- Teresa Sharpe, Department of Sociology
Student Representatives: TBD
Ex-Officio:
- Lisa Hollibaugh, dean of Academic Affairs, Columbia College
- Caroline Marvin, dean of Academic Affairs, School of General Studies
- Andrew Plaa, dean of Advising, Columbia College and Columbia Engineering
- Marlyn Delva, dean of Students, School of General Studies
- Amy Kohn, senior associate director, Academic Affairs, Columbia College
- Mandeep Singh, assistant director, Academic Affairs, School of General Studies
Newly Approved Courses
The following new courses have been approved for Fall 2023. 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.
Fall 2023 Last updated July 6, 2023.
| DEPARTMENT/PROGRAM | COURSE NO. & DESIGNATOR | TITLE | |
| Art History | AHIS UN3462 | Ecology, Art, and Empire | |
| Art History | AHIS GU4062 | Chinese Art: Center and Periphery | |
| Art History | AHIS GU4744 | Art and Fashion: The Body, Architecture, Textile | |
| Anthropology | ANTH UN3605 | Against Dystopia | |
| Anthropology | ANTH GU4196 | Mexico's Disappeared Practicum | |
| Biology | BIOL GU4402 | Biological Image Computing | |
| Biology | BIOL GU4506 | Biochemistry I in XR: Mixed Reality | |
| Classics | CLCV UN3020 | Law in the Ancient World | |
| Classics | CLST UN3034 | Art and the Civic Body | |
| Classics | CLCV UN3025 | Public Classics: Antiquity, Ideal Publics, and Countercultures | |
| Classics | CLLT GU4300 | The Classical Tradition | |
| Committee on Global Thought | CGTH GU4725 | Global Latin America | |
| Comparative Literature and Society | CPLS UN3800 | Justice Now | |
| Comparative Literature and Society | CPLS GU4175 | Critique of Political Theology: Ancient Texts and Contemporary Questions | |
| Comparative Literature and Society | CPLS GU4224 | Queer Theory and Psychoanalysis | |
| Comparative Literature and Society | CPLS GU4225 | Sex and Psychoanalysis | |
| Comparative Literature and Society | CPLS GU4510 | The Mind Between Literature and the Brain | |
| Comparative Literature and Society | CPLS GU4700 | Topics in Contemporary Critical Theory: Statelessness, Citizenship, Dissent | |
| Earth and Environmental Sciences | EESC UN3031 | Chemistry of Climate | |
| Earth and Environmental Sciences | EESC UN3223 | SEDIMENTOLOGY AND STRATIGRAPHY | |
| Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology | EEEB GU4065 | Tropical Biology | |
| English and Comparative Literature | ENGL GU4214 | Milton, Colonization, Revolution | |
| English and Comparative Literature | CLEN GU4820 | Comparative Romanticisms | |
| English and Comparative Literature | ENGL GU4826 | American Modernism | |
| English and Comparative Literature | ENGL UN3402 | Language Rights and Wrongs | |
| English and Comparative Literature | ENGL UN3480 | The Novel after the Age of Literature | |
| English and Comparative Literature | ENGL UN3707 | Memes, Metaphors, and Performances | |
| English and Comparative Literature | CLEN UN3742 | The Thirties: Metropole and Colony | |
| English and Comparative Literature | ENGL UN3790 | ‘The Rich are Different from Us’: Wealth in American Literature and Culture, 1913-2022 | |
| English and Comparative Literature | ENGL UN3794 | Trees | |
| English and Comparative Literature | ENGL UN3832 | New York Intellectuals: Mary McCarthy, Hannah Arendt, Susan Sontag | |
| English and Comparative Literature | ENGL UN3836 | London as Literature: The Early Modern City | |
| English and Comparative Literature | ENGL UN3847 | Friendship and the Early American Frontier | |
| English and Comparative Literature | ENTA UN3863 | Dramatic Breakups | |
| English and Comparative Literature | ENGL UN3946 | Movement and Feeling in the 18th Century | |
| Ethnicity and Race Studies | CSER GU4400 | Histories and Representations of the Bronx | |
| Film | FILM UN3014 | Auteur Studies: John Cassavetes | |
| French | FREN UN3411 | INTRO TO FRENCH ＆ FRANCOPHONE HISTORY | |
| French | FREN UN3537 | Transgressive Modern French Lit. ＆ Film | |
| French | FREN GU4023 | Sociology of Literature | |
| French | CLFR GU4443 | Passing/Transfuges: on being someone else | |
| French | FREN GU4723 | Colette vs. Proust | |
| Germanic Languages | CLGR GU4241 | Literature and Money | |
| History | HIST UN2757 | African Economic History (1500-present) | |
| History | HIST UN3334 | Marriage and Money among the Victorians | |
| History | HIST UN3355 | Antiquarianism and the Politics of the Past in East Asian History | |
| History | HIST UN3629 | Mobilities in the Americas: An Urban and Public History | |
| History | HIST UN3728 | Gender and Sexuality in Modern African History | |
| History | HIST GU4394 | Britain and the end of empire in Southeast Asia, 1941-68 | |
| History | HIST GU4569 | American Nuclear History, 1940s-1960s | |
| Italian | CLIA GU4070 | Biography and Microhistory | |
| Jewish Studies | JWST GU4148 | Jewish Histories of the Modern Middle East | |
| Jewish Studies | JWST GU4149 | A History of Jewish-Muslim Encounters: From the Beginning of Islam Until Today | |
| Mathematics | MATH GU4156 | Advanced Probability Theory | |
| Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies | HSME UN2915 | Africa before Colonialism | |
| Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies | MDES UN3632 | Introduction to Twentieth-Century South Asian Literature | |
| Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies | MDES GU4142 | Urban South Africa | |
| Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies | MDES UN3132 | Burntface (Αἰθιοπία): The Idea of Ethiopia from Rastafarito Revolution | |
| Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies | MDES UN3335 | Introduction to Armenian Studies | |
| Music | MUSI UN3103 | Afrofuturism and Society: Music, Media, and Race | |
| Music | MUSI GU4380 | Topics in Sound Studies | |
| Philosophy | PHIL UN3851 | IF I WERE YOU: IDENTITY, ESSENCE, LIMITS OF MODAL VARIATION | |
| Political Science | POLS UN3106 | Democracy: Principles, Critics and Problems | |
| Political Science | POLS UN3911 | SEMINAR IN POLITCAL THEORY (Environmental and Climate Justice) | |
| Political Science | POLS UN3911 | SEMINAR IN POLITCAL THEORY (Racial Capitalism) | |
| Political Science | POLS GU4455 | Russian Politics: How Autocracy Works | |
| Psychology | PSYC UN2290 | Educational Psychology | |
| Psychology | PSYC UN3455 | Neurobiology of Working Memory | |
| Psychology | PSYC UN3611 | Seminar on Stigma and Belonging | |
| Religion | RELI UN3519 | Embodiment: (Re)Defining the Human | |
| Religion | RELI GU4376 | A Political Introduction to the Christian Scriptures | |
| Religion | RELI GU4547 | Sacrifice | |
| Slavic Languages | CLSL GU4016 | Socialist World Literature | |
| Slavic Languages | CLSL GU4017 | The Central European Grotesque | |
| Sociology | SOCI GU4984 | Queer Theory <3 Sociology | |
| Sociology | SOCI UN3986 | Race, Discrimination, and Racial Inequalities on Both Sides of the Atlantic | |
| Sustainable Development | SDEV GU4400 | Sustainable Development in Rwanda | |
| Sustainable Development | SDEV GU4600 | SPECIAL TOPICS IN SDEV ＆ CLIMATE (Cold War Climate Encounters) | |
| Sustainable Development | SDEV GU4650 | Building Climate Justice: Co-Creative Coastal Resilience Planning | |
| Statistics | STAT UN3104 | Applied Bayesian Analysis | |
| Visual Arts | VIAR GU4504 | Advanced Moving Image: Video, Film, Art ＆ Movement | |
| Writing | WRIT UN3132 | The Ecstasy of Influence | |
Committee on the Core
The Committee on the Core (CoC) is the main consultative body for the curriculum of the Core, for the policies that govern the Core, and for certain operations involved in the mounting of the Core. The CoC is convened by the Dean of Columbia College and is composed of the faculty Chairs of each of the “shared” Core courses — i.e., those with a shared curriculum across all sections: Art Humanities, Contemporary Civilization, Frontiers of Science, Literature Humanities, and Music Humanities – as well as the Director of University Writing, the Director of Frontiers of Science, and the Chair of the Committee on the Global Core. The CoC also has three student representatives from the College and General Studies each year, and is supported by administrators from the College. Questions for the Committee on the Core can be sent to core-curriculum@columbia.edu.
Committee on the Core Members: 2023-2024
- Josef Sorett, Dean of Columbia College
- Patricia Grieve, Department of Latin American and Iberian Cultures, Chair of the Committee on the Global Core
- Ruben Gonzalez, Department Chemistry, Chair of Frontiers of Science
- Joseph Howley, Department of Classics, Chair of Literature Humanities
- Ivana Nikolic Hughes, Director of Frontiers of Science
- Carol Rovane, Department of Philosophy, Chair of Contemporary Civilization
- Elaine Sisman, Department of Music, Chair of Music Humanities (Fall 2023)
- Benjamin Steege, Department of Music, Chair of Music Humanities (Spring 2024)
- Zoë Strother, Department of Art History and Archaeology, Chair of Art Humanities
- Nicole Wallack, Department of English and Comparative Literature, Director of the Undergraduate Writing Program
Student Representatives: TBD
Ex-Officio:
- Lisa Hollibaugh, dean of Academic Affairs, Columbia College
- Larry Jackson, associate dean of Academic Affairs and director of the Center for the Core Curriculum
- Caroline Marvin, dean of Academic Affairs, School of General Studies
Committee on Science Instruction
The Committee on Science Instruction (CoSI) is responsible for all matters relating to the Science requirement and for providing leadership on matters related to undergraduate science education. CoSI is chaired by a faculty member and is composed of representative faculty members from each department in the natural sciences, as well as mathematics, statistics, and computer science. CoSI also includes two student representatives from the College and General Studies, and is supported by administrators from the College and General Studies. Questions for CoSI can be sent to Amy Kohn at ask130@columbia.edu.
Committee on Science Instruction Members: 2023-2024
- Jim Applegate, Department of Astronomy
- Paul Blaer, Department of Computer Science (Fall 2023)
- Maria Diuk-Wasser, Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology
- Julien Dubedat, Department of Mathematics
- Ruben Gonalez, Frontiers of Science
- Jae Woo Lee, Department of Computer Science (Spring 2024)
- Trisha Lindemann, Department of Psychology
- Jerry McManus, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
- Jon Owen, Department of Chemistry (Spring 2024)
- Kerstin Perez, Department of Physics
- Guy Sella, Department of Biological Sciences
- Gabriel Young, Department of Statistics
Student Representatives: TBD
Ex-Officio:
- Josef Sorett, Dean of Columbia College
- Lisa Hollibaugh, dean of Academic Affairs, Columbia College
- Ivana Nikolic Hughes, director of Frontiers of Science
- Caroline Marvin, dean of Academic Affairs, General Studies
- Larry Jackson, associate dean of Academic Affairs and director of the Center for the Core Curriculum
- Amy Kohn, senior associate director, Academic Affairs, Columbia College
Committee on the Global Core
The Committee on the Global Core (CoGC) is responsible for all matters relating to the Global Core requirement, including determining the list of courses approved for the requirement. The CoGC is chaired by a faculty member and is composed of 6-10 faculty members from departments and programs across the humanities, all of whom have experience in designing courses for the specific parameters and goals of the Global Core requirement. The CoGC also includes two student representatives from the College and General Studies, and is supported by administrators from General Studies and the College. Questions for the Committee on the Global Core can be sent to globalcore@columbia.edu.
Faculty interested in proposing new courses for the Global Core requirement can view information regarding the process.
Committee on the Global Core Members: 2023-2024
- Chair: Professor Patricia Grieve, Department of Latin American and Iberian Cultures
- Courtney Bender, Department of Religion
- Souleymane Bachir Diagne, Department of French and Romance Philology
- Madeleine Dobie, Department of French and Romance Philology
- Kevin Fellezs, Department of Music and Department of African American and African Diaspora Studies
- Frank Guridy, History and African American and African Diaspora Studies
- Mana Kia, Department of Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies
- David Lurie, Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures
- Matthew McKelway, Art History and Archaeology
Student Representative: TBD
Ex-Officio:
- Josef Sorett, Dean of Columbia College
- Lisa Hollibaugh, dean of Academic Affairs, Columbia College
- Larry Jackson, associate dean of Academic Affairs and director of the Center for the Core Curriculum
- Shannon Marquez, dean of Undergradauate Global Engagement
- Caroline Marvin, dean of Academic Affairs, School of General Studies
Student representatives to the undergraduate curriculum committees
Each of the undergraduate curriculum committees includes 1-2 student representatives from Columbia College. Student representatives are current juniors or seniors of the College who can bring to bear their experiences to date of the Core Curriculum and of their major programs of study, as well as the many conversations they have had with their peers throughout their years at Columbia. While students are not voting members of the committees, they play a crucial role in advising faculty members on the student experience of the curriculum and in presenting to faculty members the typical questions and concerns of undergraduate students.
Apply to be a student representative
Columbia College students who are interested in serving as a student representative on a curriculum committee should write to cc-academic@columbia.edu with the following information:
- What is your name, your class year, your major field(s) of study, your uni, and your email address?
- Why are you interested in serving on a curriculum committee? What are you hoping to learn more about from the committee discussions? What are you hoping to share with faculty committee members?
- Which committee is of particular interest to you, and why? Particularly for those committees that deal with a particular piece of the undergraduate curriculum (the Core, the Global Core, the Science requirement), what have been your chief impressions of that part of the curriculum so far?
- What initial questions do you have about the work of the undergraduate curriculum committees?
- Please note: In order to serve on a particular curriculum committee, students must be available to meet in person at the scheduled meeting times:
- Committee on Instruction: every Friday morning from 10:00 to 11:30am in Fall 2023 and Spring 2024 semesters
- Committee on the Core: Friday, October 27, 2:00-3:30pm; and Wednesday, December 13, 1:45-3:15pm (Spring 2024 meetings to be scheduled)
- Committee on the Global Core: Monday, October 16, 12:00-1:30pm; Friday, November 10, 3:00-4:30pm; and Friday, December 1, 12:00-1:30pm (Spring 2024 meetings to be scheduled)
- Committee on Science Instruction: meetings to be scheduled, likely either on Wednesday mornings or Friday early afternoons (Spring 2024 meetings to be scheduled
Interviews for student representatives are held early in the Fall semester, and students who are selected are expected to serve as a representative for the full academic year.