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College Faculty Committees

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/PROGRAMCOURSE NO. & DESIGNATORTITLE
Art HistoryAHIS UN3462Ecology, Art, and Empire
Art HistoryAHIS GU4062Chinese Art: Center and Periphery
Art History AHIS GU4744Art and Fashion: The Body, Architecture, Textile
AnthropologyANTH UN3605Against Dystopia
AnthropologyANTH GU4196Mexico's Disappeared Practicum
BiologyBIOL GU4402Biological Image Computing
BiologyBIOL GU4506Biochemistry I in XR: Mixed Reality
ClassicsCLCV UN3020Law in the Ancient World
ClassicsCLST UN3034Art and the Civic Body
ClassicsCLCV UN3025Public Classics: Antiquity, Ideal Publics, and Countercultures
ClassicsCLLT GU4300The Classical Tradition
Committee on Global ThoughtCGTH GU4725Global Latin America
Comparative Literature and SocietyCPLS UN3800Justice Now
Comparative Literature and SocietyCPLS GU4175Critique of Political Theology: Ancient Texts and Contemporary Questions
Comparative Literature and SocietyCPLS GU4224Queer Theory and Psychoanalysis
Comparative Literature and SocietyCPLS GU4225Sex and Psychoanalysis
Comparative Literature and SocietyCPLS GU4510The Mind Between Literature and the Brain
Comparative Literature and SocietyCPLS GU4700Topics in Contemporary Critical Theory: Statelessness, Citizenship, Dissent
Earth and Environmental SciencesEESC UN3031Chemistry of Climate
Earth and Environmental SciencesEESC UN3223SEDIMENTOLOGY AND STRATIGRAPHY
Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental BiologyEEEB GU4065Tropical Biology
English and Comparative LiteratureENGL GU4214Milton, Colonization, Revolution
English and Comparative LiteratureCLEN GU4820Comparative Romanticisms
English and Comparative LiteratureENGL GU4826American Modernism
English and Comparative LiteratureENGL UN3402Language Rights and Wrongs
English and Comparative LiteratureENGL UN3480The Novel after the Age of Literature
English and Comparative LiteratureENGL UN3707Memes, Metaphors, and Performances
English and Comparative LiteratureCLEN UN3742The Thirties: Metropole and Colony
English and Comparative LiteratureENGL UN3790‘The Rich are Different from Us’: Wealth in American Literature and Culture, 1913-2022
English and Comparative LiteratureENGL UN3794Trees
English and Comparative LiteratureENGL UN3832New York Intellectuals: Mary McCarthy, Hannah Arendt, Susan Sontag
English and Comparative LiteratureENGL UN3836London as Literature: The Early Modern City
English and Comparative LiteratureENGL UN3847Friendship and the Early American Frontier
English and Comparative LiteratureENTA UN3863Dramatic Breakups
English and Comparative LiteratureENGL UN3946Movement and Feeling in the 18th Century
Ethnicity and Race StudiesCSER GU4400Histories and Representations of the Bronx
FilmFILM UN3014Auteur Studies: John Cassavetes
FrenchFREN UN3411INTRO TO FRENCH & FRANCOPHONE HISTORY
FrenchFREN UN3537Transgressive Modern French Lit. & Film
FrenchFREN GU4023Sociology of Literature
FrenchCLFR GU4443Passing/Transfuges: on being someone else
FrenchFREN GU4723Colette vs. Proust
Germanic LanguagesCLGR GU4241Literature and Money
HistoryHIST UN2757African Economic History (1500-present)
HistoryHIST UN3334Marriage and Money among the Victorians
HistoryHIST UN3355Antiquarianism and the Politics of the Past in East Asian History
HistoryHIST UN3629Mobilities in the Americas: An Urban and Public History
HistoryHIST UN3728Gender and Sexuality in Modern African History
HistoryHIST GU4394Britain and the end of empire in Southeast Asia, 1941-68
HistoryHIST GU4569American Nuclear History, 1940s-1960s
ItalianCLIA GU4070Biography and Microhistory
Jewish StudiesJWST GU4148Jewish Histories of the Modern Middle East
Jewish StudiesJWST GU4149A History of Jewish-Muslim Encounters: From the Beginning of Islam Until Today
MathematicsMATH GU4156Advanced Probability Theory
Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African StudiesHSME UN2915Africa before Colonialism
Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African StudiesMDES UN3632Introduction to Twentieth-Century South Asian Literature
Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African StudiesMDES GU4142Urban South Africa
Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African StudiesMDES UN3132Burntface (Αἰθιοπία): The Idea of Ethiopia from Rastafarito Revolution
Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African StudiesMDES UN3335Introduction to Armenian Studies
MusicMUSI UN3103Afrofuturism and Society: Music, Media, and Race
MusicMUSI GU4380Topics in Sound Studies
PhilosophyPHIL UN3851IF I WERE YOU: IDENTITY, ESSENCE, LIMITS OF MODAL VARIATION
Political SciencePOLS UN3106Democracy: Principles, Critics and Problems
Political SciencePOLS UN3911SEMINAR IN POLITCAL THEORY (Environmental and Climate Justice)
Political SciencePOLS UN3911SEMINAR IN POLITCAL THEORY (Racial Capitalism)
Political SciencePOLS GU4455Russian Politics: How Autocracy Works
PsychologyPSYC UN2290Educational Psychology
PsychologyPSYC UN3455Neurobiology of Working Memory
PsychologyPSYC UN3611Seminar on Stigma and Belonging
ReligionRELI UN3519Embodiment: (Re)Defining the Human
ReligionRELI GU4376A Political Introduction to the Christian Scriptures
ReligionRELI GU4547Sacrifice
Slavic LanguagesCLSL GU4016Socialist World Literature
Slavic LanguagesCLSL GU4017The Central European Grotesque
SociologySOCI GU4984Queer Theory <3 Sociology
SociologySOCI UN3986Race, Discrimination, and Racial Inequalities on Both Sides of the Atlantic
Sustainable DevelopmentSDEV GU4400Sustainable Development in Rwanda
Sustainable DevelopmentSDEV GU4600SPECIAL TOPICS IN SDEV & CLIMATE (Cold War Climate Encounters)
Sustainable DevelopmentSDEV GU4650Building Climate Justice: Co-Creative Coastal Resilience Planning
StatisticsSTAT UN3104Applied Bayesian Analysis
Visual ArtsVIAR GU4504Advanced Moving Image: Video, Film, Art & Movement
WritingWRIT UN3132The 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:

  1. What is your name, your class year, your major field(s) of study, your uni, and your email address?
  2. 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?
  3. 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?
  4. 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.