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 study (majors, minors, and special programs) as well as all changes to existing programs of study; and determines academic policies that structure the undergraduate academic experience. The COI is co-chaired by the Deans of Columbia College and The School of General Studies and 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 from CC and GS each year, and is supported by the academic deans and certain administrators from CC and GS. Questions for the COI can be sent to cc-gs-courses@columbia.edu.

Committee on Instruction Members: 2024-2025

  • Josef Sorett, dean of Columbia College, Co-Chair of the Committee on Instruction
  • Lisa Rosen-Metsch, dean of School of General Studies, Co-Chair of the Committee on Instruction
  • Rachel Adams, Department of English and Comparative Literature
  • Matthew Engelke, Department of Religion
  • Sunil Gulati, Department of Economics
  • Sarah Hansen, Department of Chemistry
  • Dorothea Lasky, School of the Arts
  • Jeffrey Lax, Department of Political Science
  • Barclay Morrison, Department of Biomedical Engineering; vice dean of Undergraduate Programs, School of Engineering and Applied Science
  • Meredith Nettles, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
  • Caterina Pizzigoni, Department of History
  • Laurie Postlewate, Barnard College
  • Teresa Sharpe, Department of Sociology
Student Representatives:
  • Ronil Awalegaonkar CC'25
  • Sarah Bryden CC'26
  • Durga Chaloli GS'25
  • Christopher Sizemore GS'25
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 Spring 2025 and Fall 2024. 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.

Spring 2025 Last updated September 27, 2024.

DEPARTMENT/PROGRAMCOURSE NO. & DESIGNATORTITLE
Art History AHIS UN3402Introduction to Design History
Comparative Literature and SocietyCPLS GU4545Wittgenstein in the Machine
Comparative Literature and SocietyCPLS GU4825Technology and Justice
English and Comparative LiteratureENGL UN3437John Keats
English and Comparative LiteratureENGL UN3438Archives and Afterlives in Postcolonial Texts
English and Comparative LiteratureENGL UN3439Afro-Asian Literary Imaginaries
English and Comparative LiteratureENGL UN3432Places for Poetry
HistoryHIST UN3321Solidarity in the Age of Decolonization
HistoryHIST UN3507A Trans History of the United States
HistoryHIST GU4385Rousseau and the Modern Self
HistoryHIST GU4695Urban Waters: ecologies, inequalities, and environmental justice in Latin American cities
Jewish StudiesJWST GU4158Zionist Thought: Center and Periphery
NepaliNEPA UN1102Elementary Nepali II
MusicMPP UN1601Performance Seminar MasterClass
MusicMUSI UN3105Prescribing the Piano: Music, Medicine & The Body
MusicMUSI UN3216Piano Literature & Performance: 1900 - Present
PhilosophyPHIL UN3872Personal Identity in Parallel Universes
PhilosophyPHIL GU4090Early Greek Philosophy
Slavic LanguagesCLRS GU4039Chekhov and Others
SociologySOCI UN2501THE POLITICS OF MASS INCARCERATION
SociologySOCI GU4049Workshop in Gender and Sexuality II

Fall 2024 Last updated September 27, 2024.

DEPARTMENT/PROGRAMCOURSE NO. & DESIGNATORTITLE
Art History and ArchaeologyAHIS UN2622Introduction to East Asian Art: China, Japan, and Korea
Art History and ArchaeologyAHIS UN3239Medieval and Renaissance Venice
Art History and ArchaeologyAHIS UN3466AIDS Is Contemporary
Art History and ArchaeologyAHIS UN3471The Harlem Renaissance & Black Modernism
Art History and ArchaeologyAHCE W4149The Roman Art of Engineering: Traditions of Planning, Construction, and Innovation
Art History and ArchaeologyAHIS GU4746Architecture, Labor, Industry, and the (long) “American Century”
AnthropologyANTH UN3812Accusing Corpse - forensic trace
AstronomyASTR UN3986Astrostatistics
ChemistryCHEM GU4149Total Synthesis of Natural Products
CherokeeCHKR UN1101Elementary Cherokee I
CherokeeCHKR UN1102Elementary Cherokee II
ClassicsCLCV UN3016Celebrity and Politics in the Greek and Roman Worlds
ClassicsCLCV UN3535IDENTITY & SOCIETY ANC EGYPT
ClassicsCLST GU4515Connecting Histories: Roman Conquests and Coinage
Comparative Literature and SocietyCPLS GU4227Blood, Guts, and Lancets: Anatomy in Nineteenth-Century Fiction
Comparative Literature and SocietyCLPS GU4275TRAUMA AND PLEASURE
Comparative Literature and SocietyCPLS GU4330ETHICS OF CARE IN FRENCH AND FRANCOPHONE CINEMA
Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental BiologyEEEB UN3330Explaining Biodiversity: Niches, Complex Systems, Chaos and Neutral Theory
Ethnicity and Race StudiesCSER UN3523INTRODUCTION TO LATINX STUDIES
Earth and Environmental SciencesEESC UN3904INDEPENDENT RESEARCH IN CLIMATE SYSTEM SCIENCE
East Asian Languages and CulturesEARL UN3310The Body and/in Performance: Dance & Drama in Tibet & China
East Asian Languages and CulturesHSEA UN3320Making in Premodern Japan
East Asian Languages and CulturesKORN GU4103Korean Language in Contemporary Pop Culture
East Asian Languages and CulturesEAAS GU4534Medieval Travel Writing
East Asian Languages and CulturesHSEA GU4815Faith and Empire: Art and Politics in Tibetan Buddhism
East Asian Languages and CulturesHSEA GU4968Japan 1968: student protest movements in global historical perspective
English and Comparative LiteratureENGL UN2100Drama Before Shakespeare
English and Comparative LiteratureENGL UN3475Melville's Fiction
English and Comparative LiteratureENGL UN3477New Suns: Worlding in Black Speculative Fiction
English and Comparative LiteratureENGL UN3485Black Women Writing the City
English and Comparative LiteratureENGL UN3675Transpacific Personalities: The Personal Essay and Immigrant History in Asian American Literature
English and Comparative LiteratureENTA UN3708Reenactment and Performance in 20th & 21st Centuries
English and Comparative LiteratureCLEN UN3725Literary Guides to Living and Dying Well from Plato to Montaigne
English and Comparative LiteratureCLEN UN3790Caribbean Radicalisms in New York, 1890-1990
English and Comparative LiteratureENGL UN3837UnLondon: Writing (and Re-Writing) Urban Space
English and Comparative LiteratureENGL GU4559August Wilson
English and Comparative LiteratureENGL GU4462Gender and Resistance in Early Modern Literature
English and Comparative LiteratureCLEN GU4575Source Texts of Postcolonial Vision
English and Comparative LiteratureCLEN GU4777Conspiracy Theory
English and Comparative LiteratureCLEN GU4899Resistance Literature
FilmFILM UN2530Lab in the Video Essay
FilmFILM UN3020INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES
FilmFILM GU4111Auteur Study: David Lynch and The American Imaginary
FilmFILM GU4945Contemporary Russian Media
FrenchFREN UN3249French Through The Visual Arts
FrenchFREN UN3557Politics of the Psyche in Postwar France
FrenchFREN UN3725Asylum/ Asile: Theory and Practice of Asylum Law Through Francophone African Asylum Claims in New York
FrenchFREN GU4022How to Love: Medieval French and Arabic
FrenchFREN GU4028French Film Aesthetics
FrenchFREN GU4082Rebel Literature: Politics and the Novel in the Francophone World (1950-1980)
Germanic LanguagesGERM UN2520Intermediate Conversation
Germanic LanguagesGERM UN3458Medical Surreal: Doctor and Patient Narratives
Germanic LanguagesCLGR UN3458Netflix Culture
Germanic LanguagesCLGR GU4271Orientalism and Empire
Germanic LanguagesGERM GU4251Kant with Arendt
HistoryHIST UN2709Medieval Middle East
HistoryHIST UN1071History of Christianity from the Origins to the Reformation
HistoryHIST UN2154The British Isles and the British Empire, 1485-1815
HistoryHIST UN2851Making Modern Korea
HistoryHIST UN3328Neoliberal Britain?
HistoryHIST UN3927Global Histories of Plants and Empire, c. 1500-1800
HistoryHIST GU4298Food in Modern East Central Europe: A Cultural and Political History
HistoryHIST GU4435Democracy and its Technocrats
HistoryHIST GU4527Topics in U.S. Foreign Relations History
HistoryHIST GU4363Pascal and the Modern Self
HistoryHIST GU4374Welfare States and Warfare States, Europe and the United States since c. 1870
HistoryHIST GU4681The Nahuas Through Their Sources
HistoryHIST GU4721Archaeology and Heritage in the Ottoman Lands in the Long 19th Century
HistoryHIST GU4736Ottoman Westernization and Orientalism in the Long 19th Century
Human RightsHRTS GU4011Indigenous Rights and Settler Colonialism in North America
Human RightsHRTS GU4985Hum Rights, Activism & US Carceral State
ItalianCLIA UN3024Nationalism in Theory and History
ItalianCLIA UN3662FORBIDDEN BOOKS? CENSORSHIP AND THE CIRCULATION OF AMERICAN LITERATURE UNDER FASCISM
Jewish StudiesJWST UN2155Music, Sound, and Antisemitism
Jewish StudiesJWST GU4146Between Philosophy and Mysticism: Jewish Thought in the Middle Ages
Jewish StudiesJWST GU4157Israeli Politics in Times of Turmoil
Latin American and Iberian CulturesSPAN UN2104Intermediate Spanish II: Topics on Climate Discourse
Latin American and Iberian CulturesSPAN UN3893Latin American & Latinx Speculative Fiction in Arts & Media
Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African StudiesMDES UN1003Premodern Islamic Worlds
Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African StudiesMDES UN2044Religion and Politics in South Asia
Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African StudiesMDES UN3634Curb Your Enthusiasm: The Global History of Laughter
Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African StudiesMDES UN3970MESAAS Research Capstone
Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African StudiesMDES GU4059Race and Racism in the Global South
Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African StudiesMDES GU4060Reading Marx Historically
Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African StudiesMDES GU4655India after 1947: Democracy and Majoritarianism
Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African StudiesMDES GU4825Indo-Islamic Culture in Literature
MusicMPP UN1414Guitar (Popular-Contemporary) Instruction
MusicMUSI UN2010Rock
MusicMUSI UN3213Bach Interpretation for Performers
MusicMUSI UN3326Genre in Popular Music
MusicMUSI GU4418Music and Fashion
PhilosophyPHIL UN3912SEMINAR (Angels, Demons, and Artificial Intelligence)
Political SciencePOLS UN3124Gender and Political Theory
Political SciencePOLS UN3630POLITCS OF INTL ECON RELATIONS
Political SciencePOLS UN3720RESEARCH DESIGN: SCOPE AND METHODS
Political SciencePOLS UN3951COMPARATIVE POLITICS SEMINAR (The Comparative Politics of Migration)
Political SciencePOLS UN3961International Politics Seminar: War and Peace
Political SciencePOLS UN3961International Politics Seminar: Security, Policy, and Democracy
Political SciencePOLS UN3961International Politics Seminar: The Art and Science of Civil Resistance
PsychologyPSYC UN3461Music and Cognitive Neuroscience
PsychologyPSYC UN3820Science of Well-Being & Human Potential
PsychologyPSYC UN3830Psychology and the Internet
PsychologyPSYC GU4625Psychology of Religion
ReligionRELI UN3020Science Saves
ReligionRELI UN3413Muslims in the West
ReligionRELI GU4377Islam in the Soviet Union and Successor States
ReligionRELI GU4425Climate, Religion and Colonialism
ReligionRELI GU4621Religion and Media
Slavic LanguagesRUSS UN3106Voices of (Dis)agreement: Russian Culture In and Outside Russia Today
Slavic LanguagesCLSL GU4029Bible, Literature, Theory
SociologySOCI UN3986Race, Discrimination, and Racial Inequalities on Both Sides of the Atlantic
SociologySOCI GU4048Workshop on Gender & Sexuality I
Sustainable DevelopmentSDEV GU4501History of the Climate Crisis
Visual ArtsVIAR UN2021POPULAR & HISTORICAL GESTURES: FIGURE DRAWING
Women's and Gender StudiesWMST UN3152Queer/Trans Holocaust History
WritingWRIT UN3037BODY & WORD
WritingWRIT UN3038WORD. ARTWORK. MIRROR. MULTIPLY: THE VISUAL ARTS AS A POETICS OF SENTENCE, LINE, AND FORM
WritingWRIT UN336521STC AM POETRY & ITS CONCERNS


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 CC and GS each year, and is supported by the academic deans and certain administrators from CC and GS. Questions for the Committee on the Core can be sent to core-curriculum@columbia.edu.

Committee on the Core Members: 2024-2025

  • Josef Sorett, dean of Columbia College, convener of the Committee on the 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
  • Ioannis Mylonopoulos, Department of Art History and Archaeology, chair of Art Humanities
  • Carol Rovane, Department of Philosophy, chair of Contemporary Civilization
  • Benjamin Steege, Department of Music, chair of Music Humanities
  • Nicole Wallack, Department of English and Comparative Literature, director of the Undergraduate Writing Program
Student Representatives:
  • Ishaan Barrett CC'26
  • Alejandra Diaz-Pizarro CC'25
  • Nathan Darmon GS'25
Ex-Officio:
  • Lisa Hollibaugh, dean of Academic Affairs, Columbia College
  • Caroline Marvin, dean of Academic Affairs, School of General Studies
  • Larry Jackson, associate dean of Academic Affairs and director of the Center for the Core Curriculum
  • Christine Butcher, associate director of the Center for the Core Curriculum
  • Scott Harris, assistant director of the Center for the Core Curriculum


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 CC and GS each year, and is supported by the academic deans and certain administrators from CC and GS. 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: 2024-2025

  • Courtney Bender, Department of Religion, Interim Chair of the Committee on the Global Core
  • Kevin Fellezs, Department of Music and Department of African American and African Diaspora Studies
  • Frank Guridy, Department of History and Department of African American and African Diaspora Studies
  • Mana Kia, Department of Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies
  • Matthew McKelway, Department of Art History and Archaeology
Student Representatives:
  • Ichiro Ng CC'25
  • Devika Goyal GS'26
Ex-Officio:
  • Josef Sorett, dean of Columbia College
  • Lisa Hollibaugh, dean of Academic Affairs, Columbia College
  • Caroline Marvin, dean of Academic Affairs, General Studies
  • Shannon Marquez, dean of Undergraduate Global Engagement
  • Larry Jackson, associate dean of Academic Affairs and director of the Center for the Core Curriculum
  • Mandeep Singh, assistant director of Academic Affairs, 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 CC and GS each year, and is supported by the academic deans and certain administrators from CC and GS. Questions for CoSI can be sent to cosi@columbia.edu.

Committee on Science Instruction Members: 2024-2025

  • Ruben Gonzalez, Frontiers of Science, Chair of the Committee on Science Instruction
  • James Applegate, Department of Astronomy
  • Brian Borowski, Department of Computer Science
  • Angelo Cacciuto, Department of Chemistry
  • Maria Diuk-Wasser, Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology
  • Julien Dubedat, Department of Mathematics
  • Bärbel Hönisch, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
  • Patricia Lindemann, Department of Psychology
  • Kerstin Perez, Department of Physics
  • Carol Prives, Department of Biological Sciences
  • Gabriel Young, Department of Statistics
Student Representatives:
  • Kashish Kumar CC'26
  • Johntae Jeffries GS'25
Ex-Officio:
  • Josef Sorett, dean of Columbia College
  • Lisa Hollibaugh, dean of Academic Affairs, Columbia College
  • Caroline Marvin, dean of Academic Affairs, General Studies
  • John Foo, senior assistant director of Center for Teaching & Learning
  • Ivana Nikolic Hughes, director of Frontiers of Science
  • 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


Student representatives to the undergraduate curriculum committees


Each of the undergraduate curriculum committees includes 1-2 student representatives from Columbia College who serve on the committees for a full academic year. 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 committees committees are of particular interest to you, and why? And for those committees that deal with a particular piece of the undergraduate curriculum (the Core, the Global Core requirement, 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 in the 2024-2025 academic year, students must be available to meet in person at the scheduled meeting times (with the understanding that it might be necessary to miss an occasional meeting if there is an academic conflict):
    • Committee on Instruction: every Friday morning from 10:00 to 11:30am in Fall 2024 and Spring 2025 semesters
    • Committee on the Core: Fall 2024 meetings: September 25, 10:00-11:30am; October 30, 1:30-3:00pm; November 22, 12:00-1:30pm; December 13, 12:00-1:30pm
    • Committee on the Global Core: Fall 2024 meetings: November 8, 1:30-3:00 pm; December 2, 10:30-11:30 am
    • Committee on Science Instruction: Fall 2024 meetings: October 24, 2:30-4:00 pm; November 26, 2:30-4:00 pm

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.