PENSIONS
Gandhi is in two senses an extraordinary figure: he was the most important leader of anti-imperialist movements in the twentieth century; yet, his ideas about modernity, the state, the industrial economy, technology, humanity’s place in nature, the presence of God – were all highly idiosyncratic, sometimes at odds with the main trends of modern civilization. How did a man with such views come to have such an immense effect on history? In some ways, Gandhi is an excellent entry into the complex history of modern India – its contradictions, achievements, failures, possibilities. This course will be primarily a course on social theory, focusing on texts and discursive exchanges between various perceptions of modernity in India. It will have two parts: the first part will be based on reading Gandhi’s own writings; the second, on the writings of his main interlocutors. It is hoped that through these exchanges students will get a vivid picture of the intellectual ferment in modern India, and the main lines of social and political thought that define its intellectual culture. The study in this course can be followed up by taking related courses in Indian political thought, or Indian politics or modern history. This course may not be taken as Pass/D/Fail.
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Discussion section for MDES GR5650, Gandhi and His Interlocutors.
Through weekly readings, seminar discussions, and independent research, students will be immersed in the discourse, theoretical approaches, methods, and applications of Indigenous oral traditions and oral histories. Students will learn about the nature of oral traditions from multiple Indigenous perspectives; studying them as deeply grounded knowledge systems and world views connected to places and nations. The course will examine how colonialism has acted a great interrupter to the collective memory which is foundational to Indigenous oral traditions and nationhood. Finally, we will consider how contemporary anti-colonial Indigenous narratives are ‘remembering back’ by drawing upon and building from the stories that have (and have not) been passed down through the generations.
Photography II is a project-based class designed to expand upon the conceptual and technical concerns first encountered in Photography I. Over the course of the semester, students will work with manually controlled digital cameras or 35mm or 120mm cameras and learn how to refine image production techniques. An emphasis will be placed on the editing, sequencing, and display of images while cultivating a theoretical and historical context to situate the work. Students will engage with an array of photographic practices through presentations, guest artist lectures, and field trips. Additional readings by artists and writers will be assigned for the class to collectively discuss critical issues in contemporary image-making.
Prerequisites: programming. This course is covers the following topics: fundamentals of data visualization, layered grammer of graphics, perception of discrete and continuous variables, intreoduction to Mondran, mosaic pots, parallel coordinate plots, introduction to ggobi, linked pots, brushing, dynamic graphics, model visualization, clustering and classification.
Prerequisites: programming. This course is covers the following topics: fundamentals of data visualization, layered grammer of graphics, perception of discrete and continuous variables, intreoduction to Mondran, mosaic pots, parallel coordinate plots, introduction to ggobi, linked pots, brushing, dynamic graphics, model visualization, clustering and classification.
Prerequisites: (STAT GR5701) working knowledge of calculus and linear algebra (vectors and matrices), STAT GR5701 or equivalent, and familiarity with a programming language (e.g. R, Python) for statistical data analysis. In this course, we will systematically cover fundamentals of statistical inference and modeling, with special attention to models and methods that address practical data issues. The course will be focused on inference and modeling approaches such as the EM algorithm, MCMC methods and Bayesian modeling, linear regression models, generalized linear regression models, nonparametric regressions, and statistical computing. In addition, the course will provide introduction to statistical methods and modeling that addresses various practical issues such as design of experiments, analysis of time-dependent data, missing values, etc. Throughpout the course, real-data examples will be used in lecture discussion and homework problems. This course lays the statistical foundation for inference and modeling using data, preparing the MS in Data Science students, for other courses in machine learning, data mining and visualization.
“It could have been otherwise.” -Noël Burch
With this brief yet generative statement from a foundational film theorist we are introduced to a major theme of this course, a graduate level seminar concerning the still-in-formation field of media archeology. Pursuing the material traces left by false starts, wrong moves, misbegotten speculation, and dead formats, this course will dig into the historical past in order to better understand our current media ecology, prepare for the computational future, and imagine how things could be otherwise. Archeology in this sense refers to the study of a technical object through investigating its origins (its arché), as a means of breaking down traditional linear accounts of history and reconstructing them along new, more lacunary, less teleological lines. This will be our goal. We will be introduced to media archeology as both a method and an aesthetics. Our approach will look for the old in the new and the new in the old, while locating recurring topoi, ruptures, and discontinuities. Marking a departure from more hermeneutical, text-based film and media studies models, we will instead focus on questions of hardware, materiality, and physical inscription—technological research that sticks close to the signal of mediatic events, close to the metal, close to the silicon. We will perform close reading and thick description, as in established humanities disciplines like literary studies and anthropology, but with radically different, non-phenomenological, non-discursive object formations. Topics we will consider include, for example, analog waveforms and digital pulses, mathematical versus narrative modes of epistemology, and what Thomas Elsaesser calls a “poetics of obsolescence.” Our readings will draw from the corpus of media archeology studies as well as consonant fields such as material culture studies, computer engineering, and the history of science.
This course is designed to introduce pre-licensure students to relevant and emergent topics which affect the practice of nursing in the national and international healthcare system. The focus will be on issues confronting professional nurses including global health, cultural awareness, gender identity, and evidence-based wellness. State mandated topics for licensure will be covered.
Visiting Artist Lecture Series
This is the second in a sequence fo four graduate visiting critic seminar. T
PREDICTIVE MODELING IN FINANCE & INSURANCE
Prerequisites: EEEB G4850. Incoming M.A. students aiming for the thesis-based program are guided through the process of defining a research question, finding an advisor, and preparing a research proposal. By the end of the semester the students will have a written research proposal to submit to potential advisors for revision. Subject to a positive review of the research proposal, students are allowed to continue with the thesis-based program and will start working with their advisor. The course will also provide an opportunity to develop basic skills that will facilitate the reminder of the students stay at E3B and will help in their future careers.
The Graduate Seminar in Sound Art and Related Media is designed to create a space that is inclusive yet focused on sound as an art form and a medium. Class time is structured to support, reflect, and challenge students as individual artists and as a community. The course examines the medium and subject of sound in an expanded field, investigating its constitutive materials, exhibition and installation practices, and its ethics in the 21st century. The seminar will focus on the specific relations between tools, ideas, and meanings and the specific histories and theories that have arisen when artists engage with sound as a medium and subject in art. The seminar combines discussions of readings and artworks with presentations of students' work and research, as well as site visits and guest lectures. While the Columbia Visual Arts Program is dedicated to maintaining an interdisciplinary learning environment where students are free to use and explore different mediums while also learning to look at, and critically discuss, artwork in any medium, we are equally committed to providing in-depth knowledge concerning the theories, histories, practices, tools and materials underlying these different disciplines. We offer Graduate Seminars in different disciplines, or combinations of disciplines, including moving image, new genres, painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture, as well as in Sound Art in collaboration with the Columbia Music Department through their Computer Music Center. These Discipline Seminars are taught by full-time and adjunct faculty, eminent critics, historians, curators, theorists, writers, and artists.
This elective is designed for students looking to launch careers in public relations and corporate communications across organizations, from corporate, non-profit, start-up and/or governmental institutions. Course content will provide students with a broad overview of the PR and corporate communications function and foundational communication theory, along with hands-on, tactical training in modern public relations practice. Topics covered include strategic messaging and storytelling, working with the press to generate media coverage, leveraging social media and managing reputations online, crisis communication, public relations ethics and media law, engaging internal and external audiences, and evaluating corporate communications efforts.
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This course is designed to provide an understanding of the critical capabilities necessary for individual, team, and organizational
success in the new world of work. Based upon current economic models, students will recognize the intangible factors within
teams and organizations that drive decision making, knowledge, and culture as value and valuation of the work of organizations. Our core question is, how to start, build, and sustain leadership and organization capabilities for successfully navigating the
future of work? The course will answer this question by looking at successful case examples who are demonstrably leading the
way. We will bring actual leaders and entrepreneurs to the class for exchange with our class. The course will require students to
work individually and in teams to build their own future of work models through unlearning and learning. Students will study modern exemplar organizations and leaders to harness their lessons for staying competitive and successful.
We will explore the changing nature of work, provide the means for better understanding what is occurring, and develop
strategies for successfully navigating this new world. This course will start by analyzing how platforms, robotics, AI, automation,
data, digitization, and the speed of technology has changed work. The capabilities necessary for success require both
technological expertise, as well as, human skill centered around leadership, knowledge, and cultures of trust, respect and
intentional inclusion. Students will participate in an “intangibles” assessment survey that will measure behaviors associated with
leadership, culture, and knowledge for driving performance. This approach allows for exploring how the intangible factors behind
each of these change factors impact the world of work, workforces, and workplaces.
Assignments will include determining individual work interests, skills and connecting them to organizational objectives and key
results (OKR). Students will work in teams to design a future of work map and negotiate practices for their current organizations
and clients.
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This course gives students the opportunity to design their own curriculum: To attend lectures, conferences and workshops on historical topics related to their individual interests throughout Columbia University. Students may attend events of their choice, and are especially encouraged to attend those sponsored by the History Department. The Center for International History and the Heyman Center for the Humanities have impressive calendars of events and often feature historians. The goal of this mini-course is to encourage students to take advantage of the many intellectual opportunities throughout the University, to gain exposure to a variety of approaches to history, and at the same time assist them in focusing on a particular area for their thesis topic.