PROBABILITY THEORY

Prerequisites: MATH GU4061 or MATH UN3007 A rigorous introduction to the concepts and methods of mathematical probability starting with basic notions and making use of combinatorial and analytic techniques. Generating functions. Convergence in probability and in distribution. Discrete probability spaces, recurrence and transience of random walks. Infinite models, proof of the law of large numbers and the central limit theorem. Markov chains.

• Department: Mathematics
• TR 2:40 p.m.-3:55 p.m.
• Instructor: Julien Dubedat
  CULPA: 4 Info
• 3 points

MATHEMATICS AND THE HUMANITIES

This course is being taught by two senior faculty members who are theorists and practitioners in disciplines as different as mathematics and literary criticism. The instructors believe that in today's world, the different ways in which theoretical mathematics and literary criticism mold the imaginations of students and scholars, should be brought together, so that the robust ethical imagination that is needed to combat the disintegration of our world can be produced. Except for the length of novels, the reading is no more than 100 pages a week.

Our general approach is to keep alive the disciplinary differences between literary/philosophical (humanities) reading and mathematical writing.  Some preliminary questions we have considered are: the survival skills of the logicist school over against the Foundational Crisis of the early 20th century; by way of Wittgenstein and others, we ask, Are mathematical objects real? Or are they linguistic conventions? We will consider the literary/philosophical use of mathematics, often by imaginative analogy; and the role of the digital imagination in the humanities: Can so-called creative work as well as mathematics be written by machines? Guest faculty from other departments will teach with us to help students and instructors understand various topics.  We will close with how a novel animates “science” in prose, stepping out of the silo of disciplinary mathematics to the arena where mathematics is considered a code-name for science: Christine Brooke-Rose’s novel
Subscript
.

• Department: Mathematics
• T 4:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
• Instructor: Michael Harris
  CULPA: 6 Wikipedia Info
• 4 points

Religion and the Afro-Native Experience

Religion and Afro-Native

African Americans and Native Americans have a shared history of racial oppression in America. However, the prevailing lenses through which scholars understand settler colonialism, religion, and black and indigenous histories focus overwhelmingly on the dynamics between Europeans and these respective groups. How might our understanding of these subjects change when viewed from a different point of departure, if we center the history of entanglements between black and native lives? How does religion structure the overlapping experiences of Afro-Native peoples in North America?

From political movements in Minneapolis, Oakland, and New York City to enslavement from the Cotton Belt to the Rio Grande, this class will explore how Africans, Native Americans, and their descendants adapted to shifting contexts of race and religion in America. The course will proceed thematically by examining experiences of war, dislocation, survival, and diaspora.

• Department: Religion @Barnard
• Instructor: Tiffany Hale
  CULPA: 4 Info
• 4 points

Love, Labor, and Leisure in Contemporary

Love, Labor in Contemp Ch

This course takes an anthropological perspective on life in China today with special attention to the legacies of the country’s socialist past. We start with a brief look at the ideological and institutional frameworks employed by the Communist Party to organize the daily life of its citizens in the decades leading into the People’s Republic. We will then read about how economic and social reforms instituted since the 1980s, in particular changes to the work unit and household registration system, have resulted in dramatically different opportunities and expectations for Chinese citizens attempting to navigate career opportunities, search for romantic partners, move through communal and private spaces and engage in consumptive activities. Exploring the experiences of rural peasants, urban workers, and laborers who move between countryside and city as well as between nations, we will examine how class, gender, and sexuality come to be refigured as China integrates into the global market economy. Scholarly texts will be supplemented with political speeches, short work of fiction and essays, and films.

• Department: Asian and Middle East @Barnard
• W 10:10 a.m.-noon
• Instructor: Nicholas A Bartlett
  CULPA: 5 Info
• 3-4 points

The Just City: Global Debates in Urban P

THE JUST CITY

Urbanization is inherently unequal, inscribing social, economic, environmental, and political unevenness into the spatial fabric of the city. But the distribution of such inequality is not inevitable. Urbanization is a product of the collective decisions we make (or choose not to make) in response to the shared challenges we face in our cities. And, thus, the patterns of urbanization can be changed. This is the task of urban planning and the starting point for this advanced seminar, which asks how we can reshape our cities to be more just—to alleviate inequality rather than compound it. In embarking on this effort, we face numerous “wicked” problems without clear-cut solutions. The approaches one takes in addressing urban inequality are therefore fundamentally normative—they are shaped by one’s place in the world and one’s view of it. The central challenge in addressing inequality is thus establishing a basis for collective action amongst diverse actors with differing—and sometimes conflicting—values and views. In other words, planning the just city a matter of both empathy and debate. In this course, we will endeavor to develop informed positions that can help us engage with others as a basis for taking collective action.

The course is organized into four 3-week modules, each of which addresses a dimension of the just city: equity, democracy, diversity, and sustainability. In the first week of each module, we will discuss how the issue has been understood in history and theory (with an emphasis on tradeoffs between different priorities and values); in the second week, we will apply this discussion to a global case study prepared and presented by a team of students; and in the third week, we will hold an in-class debate to determine what should be done. Specific case studies vary each year.

• Department: Architecture @Barnard
• Instructor: Nick R Smith
  h-index: None Info
• 4 points

Corporate Finance and Valuation

Corporate Finance & Valua

This course introduces the fundamental principles of corporate finance and their application to real-world business decisions. Students will examine how companies determine value, measure risk, and make financing choices, while developing the tools to analyze corporate investments and capital structures.

Intellectual Goals and Rationale
The course addresses core questions that drive business decision-making:


How do we determine what a company or investment opportunity is worth?

How do we value financial securities in an uncertain world?

What is risk? How do we measure it, and how does it affect the cost of capital?

What is the appropriate balance between debt and equity?


Course Content and Learning Approach
Through a combination of theoretical frameworks, case discussions, and Excel-based financial modeling, students will build the ability to analyze complex financial scenarios. Lectures provide the foundations of valuation and financing, while case work applies these tools to real business challenges.

Why This Course Matters
Valuation, investment evaluation, and financing decisions are central to careers in finance, consulting, entrepreneurship, and management. The skills gained—financial modeling, risk assessment, and valuation analysis—are directly relevant to roles in investment banking, private equity, corporate development, consulting, and executive leadership.

Who Should Take This Course
This introductory finance course is open to students from all academic backgrounds who seek to strengthen their financial literacy and analytical capabilities. It is particularly valuable for:


Students considering careers in finance, consulting, or general management

Entrepreneurs who need to understand funding and valuation

Students in other fields interested in how businesses create and measure value

Those planning to pursue graduate business education


Prerequisites


Economics:
 ECON UN1105 Principles of Economics

Statistics (one of the following):


STAT UN1001 Intro to Statistical Reasoning

STAT UN1101 Introduction to Statistics

STAT UN1201 Calc-Based Introduction to Statistics

PSYC UN1610 Introductory Statistics for Behavioral Science




Cours

• Department: Mendelson Center
• MW 11:40 a.m.-12:55 p.m.
• Instructor: Haran Segram
  Info
• 3 points

DISABILITY AND ARCHITECTURE

This course explores the manifold relationships between architecture and disability. We will discuss how architecture mediates different bodily experiences and relationships and negotiates social norms and forms of assembly that intervene in shaping shifting understandings and performances of impairment, assistance, access, rehabilitation, and oppression that have historically framed disability.  We will explore disability as a culture, an episteme, and a politics, often negotiated by architecture.

 

We will assess the disabling effects of the built environment as well as architectural projects and designs defined to normalize, segregate, or eradicate disability. We will also study environments, artifacts, and infrastructures that have allowed disabled individuals and communities to thrive, often against expectations of integration in normative life frameworks. We will additionally explore how disability contributes to framing architecture differently and opens up space for new aesthetic experiences, different cultures of making, and diverse politics of the built environment. We will discuss how it challenges normalizing understandings of space and form, functionalist paradigms in architecture, and modern and contemporary interpretations of nature, the city, and society.  We will discuss the ideologies enacted by different projects shaping the life of disabled individuals, including their own designs and interventions in the built environment.

 

These explorations are organized thematically, with sessions engaging design and disability scholarship and providing students with a robust introduction to disability studies. In dialogue with this field, students will explore how design and architecture have operated in relation to medical, social, environmental, cultural, and political paradigms of disability. They will discuss the role that built environments play in the agendas of the disability rights and disability justice movements. Sessions engage both historical and theoretical questions.

 

Three assignments will allow students to explore the intersections of the built environment and disability in a diversity of formats. Advanced students will have the opportunity to write a research paper.

• Department: Architecture @Barnard
• Instructor: Ignacio Gonzalez Galan
  Info
• 4 points

CONTEM AMER JEWISH WOMEN'S LIT

The seminar will focus on trends that have emerged over the past three decades in Jewish American women's writing in the fields of memoirs, fiction and Jewish history: the representation and exploration through fictive narratives of women's experiences in American Jewish orthodox communities; reinterpretation of Jewish history through gender analysis; the recording of migration and exile by Jewish women immigrants from the former Soviet Union, Morocco, Iran, and Egypt; and gender transformations. Texts will be analyzed in terms of genre structures, narrative strategies, the role of gender in shaping content and Jewish identity, and the political, cultural and social contexts in which the works were created. The course aims for students to discuss and critically engage with texts in order to develop the skills of analytical and abstract thinking, as well as the ability to express that critical thinking in writing. Prerequisites:
Both
one introductory WGSS course
and
Critical Approaches to Social and Cultural Theory,
or
Permission of the Instructor.

• Department: Women's, Gender, Sexuality Studies @Barnard
• Instructor: Agnieszka Legutko
  CULPA: 1 Info
• 4 points

SWANA Diasporas: Culture, Politics and I

In this class we will study South-West Asian and North African (SWANA) diasporic populations, social movements and cultural production that have responded to the multi-faceted ramifications of the 21st century war on terror. We will focus on diverse Arab, Iranian, and Afghan diasporas in the United States, where 19th and 20th century legacies of racism, xenophobia, Islamophobia and Orientalism combined in new ways to target these groups after the September 11th, 2001 attacks. Drawing on an interdisciplinary array of texts, including ethnography, fiction, feminist and queer theory, social movement theory, and visual and performance art, we will look at how the “war on terror” has shaped the subjectivities and self-representation of SWANA communities. Crucially, we will examine the gender and sexual politics of Islamophobia and racism and study how scholars, activists and artists have sought to intervene in dominant narratives of deviance, threat, and backwardness attributed to Muslim and other SWANA populations. This course takes up the politics of naming, situating the formation of “SWANA” as part of an anti-colonial genealogy that rejects imperial geographies such as “Middle East.” We will ask how new geographies and affiliations come into being in the context of open-ended war, and what new political identities and forms of cultural production then become possible.

• Department: Women's, Gender, Sexuality Studies @Barnard
• Instructor: Manijeh Moradian
  Info
• 4 points

Literati Culture in Pre-Modern China

Literati Cult. Pre-Mod. C

Premodern Chinese literati have long been regarded as active historical agents who shaped “This Culture of Ours”—a metonym for civilization in the premodern Sinitic context—while they also fed from, partook in, and influenced popular and foreign cultures. Besides “literary writings” like poetry and prose, literati also engaged in calligraphy, painting, and antiquarianism under the umbrella term of “literary or cultural arts.” In turn, the creation and appreciation of artwork were intrinsic to the aesthetic life of literati community and further established their self-identity. At the same time, social exclusivity, (self-)doubt and identity crises, along with the looming threat of cultural decline, have continually haunted this literati community throughout the ages.

Covering the long trajectory of imperial China, this course reveals the birth and development of literati culture. In particular, we take an interdisciplinary approach, introducing intellectual and poetic discourses, socio-historical contexts, literary criticism, visual and material culture, to envision a “common ground” for their civil world. Textual, visual sources plus material objects are meant to have conversations with each other in this course. Important issues include historical transformations of the elite class, cultural geography in different eras, materiality and visuality of elite calligraphy and painting, literati self-expression through aesthetic practice, the roles of the court and literati in producing and preserving art, as well as other relevant issues such as gender studies, vernacular literature, and commodity society.

This course is cross-listed in AMEC and CPLT. For undergraduates, no background in Chinese language is required in this course, and all reading materials—either translation of primary sources or secondary scholarship—are accessible in English.

• Department: Asian and Middle East @Barnard
• W 2:10 p.m.-4 p.m.
• Instructor: Lili Xia
  Info
• 4 points

Investment Strategies

This course provides a comprehensive introduction to modern investment analysis, integrating two distinct yet complementary approaches: fundamental value investing and quantitative investment strategies. The first half focuses on value investing, emphasizing the economic analysis and valuation of a firm's business operations to estimate its fundamental value. Students will learn to assess competitive advantages and barriers to entry, apply valuation frameworks beyond standard DCF models, and manage risk in concentrated portfolios. The methodology is grounded in identifying a 'margin of safety' by investing when a company's market value is significantly below its intrinsic worth.

The second half shifts to quantitative investment strategies, exploring the tools and techniques used in an environment of continuous financial innovation. Topics include hedging and risk management, single- and multi-period portfolio optimization, the use of factor models and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) for investment decisions, and the construction of systematic and volatility-based strategies. A hands-on approach is used to highlight the applications and limitations of these quantitative methods. Upon completion, students will have a rich and coherent view of investing that combines a sound understanding of business economics with robust quantitative and risk management techniques.

We recommend that students take Corporate Finance (BUSI 4280 and ECON 4280) beforehand and Capital Markets (BUSI 3705) or Financial Economics (ECON 3025) concurrently.

• Department: Mendelson Center
• T 4:10 p.m.-6:40 p.m.
• 3 points

Crime, Sex, Race and the Politics of Pur

The Politics of Purity

The politics of what and who counts as worthy, good, or pure mediates possibilities for political and legal life. This course takes as its central question: how do certain ideas around purity and innocence come to appear natural? By considering a wide range of topics including carceral studies, immigration, race-making, settler colonialism, gender and sexuality and cultural studies, we will uncover the ways that cultural objects circulate and do political work. How are notions of race, crime, and purity produced, policed, and lived? And finally, how might we live otherwise—against innocence?

• Department: American Studies @Barnard
• Instructor: Daria Reaven
  Info
• 4 points

ITL CULTRL ST II:WWI-PRESENT

ITL CULTRL STUDIES II:WWI-PRE

An interdisciplinary investigation into Italian culture and society in the years between World War I and the present. Drawing on historical analyses, literary texts, letters, film, cartoons, popular music, etc. the course examines some of the key problems and trends in the cultural and political history of the period. Lectures, discussion and required readings will be in English. Students with a knowledge of Italian are encouraged to read the primary literature in Italian.

• Department: Italian @Barnard
• Instructor: Nelson Moe
  CULPA: 10 h-index: 6 Info
• 3 points

Foundations of Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship is one of the most important economic activities shaping the United States. Entrepreneurial processes play a role in delivering new solutions to social problems, they are a strong determinant of wealth inequality and spatial disparities, and underlie technological progress. The class Foundations of Entrepreneurship provides any undergraduate student a comprehensive introduction to what entrepreneurship is and how it functions, including understanding how an idea evolves into a company, the role of key actors in an entrepreneurial ecosystem, and experiencing the entrepreneurial process. The class is valuable to any student in science, engineering, and liberal arts who would like to understand what determines whether promising inventions and solutions fulfill their potential impact. It is offered as part of the Mendelson Center’s special program in business management.

The content is delivered incorporating lecture-based content, case discussions of existing companies, and group work to develop an early-stage idea and pitch it to a panel of investors.

Foundations of Entrepreneurship is a prerequisite to future lab-based entrepreneurship classes for undergraduates, Launch Your Startup and Entrepreneurial Greenhouse.

 

Prerequisite or Corequisite:

ECON 1105W
(Principles of Economics)
AND
one of the following Statistics courses:



STAT 1001W
(Intro to Statistical Reasoning)



STAT 1101W
(Introduction to Statistics)



STAT 1201W
(Calc-Based Intro to Statistics)



PSYC 1610W
(Statistics for Behavioral Scientists)

• Department: Mendelson Center
• T 1:10 p.m.-3:40 p.m.
• Instructor: Michael Mauskapf
  h-index: 5 Info
• 3 points

JUDAISM & CHRISTIANITY S.ASIA

An introduction to the indigenous traditions of Judaism and Christianity in the subcontinent, with attention to historical development, community diversity, cultural patterns, interactions with Hindus and Muslims, and contemporary controversies over caste and conversion.  Concluding classes focus on South Asian Jews and Christians in the diaspora, particularly Israel and New York.  An academic background in Judaism, or Christianity, or Hinduism / Indian history is highly recommended.

• Department: Asian and Middle East @Barnard
• Instructor: Rachel McDermott
  CULPA: 37 Info
• 3 points

DIVINE HUMAN ANIMAL

This course focuses on thinking with animals (Levi-Strauss) through the lens of the religious imagination. The concentration will be primarily on Western religious cultures, especially Judaism and the question of Jewishness.

• Department: Religion @Barnard
• Instructor: Beth A Berkowitz
  CULPA: 2 h-index: 6 Info
• 4 points

MASTERS RESEARCH OR PROJECT

Prerequisite(s): Approval by a faculty member who agrees to supervise the work. Independent work involving experiments, computer programming, analytical investigation, or engineering design.

• Department: Industrial Engineering and Operations Research
• Instructor: Anish Agarwal
  Info
• Instructor: Shipra Agrawal
  h-index: 24 Info
• Instructor: Eric Balkanski
  h-index: 13 Info
• Instructor: Daniel Bienstock
  h-index: 38 Info
• Instructor: Agostino Capponi
  h-index: 19 Info
• Instructor: Rachel Cummings
  h-index: 16 Info
• Instructor: Antonius B Dieker
  CULPA: 10 h-index: 19 Info
• Instructor: Adam N Elmachtoub
  CULPA: 1 h-index: 13 Info
• Instructor: Yuri Faenza
  h-index: 11 Info
• Instructor: Vineet Goyal
  h-index: 21 Info
• Instructor: Ali Hirsa
  h-index: 8 Info
• Instructor: Anran Hu
  Info
• Instructor: Garud Iyengar
  CULPA: 6 h-index: 30 Info
• 1-3 points

MASTERS RESEARCH OR PROJECT

Prerequisite(s): Approval by a faculty member who agrees to supervise the work. Independent work involving experiments, computer programming, analytical investigation, or engineering design.

• Department: Industrial Engineering and Operations Research
• Instructor: Garud Iyengar
  CULPA: 6 h-index: 30 Info
• Instructor: Hardeep Johar
  Info
• Instructor: Cedric Josz
  CULPA: 2 h-index: 13 Info
• Instructor: Soulaymane Kachani
  CULPA: 12 Info
• Instructor: Yaren Kaya
  Info
• Instructor: Christian Kroer
  h-index: 16 Info
• Instructor: Daniel Lacker
  CULPA: 4 h-index: 13 Info
• Instructor: Henry Lam
  h-index: 17 Info
• Instructor: Fabrizio Lecci
  Info
• Instructor: Tianyi Lin
  Info
• Instructor: Uday Menon
  Info
• Instructor: Bento Natura
  Info
• Instructor: Jay Sethuraman
  CULPA: 10 Info
• Instructor: Eric Stratman
  Info
• Instructor: Clifford Stein
  CULPA: 31 Wikipedia h-index: 53 Info
• Instructor: Wenpin Tang
  h-index: 6 Info
• Instructor: Harry West
  CULPA: 1 h-index: 1 Info
• Instructor: Kaizheng Wang
  CULPA: 1 h-index: 8 Info
• Instructor: Lily Xu
  Info
• Instructor: David D Yao
  CULPA: 5 Info
• Instructor: Yi Zhang
  CULPA: 2 Info
• Instructor: Xunyu Zhou
  h-index: 54 Info
• 1-3 points

MASTERS RESEARCH OR PROJECT

Prerequisite(s): Approval by a faculty member who agrees to supervise the work. Independent work involving experiments, computer programming, analytical investigation, or engineering design.

• Department: Industrial Engineering and Operations Research
• 1-3 points

Labor and Life: Critiques of Capitalism

LABOR AND LIFE

This advanced seminar examines materialist conceptions of labor and life as approached through feminist, black, anti-racist, indigenous, queer, postcolonial, and Marxist perspectives. We will trace the ways that labor and life as well as their constitutive relations have been understood in historical and contemporary radical critiques of capitalism, with a focus on gender, race and sexuality as analytical categories for understanding their shifting roles in structures and practices of social reproduction, the production and expropriation of value, the logic and exercise of violence, the organization of sociality and culture, and the practice and imagination of freedom, justice, and new forms and potentials of collective existence. Finally, we will consider the limits and possibilities of different conceptions of “material life” for understanding politics today.

• Department: Women's, Gender, Sexuality Studies @Barnard
• Instructor: Neferti Tadiar
  CULPA: 10 Wikipedia Info
• 4 points

Education in Conflict Zones

Across the world, conflict and violence are on the rise, in many forms and due to myriad factors. This course explores the relationship between war, conflict, and education. Drawing on a human rights framework and its applications to education, this course will explore the possibilities and limitations inherent in this framework. Questions we will explore include: How does education contribute to, or mitigate conflict? What is the role of education in emergencies? What is the role of education in addressing the needs of refugees? What is the role of education in post conflict contexts and peacebuilding? What is human rights education?

• Department: Education @Barnard
• Instructor: Thea R Abu El-Haj
  Info
• 4 points

FOUNDATIONS OF CLINICAL MEDICINE II

FOUNDATIONS OF CLINICAL MED II

• Department: Medicine
• 0 points

THE BODY IN HEALTH & DISEASE I

• Department: Medicine
• 0 points

Foundations of Clinical Medicine: Tutori

FNDATION CLINICAL MED: TU

• Department: Medicine
• 0 points

From Ruins to Remains: Palestine & Archa

This new course aims to provide advanced undergraduate and graduate students with a critical history of Palestine-related archaeology from the mid-19th century to the present, and (b) an examination of how archaeological narratives relating to Palestine have been impacted by state nationalism, colonialism and conflicting local, regional and global religious interests from the "Classical World" to the 21st century.

• Department: Anthropology
• W 12:10 p.m.-2 p.m.
• Instructor: Brian Boyd
  CULPA: 6 Info
• 4 points

Vegetalities

This seminar examines the "vegetal turn" in the humanities through the lens of Black studies, Indigenous studies, and  feminist/queer studies approaches to science and technology. Beginning with Suzanne Césaire's 1942 definition of Caribbean being as fundamentally vegetal, the course reads across plant science, multispecies ethnography, critical race theory, queer ecologies, and plantation studies to ask what plants know, who knows them, and what vegetality offers as an analytic for thinking about racialized and gendered life in the Anthropocene. Students produce an annotated bibliography, a vegetal fieldwork exercise, and a seminar paper suitable for development toward publication. They also maintain a living plant throughout the semester.

• Department: Anthropology
• W 10:10 a.m.-noon
• Instructor: Vanessa L Agard-Jones
  CULPA: 3 Info
• 4 points

Ready 4 MCY

• Department: Medicine
• 0 points

THE TEACHING OF MATHEMATICS

A seminar required of all incoming graduate students, designed to instill effective teaching techniques.

• Department: Mathematics
• W 11:40 a.m.-12:55 p.m.
• Instructor: George Dragomir
  CULPA: 5 Info
• 0 points

THEORETICAL PARADIGMS

ABC:AN/ARCH Bodies Cities

Theoretical Paradigms in Feminist Scholarship:
 
Course focuses on the current theoretical debates of a particular topic or issue in feminist, queer, and/or WGSS scholarship. Open to graduate students, with preference given to students completing the ISSG graduate certificate. Topics differ by semester offered, and are reflected in the course subtitle. For a description of the current offering, please visit the link in the Class Notes.

• Department: Women's and Gender Studies
• T 4:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
• Instructor: Jack Halberstam
  Wikipedia Info
• 4 points

EUROPEAN STUDIES COLL II

• Department: Modern European Studies
• W 10:10 a.m.-noon
• Instructor: Tsveta A Petrova
  Info
• 4 points

Energy, Corporate Responsibility, and Hu

Energy, Corp Resp, & Righ

This interdisciplinary seminar examines the role of multinational energy companies in the context of international human rights, corporate responsibility, and global governance. Drawing on case studies and legal frameworks, the course explores how extractive industries intersect with political, environmental, and social systems, particularly in transitional and emerging economies.

Key themes include the development of international human rights law, the evolving definition of corporate responsibility, environmental and minority rights, corruption and transparency, and the geopolitics of natural resource extraction. Students will investigate how transnational corporations operate in weak governance zones, how investment treaties shape state-corporate relations, and how disputes over pipelines and land use affect communities and nations alike.

The course emphasizes real-world case analysis, including the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, Canadian mining projects in Latin America, and recent developments in sovereign debt, investor-state arbitration, and standards for corporate conduct. Students will also evaluate the effectiveness of voluntary standards, multilateral codes, and legal instruments in shaping corporate behavior.

• Department: International and Public Affairs
• Instructor: Jenik Radon
  Info
• 3 points

ANALYSIS II

Continuation of MATH GR6151x (see Fall listing).

• Department: Mathematics
• TR 10:10 a.m.-11:25 a.m.
• Instructor: Ovidiu Savin
  CULPA: 22 Wikipedia Info
• 4.5 points

PROBABILITY II

Prerequisites: MATH GR6151 MATH G4151 Analysis & Probability I. Continuation of MATH GR6152x (see fall listing).

• Department: Mathematics
• TR 4:10 p.m.-5:25 p.m.
• Instructor: Ioannis Karatzas
  CULPA: 7 h-index: 58 Info
• 4.5 points

Contemporary Archaeological Theory

CONTEMP ARCH THEORY

Archaeology is a sprawling, messy discipline and the role that theory does, should, and might play in the process of archaeological data collection, analysis, and interpretation has been highly contested. Archaeologists argue over whether there is such a thing as a stand-alone ‘archaeological theory’ and what kinds of theory from other disciplines should (or should not!) be imported. This course explores a range of recent theoretical conversations, orientations, and interventions within archaeology, with an eye to understanding what is currently at stake – and what is contested – in how archaeologists think about making archaeological knowledge in the contemporary moment. In doing so, this course encourages students to think about theory in archaeology as an important form of “practical knowledge” or “know how” for archaeologists (cf. Lucas 2018).

• Department: Anthropology
• T 10:10 a.m.-noon
• Instructor: Hannah Chazin
  Info
• 3 points

COMPLEX ANALYSIS/RIEMANN SURF

Continuation of MATH GR6175x (see Fall listing).

• Department: Mathematics
• TR 1:10 p.m.-2:25 p.m.
• Instructor: Duong H Phong
  Wikipedia Info
• 4.5 points

International Human Rights Law

HRGE Concentration Registration Priority.
This course introduces the legal frameworks, institutions, and advocacy strategies that underpin the international human rights system. With a practitioner’s lens, students will explore civil, political, economic, social, cultural, and environmental rights through treaties, customary law, and jurisprudence. Emphasis is placed on understanding where and how the law offers avenues for redress, and the evolving role of human rights advocacy in confronting modern challenges, including corporate accountability, gender discrimination, and climate justice.

Students will examine the structure and operation of key international and regional human rights mechanisms, the limits and opportunities of legal enforcement, and the relationship between international human rights law and international humanitarian law. The course integrates doctrinal learning with applied analysis through case studies, reflections, and simulations. 
Attendance in the first class session is mandatory.

• Department: Human Rights, Gender, and Equity
• Instructor: Betsy Apple
  Info
• 3 points

ARITH & ALGEBRAIC GEOMETRY

Affine and projective varieties; schemes; morphisms; sheaves; divisors; cohomology theory; curves; Riemann-Roch theorem.

• Department: Mathematics
• MW 4:10 p.m.-5:25 p.m.
• Instructor: Aise Johan de Jong
  CULPA: 5 Wikipedia Info
• 4.5 points

TOPICS IN ALGEBRAIC GEOMETRY

• Department: Mathematics
• MW 2:40 p.m.-3:55 p.m.
• Instructor: Robert D Friedman
  CULPA: 44 Info
• 4.5 points

The Political Economy of Europe

Instructor: Michael Broening.
This seminar provides a bird’s eye view of Europe's political economy in the "poly-crisis" of overlapping global challenges ranging from the climate crisis and geopolitical tensions to migration and authoritarianism. Students will analyze patterns, responses, and repercussions of these challenges, with a critical focus on overcoming existing economic policy dilemmas. The course aims to equip students with the necessary tools to analyze the complex parameters of European integration and study the global implications of European politics at the intersection of economics and politics in times of crisis.

• Department: International and Public Affairs
• Instructor: Stella Ladi
  Info
• 1.5 points

ALGEBRAIC TOPOLOGY II

Continuation of MATH GR6307x (see Fall listing).

• Department: Mathematics
• MW 2:40 p.m.-3:55 p.m.
• Instructor: Francesco Lin
  Info
• 4.5 points

European Union Human Rights: Law & Polic

EU Human Rights: Law & Po

The European Union (EU) has a deep and broad commitment to the respect and promotion of human rights, both in its internal and its external policies. However, it often faces difficulties in living up to this commitment. In this course we will study the EU’s commitment to human rights as outlined in its founding Treaties, the role of its institutional actors in following up on this commitment, and the EU’s internal and external actions and policies in this respect. For the EU’s internal policies we will focus in particular on its non-discrimination policies as well as its migration policy. In the area of the EU’s external relations we will explore the role of human rights in the EU’s development cooperation, trade policy and humanitarian aid, as well as in the EU’s multilateral relations with other international organizations, both global (e.g. the United Nations) and regional (e.g. Organization of American States; African Union; Council of Europe; OSCE).

• Department: International and Public Affairs
• Instructor: Jan Wouters
  Info
• 1.5 points

Diplomacy in Practice: the EU & the Worl

Diplomacy in Practice:EU/

This course introduces students to the practice of modern diplomacy through case studies of global and regional crises and the European Union’s responses to them. Students will examine how foreign policy is developed and implemented from the perspective of a professional diplomat.

The course begins with an overview of the history of EU foreign policy, followed by an introduction to the key institutions and instruments involved in external relations. Subsequent sessions will focus on case studies that illustrate the EU’s approach to various international partners: allies (including the transatlantic partnership and the UN system), neighboring regions (such as the Southern Neighborhood policy, the Eastern Partnership, and the European Political Community), and other global powers (including Russia, China, India, and Turkey). Additional topics include the war in Ukraine, conflicts in the Middle East (Libya, Syria, and the Middle East peace process), the Iran nuclear agreement, and the migration crisis.

Each case will explore the interplay among the EU’s foreign policy tools, including crisis management, defense and security, trade, financial aid, humanitarian assistance, and public diplomacy. The course concludes with a reflection on lessons learned and potential future directions for the EU’s foreign policy agenda and institutional framework.

• Department: International and Public Affairs
• Instructor: Pierre Vimont
  Info
• 1.5 points

LIE GROUPS & REPRESENTATIONS

Continuation of MATH GR6343x (see Fall listing).

• Department: Mathematics
• MW 1:10 p.m.-2:25 p.m.
• Instructor: Andrei Okounkov
  CULPA: 1 Wikipedia h-index: 55 Info
• 4.5 points

MODERN GEOMETRY

Continuation of Mathematics GR6402x (see Fall listing).

• Department: Mathematics
• TR 2:40 p.m.-3:55 p.m.
• Instructor: Simon Brendle
  CULPA: 1 Wikipedia Info
• 4.5 points

Religion & Space

Emplacement is often taken as the unspoken background of the study of religious phenomena. This seminar considers how problematizations of space, place, locality, and geography may cast religious phenomena in a new light. Approaches to theorizing space and place from various disciplines such as geography, cultural anthropology, philosophy, literature, art history, and history of cartography will be brought into conversation with questions emerging within the study of specific religion traditions. 

While this seminar is open to interested students from all disciplines, our work in this course specifically falls into the “zone of inquiry” of “space and place” of the Religion Department’s graduate programs. “Zones of inquiry” seek to introduce students to a particular cluster of key concepts and various theoretical elaborations of those concepts, in order to aid students in honing their ability to reflect critically on and develop further the central concepts that they derive from and bring to the specific traditions and phenomena that they study in their own research. A main goal of this course will therefore be to deepen our conceptual and analytical acumen and expand our theoretical resources at the intersection of religious studies and theories of space, place, and geography.

• Department: Asian and Middle East @Barnard
• Instructor: David L Moerman
  CULPA: 18 Info
• 4 points

ALGEBRAIC NUMBER THEORY

Local and global fields, group cohomology, local class field theory, global class field theory and applications.

• Department: Mathematics
• TR 11:40 a.m.-12:55 p.m.
• Instructor: Eric Urban
  CULPA: 12 Wikipedia Info
• 4.5 points

Data Analysis for Inclusive Policy

Data Analysis-Inclusive P

MIA and MPA Policy Skills II Core. Pre-req: Quant I (SIPA IA6500)
.
Priority Registration: MIA and MPA. 
Data is not neutral. How it is collected, categorized, and analyzed is shaped by historical, political, economic, and social forces, often reinforcing existing injustices. While policy professionals are trained in quantitative methods, there is comparatively less focus on interrogating how data itself is produced, how existing frameworks exclude certain populations, and how data can be used to either reinforce or challenge inequities.

This course introduces students to inclusive and decolonial approaches to working with data for policy research and advocacy, emphasizing critical engagement with its lifecycle—from collection to analysis to dissemination. Students will examine how statistical tools, methods, and available data can be utilized to either reinforce or dismantle barriers to opportunity and address structural injustices. Through weekly discussions, hands-on coding exercises, and a research or advocacy project sketch, students will examine a range of data sources and methodologies while developing strategies for ethical, community-centered data practices.

• Department: Data Science for Policy
• Instructor: Harold B Stolper
  Info
• 1.5 points

Political Development

‘Political development’ is a generic concept that refers to the development of institutions, social structures and civic values that form the basis of a society's political organisation. Contrary to what was believed in the recent past, it is by no means the result of a universal model of historical evolution that applies to all societies. It takes shape as a result of a combination of changes brought about by national, transnational and international factors. Some transformations may occur over the long term: they can be analysed by observing structural changes, such as the development of colonialism, economic and financial globalisation, the system of international relations, demographic shifts or climate change, among many other factors. Other transformations may be triggered by specific events, such as civil wars, revolutions, international conflicts, economic crises, natural disasters and global pandemics. Nor should we underestimate the role of political leaders, active minorities or broader social movements in changes to the political organisation of societies.

Analysis of political development requires exploring the multifaceted changes in societies throughout national and global history, highlighting the diversity of political experiences and the multiple aspirations of peoples. It also requires avoiding interpretations biased by ideology and false assumptions, stereotypes and beliefs that are not based on evidence.

Each session of the course focuses on a specific topic and is structured in three parts. First, the instructor introduces the topic by outlining key analytical perspectives, guiding questions, and relevant controversies or debates. This is followed by a student group presentation. Finally, the session opens up to the class for a collective discussion. One of the main objectives of the course is to foster critical thinking, grounded in the solid foundations of the social sciences and a clear-eyed observation of current world events. The aim is to cultivate individuals with independent and discerning minds, capable of making fair, balanced, and well-reasoned decisions.

• Department: Development and Governance
• 3 points

Persistent Problems in the Global South

Global South Challenges

This course examines the politics of persistent policy challenges in the Global South, a term that traditionally refers to developing nations but also encompasses marginalized communities in wealthier countries affected by globalization.Poverty, inequality, hunger, communicable diseases, water scarcity, political and financial instability, and corruption are among the most persistent challenges in the Global South. While policymakers have invested significant resources to address these issues, their global roots often make them more complex and difficult to resolve. Responses to these problems vary across the Global South, shaped by each country’s unique historical and political context. This variation highlights that developing countries are not uniform and provides valuable opportunities for comparative analysis of policies and outcomes.

This course takes a comparative approach, drawing on the histories and experiences of developing countries worldwide. Each week, we will focus on a key challenge in the Global South using an empirically grounded, case-based method, supported by relevant theoretical frameworks and policy literature. While recognizing country-specific differences, we will also examine common constraints—such as colonial legacies, resource scarcity, and institutional barriers—that set these nations apart from wealthier Global North countries.

• Department: Development and Governance
• Instructor: Rumela Sen
  CULPA: 1 Info
• 3 points

PRIMARY CARE CLERKSHIP

• Department: Medicine
• 0 points

PRIMARY CARE CLERKSHIP

• Department: Medicine
• 0 points

PRIMARY CARE CLERKSHIP

• Department: Medicine
• 0 points

PRIMARY CARE CLERKSHIP

• Department: Medicine
• 0 points

PRIMARY CARE CLERKSHIP

• Department: Medicine
• 0 points

Topics in Financial Inclusion: Enhancing

Financial Inclusion Topic

Research shows that countries with deeper levels of financial inclusion -- defined as access to affordable, appropriate financial services -- have stronger GDP growth rates and lower income inequality. In recent years, research around the financial habits and needs of poor households has yielded rich information on how they manage their financial lives, allowing for the design of financial solutions that better meet their needs, boosting financial inclusion. Nevertheless, an estimated 1.3 billion people globally remain underserved by financial services. 

While microfinance institutions remain a leading model for providing financial services to the poor, new models and technology developments have provided opportunities for scaling outreach, improving the range of products and services, deepening penetration and moving beyond brick-and-mortar delivery channels. The course will provide an overview of selected topics in financial inclusion, with a focus on several foundational areas and select topics of current interest, including leading-edge digital financial services, gender, and innovative financial product design.

The course will be highly interactive, with leading industry experts as guest speakers and group assignments.

• Department: Development and Governance
• 1.5 points

International Capital Markets

• Department: International Finance & Economic Policy
• Instructor: Benedict O Okoh
  CULPA: 1 Info
• 3 points

Data and Conflict

This course equips students for humanitarian, human rights, foreign policy and political risk jobs that require real-time interpretation and analysis of conflict data. The course will introduce students to contemporary open-source data about conflict events, fatalities, forced displacement, human rights violations, settlement patterns in war zones, and much more. Students will learn about how this data is generated, what data reveals, what data obscures, and the choices analysts can make to use conflict data transparently in the face of biases. Then, students will learn introductory skills to visualize a range of conflict data in 
R
 and ArcGIS Pro. The objective is to give students the foundations to go further independently after the course using open-source training material and trouble-shooting portals. Each student will choose a conflict-related policy problem which they will investigate as the course progresses, culminating in a four-page policy brief or an ArcGIS Story Map, along with an explanatory memo.

• Department: International Security & Diplomacy
• Instructor: Sophia Dawkins
  Info
• 3 points

Innovation Driving Development Impact

Innovation Driving Devt I

This course focuses on innovation in low and middle-income countries and how international development organisations and governments can drive better development processes and outcomes. Sessions will cover the role of innovation in fostering inclusive digital transformation, economic growth as well as practical applications of innovation in development policies and programmes. The course will feature a number of case studies from diverse low and middle-income countries as well as frameworks to help students gain a practical and conceptual understanding of innovation at various levels: macro, meso and micro. 
 
The course is designed to help students sharpen their critical thinking skills related to development cooperation policies and programming writ-large, and specifically as they pertain to innovation and digital transformation efforts. Students will gain an understanding of the history of investments in science, technology and innovation (STI) systems in low and middle-income countries and in fields of digital transformation and mission-oriented innovation. Students will work individually and in groups on practical exercises related to innovation policies, local innovation ecosystems, grassroots and frugal innovation, and more. The practical exercises will be anchored in conceptual frameworks and case studies from across low and middle-income countries. Case studies include innovation efforts led by international development organisations as well as by Global South government entities and by local grassroots innovators. 
 
Students will gain practical insights on how to advance inclusive innovation in the context of international development cooperation policies and programmes.

• Department: Development and Governance
• Instructor: Benjamin Kumpf
  Info
• 1.5 points

Migration and Economic Development

Economics of Migration

This course equips students with economic tools to analyze the impacts of international migration on destination and origin countries. Emphasizing migration between low-, middle-, and high-income economies, it explores the effects of migration restrictions, remittances, diaspora networks, and labor market outcomes. Students will review key economic models, assess policy debates, and engage with empirical research. The course combines lectures, case discussions, and applied assignments to strengthen analytical skills and inform policy recommendations in migration and development.

• Department: Development and Governance
• Instructor: Limon B Rodriguez
  Info
• 1.5 points

Emerging Capital Markets: Theory & Pract

• Department: International Finance & Economic Policy
• 3 points

Green Transition in Emerging Markets

Greening Emerging Markets

The transition to a net-zero economy is of particular relevance to Emerging and Developing economies, which are both the most vulnerable to climate change and also the largest emitters of greenhouse gases.

The transition is creating considerable challenges but also opening up significant opportunities: over $200 trillion of investments will be needed in order to ensure that global temperatures stay well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels, with most to be invested in the infrastructure sector of emerging and developing economies.

The class will explore the challenges of the transition to a low-carbon economy. It will also examine the new mechanisms that are being put in place to channel finance toward the greening of emerging and developing countries.

• Department: International Finance & Economic Policy
• Instructor: Christian Deseglise
  Wikipedia Info
• 1.5 points

Intelligence and US Foreign Policy

Intelligence & US Foreign

Instructor permission required. Join the waitlist in Vergil to request registration.
This seminar explores the role of intelligence in U.S. national security and foreign policy, focusing on both historic and contemporary controversies. Topics include intelligence failures such as 9/11 and Iraq’s WMDs, challenges in cyber and surveillance, and debates about covert action and interrogation practices. The course also considers the Intelligence Community’s (IC) relationship with policymakers, particularly during election cycles and presidential transitions. Recent failures in Russia and Israel will prompt discussion on whether intelligence failures are inevitable and how success or failure should be defined. Students will examine the core functions of intelligence—collection (human, technical, cyber), analysis, and covert action—and their place in a democratic society. Readings focus on the post-WWII period to the present, with an emphasis on reform efforts. Guest speakers and a crisis simulation will provide practical insight into intelligence work, including real-world pressures faced by analysts and decision-makers.

• Department: International Security & Diplomacy
• Instructor: Peter Clement
  Info
• 3 points

Climate Change & ESG Investing

This course explores how Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) and climate considerations are reshaping public market investment strategies. Students will learn how institutional investors use ESG signals and climate-related data to assess risk, identify opportunity, and support real-world outcomes—all while meeting fiduciary obligations.

The class introduces the concept of the “Double Bottom Line,” or double materiality, where financial performance and sustainability impact are jointly pursued. Students will examine active and index-based approaches to climate and ESG investing, review emerging academic research, and hear from guest speakers on the evolving landscape of sustainable finance.

A key course deliverable is a student-designed investment strategy that applies the Double Bottom Line framework to a climate or ESG theme, demonstrating how it could drive financial returns and measurable impact.

This course is intended for students planning careers in asset management, policy, sustainability, or ESG advisory roles. It focuses exclusively on public markets and complements SIPA courses covering private finance and regulatory approaches.

Students should know basic finance concepts like beta, the Capital Asset Pricing Model, equilibrium, active and passive management, and portfolio risk and return. Students should be familiar with some basic knowledge of statistics, like the concepts of statistical significance and regressions. At least one semester of statistics is required. We recommend that students have taken some previous classes in finance, management, sustainability, or quantitative analysis.

• Department: Climate, Energy, & Environment
• Instructor: Andrew Ang
  Info
• 1.5 points

Data Science and Public Policy

Pre-req: SIPA IA6501 - Quant II or equivalent quantitative methods course. Instructor permission required. Join the waitlist in Vergil to request registration.
 

This course bridges the gap between data science and public policy by bringing together students from diverse academic backgrounds to address contemporary policy challenges using large-scale data. With the rapid growth of digital information and the increasing influence of machine learning and AI on public life, the ability to work across disciplines is becoming essential.

Students will examine real-world datasets on topics such as disinformation campaigns, privacy and surveillance, crime and recidivism, natural disasters, and the impact of generative AI. Through weekly presentations and a semester-long team project, students will gain practical experience applying data science methods to pressing policy issues while learning how to collaborate across fields.

• Department: Data Science for Policy
• Instructor: Tamar Mitts
  h-index: 5 Info
• 3 points

Text as Data

Pre-req: SIPA IA6500 - Quant I, and prior experience with R are required. Instructor permission required. Join the waitlist in Vergil to request registration.
 

This course introduces students to the quantitative analysis of text, an increasingly important method in the social sciences and public policy. With vast amounts of textual information now available from sources such as social media, news articles, political speeches, and government documents, the ability to analyze text systematically is essential. Students will learn how to collect, process, and analyze text data to answer meaningful research questions.

The course covers a range of methods including dictionary-based approaches, supervised classification, topic modeling, word embeddings, and emerging applications of Large Language Models. Emphasis is placed on practical application through hands-on exercises using the R programming language. By the end of the semester, students will develop an original research project using text as data.

• Department: Data Science for Policy
• Instructor: Tamar Mitts
  h-index: 5 Info
• 3 points

Asian Financial Markets

Pre-req: SIPA IA6401 - Macroeconomic Analysis. 
This course offers a comprehensive examination of the structure, evolution, and policy challenges of financial markets across Asia, focusing on key economies including Japan, China, India, South Korea, and ASEAN member states. It provides a historical overview of Asian financial development from the 1960s to the present, emphasizing the role of financial markets in supporting economic growth.

A central focus of the course is the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997–98, exploring its causes, policy responses, and long-term impacts on financial governance. Students will analyze the IMF’s controversial role during the crisis and the subsequent shift in Asian countries’ approaches to capital flows, exchange rate regimes, and monetary policy. The course also investigates the region’s efforts toward financial integration, cooperation, and institutional reform.

The second half of the course reviews the development trajectories of individual financial markets across Asia, with particular attention to Japan’s liberalization and demographic challenges, China’s rise and its promotion of the Renminbi as a global currency, and India’s financial sector reforms. The course further explores emerging issues including central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), infrastructure investment, and regional responses to global financial shifts.

Students will engage with current policy debates, case studies, and academic literature to understand the interplay between macroeconomic policy, financial regulation, and international finance in Asia.

• Department: International Finance & Economic Policy
• Instructor: Silvia Pezzini
  Info
• 3 points

Terrorism and Counterterrorism

This course examines the origins and development of modern terrorism, the challenges it poses to states and the international system, and the strategies employed to confront it. The course explores a wide range of terrorist groups, assessing the psychological, political, socioeconomic, and religious factors that contribute to terrorist violence. Students will also evaluate the effectiveness and ethical implications of various counterterrorism approaches. The course is structured in two parts. Part I addresses the nature, causes, tactics, and objectives of terrorism and terrorist organizations. Part II focuses on counterterrorism, including U.S. policy responses, international strategies, and the tension between security and democratic values.

• Department: International Security & Diplomacy
• Instructor: Stuart M Gottlieb
  CULPA: 12 Info
• 3 points