NYC AND THE HISTORY OF MUSEUM

This course will introduce students to the history of museums and display practices through New York collections. The birth of the museum as a constitutive element of modernity coincides with the establishment of European nation states. Throughout the course of the nineteenth century, museums were founded in major European and American cities to classify objects, natural and manmade, from plants and fossils to sculpture and clothing. This course presents the alternate art history that can be charted through an examination of the foundation and development of museums from cabinets of curiosity to the collection-less new museums currently being built in the Middle East and beyond. We will consider broad thematic issues such as nationalism, colonialism, canon formation, the overlapping methods of anthropology and art history, and the notion of 'framing' from the architectural superstructure to exhibition design. We will visit a wide variety of museums from the American Museum of Natural History to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to the National September 11 Memorial and Museum as in-depth case studies of more general concepts. Students will have the opportunity to meet museum educators, conservators and curators through on site teaching in a variety of institutions.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• TR 1 p.m.-4:10 p.m.
• Instructor: Risham Majeed
  CULPA: 3 Info
• 4 points

NYC AND THE HISTORY OF MUSEUM

This course will introduce students to the history of museums and display practices through New York collections. The birth of the museum as a constitutive element of modernity coincides with the establishment of European nation states. Throughout the course of the nineteenth century, museums were founded in major European and American cities to classify objects, natural and manmade, from plants and fossils to sculpture and clothing. This course presents the alternate art history that can be charted through an examination of the foundation and development of museums from cabinets of curiosity to the collection-less new museums currently being built in the Middle East and beyond. We will consider broad thematic issues such as nationalism, colonialism, canon formation, the overlapping methods of anthropology and art history, and the notion of 'framing' from the architectural superstructure to exhibition design. We will visit a wide variety of museums from the American Museum of Natural History to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to the National September 11 Memorial and Museum as in-depth case studies of more general concepts. Students will have the opportunity to meet museum educators, conservators and curators through on site teaching in a variety of institutions.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• TR 1 p.m.-4:10 p.m.
• Instructor: Risham Majeed
  CULPA: 3 Info
• 4 points

American Art at the Met, 1750 1914

American Art, 1750-1914

Through an examination of painting, sculpture, decorative arts, photography. fashion and visual culture of the United States from 1750 to 1914, the course will explore how American artists responded to and operated within the wider world, while grappling with issues of identity at home. Addressing themes shared in common across national boundaries, the class will consider how American art participated in the revolutions and reforms of the "long" nineteenth century, and how events of the period continue to impact our country today. The period witnessed the emergence of new technologies for creating, using and circulating images and objects, the expansion and transformation of exhibition and viewing practices, and the rise of new artistic institutions, as well as the metamorphosis of the United States from its colonial origins to that of a world power, including the radical changes that occurred during the Civil War.  With many sessions taking place at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the class will investigate how American art engaged with international movements while constructing national identity during a period of radical transformation both at home and abroad.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• TR 9 a.m.-12:10 p.m.
• Instructor: Page S Knox
  CULPA: 14 Info
• 4 points

Theories, Methods, and Experiments in Ar

Theories in Art and AI

The use of artificial intelligence—propelled by deep learning techniques—to analyze, curate, and generate digital images is having a profound influence on visual culture, one that well exceeds Jacques Derrida's anticipations of the effects of technology on society as he described them in Archive Fever. While regulation around emerging technologies such as AI is being formulated across the globe with much urgency, a problematic concept of “tech ethics” is being espoused by the leading technology companies that imposes a simplistic moralistic framework on potential policies. Through examination of the creative applications of AI, the aim of this seminar is to foster a nuanced critical discourse on AI art that places the ethics of emerging technologies at center stage. This course provides students with an introduction to the history of AI art and explores the challenges and opportunities that this burgeoning field faces, especially in regard to the regulation of technology. Class visits to Mercer Labs, Artechouse, MoMA, and the Whitney will allow students to directly engage with the core concepts of the seminar.

The course begins with reflection on Adorno’s prescient statement that technical rationality is “the rationality of domination,” and challenges both the cynicism and optimism around emerging technologies and their effect on visual culture. We will question the accountability that art history and other fields of study have, if any, to steer the ethics debates spurred by today’s “culture industry” of digital images, and ask what the custodianship of this space entails by examining its structures of power, conveyed visually or through automated processes enabled by computer vision science. By interrogating the socio-cultural effects of the use of machine learning on images—such as algorithmic biases that lend to discrimination, or surveillance and privacy concerns in regard to facial recognition technologies—new and diverse perspectives on visual culture are investigated. Although the mechanisms that enable technology to develop may be lending to the commodification and homogenization of visual culture, the seemingly democratic promises that big tech touts keep us captivated yet surprisingly uncritical. If the transformative role of AI on our visual culture is constituting a new type of archaeology of knowledge, how do we critically lend to its discourse through the theories, methods, and experiments surrounding art and AI?

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• TR 1 p.m.-4:10 p.m.
• Instructor: Emily Spratt
  Info
• 3 points

GLOBAL HIST OF THE US MILITARY

This course charts the expansion of U.S. military power from a band of colonists to a globe-girdling colossus with over 2.1 million personnel, some 750 bases around the world, and an annual budget of approximately $754 billion — almost half of federal discretionary spending, and more than the next nine nations combined. It introduces students to the history of American military power; the economic, political, and technological rise of the military-industrial complex and national security state; the role of the armed services in international humanitarian work; and the changing role of the military in domestic and international politics. A three-point semester-long course, compressed into six weeks; visit
bobneer.com
for a complete syllabus.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• TR 1 p.m.-4:10 p.m.
• Instructor: Robert M Jr Neer
  Info
• 3 points

Psychedelic Neuroscience: From Molecules

Psychedellic Neuroscience

Psychedelics are receiving growing attention in the fields of psychology, psychiatry, and neuroscience for their therapeutic potential. Psychedelic compounds like psilocybin, LSD, and DMT produce a wide range of changes to perception, ranging from visual perception to alterations in one’s sense of self. When combined with psychological support or psychotherapy, psychedelics have been shown to lead to rapid and long-lasting therapeutic benefits for a wide range of mental health disorders, including major depression and alcohol use disorder. The acute alterations in perception and long-lasting clinical effects offer exciting insight into the relationship between the mind and the brain. This course will focus on the current state of research on the psychological and neurobiological effects of psychedelics. We will begin with a crash-course into the basics of neuroscience and research methodology. Next, the course will delve into how psychedelics alter brain functioning, both acutely during the drug effects as well as long after they have worn off. Studies covered will span molecular, cellular, and systems level analysis. A core element of the course will include reviewing methodological approaches and neuroscientific evidence for psychedelics interventions in the treatment of clinical/psychiatric disorders. We will also review the clinical data and link neurobiological findings to their practical application to move the field of psychedelic science forward. Throughout the course, there will be a specific focus on critical appraisal of research, identifying strengths and limitations surrounding current research, and important avenues for future research. Students should leave the class with an enhanced ability to evaluate research findings and a broad understanding of the mechanisms of action of psychedelics.

The format of the course will include lectures, class discussions and presentations, and guest speakers.

Prerequisites:
PSYC 1001 and any PSYC 2400-level neuroscience course or permission of the instructor.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• TR 9 a.m.-12:10 p.m.
• Instructor: Broc Pagni
  Info
• 3 points

HIST OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK

The social, cultural, economic, political, and demographic development of America's metropolis from colonial days to present. Slides and walking tours supplement the readings.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• MW 9 a.m.-12:10 p.m.
• Instructor: Stephen J Sullivan
  CULPA: 2 Info
• 3 points

PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE

Philosophical problems within science and about the nature of scientific knowledge in the 17th-20th centuries. Sample problems: causation and scientific explanation; induction and real kinds; verification and falsification; models, analogies and simulations; the historical origins of the modern sciences; scientific revolutions; reductionism and supervenience; differences between physics, biology and the social sciences; the nature of life; cultural evolution; human nature; philosophical issues in cosmology.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• 3 points

HIST OF LATINOS/AS IN THE U.S.

As a population, Latino, Latina, Latine, and Latinx peoples have been prominent in the public sphere in popular culture, the media, and especially around discussions of immigration. Though individuals with a tapestry of Spanish-Indian-African ancestry (who may be described as “Latinas/os” “Hispanics” or “Latinxs” today) explored the lands of present-day Florida and New Mexico long before English colonizers reached Plymouth Rock, Latina/o/x communities are continually seen as foreigners, immigrants, and “newcomers” to American society. This course aims to place Latina/o populations in the United States within historical context. We begin by asking:  Who are Latinas/os in the U.S. and how did they become part of the American nation-state?  Why are they identified as a distinct group? How have they participated in American society and how have they been perceived over time?  The course will familiarize students with the broad themes, periods, and questions raised in the field of Latinx History.  Topics include conquest and colonization, immigration, labor recruitment, education, politics, popular culture, and social movements.  The course emphasizes a comparative approach to Latinx history aiming to engage histories from the Southwest, Midwest, and Eastern United States and across national origin groups—Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, Dominicans, Central Americans, and South Americans. This class is taught in mostly the modern period (after 1750) within United States history so it can count toward the history major or concentration. Where the course points may be applied depends on a student’s field of specialization within their major or concentration. The course can also count toward the 
Global Core
 requirement, which is reflected on the Columbia online registry.  The class can, moreover, serve as three elective points toward degree progress or as non-technical elective credits. Finally, the course is regularly 
cross-listed 
with both the Center for the Study of Ethnicity and the Institute for the Study of Human Rights as well as with American Studies.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• MW 1 p.m.-4:10 p.m.
• Instructor: Darius V Echeverria
  CULPA: 1 Info
• 3 points

Topics in Clinical Psychology - Summer

A seminar for advanced undergraduate students exploring different areas of clinical psychology. The specific focus within clinical psychology may differ each time the course is offered, so it is possible for the course to be retaken for additional credit.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• TR 9 a.m.-12:10 p.m.
• Instructor: Usha Barahmand
  Info
• 3 points

ENDING WAR & BUILDING PEACE

This course provides an introduction to the politics of war termination and peace consolidation. The course examines the challenges posed by ending wars and the process by which parties to a conflict arrive at victory, ceasefires, and peace negotiations. It explores how peace is sustained, why peace lasts in some cases and breaks down in others and what can be done to make peace more stable, focusing on the role of international interventions, power-sharing arrangements, reconciliation between adversaries, and reconstruction.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• Instructor: Gilbert Lai
  Info
• 3 points

CLINICAL NEUROPSYCHOLOGY SEM

Prerequisites: the instructor's permission required; contact emccaski@barnard.edu. An introductory course in neuroscience like PSYC 1001 or PSYC 2450. Analysis of the assessment of physical and psychiatric diseases impacting the central nervous system, with emphasis on the relationship between neuropathology and cognitive and behavioral deficits.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• TR 5:30 p.m.-8:40 p.m.
• Instructor: E'Mett McCaskill
  CULPA: 38 Info
• 3 points

ADVANCES IN IPE

This course examines questions in international political economy, asking what we know and how we know it. It addresses questions such as: Why do some countries promote globalization while others resist it? What do IOs do in international politics? Who runs our system of global governance? We will explore these questions and others by focusing on topics such as international trade, foreign aid, investment, and the environment. For each topic, we will use a variety of theoretical lenses and then investigate the evidence in favor of each. More generally, the course will consider the challenges of drawing casual inferences in the field of international political economy. There are no prerequisites for this course but an introductory economy course would be helpful. Students will write a short reading response each week and produce a research proposal for studying a topic related to international political economy, though they do not need to actually conduct this research.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• Instructor: Sharyn L O'Halloran
  Info
• 4 points

ADVANCES IN IPE-DISC

This is the required discussion section for 
POLS S3628.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• 0 points

RECORDED SOUND

Prerequisites: the instructor's permission. Main objective is to gain a familiarity with and understanding of recording, editing, mixing, and mastering of recorded music and sounds using Pro Tools software. Discusses the history of recorded production, microphone technique, and the idea of using the studio as an instrument for the production and manipulation of sound.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• 3 points

MEDIA, CULTURE AND SOCIETY

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• 3 points

ORGANIZING INNOVATION

This course examines major innovations in organizations and asks whether innovation itself can be organized. We study a range of forms of organizing (e.g. bureaucratic, post-bureaucratic, and open architecture network forms) in a broad variety of settings: from fast food franchises to the military-entertainment complex, from airline cockpits to Wall Street trading rooms, from engineering firms to mega-churches, from scientific management at the turn of the twentieth century to collaborative filtering and open source programming at the beginning of the twenty-first. Special attention will be paid to the relationship between organizational forms and new digital technologies.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• 3 points

Arts Matronage in America

Yaddo is an artists community located in Saratoga Springs, New York.  In the words of John Cheever, “the forty or so acres on which the studios and principal buildings of Yaddo stand have seen more distinguished activity in the arts that any other piece of ground in the English speaking community.”  Cheever, however, also described Yaddo’s menagerie of creatives as a group of, “lushes down on their luck, men and women at the top of their powers, nervous breakdowns, thieves, geniuses, cranky noblemen, and poets who ate their peas with a knife.”  In total this makes for spectacular drama.  

Historically speaking Yaddo is an idealized synergy of Gilded Age gender roles and is best understood as ½ Thomas Edison’s Menlo Park (“the Menlo Park factory was a loud, rowdy, and raucous place full of nightly sing-alongs around a large organ, gaming, practical jokes, and midnight feasts”) and one half Settlement House (a space where American women, “expropriated the previously male world of literature and the arts as their own, feeling they possessed a special humanistic sensitivity which provided an alternative to the acquisitive and the competitive goals of men in an industrializing America.”).   

Yaddo’s guest list is a “whose who” of American Art and letters.  We will, however,  study Yaddo as a compelling introduction to the shifts, evolutions, and challenges to American art across the 20th century; including: the study of politically radical art during the 1930s and a remarkable study of Cold War era political threats to American creativity with a special focus on the Lavender Scare. 

Because The Yaddo Records (Yaddo’s archive) are at NYPL, and because I served as project archivist for these records we will also spend a day at NYPL that will include introduction to Yaddo’s archive specifically but also to archives more generally.  Finally, we will be visited (either in person or online) from a variety of Yaddo alum who will share their experiences and impressions and answer student questions etc.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• 3 points

ETHICS

Prerequisites: One philosophy course This course is mainly an introduction to three influential approaches to normative ethics: utilitarianism, deontological views, and virtue ethics. We also consider the ethics of care, and selected topics in meta-ethics.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• 3 points

RESEARCH DESIGN: DATA ANALYSIS

This course examines the basic methods data analysis and statistics that political scientists use in quantitative research that attempts to make causal inferences about how the political world works. The same methods apply to other kinds of problems about cause and effect relationships more generally. The course will provide students with extensive experience in analyzing data and in writing (and thus reading) research papers about testable theories and hypotheses. It will cover basic data analysis and statistical methods, from univariate and bivariate descriptive and inferential statistics through multivariate regression analysis. Computer applications will be emphasized. The course will focus largely on observational data used in cross-sectional statistical analysis, but it will consider issues of research design more broadly as well. It will assume that students have no mathematical background beyond high school algebra and no experience using computers for data analysis.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• 3 points

RESEARCH DESIGN: SCOPE AND METHODS

RESEARCH DESIGN: SCOPE&ME

This class aims to introduce students to the logic of social scientific inquiry and research design. Although it is a course in political science, our emphasis will be on the science part rather than the political part — we’ll be reading about interesting substantive topics, but only insofar as they can teach us something about ways we can do systematic research. This class will introduce students to a medley of different methods to conduct social scientific research.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• Instructor: Giulia Leila Travaglini
  Info
• Instructor: Natasha I Gordon
  Info
• 4 points

THE ANTHROPOLOGY OF VIOLENCE

This course will explore contemporary anthropological approaches to the issue of violence with an exploration of three particular themes. Our main focus will be on the idea of representation, ethnographically and theoretically, of the concept of violence. First, we will look at how violence has been situated as an object of study within anthropology, as a theoretical concept as well as in practice. We will then look at the issue of terrorism and how anthropology as a discipline contributes to understanding this particular form of violence. Finally, we will consider gender-based violence with close attention to the colonial/post-colonial settings where Islam is a salient factor. Gender based violence is one of the main forces producing and reproducing gender inequality. We will pay particular attention to the concept of the 'Muslim woman' in both the colonial and colonized imagination.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• TR 5:30 p.m.-8:40 p.m.
• Instructor: Rishav Kumar Thakur
  Info
• 3 points

SCOPE AND METHODS - DISC

This is the required discussion section for
POLS UN3720.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• 0 points

SCOPE AND METHODS - DISC

This is the required discussion section for
POLS UN3720.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• 0 points

Colonization/Decolonization

This course examines the processes of colonization and decolonization that define the making of a modern, integrated world (c. 1500 to the present). We will study primary source materials.  We focus on the instruments of colonization—the treaty, the charter, the map, the ethnology—and the engines of decolonization—the manifesto, the resistance, the solidarity with the colonial, the demand for self rule. We are interested in the processes and contents of social and cultural contact and exchange, the development of knowledge, and how they shape relations of power; the place of colonialism in the development of western capitalism; and the elements of colonial power and resistance, including ideologies of liberal political philosophy, social Darwinism, and nationalism.  We will consider how ideas about race, civilization, religion, self and other, and freedom have evolved over time and shaped the making of the modern world.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• MW 9 a.m.-12:10 p.m.
• Instructor: Manan Ahmed
  CULPA: 6 Wikipedia h-index: 6 Info
• 3 points

Indigenous Enlightenment

What is the source of truth and authority? What is the origin of the world and how does that determine the social order? Who ought to rule, why, and how? What are the standards for measuring justice and injustice? What is our relationship to the environment around us and how should its resources be distributed among people? How do we relate to those who are different from us, and what does it mean to be a community in the first place? Historically, the answers to these questions that have been described as “religious” and “political” have been the restricted to a specific tradition of Western European Christianity and its secular afterlives. However, these are questions that every society asks, in order to be a society in the first place. This course analyzes how indigenous peoples in the Americas asked and answered these questions through the first three centuries of Western European imperial rule. At the same time, this course pushes students to question what gets categorized as uniquely “indigenous” thought, how, and why.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• TR 1 p.m.-4:10 p.m.
• Instructor: Timothy Vasko
  CULPA: 3 Info
• 4 points

AFRICA AND FRANCE

This course endeavors to understand the development of the peculiar and historically conflictual relationship that exists between France, the nation-states that are its former African colonies, and other contemporary African states. It covers the period from the 19th century colonial expansion through the current ‘memory wars’ in French politics and debates over migration and colonial history in Africa. Historical episodes include French participation in and eventual withdrawal from the Atlantic Slave Trade, emancipation in the French possessions, colonial conquest, African participation in the world wars, the wars of decolonization, and French-African relations in the contexts of immigration and the construction of the European Union. Readings will be drawn extensively from primary accounts by African and French intellectuals, dissidents, and colonial administrators. However, the course offers neither a collective biography of the compelling intellectuals who have emerged from this relationship nor a survey of French-African literary or cultural production nor a course in international relations. Indeed, the course avoids the common emphasis in francophone studies on literary production and the experiences of elites and the common focus of international relations on states and bureaucrats. The focus throughout the course is on the historical development of fields of political possibility and the emphasis is on sub-Saharan Africa. Group(s): B, C Field(s): AFR, MEU

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• TR 5:30 p.m.-8:40 p.m.
• Instructor: Gregory Mann
  CULPA: 15 h-index: 13 Info
• 4 points

WHEN AMERICAN TELEVISION BECAME AMERICAN

In a 2015 interview with David Simon (creator of
The Wire
) President Barak Obama offered that
The Wire
is, "one of the greatest -- not just television shows, but pieces of American art in the last couple of decades."  
The Wire
combines hyperrealism (from a-quasi anthropological capture of syntax and dialect that recalls the language of Langston Hughes and Zora Neal Hurston to a preference for actors who lived “the game” in Baltimore’s inner city) with the reinvention of fundamental American themes (from picaresque individualisms, to coming to terms with the illusory “American dream”, to a fundamental loss of faith in American institutions), and engages in a scathing expose of the shared dysfunction among the bureaucracies (police, courts, public schools etc.) that manage a troubled American inner city.  On a more macro level
The Wire
humanizes (and therefore vastly problematizes) assumptions about the individual Americans’ who inhabit America’s most dangerous urban environments from gang members to police officers to teachers and even ordinary citizens.

The Wire
, of course, did not single-handedly reshape American television. Scholars like Martin Shuster refer to this period of television history as “new television.” That is, the product of new imaginations that felt television had exhausted its normative points of reference, subject matter and narrative technique. Many of the shows from this period sought to reinvent television for interaction with an evolving zeitgeist shaped by shared dissolution with 21st century American life: “I’d been thinking: it’s good to be in a thing from the ground floor, I came too late for that, I know.  But lately I’m getting the feeling I might be in at the end.  That the best is over,” Tony Soprano confides to Dr. Malfi in S1.E1 of the Sopranos.  Series that fall within this rubric include (in chronological order):
The Sopranos
;
The Wire
;
Deadwood
;
Madmen
; and
Breaking Bad.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• 3 points

British Women Writers: the Woman Questio

This course will examine British women writers including Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë, George Eliot, and Virginia Woolf in the context of the (long-) nineteenth-century "Woman Question". Our inquiry will engage the controversy over a woman’s status in terms of the social and political debates of early feminism as well as the enigma of “woman’s nature” in light of the rise of psychology and psychoanalysis in the period. We will consider how women writers negotiate these current social and psychological discourses in the stories they tell about themselves and others: how do they portray a woman’s life, especially as it manifests the tension George Eliot articulates between “inward impulse and outward fact”? We will pay attention to representations of gender, subjectivity, interiority, desire, domestic affections, friendship, education, economic and professional experience, faith, and creativity as reflecting the struggle, rising influence, and emergent identity of woman. In addition to novels, poetry, and drama, we will read excerpts of critical essays from among our primary authors and other prominent thinkers of the period, such as Wollstonecraft, Martineau, Taylor Mill, and Freud, who, by the early twentieth century, still famously puzzles: “What does a woman want?”

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• 3 points

Developing The Low Budget Film

This class focuses on the role of a creative producer during development of low budget film. Students will learn the framework for identifying good stories and developing them into a 3-5 minute short screenplay. We will explore the fundamental aspects of script development and the collaborative relationship between a producer and writer during the development phase. Students will learn critical elements such as writing an effective logline, treatment, and screenplay, and how to provide constructive notes and script analysis thereafter. Through lectures, screenings, writing assignments, and discussions, students will complete the course having written a first draft of a  short screenplay, revision and set of written notes as a producer.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• 3 points

PRODUCING THE LOW BUDGET FILM

This practical lab focuses on the fundamental aspects of development, planning and preparation for low budget films. While using a short film script as their own case study – students will learn pitching, development, script breakdown, scheduling, budgeting and fundraising. Discussion of legal issues, location scouting, deliverables, marketing, distribution and film festival strategy will allow students to move forward with their own projects after completing the class. Using weekly assignments, in-class presentations and textbook readings to reinforce each class discussion topic, students will complete the class having created a final prep/production binder for their project, which includes the script breakdown, production schedule, line item budget, financing/fundraising plan and film festival strategy for their chosen script.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• 3 points

THE ART OF THE ESSAY

“Learned we may be with another man's learning: we can only be wise with wisdom of our own.”― Michel de Montaigne “There is something you find interesting, for a reason hard to explain. It is hard to explain because you have never read it on any page; there you begin. You were made and set here to give voice to this, your own astonishment.” Annie Dillard, The Writing Life “Find a subject you care about and which in your heart you feel others should care about. It is this genuine caring, not your games with language, which will be the most compelling and seductive element in your style.” Kurt Vonnegut What makes the essay of personal experience an essay rather than a journal entry? How can one's specific experience transcend the limits of narrative and transmit a deeper meaning to any reader? How can a writer transmit the wisdom gained from personal experience without lecturing her reader? In The Art of the Essay, we explore the answers to these questions by reading personal essays in a variety of different forms. We begin with Michel de Montaigne, the 16th-century philosopher who popularized the personal essay as we know it and famously asked, “What do I know?,” and follow the development of the form as a locus of rigorous self-examination, doubt, persuasion, and provocation. Through close reading of a range of essays from writers including Annie Dillard, Salman Rushdie, Jamaica Kincaid, and June Jordan, we analyze how voice, form, and evidence work together to create a world of meaning around an author's experience, one that invites readers into conversations that are at once deeply personal and universal in their consequences and implications.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• 3 points

Ottoman Americana

This seminar explores the intertwined histories of the Ottoman Empire and the United States during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries through migration, mobility, and cultural exchange. It examines why diverse Ottoman subjects (Armenian, Greek, Turkish, Arab, Jewish, etc.) migrated to the United States and how they navigated life and contributed to the country’s evolving social and cultural fabric. Students will analyze migration experiences, community formations, and identity negotiations while considering how race, religion, class, and gender shaped the lives of transnational Ottoman communities in America. The course also investigates how Americans imagined the Ottoman world through missionary writings and journalism, and how Ottoman migrants themselves influenced these representations. Combining global and local perspectives, the seminar draws on historical, cultural, and sociological methods. Field-based learning, including visits to historic sites in New York City once home to Ottoman immigrant communities, complements classroom discussions.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• TR 11 a.m.-3 p.m.
• Instructor: Tunc Sen
  Info
• 4 points

SUPERVISED INDIVIDUAL RESEARCH

1-4 points. May be repeated for credit. Prerequisites: the instructors permission. Except by special permission of the director of undergraduate studies, no more than 4 points of individual research may be taken in any one term. This includes both PSYC UN3950 and PSYC UN3920. No more than 8 points ofPSYC UN3950 may be applied toward the psychology major, and no more than 4 points toward the concentration. Readings, special laboratory projects, reports, and special seminars on contemporary issues in psychological research and theory.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• Instructor: Patricia G Lindemann
  CULPA: 64 Info
• 0-4 points

SUPERVISED INDIVIDUAL RESEARCH

1-4 points. May be repeated for credit. Prerequisites: the instructors permission. Except by special permission of the director of undergraduate studies, no more than 4 points of individual research may be taken in any one term. This includes both PSYC UN3950 and PSYC UN3920. No more than 8 points ofPSYC UN3950 may be applied toward the psychology major, and no more than 4 points toward the concentration. Readings, special laboratory projects, reports, and special seminars on contemporary issues in psychological research and theory.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• Instructor: Patricia G Lindemann
  CULPA: 64 Info
• 0-4 points

EPISTEMOLOGY

What can we know? What is knowledge? How is it different from belief? Are there irrational beliefs? Are false beliefs a mark of irrationality? These are just some of the topics that we will explore as we read various classical works in epistemology.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• 3 points

INTRODUCTION TO PROBABILITY AND STATISTI

INTRO TO PROBABILITY & ST

Prerequisites: A good working knowledge of calculus, including derivatives, single and double, limits, sums and series. Life is a gamble and with some knowledge of probability / statistics is easier evaluate the risks and rewards involved. Probability theory allows us take a known underlying model and estimate how likely will we be able to see future events. Statistical Inference allows us to take data we have seen and estimate the missing parts of an unknown model. The first part of the course focus on the former and the second part the latter.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• MTWR 4:30 p.m.-6:05 p.m.
• Instructor: Gabriel Young
  CULPA: 7 Info
• 3 points

Jewish Worlds in Eastern Europe: A Journ

Pushing back against this trope of homelessness, this course illuminates the robust, vibrant, and multifacetted
qualities of a home in the Diaspora, lasting for over a millennium, that both Ashkenazi and Sephardi
Jews managed to create for themselves in lands, predominantly populated by Slavs. They did so despite the
many constraints of legal and religious discrimination, threats of physical violence, displacement, and countless
forms of exclusion from dominant society. Moving across centuries, countries, and languages, we will revisit the
contributions of the Jews to their so called “host cultures” by way of diverse media—literary and non-fictional
works, memoirs, artistic works, songs, feature and documentary films, journalistic pieces, and more. By the end
of this journey, we will have gained a deeper understanding of the ways in which the Jews and Slavs have been
intimately imbricated and intertwined since times immemorial.

All course materials are available in English. No reading knowledge of Russian or other Slavic languages
is required. Course participants with the reading knowledge of any region-specific language are encouraged to
consult the respective originals, provided by the instructor upon request. This course will be of interest to those
majoring in Slavic and/or Jewish Studies, as well as anyone interested in Comparative Literature, History, Art
History, and Film and Visual Studies.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• MW 5:30 p.m.-8:40 p.m.
• Instructor: Alex Pekov
  Info
• 3 points

ECON OF UNCERTAINTY & INFORMTN

Uncertainty is ubiquitous and information about that uncertainty plays a key role in economic
decision-making and exchange. In this course, we will first consider how individuals and society
can manage uncertainty. We will then focus on how economic relationships may suffer from
some parties not having all the information that is relevant to their decision-making. We will see
how these kinds of information asymmetries invite lying and cheating. We will also study how
parties can structure their agreements to address the problems that such information asymmetries
create.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• 3 points

INTRODUCTION TO HUMAN RIGHTS

This course will provide a wide-ranging survey of conceptual foundations and issues in contemporary human rights. The class will examine the philosophical origins of human rights, contemporary debates, the evolution of human rights, key human rights documents, and the questions of human rights enforcement. This course will examine specific civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights and various thematic topics in human rights.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• 3 points

SCREENWRITING I: INTRO

Modern feature-length screenplays demand a specific architecture. In this class students will enter with an idea for a film, and during the first eight sessions build a coherent treatment; that is, a summary of the events and major emotional arcs of the film's three acts. In the final four sessions students will begin and complete the first act of their feature-length screenplay.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• 3 points

INTRO MODERN ALGEBRA I

Prerequisites: MATH UN1102 and MATH UN1202 and MATH UN2010 or the equivalent. The second term of this course may not be taken without the first. Groups, homomorphisms, normal subgroups, the isomorphism theorems, symmetric groups, group actions, the Sylow theorems, finitely generated abelian groups.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• 3 points

Gun Violence & Human Rights: Children Un

The course adopts the perspective of gun violence as a pressing human rights concern, emphasizing the state's responsibility to maximize the protection of human rights and establish the safest possible environment, particularly for young people who are most vulnerable to such violence. Students will gain an understanding of the international and national human rights laws that protect the rights to life, development, survival, and protection, with a specific focus on young individuals. The course will delve into the root causes, prevalence, and potential remedies for gun violence in all communities but we recognize that the risk of firearm violence and racial disparities persist across all age groups. Lastly, the course will examine the crucial role of young people in developing solutions, including their activism and advocacy work.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• 3 points

INTRO TO MODERN ANALYSIS I

Prerequisites: MATH S1202, MATH S2010, or the equivalent. Students must have a current and solid background in the prerequisites for the course: multivariable calculus and linear algebra. Elements of set theory and general topology. Metric spaces. Euclidian space. Continuous and differentiable functions. Riemann integral. Uniform convergence.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• 3 points

ADV PAINTING INTENSIVE: NYC

Prerequisites: Must have a BA, BFA or equivalent. Apply directly to the School of the Arts. Access the application here: 
https://arts.columbia.edu/summer/advanced-painting-intensive
. 

The Advanced Painting Intensive offers personalized mentorship to up to twelve students through individual and group critique, technical tutorials, workshops, and insights into the New York gallery and museum scenes. Participants will also benefit from lectures and critiques by nationally recognized visiting artists. 

 

The six-week, six-credit workshop is structured similarly to Columbia’s MFA degree program and is designed for individuals seeking to challenge and advance their artistic skills in an immersive and supportive environment. The workshop aims to help participants develop a strong visual portfolio and a comprehensive written package suitable for MFA programs applications.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• MTWRF 10 a.m.-6 p.m.
• 6 points

The European Enlightenment

This course aims to introduce students to classic and more recent literature on the intellectual and cultural history of the Enlightenment. The field has expanded far beyond the cohort of free-thinking
philosophes
around which it was initially conceived to encompass broader cultural, economic, and religious preoccupations. Given these tendencies, how has the significance of the Enlightenment shifted as a historical period and interpretive framework? In what ways do scholars explicate its origins, outcomes, and legacies? The readings trace the development of Enlightenment thought and practices from their early manifestations in Britain and the United Provinces before shifting attention to France, the geographical focal point of the movement by mid-century. Topics to be addressed include the relationship of traditional political authorities to an emerging public sphere, the invention of society as a means of mediating human relationships, the entrepreneurial and epistemological innovations made possible by new media, the struggles of the
philosophe
movement for legitimacy, debates surrounding luxury consumption and commercial society, the rise of political economy as field of knowledge and practical platform, and arguments between Christian apologists and radical atheists over the status of religious truth.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• TR 1 p.m.-4:10 p.m.
• Instructor: Charly J Coleman
  CULPA: 7 Info
• 4 points

Introduction to Moment Work

Moment Work explores the theatrical potential of all the elements of the stage (props, sound, architecture, lights, costume, etc.) in order to create strong theatrical and dramatic narratives. In this class, students will foster an appreciation for the reexamination and exploration of theatrical form and theatrical and dramatic narratives. The semester will culminate with an in-class showcase of short, devised pieces created by the students.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• MW 1 p.m.-4:10 p.m.
• Instructor: Njideka G Agwuna
  Info
• 3 points

Dramaturgy & Moment Work

Students will be empowered to tell stories from history through engaging with special collections and primary historical sources. We will spark students' curiosity as we explore one specific historical event and work together over the course of six weeks to devise moments of theater. By the end of the course, we will create a short presentation of “Moments” by investigating the themes and dramatic throughlines that the material offers. This is much like what a first presentation might look like at Tectonic Theater Project, a proof of dramatic and theatrical concept.

Each session will begin with a quiet and reflective writing prompt, associated with the historical event that we are researching. Responses will be used over the course of the class to spark devised moments.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• TR 1 p.m.-4:10 p.m.
• Instructor: Leigh Fondakowski
  Info
• 3 points

HUM RIGHTS/GLOBAL ECON JUSTICE

The world economy is a patchwork of competing and complementary interests among and between governments, corporations, and civil society. These stakeholders at times cooperate and also conflict over issues of global poverty, inequality, and sustainability. What role do human rights play in coordinating the different interests that drive global economic governance? This seminar will introduce students to different structures of global governance for development, trade, labor, finance, the environment, migration, and intellectual property and investigate their relationship with human rights. Students will learn about public, private, and mixed forms of governance, analyze the ethical and strategic perspectives of the various stakeholders and relate them to existing human rights norms. The course will examine the work of multilateral organizations such as the United Nations and the International Financial Institutions, as well as international corporate and non-governmental initiatives.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• 3 points

The Problem of Slavery in the Age of Rev

Slavery in Age of Revolut

The history of conflicts within and over slavery during the American Revolution, the Haitian Revolution, the Wars for Latin American Independence, and the campaigns to abolish slavery in the British Empire.  The seminar gives special emphasis to the evolution of antislavery and proslavery arguments, the role of war in destabilizing practices of human bondage, and choices made by enslaved men and women in moments of rapid political change.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• TR 9 a.m.-1 p.m.
• Instructor: Christopher L Brown
  CULPA: 5 Info
• 3 points

PROBABILITY THEORY

Prerequisites: MATH V1101 Calculus I and MATH V1102 Calculus II, or the equivalent, and STAT W1111 or STAT W1211 (Introduction to Statistics). Corequisites: MATH V1201 Calculus III, or the equivalent, or the instructor's permission. This course can be taken as a single course for students requiring knowledge of probability or as a foundation for more advanced courses. It is open to both undergraduate and master students. This course satisfies the prerequisite for STAT W3107 and W4107. Topics covered include combinatorics, conditional probability, random variables and common distributions, expectation, independence, Bayes' rule, joint distributions, conditional expectations, moment generating functions, central limit theorem, laws of large numbers, characteristic functions.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• MTWR 4:30 p.m.-6:05 p.m.
• Instructor: Young S Kim
  CULPA: 5 Info
• 3 points

STATISTICAL INFERENCE

Prerequisites: STAT W3105 Intro. to Probability or STAT W4105 Probability, or the equivalent. Calculus-based introduction to the theory of statistics. Useful distributions, law of large numbers and central limit theorem, point estimation, hypothesis testing, confidence intervals, maximum likelihood, likelihood ratio tests, nonparametric procedures, theory of least squares and analysis of variance.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• MTWR 6:15 p.m.-7:50 p.m.
• 3 points

Linear Regression Models

Prerequisites: STAT GU4204 or the equivalent, and a course in linear algebra. Theory and practice of regression analysis. Simple and multiple regression, testing, estimation, prediction, and confidence procedures, modeling, regression diagnostics and plots, polynomial regression, colinearity and confounding, model selection, geometry of least squares. Extensive use of the computer to analyse data.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• MTWR 6:15 p.m.-7:50 p.m.
• Instructor: Daniel Rabinowitz
  CULPA: 19 h-index: 34 Info
• 3 points

STAT COMP & INTRO DATA SCIENCE

Prerequisites: STAT GU4204 and GU4205 or the equivalent. Introduction to programming in the R statistical package: functions, objects, data structures, flow control, input and output, debugging, logical design, and abstraction. Writing code for numerical and graphical statistical analyses. Writing maintainable code and testing, stochastic simulations, paralleizing data analyses, and working with large data sets. Examples from data science will be used for demonstration.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• 3 points

THIRD YEAR ARABIC I

Prerequisites: MDES UN1214-UN1215, or the equivalent $15.00= Language Resource Fee, $10.00 = Materials Fee Improvement of writing and speaking skills through compositions, class discussions, and presentations in Arabic on topics such as areas and cultures of the Middle East; classical and modern Arabic literature; and current, authentic materials available from Middle Eastern sources. Review of grammatical and syntactic rules as needed.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• MTWRF 9 a.m.-1 p.m.
• Instructor: Rym Bettaieb
  CULPA: 7 Info
• 5 points

THIRD YEAR ARABIC II

Prerequisites: MDES UN1214-UN1215, or the equivalent. $15.00= Language Resource Fee, $10.00 = Materials Fee The continuation of S4210, above.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• MTWRF 9 a.m.-1 p.m.
• Instructor: Youssef Nouhi
  CULPA: 7 Info
• 5 points

Hollywood in China

The seminar zero in on the relationship between Hollywood and the Chinese film industry as a case study to tease out a cluster of issues concerning the politics, economy, and culture of transnational entertainment and media practices. The course aims to introduce students to foundational texts as well as the most updated research topics and approaches concerning Chinese cinema and media. Seminar participants are encouraged to utilize the research tools learned in the class to explore their own research topics and facilitate their own research projects.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• 3 points

CONTEMPORARY GLOBAL DOCUMENTAR

Documentaries are proliferating with increasing intensity around the world. They circulate as market commodities, forms of entertainment, and vehicles for social change. In this class we will compare different national and regional contexts of contemporary documentary, including projects created within the media industries of China, Cambodia, Chechnya, Ukraine, Nigeria, and India. We will also examine the presence of “the global” within the United States, which involves exploring questions of immigration, border-crossing, and transnational co-production. Crucial to our course will be the close analysis of how documentaries actively address civil rights struggles, oppressive government regimes, cultural trends, environmental crises, and progressive social movements to create more inclusive, equitable communities. So, too, will we examine emerging technologies (AI, virtual and augmented reality), star-studded film festivals, and the reach and impact of mega studios such as Netflix and Wanda. Guest speakers (scholars, filmmakers, programmers) working in the field will enrich our class discussions. Site visits will offer the opportunity to engage with documentary through the cultural offerings of the city. This course fulfills the Global Core requirement.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• 3 points

NGOS&THE HUMAN RIGHTS MOVEMENT

The human rights movement is one of the most successful social justice movements of our time, establishing universal principles that govern how states should treat citizens and non-citizens. The movement strengthens, and is strengthened by, a complex web of institutions, laws, and norms that constitute a functioning global system that builds on itself progressively, animated by strong NGOs. The course will address the evolution of the international human rights movement and on the NGOs that drive the movement on the international, regional and domestic levels. Sessions will highlight the experiences of major human rights NGOs and will address topics including strategy development, institutional representation, research methodologies, partnerships, networks, venues of engagement, campaigning, fundraising and, perhaps most importantly, the fraught and complex debates about adaptation to changing global circumstances.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• 3 points

THE NEW YORK THEATRE EVENT

This course examines the rich legacy of theater in New York, from Broadway to Off- Broadway, encompassing the writers, directors, actors, institutions, and artists who laid the foundations of American theater and continue to shape the contemporary theatrical landscape. We will commence with an exploration of the roots of theater in NYC and how the city's growth is mirrored in the historic innovations of the art form. Each week will delve into theatrical forms and disciplines, examples of seminal texts, and current productions throughout the city. These investigations offer insights into the ways theater evolves into a quintessential New York event, guided by a producer who has shepherded award-winning shows from initial idea to Broadway for over three decades. Performances will include productions both on and off Broadway. Course fee covers tickets for up to 6 performances during the session. Shows for summer 2025 will be selected at the beginning of the course based on enrollment (shows currently under consideration include:
Pirates: The Penzance Musical, John Proctor is the Villain, The Jonathan Larson Project, Trophy Boys
, among others pending both availability and final course registration).

Please note: more Summer Theatre courses will be posted by the end of March

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• MW 9 a.m.-12:10 p.m.
• Instructor: Christopher G Burney
  CULPA: 2 Info
• 3 points

INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS LAW

This course introduces the fundamental concepts and problems of international human rights law. What are the origins of modern human rights law? What is the substance of this law, who is obligated by it, and how is it enforced? The course will cover the major international human rights treaties and mechanisms and consider some of today's most significant human rights issues and controversies. While the topics are necessarily law-related, the course will assume no prior exposure to legal studies.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• 3 points

Time Series Analysis

Prerequisites: STAT GU4205 or the equivalent. Prerequisites: STAT GU4205 or the equivalent. Least squares smoothing and prediction, linear systems, Fourier analysis, and spectral estimation. Impulse response and transfer function. Fourier series, the fast Fourier transform, autocorrelation function, and spectral density. Univariate Box-Jenkins modeling and forecasting. Emphasis on applications. Examples from the physical sciences, social sciences, and business. Computing is an integral part of the course.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• MTWR 6:15 p.m.-7:50 p.m.
• 3 points

BAYESIAN STATISTICS

This course introduces the Bayesian paradigm for statistical inference.  Topics covered include prior and posterior distributions: conjugate priors, informative and non-informative priors; one- and two-sample problems; models for normal data, models for binary data, Bayesian linear models; Bayesian computation: MCMC algorithms, the Gibbs sampler; hierarchical models; hypothesis testing, Bayes factors, model selection; use of statistical software.

Prerequisites: A course in the theory of statistical inference, such as STAT GU4204 a course in statistical modeling and data analysis, such as STAT GU4205.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• MTWR 6:15 p.m.-7:50 p.m.
• Instructor: Casey Bradshaw
  Info
• 3 points

Machine Intelligence

This seminar will survey historical and modern developments in machine intelligence from fields
such as psychology, neuroscience, and computer science, and from approaches such as
cybernetics, artificial intelligence, machine learning, robotics, connectionism, neural networks,
and deep learning. The emphasis is on the conceptual understanding of topics. The course does
not include, nor require a background in, computer programming and statistics. The overall goal
is for students to become informed consumers of applications of artificial intelligence.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• MW 5:30 p.m.-8:40 p.m.
• Instructor: Trenton Jerde
  h-index: 11 Info
• 3 points

STATISTICAL MACHINE LEARNING

Prerequisites: STAT GU4206 The course will provide an introduction to Machine Learning and its core models and algorithms. The aim of the course is to provide students of statistics with detailed knowledge of how Machine Learning methods work and how statistical models can be brought to bear in computer systems - not only to analyze large data sets, but to let computers perform tasks that traditional methods of computer science are unable to address. Examples range from speech recognition and text analysis through bioinformatics and medical diagnosis. This course provides a first introduction to the statistical methods and mathematical concepts which make such technologies possible.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• MTWR 6:15 p.m.-7:50 p.m.
• Instructor: Alex Pijyan
  Info
• 3 points

STATISTICAL METHODS FOR FINANCE

Prerequisites: STAT GU4204 and STAT GU4205 A fast-paced introduction to statistical methods used in quantitative finance. Financial applications and statistical methodologies are intertwined in all lectures. Topics include regression analysis and applications to the Capital Asset Pricing Model and multifactor pricing models, principal components and multivariate analysis, smoothing techniques and estimation of yield curves statistical methods for financial time series, value at risk, term structure models and fixed income research, and estimation and modeling of volatilities. Hands-on experience with financial data.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• TR 9 a.m.-12:10 p.m.
• 3 points

WRITING CHILDREN'S BOOKS

There are many misconceptions as to what makes an appealing story for children and how to get a story published. Many novice writers are simply relating an incident as opposed to creating a story. This course will show beginner and experienced writers how to mine their lives and imaginations for ideas and how to develop those ideas into children's stories-a step by step process from inspiration to finished manuscript for picture books, early readers, emerging readers and chapter books. Students will also learn the importance of reading their writing out loud-a process that helps both reader and listener develop a better ear for the story's pace, cadence and structure. Writing for children has become incredibly popular in the past fifteen years and publishing houses have been inundated with manuscripts. Many houses have ceased accepting unsolicited manuscripts all together. This course will disclose other avenues to getting your manuscript into the hands of agents and editors.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• TR 10 a.m.-1:10 p.m.
• Instructor: Peter Catalanotto
  Wikipedia Info
• 3 points

TRAVEL WRITING

How does the traveler become the travel writer? What makes good travel writing? Why does it matter today? This course examines and breaks down the very specific craft of travel writing. Simply because we like to travel, does it qualify us to write about it? Everywhere has been written about, so how do we find something fresh to say about… Paris, or even Patagonia? In this course, we both dispel, and prove, some of the myths of travel writing. Students learn to find an angle in order to uncover destinations anew and make them personal— it’s in the personal that the universal is revealed. From crafting a compelling lede and understanding the need for a strong “nut graph,” to knowing the value of dialogue in propelling the story forward, and then finding the ideal kicker to send the reader away satisfied, students dissect published stories and are sent out into “the field” (of New York City) to craft their own. Travel writing is more than, “I went here, I did this, I ate that.” From front-of-book and service pieces, to destination features, we discuss magazine and newspaper travel writing in depth, as well as touch on longer form travel writing. Finally, through exercises and assignments, students learn to craft a compelling pitch in order to approach editors.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• MW 5:30 p.m.-8:40 p.m.
• Instructor: Porter T Fox
  Info
• 3 points

WRITING THE YOUNG ADULT NOVEL

The Young Adult (YA) publishing boom has changed the way we read—and write—coming-of-age stories. This course will introduce students to the elements that shape YA novels, and explore the fiction writing techniques needed for long projects, including narrative arcs, character construction, worldbuilding, and scene work. We’ll study work from a wide range of YA genres and authors, including Angie Thomas, Elana K. Arnold, Leigh Bardugo, Jason Reynolds, A.S. King, Elizabeth Acevedo, and more.

Students will begin to write and outline their own YA novel, and a variety of in-class writing exercises will support the development of each project. All students will workshop their own writing and respond to the work of others. By the end of class, students will have a portfolio of materials to draw from, and a richer understanding of the YA landscape and its possibilities.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• TR 10 a.m.-1:10 p.m.
• Instructor: Emily K Austin
  Info
• 3 points

MISFITS AND MISANTHROPES

People like to be liked. And writers obsess about likability in fiction. But is it that important? What about visionaries, iconoclasts, stragglers, strangers, weirdos, and cringe-inducers? What happens when there is friction between a person and their surroundings? Between people? What if a character throws aside motivations to be liked and impulses to comply?

At its heart, this is a class focused on analyzing and crafting characters. We’ll look at loners and lonely hearts, articulate big mouths, and introverted self-imploders. We’ll observe their circumstances and question how their desires encourage them to think and act. Students will regularly respond to prompts and workshop their own writing.

Our discussions will consider what choices writers make to render, shape, define, and refine characters. We’ll take on craft-oriented concerns such as: How is dialogue used to differentiate characters? How does a writer demonstrate a character’s compassion, even if their attitude stinks? How do the story's events affect the reader’s understanding of character? What elements in the narrative change—or don’t—over time to signal to the reader that a character is developing?

Throughout, students will investigate how emerging writers move from maintaining characters’ status quo and progress to allowing characters to do the unexpected. With every question, we will advance our comprehension of building dynamic representations of people in the world, how they act out, and what it takes to fit in.

Readings may include:

Nights at the Circus
by Angela Carter,
Geek Love
by Katherine Dunn, “Speech Sounds” by Octavia Butler,
McGlue
by Ottessa Moshfegh,
True Grit
by Charles Portis,
Distant Star
by Roberto Bolaño,
Home Land
by Sam Lipsyte,
CivilWarLand in Bad Decline
by George Saunders, “Friday Black” by Nana Kwame Adje Brenya, “Emergency” by Denis Johnson, “Tall Tales from the Mekong Delta” by Kate Braverman, “Me and Miss Mandible” by Donald Barthelme,
The Book of Goose
by Yiyun Li, 
Mezzanine
by Nicholson Baker,
Wittgenstein's Mistress
by David Markson,
No Longer Human
by Osamu Dazai

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• TR 1:30 p.m.-4:40 p.m.
• Instructor: Franklin Winslow
  Info
• 3 points

CONSUMER CULTURE IN MOD EUROPE

The development of the modern culture of consumption, with particular attention to the formation of the woman consumer. Topics include commerce and the urban landscape, changing attitudes toward shopping and spending, feminine fashion and conspicuous consumption, and the birth of advertising. Examination of novels, fashion magazines, and advertising images.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• TR 9 a.m.-1 p.m.
• Instructor: Lisa Tiersten
  CULPA: 45 Info
• 4 points

ADVANCED RUSSIAN I

Prerequisites: RUSS UN2101 and RUSS UN2102 or placement test $15.00= Language Resource Fee, $15.00 = Materials Fee , Curriculum evolves according to needs and interests of the students. Emphasis on conversation and composition, reading and discussion of selected texts and videotapes; oral reports required. Conducted entirely in Russian.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• MTWR 9 a.m.-1 p.m.
• Instructor: Marina Tsylina
  Info
• 4 points

ADVANCED RUSSIAN II

Prerequisites: RUSS GU4333 or placement test $15.00= Language Resource Fee, $15.00 = Materials Fee , Continuation of RUSS S4333H.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• MTWR 9 a.m.-1 p.m.
• Instructor: Irina Kogel
  Info
• 4 points

LABOR ECONOMICS

Prerequisites: ECON UN3211 and ECON UN3213. This course examines labor markets through the lens of economics. In broad terms, labor economics is the study of the exchange of labor services for wages—a category that takes in a wide range of topics. Our objective in this course is to lay the foundations for explaining labor market phenomena within an economic framework and subsequently apply this knowledge-structure to a select set of questions. Throughout this process we will discuss empirical research, which will highlight the power (as well as the limitations) of employing economic models to real-world problems. By the end of this course we will have the tools/intuition to adequately formulate and critically contest arguments concerning labor markets.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• 3 points

GAME THEORY

Prerequisites: ECON UN3211 and ECON UN3213. Equivalent to ECON UN4415. Introduction to the systematic treatment of game theory and its applications in economic analysis.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• 3 points

GAME THEORY

Prerequisites: ECON UN3211 and ECON UN3213. Equivalent to ECON UN4415. Introduction to the systematic treatment of game theory and its applications in economic analysis.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• 3 points

INTERNATIONAL TRADE

Prerequisites: ECON UN3211 and ECON UN3213. Equivalent to ECON UN4500. The theory of international trade, comparative advantage and the factor endowments explanation of trade, analysis of the theory and practice of commercial policy, economic integration. International mobility of capital and labor, the North-South debate.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• 3 points

The science of me, you and us: insights

The nature of wellbeing

Why do we feel the way we do, how do we understand ourselves and others, and how does this relate to our social relationships?  Why does all of this sometimes leave us feeling anxious, depressed, lonely and isolated?  And when that happens, what we can do about it?  In this seminar, we will tackle these questions using an integrative approach that blends social psychology, clinical psychology and neuroscience to uncover how our emotions and social interactions sometimes work well and sometimes falter.  To do this, we will examine human behavior at multiple levels, connecting our social and emotional lives (what we experience and how we act) to cognitive processes (how our minds process information) and underlying neural mechanisms (what's happening in the brain).  As the semester unfolds, we start by building an understanding of where our emotions come from, how we can manage them, how we make sense of other people and how we can form positive connections with them.  This knowledge provides a foundation for taking the next step - understanding what happens when things go awry and we end up with momentary - or long-lasting - bouts of anxiety, depression, loneliness and other clinical conditions.  We end by considering what may be everyone’s life goal - the pursuit of happiness - and how everything we have learned can foster that pursuit through personal actions, social connections and psychotherapeutic support.  The overarching goal is to build a nuanced understanding of how and why we think and feel the way we do – about ourselves and others – that can inform both scientific and personal explorations of what “wellbeing” and “mental health” means.

Prerequisites

Equivalents of an introductory Psychology course and one more advanced lecture, lab or seminar course in Psychology or a related discipline (and/or the instructor's permission).

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• TR 1 p.m.-4:10 p.m.
• Instructor: Kevin Ochsner
  CULPA: 12 h-index: 86 Info
• 3 points

PRINC OF QUANT POL RESEARCH 2

Prerequisites: POLS W4710 or the equivalent. 

This course will
intensively
examine some of the data analysis methods which deal with problems occurring in the use of multiple regression analysis.  It will stress computer applications and cover, as needed, data coding and data processing. Emphasis will also be placed on research design and
writing research reports
. 

The course assumes that students are familiar with basic statistics, inference, and multiple regression analysis and have analyzed data using computer software (e.g., any standard statistical programs on micro-computers or larger machines -- Stata, “R”, SPSS, SAS, etc.). Students will be instructed on the use of the microcomputers and the R and Stata statistical software program(s) available as freeware (R) or in the CUIT computer labs (Stata; several campus locations) or through SIPA. The lectures and required discussion section will emphasize the use of “R.” Students may use whatever computer programs they prefer for all data analysis for the course. There may be an
additional fee
for classroom instructional materials.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• Instructor: Abdullah Aydogan
  h-index: 4 Info
• 4 points

PRINC OF QUANT POL RESEARCH 2-DISC

PRINC OF QUANT POL RES 2-

This is the required discussion section for
POLS GU4712.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• 0 points

HOW TO WRITE FUNNY

In this class we will consider the various forms and functions of humor in written prose, discussing techniques and approaches to humor writing. Students will write their own humorous stories and essays which we will read and discuss in class, focusing not only on what is or isn't funny, but on how humor can be advantageously used to increase the power of an overall piece. The class will also break down stories, novels, and essays from a variety of authors-Bill Hicks' political satire; the darkly comedic fiction of Barry Hannah and Paul Beatty; the absurd humor of Tina Fey and Baratunde Thurston; Anthony Lane's charming British snarkiness; Spy Magazine's sharply parodic voice; Woody Allen's one-liners; Lena Dunham's zeitgeist comedy-in an effort to better understand what makes their humor work. Students will be asked to write stories inspired and influenced by these authors. As we critique each other's work, we will investigate strategies related to the craft of humor writing, including self-deprecation, political satire, humor and the other, going blue, dark comedy, schtick, humor as a means vs. humor as an end, crossing the line, and how to write funny without sacrificing substance.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• MW 1:30 p.m.-4:40 p.m.
• Instructor: Patricia A Marx
  Info
• 3 points

GLOBAL ENERGY: SECURITY/GEOPOL

The course focuses on the nexus between energy and security as it reveals in the policies and interaction of leading energy producers and consumers. Topics include: Hydrocarbons and search for stability and security in the Persian Gulf, Caspian basin, Eurasia, Africa and Latin America; Russia as a global energy player; Analysis of the impact of Russia's invasion of Ukraine on energy markets, global security, and the future of the energy transition; Role of natural gas in the world energy balance and European energy security; Transformation of the global energy governance structure; Role and evolution of the OPEC; Introduction into energy economics; Dynamics and fundamentals of the global energy markets; IOCs vs NOCs; Resource nationalism, cartels, sanctions and embargoes; Asia's growing energy needs and its geo-economic and strategic implications; Nuclear energy and challenges to non-proliferation regime; Alternative and renewable sources of energy; Climate change as one of the central challenges of the 21st century; Analysis of the policies, technologies, financial systems and markets needed to achieve climate goals. Climate change and attempts of environmental regulation; Decarbonization trends, international carbon regimes and search for optimal models of sustainable development. Special focus on implications of the shale revolution and technological innovations on U.S. energy security.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• Instructor: Albert Bininachvili
  CULPA: 6 Info
• 3 points

STRAT INTELLIGNC/POL DEC MAKNG

The interaction of intelligence and political decision-making in the U.S. other Western democracies, Russia and China. Peculiarities of intelligence in the Middle East (Israel, Iran, Pakistan). Intelligence analyzed both as a governmental institution and as a form of activity, with an emphasis on complex relations within the triangle of intelligence communities, national security organizations, and high-level political leadership. Stages and disciplines of intelligence process. Intelligence products and political decision-making. The function of intelligence considered against the backdrop of rapid evolution of information technologies, changing meaning of homeland security, and globalization. Particular emphasis on the role of intelligence in the prevention of terrorism and WMD proliferation.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• Instructor: Albert Bininachvili
  CULPA: 6 Info
• 3 points

MICROECONOMICS SEMINAR

Prerequisites: ECON UN3211 and ECON UN3213 and ECON UN3412  Selected topics in microeconomics.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• 4 points

MACROECONOMICS SEMINAR

Prerequisites: ECON UN3211 and ECON UN3213 and ECON UN3412 Registration information is posted on the departments Seminar Sign-up webpage. Selected topics in macroeconomics. Selected topics will be posted on the departments webpage.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• 4 points

REVOL/RAD POLITICS-MARX-MAY'68

This seminar will expose students to classical texts in political theory relating to revolutionary action, political ethics and social militancy from the Communist Manifesto to 1968. The course will explore the idea of revolutionary ethics as conceived by Western and non-Western political philosophers and militants. The discussion will stress the connection between philosophers and revolutionary leaders and the transformation of the idea of radical politics through the dialogue between these two discourses (the philosophical and the militant) and the public reception of revolutionary events in the media and commemorative writings. Authors will be examined according to their historical context and their role in the tradition of political thought and the history of radical politics from 1848 to the mid-sixties. Students will be exposed to different discourses of political militancy and radical politics and to reflect on the ethical implications of the history of radical thought and action in comparative perspective.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• TR 1 p.m.-5 p.m.
• Instructor: Alheli Alvarado-Diaz
  CULPA: 9 Info
• 4 points

MASTERS COLLOQUIUM

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• 4 points

DATA ANALYSIS WITH PYTHON

This course is meant to provide an introduction to regression and applied statistics for the social sciences, with a strong emphasis on utilizing the Python software language to perform the key tasks in the data analysis workflow. Topics to be covered include various data structures, basic descriptive statistics, regression models, multiple regression analysis, interactions, polynomials, Gauss-Markov assumptions and asymptotics, heteroskedasticity and diagnostics, data visualization, models for binary outcomes, models for ordered data, first difference analysis, factor analysis, and cluster analysis. Through a variety of lab assignments, students will be able to generate and interpret quantitative data in helpful and provocative ways. Only relatively basic mathematics skills are assumed, but some more advanced math will be introduced as needed. A previous introductory statistics course that includes linear regression is helpful, but not required.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• MW 9 a.m.-12:10 p.m.
• Instructor: Gregory M Eirich
  CULPA: 1 Info
• 3 points

NATURAL LANG PROCESSING SOCIAL SCIENCES

Social scientists need to engage with natural language processing (NLP) approaches that are found in computer science, engineering, AI, tech and in industry. This course will provide an overview of natural language processing as it is applied in a number of domains. The goal is to gain familiarity with a number of critical topics and techniques that use text as data, and then to see how those NLP techniques can be used to produce social science research and insights. This course will be hands-on, with several large-scale exercises. The course will start with an introduction to Python and associated key NLP packages and github. The course will then cover topics like language modeling; part of speech tagging; parsing; information extraction; tokenizing; topic modeling; machine translation; sentiment analysis; summarization; supervised machine learning; and hidden Markov models. Prerequisites are basic probability and statistics, basic linear algebra and calculus. The course will use Python, and so if students have programmed in at least one software language, that will make it easier to keep up with the course.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• MT 5:30 p.m.-8:40 p.m.
• Instructor: Patrick Houlihan
  Info
• 3 points

Artificial Intelligence (AI) & Social Sc

AI and Social Science

Artificial intelligence (AI) and generative AI – like ChatGPT, MidJourney, and Gemini – are poised to change the world for everyone. It is critical that students understand (and utilize) this new technology at several levels. In this class – through readings and a dozen hands-on activities – students will come to deeply understand AI. Specifically, students will construct (using Python) some of the basic building-blocks of AI, like machine learning (like recommendation systems), natural language processing (like word embeddings) and chatbots. They will test out AI’s capabilities and refine prompts in real-world settings, whether in art, video, writing or Internet-of-Things. They will learn about how generative AI fits into the history of technology adoption and the diffusion of innovation, answering questions like: Will AI be able to replace whole jobs? And if so, when? They will use the lenses of psychology and economics to explore the impact of AI in people’s lives, including in the context of algorithmic fairness, regulation and intellectual property. They will be pushed to take human creativity in new directions, augmented by AI’s “weirdness.” Lastly, students will be pushed to further develop their own uniquely-human skills – like in critical thinking and empathy – in response to the power of generative AI to mimic humans. As best-selling author Seth Stephen-Davidowitz has recently (Dec. 2023) written, “So far, my newest book has higher ratings than either of my previous two books -- even though it was written in 1/36th of the time, thanks to AI. AI is wild!" By the end of this class, students will feel empowered technically and philosophically to handle all new generative AI developments. There are no specific prerequisites for this class.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• TR 9 a.m.-12:10 p.m.
• Instructor: Gregory M Eirich
  CULPA: 1 Info
• 3 points

PROBABILITY

Prerequisites: At least one semester of calculus. A calculus-based introduction to probability theory. Topics covered include random variables, conditional probability, expectation, independence, Bayes rule, important distributions, joint distributions, moment generating functions, central limit theorem, laws of large numbers and Markovs inequality.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• MTWR 4:30 p.m.-6:05 p.m.
• Instructor: Young S Kim
  CULPA: 5 Info
• 3 points

STATISTICAL INFERENCE

Prerequisites: STAT GR5203 or the equivalent, and two semesters of calculus. Calculus-based introduction to the theory of statistics. Useful distributions, law of large numbers and central limit theorem, point estimation, hypothesis testing, confidence intervals, maximum likelihood, likelihood ratio tests, nonparametric procedures, theory of least squares and analysis of variance.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• MTWR 6:15 p.m.-7:50 p.m.
• 3 points

LINEAR REGRESSION MODELS

Prerequisites: STAT GR5203 and GR5204 or the equivalent. Theory and practice of regression analysis, Simple and multiple regression, including testing, estimation, and confidence procedures, modeling, regression diagnostics and plots, polynomial regression, colinearity and confounding, model selection, geometry of least squares. Extensive use of the computer to analyse data.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• MTWR 6:15 p.m.-7:50 p.m.
• Instructor: Daniel Rabinowitz
  CULPA: 19 h-index: 34 Info
• 3 points

STAT COMP & INTRO DATA SCIENCE

Prerequisites: STAT GU5204 and STAT GU5205 Open to MA students in Statistics only Introduction to programming in the R statistical package: functions, objects, data structures, flow control, input and output, debugging, logical design, and abstraction. Writing code for numerical and graphical statistical analyses. Writing maintainable code and testing, stochastic simulations, paralleizing data analyses, and working with large data sets. Examples from data science will be used for demonstration.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• MTWR 4:30 p.m.-6:05 p.m.
• 3 points

Time Series Analysis

Open to MA students in Statistics only Prerequisites: STAT GU4205 or the equivalent. Least squares smoothing and prediction, linear systems, Fourier analysis, and spectral estimation. Impulse response and transfer function. Fourier series, the fast Fourier transform, autocorrelation function, and spectral density. Univariate Box-Jenkins modeling and forecasting. Emphasis on applications. Examples from the physical sciences, social sciences, and business. Computing is an integral part of the course.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• MTWR 6:15 p.m.-7:50 p.m.
• 3 points

BAYESIAN STATISTICS

This course introduces the Bayesian paradigm for statistical inference.  Topics covered include prior and posterior distributions: conjugate priors, informative and non-informative priors; one- and two-sample problems; models for normal data, models for binary data, Bayesian linear models, Bayesian computation: MCMC algorithms, the Gibbs sampler; hierarchical models; hypothesis testing, Bayes factors, model selection; use of statistical software.

 

Prerequisites: A course in the theory of statistical inference, such as STAT GU4204/GR5204 a  course in statistical modeling and data analysis such as STAT GU4205/GR5205.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• MTWR 6:15 p.m.-7:50 p.m.
• Instructor: Casey Bradshaw
  Info
• 3 points

STATISTICAL MACHINE LEARNING

Prerequisites: STAT GR5206 or the equivalent. Open to MA students in Statistics only The course will provide an introduction to Machine Learning and its core models and algorithms. The aim of the course is to provide students of statistics with detailed knowledge of how Machine Learning methods work and how statistical models can be brought to bear in computer systems - not only to analyze large data sets, but to let computers perform tasks that traditional methods of computer science are unable to address. Examples range from speech recognition and text analysis through bioinformatics and medical diagnosis. This course provides a first introduction to the statistical methods and mathematical concepts which make such technologies possible.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• MTWR 6:15 p.m.-7:50 p.m.
• Instructor: Alex Pijyan
  Info
• 3 points

WORKS OF ART

• Department: Narrative Medicine
• WF 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: Rika Burnham
  Info
• 3 points

STATISTICAL METHODS FOR FINANCE

Prerequisites: STAT GR5204 or the equivalent. STAT GR5205 is recommended. Open to MA students in Statistics only A fast-paced introduction to statistical methods used in quantitative finance. Financial applications and statistical methodologies are intertwined in all lectures. Topics include regression analysis and applications to the Capital Asset Pricing Model and multifactor pricing models, principal components and multivariate analysis, smoothing techniques and estimation of yield curves statistical methods for financial time series, value at risk, term structure models and fixed income research, and estimation and modeling of volatilities. Hands-on experience with financial data.

• Department: Summer Session (SUMM)
• TR 9 a.m.-12:10 p.m.
• 3 points