Prerequisite: Course Application.
In an era increasingly defined by geopolitical competition, it is more important than ever for future policymakers to understand why and how foreign policy decisions are made. Inside the Situation Room, co-taught by Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton and Dean Keren Yarhi-Milo, employs insights from diverse academic fields—including political psychology, domestic politics, and international relations—and the direct experience of high-level principals in the room to understand the key factors which underpin a nation’s most crucial decisions. This course allows students to engage with a range of case studies and examine decision-making in a variety of historical and contemporary contexts, from the search for Osama bin Laden, to the “red line” in Syria, to negotiating with Iran.
Students will be taught how to analyze and understand the complex interplay between individual psychology, domestic politics, public opinion, bureaucracy, the international environment, and other factors which feed into decisions about foreign policy—from crisis diplomacy to the use of force, signaling and perception, intelligence and its analysis, the deployment of other instruments of statecraft, and more. Through this course, students will think carefully and analytically about how leaders and other actors view the world, how they arrive at their decisions, and how various social, political, and psychological factors shape the policies they devise to promote their interests abroad. For more information, visit: https://www.sipa.columbia.edu/situationroom
Required Discussion Section For Inside the Situation Room.
Required Discussion Section For Inside the Situation Room.
Required Discussion Section For Inside the Situation Room.
Required Discussion Section For Inside the Situation Room.
Probabilistic Models and Machine Learning is a PhD-level course about how to design and use probability models. We study their mathematical properties, algorithms for computing with them, and applications to real problems. We study both the foundations and modern methods in this field. Our goals are to understand probabilistic modeling, to begin research that makes contributions to this field, and to develop good practices for building and applying probabilistic models.
Applications of spoken language processing, including text-to-speech and dialogue systems. Analysis of speech and text, including entrainment, empathy, personality, emotion, humor, sarcasm, deception, trust, radicalization, and charisma.
Advanced treatment of stochastic modeling in the context of queueing, reliability, manufacturing, insurance risk, financial engineering and other engineering applications. Review of elements of probability theory; exponential distribution; renewal theory; Wald’s equation; Poisson processes. Introduction to both discrete and continuous-time Markov chains; introduction to Brownian motion.
This course introduces students to the field of social work and the law – specifically the practice of social work in legal settings. Students will develop competency in forensic social work practice - working knowledge as a practitioner in an interdisciplinary setting representing clients entangled in legal systems including criminal, civil, family and immigration. Students will deconstruct the complexities of the criminal legal systems and further develop awareness in addressing clients’ concerns related to their criminal justice history – pre-arrest, arrest, disposition and re-entry. Similarly, students will gain insight into the filing of Article X petitions in family court and the pathway of a child protection case. This course complements field placements in legal/forensic settings, law minors and students interested in social work and law rooted in rights-based advocacy. This course is premised on a basic understanding of how the legacy of slavery led to mass criminalization and incarceration. Black Lives Matter.
The course will focus on understanding the theory and varied practices of restorative justice (RJ) and transformative justice (TJ), and how they are being used as alternatives to retributive and punitive responses to social problems and individual, community and institutional harm. Students will learn – through modeling and practice – how to facilitate a restorative circle which can serve as the foundation for continued use of restorative practices in social work. The class will provide an understanding of the values and principles of RJ and R, and the most-commonly used RJ models and where they are being used. It will support students in understanding their own relationship to conflict and teach students how to facilitate restorative processes using peacemaking circles. Issues of power, privilege, oppression and identity will be substantial themes throughout the course, both in understanding the need for RJ and TJ, how RJ/TJ can address them, and the ways in which these issues arise in facilitation and the RJ/TJ movement. In addition to understanding RJ, the course will also provide students with a critical analysis of other theories and practices of conflict resolution including mediation, truth and reconciliation, and transitional justice, and how all of these relate to addressing individual, communal and institutional harm. Finally, the course will discuss how social workers can use restorative justice in a variety of settings.
Scholars, practitioners and observers of the past and present of international relations in and around the Middle East recognize the importance of foreign involvement in the politics of the region. Among those major foreign powers who have intervened in the Middle East regularly throughout the modern period, Russia stands among the most significant but often the least understood. This odd dichotomy of power versus recognition has existed since the last quarter of the 18th Century.
This course provides a wide historical framework for understanding the role Russia has played throughout the Middle East in the modern period, with a particular focus on the Arab-Israeli conflict since the First World War, when the newly established League of Nations approving a British Mandate for Palestine. By design, that decision promised to set the stage for eventual sovereignty for both Jews and Palestinians.
We will study the continuity and changes in the ideologies, policies, actions and impacts of Russia’s successive regimes in this region starting in 1774, when the Russian Empire signed a foundational treaty with the Ottoman Empire, giving it for the first time a diplomatic and physical foothold in the Holy Land.
Through analysis of documents from the period, together with a wide variety of secondary sources from different sides of international interactions and conflicts, the course will analyze how Russia’s practice of foreign policy in the region evolved as its regime transitioned from an imperial autocracy to a revolutionary socialist state in 1917, to a short-lived democratic experiment in 1991, and finally to an illiberal democracy with the rise of Vladimir Putin.
This semester, you will create a publicity campaign for a Broadway show opening this season. During our
second class, you will be assigned the show that you will work on all semester. Each weekly assignment on
your show leads up to our final class on December 10th, when you will each give a brief presentation on the
challenges and successes you found while working on your show.
This course presents a systematic overview of basic level oncology advanced practice nursing utilizing various theoretical approaches. It incorporates the pathophysiology of cancer, prevention and detection, cancer treatment modalities, diagnosis, and socioeconomic, ethical, and legal issues related to cancer care. The course provides the framework for the synthesis, integration, and application of oncology nursing theory in clinical practice.
Previously offered as Oncology Nursing Theory I - Fundamentals of Oncology Nursing.
The two-state solution has been the overarching framework for all peace negotiations regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including in the Oslo Accords (1993) and during negotiations between Prime Minister Barak and Chairman Arafat (Camp David, 1999-2001), between Prime Minister Olmert and President Abbas (2007-2009), and between Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Abbas (2011-2014), as well as for the “Trump Plan” (2020). Even President Trump’s 20-Point Plan discusses a “political horizon” in which Palestinians will realize their “right to self-determination,” which has been a euphemism for statehood.
This workshop, led by an Israeli and a Palestinian who served as negotiators on opposite sides of the table, will take its participants “into the negotiation room,” with a specific focus on the Camp David negotiations of 1999-2001, which are considered to be the most comprehensive attempt to reach a “Permanent Status Agreement.”
The workshop
will assume a political “directive” to reach an agreement based on the principle of two nation-states for two peoples
and will explore the various implications of such a directive for negotiators and for the agreement, with significant attention on the challenge of bringing into being a Palestinian state.
Please note that the workshop will
not
address the overarching dilemmas regarding “one-state” vs “two-state,” the “viability of the two-state solution” or the reasons for the failure to reach an agreement on permanent status thus far. Also, the workshop will address key issues such as refugees, Jerusalem, economics, and security in so far as they affect the issue of Palestinian statehood. Reading or listening materials will be based on accounts of senior negotiators and on relevant legal texts of agreements, UN decisions, and proclamations by both sides.
This will be a for credit workshop, divided into two full-day sessions, which will be held on two Fridays, one week apart. The for-credit assignment will be assigned in the first session and finalized by teams of students
during
the second session.
This course is designed to give an overall introduction to advertising for theatre. From
developing strategy to analyzing data, students will be introduced to elements of advertising
including strategy, creative, traditional advertising, and digital advertising, then develop a clear
understanding of how each of those tools are used in the theatre industry.
Henry Kissinger remarked in the 1970s that "Israel has no foreign policy, only domestic politics." Moshe Dayan, Israel's quintessential general, observed that "Israel has no foreign policy, only a defense policy with international implications." These statements highlight an enduring question for the Middle East: What explains Israeli foreign policy? How do history, security challenges, ideology, and domestic politics influence Israel's position in a globalized world? This question carries special relevance when considering the war in Gaza. Since late 2023, Israel and the Middle East have been engulfed in a highly consequential conflict, with various actors—Hamas launching the October 7 attack, Iran, the Houthis of Yemen, and Hezbollah. The war is still ongoing, and its attachment to Israeli domestic politics cannot be overstated. The conflict has refocused attention on the history and dynamics of the Arab-Israeli conflict and the decades-long successes and failures in the peace process. We will explore significant episodes that reflect the intersection of Israel's foreign policy and domestic politics, specifically within the context of the Middle East peace process. Analyzing how Israeli politics has shaped major regional shifts over the last four decades, we'll debate whether the predominance of a fragmented political system necessarily leads to a crisis of national strategy or might ensure a more flexible and adaptive foreign policy.
Analytical approach to the design of (data) communication networks. Necessary tools for performance analysis and design of network protocols and algorithms. Practical engineering applications in layered Internet protocols in Data link layer, Network layer, and Transport layer. Review of relevant aspects of stochastic processes, control, and optimization.
Analytical approach to the design of (data) communication networks. Necessary tools for performance analysis and design of network protocols and algorithms. Practical engineering applications in layered Internet protocols in Data link layer, Network layer, and Transport layer. Review of relevant aspects of stochastic processes, control, and optimization.
Mathematical models, analyses of economics and networking interdependencies in the internet. Topics include microeconomics of pricing and regulations in communications industry, game theory in revenue allocations, ISP settlements, network externalities, two-sided markets. Economic principles in networking and network design, decentralized vs. centralized resource allocation, “price of anarchy,” congestion control. Case studies of topical internet issues. Societal and industry implications of internet evolution.
Mathematical models, analyses of economics and networking interdependencies in the internet. Topics include microeconomics of pricing and regulations in communications industry, game theory in revenue allocations, ISP settlements, network externalities, two-sided markets. Economic principles in networking and network design, decentralized vs. centralized resource allocation, “price of anarchy,” congestion control. Case studies of topical internet issues. Societal and industry implications of internet evolution.
Further study of areas such as communication protocols and architectures, flow and congestion control in data networks, performance evaluation in integrated networks. Content varies from year to year, and different topics rotate through the course numbers 6770 to 6779.
Health Communication has emerged as an important field of theory, research, and practice in the 21st century. As recognized by several public health and global health agendas, well-designed and implemented health communication interventions can have a positive impact on public health and health care outcomes, as well as health equity. This course will introduce students to the field of Health Communication theory and practice, and its key action areas. It will prepare them to design, implement and evaluate health communication interventions within a systematic, participatory, engaging, process-oriented, and multidisciplinary framework that aims at behavioral, social, and organizational results and ultimately, improved public health outcomes.
As health communication is grounded in many theories and principles (e.g., behavioral and social change, marketing, intergroup, sociology, anthropology, cultural-centered and positive deviance theory, mass media and new media theory, medical models, community organizing, social networks, etc.) that are also shared by other disciplines in the public health, health care, and community development fields, these theories will be briefly reviewed as part of session two in relation to their specific application to health communication theory and practice. The planning frameworks and practical exercises included in this course are specific to the field of health communication and provide students with core competencies and skills for future work in health communication within the nonprofit, corporate, academic, and government sectors both in the United States and globally.
Further study of areas such as communication protocols and architectures, flow and congestion control in data networks, performance evaluation in integrated networks. Content varies from year to year, and different topics rotate through the course numbers 6770 to 6779.
During this course, students will be introduced to the methods and techniques of creating infographics and data visualizations. They will learn about storytelling and how to create various charts using Tableau Desktop software. Students will also learn the practical aspects of managing a public health data visualization project. Tableau is becoming widely used and is now also connectable to the “big 4” SPSS/SAS/STAT/R, as such it is an essential data analytics tool for understanding and manipulating data for public health. Students will learn methodologies on how to approach public health data to create data visualizations that display statistics in a compelling form in Tableau. This hands-on introductory course will teach students to develop meaningful public health data stories that reveal insights. Students will utilize health data to tell visual stories and develop an aesthetic for presenting their findings to a lay audience.
Overview This intensive two-day workshop examines how the United States exercises power in its own hemisphere, focusing on Mexico, Cuba, and Venezuela, with suppor ng case studies on Colombia and El Salvador. Students will trace each rela onship from its historical origins through the first Trump administra on, when Secretary Pompeo directed the maximum pressure campaigns against Havana and Caracas, the USMCA renego a on, and the 2019 migra on agreement with Mexico, and into the drama c events of 2025-2026: the capture of Nicolas Maduro, the fuel blockade of Cuba, the designa on of cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organiza ons, and U.S. military opera ons against trafficking networks. A dedicated session examines how China, Russia, and Iran operate in the region and complicate every American policy choice. The course emphasizes the interconnected nature of hemispheric security issues, including energy, migra on, narco cs, and great power compe on, and culminates in a high-stakes Na onal Security Council crisis simula on in which mul ple regional crises unfold simultaneously.
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 todays most significant human rights issues and controversies. While the topics are necessarily law-related, the course will assume no prior exposure to legal studies.
MIA & MPA Ethics Core.
This course investigates how ethical considerations shape, complicate, and often introduce dilemmas into the work of policymaking. It asks what justice, democracy, and responsibility demand in concrete policy contexts—should political leaders prioritize stability or accountability in post-conflict settings? Should elected officials follow their moral convictions even when doing so goes against the preferences of their constituents? Should public servants uphold the law when it conflicts with their moral principles? When is it right to work within flawed systems to achieve change, and when is it better to act from the outside? Through a mix of theoretical readings and case studies, students will learn to balance political, institutional, and ethical considerations, develop arguments for their moral choices, and advocate effectively for their policy decisions. The course is designed to cultivate reflective practitioners who can identify moral dilemmas in public policy, weigh competing values, and articulate their ethical positions in ways that are both critical and constructive.
Prerequisites: the instructors permission prior to registration. Issues and problems in theory of international politics; systems theories and the current international system; the domestic sources of foreign policy and theories of decision making; transnational forces, the balance of power, and alliances.
Musicals, especially those that have traditionally originated on Broadway, are complex pieces of machinery that are designed to produce a variety of energies in the theater. When taken collectively, those energies constitute the aesthetic of the experience. As with plays, stage managers are charged with coordinating all of a musical’s production elements. However, stage managers should also be able to view a musical from every angle; that is, read it intelligently and analyze it dramatically so they can accurately gauge their contribution to the overall aesthetic. This course seeks to provide stage managers with a customized template to do that: in other words, how to connect what’s on the page and the stage to their own standard methodologies, cue calling, and the CEO/COO perspective. In the contemporary professional landscape, these are important tools that will help them optimize their work on musicals.
The term “digital humanities” (DH) has long been used to describe scholarship at the intersection of digital technologies and humanities disciplines. Although initially characterized by quantitative analysis and number-crunching, DH today enjoys a far broader mandate encompassing new fields like software studies, data visualization, critical code studies, and more. This course proposes to ride the wave of these developments.
Specifically, it explores how coding can be harnessed to the disciplines of film and media studies. Over the past few years, developments in generative AI have placed basic coding expertise within the reach of all. But what possibilities open up from these changes? Over the course of over a dozen weeks, students in this class will learn ways in which coding can help refine and reimagine traditional scholarly agendas (e.g., film analysis, media industry studies, archival restoration, etc.). But the class also shows how coding opens up entirely new ways of working with media as objects of study.
The component includes scheduled studio critiques with some of New York’s most distinguished art practitioners, and is meant to offer multiple perspectives relevant to the training of contemporary artists. The Visual Arts program invites 20-25 artists and critics a semester, and each student sees at least two Visiting Critics per semester.
Visiting artists and critics are invited over the course of the academic year to give a one-hour lecture followed by discussion, and conduct three 40-minute studio visits. These lecturers will join the previously listed Visiting Critics and will be available as one of your allotted studio visits each semester.