Courses

The purpose of this course is to provide an overview of trends and best practices in corporate communications relating to sustainability, with a particular focus on global sustainability reporting frameworks and green marketing communications. It is designed for those who hold/will hold positions in organizations with responsibilities for communicating the sustainability goals, challenges and achievements, as well as accurately and honestly communicating the environmental aspects of an organization's products and services. Increasingly, large corporations are creating c-suite roles or dedicated departments to oversee this function. More typically, multiple functions contribute information such as: Corporate Communications, Marketing, Community Affairs, Public Policy, Environmental Health & Safety, R&D, Facilities, Operations and Legal. Benefits of reporting range from building trust with stakeholders, and uncovering risks and opportunities; to contributing to stronger long-term business strategy, and creating new products and services.

Culinary practices are intricate to how urban spaces are experienced in everyday life. This course explores the nuanced ways food practices transform global cities worldwide. It investigates how personal preferences of food shape social, cultural, and spatial boundaries. Throughout the course, students will analyze urban spaces in global cities from an intersectionality theory of capitalism lens to consider how power structures shape culinary practices in terms of race, gender, sexuality, citizenship, class, ethnicity, language, religion, caste, ability, and diet. For instance, immigrant cooking and eating practices help define ethnic enclaves. And gourmet food trucks for the middle-class can become tropes for spurring gentrification. Analyzing global North and South cities, course themes focus on the politics of street food, food trucks, restaurants, markets, farmers’ markets, food deserts, food assistance programs, urban farming and agriculture, gastronomic gentrification, and food delivery services. This course comprises a mixture of active teaching strategies, short lectures, a film, and several field trips throughout New York City. By the end of the course, students will garner a deep understanding of how food and societies influence, and are shaped by, contemporary global cities.

Culinary practices are intricate to how urban spaces are experienced in everyday life. This course explores the nuanced ways food practices transform global cities worldwide. It investigates how personal preferences of food shape social, cultural, and spatial boundaries. Throughout the course, students will analyze urban spaces in global cities from an intersectionality theory of capitalism lens to consider how power structures shape culinary practices in terms of race, gender, sexuality, citizenship, class, ethnicity, language, religion, caste, ability, and diet. For instance, immigrant cooking and eating practices help define ethnic enclaves. And gourmet food trucks for the middle-class can become tropes for spurring gentrification. Analyzing global North and South cities, course themes focus on the politics of street food, food trucks, restaurants, markets, farmers’ markets, food deserts, food assistance programs, urban farming and agriculture, gastronomic gentrification, and food delivery services. This course comprises a mixture of active teaching strategies, short lectures, a film, and several field trips throughout New York City. By the end of the course, students will garner a deep understanding of how food and societies influence, and are shaped by, contemporary global cities.

Fundamentals of visual vocabulary. Students work from observation using still-life objects and the human figure. Emphasizes the relationship of lines and forms to each other and to the picture format. Materials used: vine charcoal, compressed charcoal, pencil, pen, ink, and brushes. Class assignments, discussions, and critiques.

Introductory course to analog photographic tools, techniques, and photo criticism. This class explores black & white, analog camera photography and darkroom processing and printing.  Areascovered include camera operations, black and white darkroom work, 8x10 print production, and critique. With an emphasis on the student’s own creative practice, this course will explore the basics of photography and its history through regular shooting assignments, demonstrations, critique, lectures, and readings. No prior photography experience is required.

Introductory course to analog photographic tools, techniques, and photo criticism. This class explores black & white, analog camera photography and darkroom processing and printing.  Areascovered include camera operations, black and white darkroom work, 8x10 print production, and critique. With an emphasis on the student’s own creative practice, this course will explore the basics of photography and its history through regular shooting assignments, demonstrations, critique, lectures, and readings. No prior photography experience is required.

Since Walter Benjamin’s concept of “work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction” (1935), photography has been continuously changed by mechanical, and then digital, means of image capture and processing. This class explores the history of the image, as a global phenomenon that accompanied industrialization, conflict, racial reckonings, and decolonization. Students will study case studies, read critical essays, and get hands-on training in capture, workflow, editing, output, and display formats using digital equipment (e.g., DSLR camera) and software (e.g., Lightroom, Photoshop, Scanning Software). Students will complete weekly assignments, a midterm project, and a final project based on research and shooting assignments. No Prerequisites and no equipment needed. All enrolled students will be able to check out Canon EOS 5D DSLR Camera; receive an Adobe Creative Cloud license; and get access to Large Format Print service.

Introduction to the fundamentals of silkscreen techniques. Students gain familiarity with the technical processes of silkscreen and are encouraged to use the processes to develop their visual language. Students are involved in a great deal of drawing for assigned projects. Portfolio required at end.

Prerequisites: Must have a BA, BFA or equivalent. Apply directly to the School of the Arts. Access the application here: http://arts.columbia.edu/summer/visual-arts/course/advanced-painting-intensive-nyc. The Advanced Painting Intensive mentors a group of up to twelve students through individual and group critique, technical tutorials, exposure to the New York gallery and museum worlds, and lectures and critiques by nationally known visiting artists. The six-week, six-credit workshop is based on the elements and structure of Columbia's MFA degree program and is tailored to those who are interested in challenging and advancing their work in an immersive and nurturing environment. Additionally, the workshop is geared to those who desire to develop both a strong visual portfolio and a written package appropriate for applications to MFA programs. The Advanced Painting Intensive is led by Professor Gregory Amenoff, the Chair of Visual Arts at Columbia University. Professor Amenoff has exhibited his paintings nationally and internationally for four decades and was one of the founders of Columbia University's prestigious MFA visual arts program.

The Fiction Writing Workshop is designed for students who have little or no experience writing imaginative prose. Students are introduced to a range of craft concerns through exercises and discussions, and eventually produce their own writing for the critical analysis of the class. Outside readings supplement and inform the exercises and longer written projects. Enrollment limited to 15.

The Poetry Writing Workshop is designed for all students with a serious interest in poetry writing, from those who lack significant workshop experience or training in the craft of poetry to seasoned workshop participants looking for new challenges and perspectives on their work. Students will be assigned writing exercises emphasizing such aspects of verse composition as the poetic line, the image, rhyme and other sound devices, verse forms, repetition, collage, and others. Students will also read an variety of exemplary work in verse, submit brief critical analyses of poems, and critique each others original work.

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.