Courses
Start building your summer today by selecting from hundreds of Columbia courses from various topics of interest. Courses for Summer 2026 are now available, with new offerings being added throughout the winter into early spring.
Please note: listing your desired courses in your visiting application does not automatically register you for those courses, nor does it guarantee seat availability.
Key to Course Listings | Course Requirements
Course Options
War Reporting: The Coverage of Armed Conflict explores the origins and roles of modern war reporting, examines the challenges journalists face, and discusses journalism's place in the public discourse of armed conflict and political violence, most notably terrorism. Taught by U.S. Marine corps veteran and Pulitzer Prize winning reporter and author, C.J. Chivers, class discussions will be lively and require student engagement. There will be guest lectures and seminars with leading journalists with experience in recent wars, as well discussions with security and legal professionals who assist and guide news organizations in their coverage of war. The examination of risks to journalists on conflict beats will include detailed case studies of real kidnappings and battlefield deaths, and study examples of risk mitigation and best practices in the field. The course is intended for students with a deep interest in war, terrorism and journalism, including both news consumers and aspiring practitioners. It aims to promote skepticism of official narratives and critical thinking about journalism itself.
Instructor
Christopher Chivers
Modality
In-Person
Day/Time
Mo 09:00-12:10
We 09:00-12:10
Enrollment
0 of 18
Public Affairs and Sustainable Futures
Visiting students can take this course as part of a Focus Area.
The Public Affairs and Sustainable Futures Focus Area is designed for students who are interested in the fast-paced world of the public sector and current events. Students enhance their academic experience through specialized co-curricular activities exclusive to the city and earn a Certification of Participation.
Equivalent to Latin 1101 and 1102. Covers all of Latin grammar and syntax in one term to prepare the student to enter Latin 1201 or 1202. This is an intensive course with substantial preparation time outside of class.
Instructor
Kristina Milnor
Modality
In-Person
Day/Time
Mo 09:00-12:10
Tu 09:00-12:10
We 09:00-12:10
Th 09:00-12:10
Enrollment
0 of 20
Equivalent to Latin 1101 and 1102. Covers all of Latin grammar and syntax in one term to prepare the student to enter Latin 1201 or 1202. This is an intensive course with substantial preparation time outside of class.
Instructor
Kristina Milnor
Modality
In-Person
Day/Time
Mo 09:00-12:10
Tu 09:00-12:10
We 09:00-12:10
Th 09:00-12:10
Enrollment
0 of 20
Foundations of Pre-Medicine
Visiting students can take this course as part of a Focus Area.
The Foundations of Pre-Medicine Focus Area is a flexible program designed for students with an interest in the healthcare sector as well as those completing foundational prerequisite courses for graduate programs such as medicine and nursing. Students enhance their academic experience through specialized co-curricular activities exclusive to the city and earn a Certification of Participation.
Foundations of Pre-Medicine
Visiting students can take this course as part of a Focus Area.
The Foundations of Pre-Medicine Focus Area is a flexible program designed for students with an interest in the healthcare sector as well as those completing foundational prerequisite courses for graduate programs such as medicine and nursing. Students enhance their academic experience through specialized co-curricular activities exclusive to the city and earn a Certification of Participation.
Wall Street Prep: Economics, Finance, and Analytics
Visiting students can take this course as part of a Focus Area.
The Wall Street Prep: Economics, Finance, and Analytics Focus Area is designed for students who want to gain a better understanding of finance, business, and the complexities of economic systems. Students enhance their academic experience through specialized co-curricular activities exclusive to the city and earn a Certification of Participation.
Prerequisites: MATH UN1102 and MATH UN1201 or the equivalent. Special differential equations of order one. Linear differential equations with constant and variable coefficients. Systems of such equations. Transform and series solution techniques. Emphasis on applications.
Wall Street Prep: Economics, Finance, and Analytics
Visiting students can take this course as part of a Focus Area.
The Wall Street Prep: Economics, Finance, and Analytics Focus Area is designed for students who want to gain a better understanding of finance, business, and the complexities of economic systems. Students enhance their academic experience through specialized co-curricular activities exclusive to the city and earn a Certification of Participation.
Prerequisites: MATH UN1101 (Calculus I) or equivalent courses. This course introduces students to mathematical modeling through hands-on, project-based learning. Topics include fundamental concepts from linear algebra, multivariable calculus, differential equations, probability and statistics, and introductory machine learning.
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.
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.
Wall Street Prep: Economics, Finance, and Analytics
Visiting students can take this course as part of a Focus Area.
The Wall Street Prep: Economics, Finance, and Analytics Focus Area is designed for students who want to gain a better understanding of finance, business, and the complexities of economic systems. Students enhance their academic experience through specialized co-curricular activities exclusive to the city and earn a Certification of Participation.
The purpose of this foundational course is to introduce Columbia undergraduate students, in the context of their Global Core curriculum, to the seminal field of critical theory. The historical domain of this course is within the last century and its geographical spectrum is global. European critical thinkers are included in this course but not privileged. Thinkers from Asia, Africa, Europe, North, South, and Latin America, are examined here in chronological order and in equal democratic footing with each other. This course as a result is decidedly cross-cultural, one step forward towards de-alienating critical thinkers from around the globe and the issues they address without pigeonholing them as something “other” or “different.” The course is designed and offered in the true spirit of the “Global Core.” The purpose of the course is to reach for the common denominator of serious critical thinking about the fate of our humanity and the health of our social relations in an increasingly fragile world—where the false binaries of “the West” and “the Rest” no longer hold. The roster of critical thinkers we will examine is by no means exhaustive but representative. Any number of other critical thinkers can be added to this roster but none of those we will examine can be excluded from them. The course is divided into thirteen successive weeks and for each week a number of seminal, original, and groundbreaking texts are identified. Each week we will examine selected passages from these texts. The course is designed as a lecture course, and my lectures are based on the totality of these texts but students will be assigned specific shorter passages to read.
Instructor
Hamid Dabashi
Modality
In-Person
Day/Time
Tu 09:00-12:10
Th 09:00-12:10
Enrollment
0 of 50
Corequisites: MDES UN1001. Discussion sections (TWO) to accompany the course MDES UN1001, Critical Theory: A Global Perspective.