First-Year Seminar < Barnard College

Department website: http://firstyear.barnard.edu

Office location: 332G Milbank Hall
Office phone: 212-854-3577

Department Assistant: Marsha Peruo, mperuo@barnard.edu

Mission

Every Barnard first-year student is required to take a First-Year Seminar during her first or second semester at Barnard. First-Year Seminars are designed to develop further the essential and prerequisite skills a student brings to Barnard in critical reading and analysis, writing, and effective speaking. First-Year Seminars are intellectually challenging interdisciplinary courses which explore important issues through significant texts ranging across genres and historical periods. Seminars also serve to initiate students into the intellectual community of the college.

The First-Year Seminars

First-Year Seminars fall into two categories: Special Topics and Reacting to the Past.

Special Topics seminars reflect the variety of faculty interests and expertise, and thus vary in topic from year to year. They offer students and faculty opportunities to explore topics of interest across disciplinary lines, genres, and historical periods. Use the "Courses" tab above to view the full Special Topics offerings; current semester offerings are indicated with schedule details.

In Reacting to the Past seminars, students participate in role-playing games that enable them to relive important intellectual debates in three separate historical moments.

In The Threshold of Democracy: Athens in 403 B.C., studentsdraw on Plato’s Republic as well as excerpts from Thucydides, Xenophon, and other contemporary sources to debate the prospects for Athenian democracy in the wake of the Peloponnesian War.

In Confucianism and the Succession Crisis of the Wanli Emperor , students study the Analects of Confucius and apply Confucian thought to issues of governance during the Ming dynasty. The final semester’s final game varies by section. Some sections explore seventeenth-century Massachusetts, drawing on the Bible, Calvin's Institutes, and colonial trial testimony to participate in The Trial of Anne Hutchinson. Other sections draw on texts by Marx, Freud, and Wollstonecraft to explore the contest between women's suffrage advocates and labor activists for the hearts and minds of "Bohemian" Greenwich Village in the spring of 1913.

Student Learning Outcomes

Students in First-Year Seminars will develop their skills in critical reading and analysis, writing, and effective speaking.
They will assess and use textual evidence in support of oral and written arguments.
Students will explore important issues through significant texts ranging across genres, disciplines, and historical periods.

This program is supervised by the First-Year Experience Committee led by:

First-Year Seminar Co-Directors
Pamela Cobrin (Senior Lecturer in English)
Laurie Postlewate (Senior Lecturer in French)

Director of First-Year Writing
Wendy Schor-Haim (Senior Lecturer in English)

Director of First-Year Writing Workshop
Cecelia Lie-Spahn (Lecturer in English)

Instruction in the First-Year Seminar Program is provided by the following faculty members:

Professors, Associate Professors and Assistant Professors
Mark Carnes (History)
Tamara Walker (Africana Studies)
Emily Black (Computer Science)
Ralph Ghoche (Architecture)
Gale Kenny (Religion)

Senior Lecturers, Lecturers and Other Faculty
Vrinda Condillac (First-Year Writing)
Meredith Benjamin (English)
Caroline Bowman (Philosophy)
Benjamin Breyer (English)
Kristin Carter (English)
Kristi-Lynn Cassaro (English)
Monica Cohen (English)
Patricia Denison (English)
Katie Glasner (Dance)
Nate Gorelick (English)
Mélanie Heydari (French)
Quincy Jones (English)
Linn Cary Mehta (English)
Shayoni Mitra (Theatre)
Francesca Ochoa (English)
John Pagano (English)
Eugene Petracca (English)
Lindsay Piechnik (Math)
Chris Prodoehl (Philosophy)
Karen Santos da Silva (French)
Michael Shelichach (English)
Elsa Stephan (French)
Camilla Sturm (Anthropology)
Duygu Ula (English)
Penelope Usher (English)
Elizabeth Weybright (English)
Jennifer Worth (Reacting to the Past)
John Wright (Slavic)

Courses of Instruction

Every Barnard first-year student is required to take a First-Year Seminar during their first or second semester at Barnard. Transfer students are not required to take First-Year Seminars.

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First-Year Seminar

First-Year Seminar Workshop

First-Year Seminar

FYSB BC1001 FIRST-YEAR SEMINAR AT BARNARD. 3.00 points.

Course Number	Section/Call Number	Times/Location	Instructor	Points	Enrollment
Spring 2026: FYSB BC1001
FYSB 1001	001/00784	M W 11:40am - 12:55pm 409 Barnard Hall	Karen Santos da Silva	3.00	16/16
FYSB 1001	002/00742	T Th 10:10am - 11:25am 407 Barnard Hall	Daniella Gitlin	3.00	16/16
FYSB 1001	003/00690	T Th 4:10pm - 5:25pm 406 Barnard Hall	Monica Cohen	3.00	16/16
FYSB 1001	004/00790	T Th 1:10pm - 2:25pm 407 Barnard Hall	Wendy Schor-Haim	3.00	16/16
FYSB 1001	005/00927	T Th 8:40am - 9:55am 407 Barnard Hall	Christian Rojas	3.00	16/16
FYSB 1001	006/00782	T Th 6:10pm - 7:25pm 403 Barnard Hall	Elizabeth Weybright	3.00	16/16
FYSB 1001	007/00696	M W 1:10pm - 2:25pm 407 Barnard Hall	Michael Shelichach	3.00	16/16
FYSB 1001	008/00783	T Th 4:10pm - 5:25pm 502 Diana Center	Quincy Jones	3.00	16/16
FYSB 1001	009/00928	T Th 5:40pm - 6:55pm 407 Barnard Hall	Pamela Cobrin	3.00	15/16
FYSB 1001	010/00818	M W 11:40am - 12:55pm Room TBA	Sedelia Rodriguez	3.00	16/16
FYSB 1001	011/00785	T Th 1:10pm - 2:25pm 113 Milstein Center	Ronald Briggs	3.00	16/16
FYSB 1001	012/00786	T Th 10:10am - 11:25am 406 Barnard Hall	Nathan Gorelick	3.00	16/16
FYSB 1001	013/00787	T Th 11:40am - 12:55pm 406 Barnard Hall	Nathan Gorelick	3.00	16/16
FYSB 1001	014/00788	T Th 2:40pm - 3:55pm 406 Barnard Hall	Lili Xia	3.00	16/16
FYSB 1001	015/00691	T Th 10:10am - 11:25am 222 Milbank Hall	Kate Glasner	3.00	15/16
FYSB 1001	016/00789	T Th 8:40am - 9:55am 302 Milbank Hall	Laurie Postlewate	3.00	10/19
FYSB 1001	017/00791	M W 2:40pm - 3:55pm 113 Milstein Center	Samuel Davis	3.00	16/16
FYSB 1001	018/00920	M W 11:40am - 12:55pm 403 Barnard Hall	Anamaria Alexandrescu	3.00	16/16
FYSB 1001	019/00921	M W 1:10pm - 2:25pm 406 Barnard Hall	Anamaria Alexandrescu	3.00	15/16
FYSB 1001	020/00922	M W 1:10pm - 2:25pm 113 Milstein Center	Dale Booth	3.00	16/16
FYSB 1001	021/00923	M W 8:40am - 9:55am 403 Barnard Hall	Clare Casey	3.00	14/16
FYSB 1001	022/00924	M W 10:10am - 11:25am 308 Diana Center	Clare Casey	3.00	16/16
FYSB 1001	023/00925	T Th 11:40am - 12:55pm 407 Barnard Hall	Emily Austin	3.00	16/16
Fall 2026: FYSB BC1001
Course Number	Section/Call Number	Times/Location	Instructor	Points	Enrollment
FYSB 1001	001/00935	T Th 11:40am - 12:55pm 113 Milstein Center	Alexandra Horowitz	3.00	0/16
FYSB 1001	002/00933	M W 2:40pm - 3:55pm 403 Barnard Hall	Mark Carnes	3.00	0/19
FYSB 1001	003/00928	T Th 4:10pm - 5:25pm 409 Barnard Hall	Jennifer Worth	3.00	0/17
FYSB 1001	004/00940	T Th 2:40pm - 3:55pm 501 Diana Center	Emily Austin	3.00	1/16
FYSB 1001	005/00934	M W 5:40pm - 6:55pm 404 Barnard Hall	Quincy Jones	3.00	0/16
FYSB 1001	006/00941	T Th 2:40pm - 3:55pm 111 Milstein Center	Veronica Tello	3.00	0/16
FYSB 1001	007/00925	M W 11:40am - 12:55pm 407 Barnard Hall	Ralph Ghoche	3.00	0/16
FYSB 1001	008/00930	M W 2:40pm - 3:55pm 404 Barnard Hall	Lindsay Piechnik	3.00	0/16
FYSB 1001	009/00936	T Th 11:40am - 12:55pm 407 Barnard Hall	Patricia Denison	3.00	0/16
FYSB 1001	010/00939	T Th 8:40am - 9:55am 406 Barnard Hall	Christian Siener	3.00	0/16
FYSB 1001	011/00931	M W 2:40pm - 3:55pm 407 Barnard Hall	Manu Karuka	3.00	0/16
FYSB 1001	012/00943	T Th 5:40pm - 6:55pm 501 Diana Center	Gabrielle Gutierrez	3.00	0/16
FYSB 1001	013/00926	M W 11:40am - 12:55pm 404 Barnard Hall	Yizhou Huang	3.00	0/16
FYSB 1001	014/00923	M W 10:10am - 11:25am 407 Barnard Hall	Nic Rios	3.00	0/16
FYSB 1001	015/00938	T Th 11:40am - 12:55pm 501 Diana Center	Hana Worthen	3.00	0/16
FYSB 1001	016/00927	M W 1:10pm - 2:25pm 407 Barnard Hall	Rebecca Jordan-Young	3.00	0/16
FYSB 1001	017/00929	M W 1:10pm - 2:25pm 404 Barnard Hall	Michael Shelichach	3.00	0/16
FYSB 1001	018/00942	M W 1:10pm - 2:25pm 406 Barnard Hall	Duygu Ula	3.00	0/16
FYSB 1001	019/00944	T Th 5:40pm - 6:55pm 237 Milbank Hall	Shayoni Mitra	3.00	0/16
FYSB 1001	020/00945	M W 8:40am - 9:55am 407 Barnard Hall	Taylor Carman	3.00	0/16
FYSB 1001	021/00916	W 12:10pm - 2:00pm 111 Milstein Center	Pamela Cobrin	3.00	0/16
FYSB 1001	021/00916	T 4:10pm - 5:10pm 202 Milbank Hall	Pamela Cobrin	3.00	0/16
FYSB 1001	023/00918	Th 12:10pm - 2:00pm 403 Barnard Hall	Wendy Schor-Haim	3.00	0/16
FYSB 1001	023/00918	T 4:10pm - 5:10pm 202 Milbank Hall	Wendy Schor-Haim	3.00	0/16

First-Year Seminar Workshop

FYSB BC1002 FIRST-YEAR SEMINAR WORKSHOP. 4.00 points.

First-Year Seminars initiate students into the academic life of the College by offering intellectually engaging experiences in which students and faculty from a wide range of home departments work through challenging material, often across disciplinary lines. Each one-semester seminar is designed to develop essential skills for college work, such as the ability to read critically and analytically, to speak clearly and effectively, and to write logically and persuasively. First-Year Seminar Workshops — 4-credit versions of First-Year Seminars—are specially designed for students who believe they would benefit from extra support with their critical reading and academic writing skills. In addition to regular seminar meetings twice per week, students are also required to participate in six Friday “writing labs” over the course of the semester. First-Year Seminar Workshops vary in content. Descriptions can be found in Vergil

Course Number	Section/Call Number	Times/Location	Instructor	Points	Enrollment
Spring 2026: FYSB BC1002
FYSB 1002	001/00741	T Th 4:10pm - 5:25pm 407 Barnard Hall	Francesca Austin Ochoa	4.00	13/16
FYSB 1002	002/00740	T Th 2:40pm - 3:55pm 407 Barnard Hall	Penelope Usher	4.00	14/14