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English Department
The offering in English is designed to foster good writing, effective speaking, and heightened understanding of culturally significant texts. We encourage students majoring in English to develop their responsiveness to the literary imagination and their sensitivity to literary form through disciplined attention to language, to historical contexts, and to critical and scholarly methods.
Fall 2026 Information for Current Students
Fall 2026 information for current students, including the block schedule, course listings, and details, has moved to Portal.
Going forward, the Portal will be the primary place for schedule updates and announcements, so we recommend bookmarking it and checking in regularly.
Going forward, the Portal will be the primary place for schedule updates and announcements, so we recommend bookmarking it and checking in regularly.
Programs of Study
Major, minor, and areas of studies
English Major
English Minor
American Literature area of study
Creative Writing area of study
Film Studies area of study
Theatre area of study
A major program consists of at least 10 courses that are a minimum of 35 credits in total. Six of the 10 must be taken at Barnard or Columbia
Our Faculty
Pamela Cobrin
Senior Lecturer in English, Director of the Writing Program, Director of the Speaking Program, Co-Director of the First-Year Seminar Program
Vrinda Condillac
Senior Lecturer in First-Year Writing; Interim Associate Director of First-Year Writing
Patricia Denison
Associate Chair of the Department of English, Senior Lecturer in English, English Department/Theatre Department Liaison
Associate Chair
Rachel Eisendrath
Chair of English Department and Ann Whitney Olin Professor of English. Affiliated Faculty, Program in Comparative Literature and Translation Studies at Barnard; Medieval and Renaissance Studies Program at Barnard; Classical Studies Graduate Program at Columbia; and Medieval and Renaissance Studies Program at Columbia.
Department Chair
Jennie Kassanoff
Adolph S. and Effie Ochs Professor of American Studies and History, Professor of English
Jhumpa Lahiri
Millicent C. McIntosh Professor of English; Director, Creative Writing Program; Affiliated Faculty, Department of Comparative Literature and Translation Studies and Program in Italian; Senior Fellow, The Italian Academy for Advanced Studies in America, Columbia University
Cecelia Lie-Spahn
Lecturer, English; Associate Director of the First-Year Writing Program, Director of the First-Year Writing Workshop Program
Hisham Matar
Professor of Professional Practice in English, Asian and Middle Eastern Cultures, and Comparative Literature
Michael Shelichach
Term Lecturer in First-Year Writing
Alexandra Watson
Senior Lecturer of First-Year Writing, Associate Director of the Writing Fellows Program
Fall 2026 Part-Time Faculty
Gina Apostol
Adjunct Associate Professor
Jonathan Beller
Distinguished Visiting Professor of English, Film, and Women's Gender and Sexuality Studies
Monica Cohen
Adjunct Lecturer
Michael Dickman
Adjunct Lecturer
Miranda Field
Adjunct Associate Professor
Liana Finck
Adjunct Assistant Professor
Shelly Fredman
Adjunct Associate
Elisa Gonzalez
Adjunct Assistant Professor
Nellie Hermann
Adjunct Associate Professor
Daphne Merkin
Adjunct Associate
Angel Nafis
Adjunct Associate Professor
Idra Novey
Adjunct Associate Professor
Monica Sok
Assistant Professor
Kathleen Tolan
Adjunct Associate Professor
Sarah Wang
Adjunct Assistant Professor
Victor Zarour Zarzar
Adjunct Assistant Professor
Barnard’s Tradition of Writers
Known for the strength of its writing program, Barnard includes among its current faculty Jhumpa Lahiri ’89, novelist Hisham Matar, and poet Yvette Christiansë. Each semester, authors and literary scholars from around the world join the faculty. One event each term in the department's Writers at Barnard series features current Barnard Creative Writing faculty reading from their work.
This academic year include:
This academic year include:
English in the News
Paul Muldoon, Pulitzer Prize-Winning Irish Poet, to Teach Course at Barnard
Esteemed Irish poet, Paul Muldoon, will teach a course on sonnets beginning fall 2026.
Kim F. Hall, Professor of English and Africana Studies, Inducted into American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Barnard professor welcomed into prestigious honor society and research center.
Get in Touch
Address
Barnard College English Department
417 Barnard Hall
10027 NY
United States
Phone
Tel. 212.854.2116
Email
english@barnard.edu
Chair
Rachel Eisendrath
Department Manager
Julissa Acosta
Department Assistant
Gabriel Garcia, Department Assistant for the English Department & Miriam Kumaradoss-Hohauser, Department Assistant for Creative Writing