"Barnard's Pre-College program helped me to grow as a person and an intellectual. The program was an invaluable experience in preparing for college life."
— Katie Warren, Garland, Texas
LIBERAL ARTS PROGRAM
4 WEEKS
JUNE 28 – JULY 25, 2009
WHATEVER YOU'RE INTO,
WE'VE GOT IT COVERED!
Classes are held Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.
On Wednesday all students participate in
Life After College activities.
Select two courses from the following list,
one from each time slot:
Morning: 9:30 a.m. – 12 p.m.
Afternoon: 2 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
| SUBJECT | MORNING CLASSES | AFTERNOON CLASSES |
| Art History | Masterpieces of Western Art | |
| Dance | Dance Appreciation | |
| Film Studies | Introduction to Screen-Writing: The Short Form | Filmmaking: From Script to Screen |
| History | From Reform to Revolution | |
| Humanities | International Humanitarian Issues | |
| Literature | New York Underground: City Secrets from Mansions to Mole People | New York’s Literary Imagination |
| Music | Sounding Off: Music and Counterculture in NYC |
|
| Philosophy | Morality in the City | |
| Psychology | Psychology of Media | Pediatric and Adolescent Health Psychology |
| Psychology of the Self | ||
| Sociology | Crime and Society | |
| Theatre | Acting Process and Performance | |
| Urban Studies | Exploring New York Landscapes | |
| Writing | Introduction to Fiction Writing: How to Find Your Story | Transforming the Ordinary: Introduction to Fiction Writing |
| Academic Writing Through International Eyes |
ART HISTORY
Masterpieces of Western Art
This course will introduce you to some of the major works of Western Art. We will begin with the Greek period and conclude with the contemporary art scene in New York City. Slide lectures, class discussions, and readings will be supplemented with visits to New York City's world-renowned museums.
Kent Minturn, Instructor, Pre-College Program, Barnard College
DANCE
Dance Appreciation
So you think you know dance? This non-studio dance course will examine several major traditions of dance in the theater such as ballet, modern dance, postmodern dance and tap. The class will use Barnard’s excellent Media collection and the world-famous Jerome Robbins Dance Division of The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center, as we learn to critically analyze, write and discuss various forms of dance through film, readings and live performances!
Mindy Aloff, Adjunct Associate Professor, First Year Seminar & Dance, Barnard College
FILM STUDIES
Screenwriting: The Short Form
From film festivals to cell phones, short films are everywhere. This workshop will demystify the art of screenwriting and give you the tools you need to write a great short script. You will learn how to grab viewers by their collective shirt collar and more importantly, hold their attention until the final credits roll. Emphasis will be placed on visual storytelling, the classic three-act structure, plot, character development, conflict, and dialogue. Through writing exercises, script analyses and film screenings, students will learn the craft of screenwriting. By the end of the course, each student will have written and revised a short screenplay
Helen Kaplan, Instructor, Pre-College Program, Barnard College
Filmmaking: From Script to Screen
This is an immersive filmmaking course in which each student will experience all three stages of production. First you will dream up screen stories and get your ideas down on the page, then bring your words to life as you direct your cast, and finally, edit your footage into an original short film. Since film is a collaborative medium, students will crew, act, produce, and shoot each other’s projects in order to experience all aspects of filmmaking. Using New York as both a set and a source of inspiration, students will also attend film screenings and visit organizations that promote and produce cinema.
Helen Kaplan, Instructor, Pre-College Program, Barnard College
HISTORY
From Reform to Revolution: Youth Culture in the 1960s
This course explores the youth based insurgency of the 1960s. How is it that in a single decade, millions of young people came to believe that a social and political revolution was not only feasible, but a good idea? How did it happen that in the United States — a formal democracy, a prosperous superpower, and the envy of much of the world — so many students and activists concluded that American society was rotten at its core, but ready to be rebuilt anew? Readings, films, discussions, guest speakers, and a walking tour of Greenwich Village will help us to answer these questions.
John McMillian, Instructor, Pre-College Program, Barnard College
HUMANITIES
International Humanitarian Issues
Water and food crises, rebuilding war ravaged communities or advocating for help in Darfur, are everyday challenges within the field of international affairs. This course will examine the framework that this field is built upon and the various issues that policymakers and practitioners face. The class will meet and visit with individuals and organizations such as the United Nations, that work around the world in aid relief, development, media, and advocacy. Students will gain a stronger sense of an inter-connected world and diverse opportunities for their participation.
Maryam Ishani, Instructor, Pre-College Program, Barnard College
LITERATURE
New York Underground: City Secrets from Mansions to Mole People
This course will explore the secrets of New York through short fiction and films set in the Big Apple. Students will investigate the city through the mystery, film noir, the graphic novel, and creative nonfiction. Readings, including Dashiell Hammett and Will Eisner, and film screenings, including “The Dark Knight” and “In Search of Mole People,” will be enriched by visits to the places where they are set: Gilded Age mansions and tenements, 1950’s and present-day Little Italy, dark subways and working waterfronts. Students will receive an introduction to college-level literary criticism and expository writing.
Jessica Fenn, Instructor, Pre-College Program, Barnard College
New York’s Literary Imaginations
A lot happens in a New York minute-and even more in a New York century. In this course we’ll read poetry and fiction from the key literary movements that burst to life in and around New York during the last century such as modernism, the Harlem Renaissance, the Beats and postmodernism. We’ll sing “The Weary Blues” with Langston Hughes, watch the 1951 New York Giants play the Brooklyn Dodgers through Don DeLillo’s eyes and much more. We’ll look at the art and literature being produced in New York at this very minute and ask, how do we imagine this city as visitors and residents? How is it imagined for us?
Lytton Smith, Instructor, Pre-College Program, Barnard College
MUSIC
Sounding Off: Music and Counterculture in NYC
This course will focus on the role of music in various countercultures associated with New York City. Topics include the Beat Generation, the Civil Rights and Anti-Vietnam War Movements, Punk, and Hip-Hop. We will examine the jazz and avant-garde scenes in the city and explore the connection of counterculture music to other art forms. Class outings will include walking tours, concerts, and visits to research libraries and museums.
Johanna Devaney, Instructor, Pre-College Program, Barnard College
PHILOSOPHY
Morality in the City
Imagine you are the conductor of a trolley and 5 individuals lie on the track ahead. If you ride passively forward, all five will be struck. If you actively change course, only one person will be struck. Is it more moral to passively hit the five ahead or to actively choose to switch course and hit the lone individual? Why? How is morality embedded in culture, religion, education, and law? In this course, we will learn to apply philosophical ideas to contemporary, moral issues. We will read and discuss the most notable moral philosophers and moral psychologists, and then engage in respectful debate, develop personal theories of morality and of the just society, and begin learning about ways to create social change.
Shawn Yanklowitz, Instructor, Pre-College Program, Barnard College
PSYCHOLOGY
Psychology of Media
Explore the psychology behind media and how it affects you, your peers and the public at large. If this sounds right up your blog—our course will examine the internet, mobile media, video games and how learning and media go hand in hand to facilitate understanding and decision-making. You will be introduced to psychological theories and research, and the cognitive processes of media development. Guest speakers will include a writer from Nick, Jr., an MTV producer and an advertising coordinator.
Jamie L. Giglio, Instructor, Pre-College Program, Barnard College
Pediatric and Adolescent Health Psychology
Health Psychology is the subdiscipline of psychology that focuses on the impact of behavior on health as well as the influence of health and diseases states on psychological factors. We will examine health issues specific to pediatric and adolescent populations, from asthma and diabetes to eating disorders and depression.
E'mett McCaskill, Term Associate Professor, Psychology, Barnard College
Psychology and the Self: Freedom, Influence and Control
Are you really in control of your life? Is there such a thing as free will? To what extent do you choose your own values, beliefs, and ideas, and how do your ideas expand-and limit-your life? In this course we will examine conditioning, assumptions and bias through psychological theories of thinking, feeling, and behaving. Using New York City as our observational laboratory, we will examine culture, art, politics, religion, and daily life with an open, but critical mind.
Clarice Wirkala, Instructor, Pre-College Program, Barnard College
SOCIOLOGY
Crime and Society
Students will be introduced to the field of criminology, with an emphasis placed on crime-control policies and the social aspects that surround their production and application. Students will become familiar with zero tolerance policies, the anti-drug war, post 9/11 anti-terrorist measures and their application in New York. Students will analyze the impact of practices like racial profiling, electronic surveillance, and mass incarceration of young working-class men through films and through visits to relevant institutions such as courts and legal advocacy groups.
Erika Marquez, Instructor, Pre-College Program, Barnard College
THEATRE
Acting Process and Performance
Hone your acting skills while exploring the diversity of theatrical offerings available in New York City! This course offers a supportive, energetic approach to the fundamentals of acting for the stage and an introduction to the world of New York Theater. Through exercises, structured improvisations, open scenes and scripted scenework, students will gain familiarity with the Stanislavski acting process. Topics explored will include objectives and actions, defining the conflict, developing a character, and freeing the voice and body. The course will also feature visits by guest artists including actors, directors, and playwrights, as well as opportunities to attend a wide variety of theatrical productions.
Ari Laura Kreith, Instructor, Pre-College Programs, Barnard College
URBAN STUDIES
Exploring New York Landscapes
In this course we will explore the built environment of the United States, and New York in particular. We will think critically about how the natural environment, immigration, political decisions, urban planning assumptions and corporate profits have shaped the neighborhoods of New York City. Letting our location frame our studies, we will take to the streets to understand how cities develop and change. From Barnard's Campus to Central Park, the Lower East Side, Battery Park City and a controversial Brooklyn development project, we will explore New York's present and past on foot, in historical documents, newspaper articles and secondary sources.
Elizabeth Pillsbury, Instructor, Pre-College Program, Barnard College
WRITING
Introduction to Fiction Writing: How to Find Your Story
Many students want to write fiction, but aren't sure what to write about. They ask themselves whether or not they have a story worth telling, and they're not sure how to turn the ideas they do have into a piece of fiction. This course will help beginning writers first to generate material, using writing exercises and by reading published works by contemporary authors, and then to craft that material into a story by concentrating on key components like character, setting, and plot. By the end of the course, each student will have written, workshopped and revised one short story.
Sarah Labarge, Instructor, Pre-College Program, Barnard College
Academic Writing through International Eyes
This course will prepare students for the academic rigor of higher education in the United States. Students will practice close reading and writing of a variety of academic material, from personal essays to scholarly articles, to figure out what makes academic writing work. Through a combination of critical reading, discussion, and both freeform and formal writing exercises, students will learn to: recognize and develop thoughtful ideas; evaluate and choose persuasive evidence; and find and develop their own natural writing “voice”.
Wendy Schor-Haim, Instructor, Pre-College Program, Barnard College
Transforming the Ordinary: Introduction to Fiction Writing
When does writing become art? How do writers transform ordinary moments into extraordinary ones? This workshop will address questions like these and introduce beginning writers to the basic elements if fiction writing though writing exercises and reading published works. By the end of the course, each student will have written and revised one short story.
Sara Jaffe, Instructor, Pre-College Program, Barnard College
LIFE AFTER COLLEGE
EXPLORE CAREER OPPORTUNITIES
Every Wednesday, students spend part of the day visiting professional or community service organizations or attend on-campus seminars. These sessions introduce you to different fields and the education or professional training they require.
In past summers, students have met professionals from organizations such as the New York Philharmonic, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Wall Street Journal, film centers, photo studios, and television networks such as CNN and MTV.
Through hands on community service opportunities like Coalition for the Homeless, you can become more fully involved with neighborhood life.