Susan Ratner Speaking Series on May 1st!

The Writing Center is hosting its annual Susan Ratner Speaking Series lecture + workshop on Friday, May 1st, with Emma McMahon Murdock. 

Emma is a fiction writer and member of Bard Prison Initiative's writing faculty. 

The lecture and grammar workshop addresses writing in three scopes: Writing as a career; Writing as a pedagogical centerpiece; Writing as the act of laying words side by side. While exploring our writing processes, we will build writing habits that deepen our practices from both pedagogical and craft perspectives.

RSVP here if you can attend all or part of the event!

Academic coaching drop in hours - Finals prep!

Finals are right around the corner, and the Academic Coaches in the Deans’ Office for Advising and Support are here to help you cross the finish line with tips, tricks, and a space to get stuff done! 

If you are feeling stressed about exams and papers, need help organizing your study plan, or want to learn some new study strategies, come chat with an academic coach. Drop in hours will be Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoons in Milbank 111. 

Sign up for a time that works for you using this RSVP form

Network Science Symposium on April 23rd with special guest, Dani Bassett!

The Barnard Network Science Pedagogy Group is excited to announce its Network Science symposium with keynote speaker, Dani Bassett. Please join them on Thursday, April 23rd at 6:30PM in Milstein LL001 if you are interested in attending!

All members of the Barnard and Columbia communities are welcome — faculty, students, trainees, staff, and others!

Education Program - Program Planning

Please see the flyer down below for the Education Program Planning taking place from April 6-16 on the 7th Floor of Milstein Hall if you are interested in attending! 

Information for Gen Chem Registration (Fall 2026)

Please see the PDF down below for helpful Gen Chem registration information!

In short, students will register for lab and once the department confirms they are in a lab section, they will let them off the lecture waitlist (so the lecture waitlist is entirely instructor managed.) This approach is to make sure students enroll in both lecture and lab.

The department will be vigilant next week so most students should not be on the lecture waitlist for more than a day or so.  

This note is also available on the department website at (the Vergil course notes also direct to this website): https://chemistry.barnard.edu/general-chemistry-registration-information

Note that they are working to get it updated so it says Fall 2026 instead of Fall 2025!

Apply for SIPA course: Inside the Situation Room (Fall 2026) ~ Extended deadline now April 20th!

SIPA is delighted to announce that they will be offering the course, Inside the Situation Room, for this fall 2026 semester and are inviting rising sophomores, juniors and seniors to apply!

The course is designed to teach students to understand why and how foreign policy decisions are made, drawing insights from political psychology, domestic politics, and international relations. The lessons learned from this inter-disciplinary analysis are applicable to leadership roles and decision making in government, business and other fields.

Additional details: This course includes a large lecture and weekly discussion sections. The lecture, led by Dean Yarhi-Milo and Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton, will include a Q&A for the last 20 minutes or so focused on the topic of the given week. Admitted undergraduate students will also register for a required discussion section with various instructors. Course grades will be assigned by discussion section instructors.

Application Process: Please apply through the application form by Monday, April 20th at 11:59PM. The goal is to notify students by the end of April. Please note that once selected, students will be vetted by the US Secret Service.

Please see the course description down below for more information about the course:

Inside the Situation Room

The lecture is scheduled on Wednesdays from 1:10-2:50 PM. Admitted undergraduate students will also register for a required discussion section at a later date.

In an era increasingly defined by geopolitical competition and change, it is more important than ever for future policymakers to understand why and how foreign policy decisions are made. Inside the Situation Room, co-taught by Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton and Dean Keren Yarhi-Milo, employs insights from diverse academic fields—including political psychology, domestic politics, and international relations—and the direct experience of high-level principals in the room to understand the key factors which underpin a country’s most crucial decisions. This course allows students to engage with a range of case studies and examine decision-making in a variety of historical and contemporary contexts, from the search for Osama bin Laden, to the 'red line' in Syria, to the war in Ukraine, to negotiating with Iran.

Students will be taught how to analyze and understand the complex interplay between individual psychology, domestic politics, public opinion, bureaucracy, the international environment, and other factors which feed into decisions about foreign policy—from crisis diplomacy to the use of force, signaling and perception, Women Peace and Security, intelligence and its analysis, the deployment of other instruments of statecraft, and more. Through this course, students will think carefully and analytically about how leaders and other actors view the world, how they arrive at their decisions, and how various social, political, and psychological factors shape the policies they devise to promote their interests abroad.

Fall 2026 registration in Vergil starts on Monday

 

Dear Students,   Registration for Fall classes starts next week, in Vergil. Rising Seniors begin registration on Monday; rising Juniors on Tuesday; rising Sophomores on Wednesday.     Please note that the following registration-related information has been relocated from the public-facing web pages of Barnard academic departments: •    Barnard faculty are now making course-specific information, such as application requirements or placement exams, visible in Vergil. To see this information, search for a class in Vergil and click on the Syllabus tab. •    Information about department courses specific to Fall 2026 is available at this link.    THINGS TO DO BEFORE YOUR REGISTRATION TIME   •    Add Classes to your Planner in Vergil:    •    Search for courses in the Vergil Course Search and click the “Add to Plan” button •    You can search by subject, by department, by GER, by classes with open seats, etc. See screenshots here. •    Make sure the Term in the upper-right corner is Fall 2026.  •    We highly recommend adding classes to your Planner before your registration window opens.   •    Complete the Terms and Conditions for Fall 2026 in Vergil:  •    Log in to Vergil  •    Click on the orange tile at the top in order to read and acknowledge the Terms and Conditions, which includes a Financial Responsibility Statement. •    You can do this step before your registration appointment. You will not be able to register until it is completed.   •    Complete the College’s BEAR survey: •    This is a pre-registration requirement and must be completed to avoid a registration hold in Vergil. The deadline was Friday, April 3. If you did not complete the survey, you now have a registration hold.   •    To complete the survey and have your hold lifted, check your email to find your unique survey link. •    Please note that holds are only lifted Monday through Friday, and it can take up to 48 hours for a hold to be released. We urge you to complete the survey immediately so that you can register for classes during your allocated time. •    For questions, contact oie@barnard.edu or call 212-853-6304.  All holds related to this survey will be managed by the Office of Institutional Effectiveness. (Please do not contact the Registrar’s Office, as we will not be able to assist you with this hold.)   •    Check for Holds that will prevent registration.   •    If you have a hold, you will see a message at the top of the Vergil pages that says “There is a Hold on your record that is blocking registration.” Click on the “resolve your Holds” link to view the specific hold and how to resolve it.     •    Contact your adviser:   •    You are expected to have an advising meeting with your adviser before you register, to discuss class selections and areas of academic interest.   •    Your adviser will review and approve your course registration at the end of next week.   •    Find your registration appointment times:   •    Look up your upcoming registration times for Fall 2026 in Vergil. Be sure the term in the upper-right is set to Fall 2026.   •    Contact registrar@barnard.edu immediately with any questions.   THINGS TO KNOW DURING REGISTRATION   •    REGISTER IN VERGIL: Again this semester, Barnard students will be using Columbia’s Vergil registration system to register for classes. •    Registration will be open in Vergil from Monday, April 13 through Friday, April 17.   •    You can register from “My Planner”, or directly from the Course Search (using the “Register” button) •    You can see real-time seat availability and class status •    Open = there are seats available •    Full = the class is full •    Waitlist = All interested students must join the waitlist (even if the class has open seats) •    Restricted = the class is not open to Barnard students, or there is another reason you cannot add the class (e.g. you have already exceeded the 19-credit limit, the class conflicts in time with another class you are registered for, you have a registration hold, etc.). Look for the hint message that will explain the reason for the restriction. Email registrar@barnard.edu with any questions. •    19 credit maximum: Vergil will allow you to register for a maximum of 19 credits.  Permission to register for more than 19 credits can be requested in September.   •    To drop a class, click the “Manage” button on a registered class, then choose “Drop Registration.” •    Use the “Swap” feature to switch from one section of a class to a different open section. Click the “Manage” button on a registered class to see the Swap option.  (Vergil will not allow you to register for two sections of the same class.)  •    Co-requisites: For classes that have co-requisites (such as a lecture with a required discussion section or lab), you will be reminded to add both components of the class. The system will allow you to register for just the lecture and add the other components later if needed. •    Info on registering for “special” courses (e.g. voice lessons, P.E., graduate courses at Columbia, etc.) is here. •    P/D/F Elections: You can elect the p/d/f grading option for one Fall 2026 class in Vergil, either at the time of registration or anytime before the deadline.     •    WAITLISTS: You can join a max of 3 waitlists at a time.   •    Some Barnard classes will not have a waitlist option during this registration period.  They will appear as Full with no option to “Join Waitlist.” You will have another opportunity to register for these classes in August, when there may be additional seats available and/or a waitlist option. •    Some waitlists will have special instructions, such as a request to explain why you want to join a class, or an application to complete/upload.   •    After joining an auto-fill waitlist, you will be able to see your position on the waitlist in Vergil, on the right-hand panel.   •    WHAT’S STILL IN STUDENT PLANNING? •    Your online degree audit •    Newly registered courses will be added to your degree audit on a nightly basis.  (It is not real-time from Vergil.) Planned and waitlisted classes will not display in the audit. •    Your Barnard transcript, which is the official record of your classes, grades and GPA  •    Although some academic record information displays in Vergil, it is limited to only Barnard/Columbia classes. (Vergil does not reflect transfer credit, study abroad credit, AP/IB credit, etc.) Because of this, you may find that your total credits and GPA in Vergil do not match your Barnard transcript. This is ok as long as your Barnard transcript is correct.   •    WHAT’S STILL IN SLATE? •    List of classes that satisfy Foundations (General Education) requirements •    Forms to update your contact information •    Academic forms (e.g. major declaration, request to withdraw from a class, summer course approval form, etc.)   •    NEED HELP?:   •    Email Us with any questions •    Drop in to our office at 105 Milbank   Best wishes,   Jennifer Simmons Registrar

Office of the Registrar, Barnard College 3009 Broadway, New York, NY View in browser

Islam in Popular Culture course offered for Fall 2026!

Please see the flyer down below for an upcoming course being offered in Fall 2026, Islam in Popular Culture, if you are interested in taking it next semester!

Classics & Ancient Studies Program planning (+ Thesis Preview) on April 10th!

Please see the flyer down below for the upcoming Classics & Ancient Studies Program Planning that will take place on Friday, April 10th from 3:30PM-5PM in 214 Milbank. 

Human Rights Open House on April 8th!

Please join the Human Rights Program for our their upcoming Open House on Wednesday, April 8 from 4PM-5PM in 119 Milstein. Come talk with faculty, meet other students, learn about the combined major, find out about Fall 2026 courses, and ask all your questions! 

Refreshments will be served. All are welcome!