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To students taking First-Year Seminar in Spring 2027:
This spring, the First-Year Seminar (FYS) Program is offering two sections of FYS "Workshop," a four-credit version of FYS designed for students who would like extra support with critical reading and academic writing skills. FYS Workshop fulfills the FYS requirement and is equally as rigorous as FYS. There are three main differences:
In addition to regular seminar meetings twice per week, FYS Workshop students meet one-on-one with a Writing Fellow for one hour every other week, giving you an opportunity to get feedback from and discuss your ideas with a trained peer throughout the semester.
Each section of FYS Workshop is worth 4 credits (instead of 3).
Each section of FYS Workshop is slightly smaller (capped at 14 students).
If you think you would benefit from the extra writing support FYS Workshop offers, please fill out this short application by Monday, November 9th at 5PM. You will be notified (via email) about whether we can offer you a spot before the early registration period begins in November. You will receive special sign-up information at that time.
See course descriptions below.
If you have any questions about the FYS Workshop Program, feel free to email Professor Lie-Spahn at clie@barnard.edu.
First-Year Seminar Workshop Courses for Spring 2027:
Dead and Undead
TR 2:40-3:55pm
Professor Penelope Usher
What does it mean to be dead? Why the fascination—across time and culture—with conceiving of ways in which the dead can become un-dead? And how is being undead different from being alive? To investigate and trouble the boundaries between life and death (and un-death), we will analyze works from various genres and media, discussing near-death experiences, beating-heart cadavers, and a range of figures including zombies, ghosts, and other revenants.
Identity on the Move
TR 4:10-5:25pm
Professor Francesca Ochoa
In this Seminar, we will read literary texts where characters undergo profound change. For some, the change is surreal: bodies morph; a life is lived on simultaneous timelines hundreds of years apart. Others experience equally unsettling realist transformations, such as exile, migration, or shifting social power. These changes expose a chasm between self- perception and the perception of others, between belonging and non belonging. We will explore this chasm for truth, fiction, and possibility.
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