Barnard College

Since its founding in 1889, Barnard has been a distinguished leader in higher education, offering a rigorous liberal arts foundation to young women whose curiosity, drive, and exuberance set them apart. At Barnard there  is a diverse intellectual community in a unique learning environment that provides the best of all worlds: small, intimate classes in a collaborative liberal arts setting dedicated to the advancement of women with the vast resources of Columbia University just steps away—in the heart of vibrant and electric New York City.

On their leafy four-acre campus on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, their world-class faculty of teacher-scholars educates nearly 2,400 inspired and intrepid undergraduate women—women who, as a matter of course, have gone on to achieve great things. Throughout our history, Barnard graduates have made their mark as leaders in the arts, business, government, and science, and as activists for causes too numerous to name.

Barnard women change the world and the way we think about it.

 

A Liberal Arts Education at Barnard College 

“At Barnard, you will be able to immerse yourself in the joys and rigors of a classical liberal arts education, an education that will prompt you to explore the world from a variety of different perspectives and through the lenses of multiple disciplines. Your job is to decide how to fashion these perspectives into a world that makes sense to you and then, over time, how to shape your own role within it. Education is a journey that lasts a lifetime.” – President Debora Spar

Barnard has been known for giving distinctive academic culture, with a commitment to the liberal arts at its core. Students at Barnard  experience the humanities, sciences, languages, social sciences, and the arts, and develop the kind of critical thinking they’ll need in whatever field they choose to pursue. This is not a place where intellectual discussions end at classroom doors. Instead, the entire campus is alive with the constant exchange of ideas, and with the discovery that comes from students who aren’t afraid to take intellectual and creative risks.

From introductory biology classes to senior capstone projects, from eighteenth-century American literature to oceanography or Taoism, the range of academic choices is extraordinary. New doors are opened for Barnard students every day, with the help of nearly 375 distinguished faculty members, 93 percent of who hold a PhD or highest appropriate degree for their profession. These faculty members include editors of leading scholarly journals, prize-winning novelists and translators, acclaimed performance artists and architects, cutting-edge scientists, commentators on popular culture, noted anthropologists, and winners of the most respected awards in nearly every field of endeavor—and their New York City location allows them to bring in many guest lecturers and instructors, as well. Only here at Barnard do faculty members reap the benefits of a top liberal arts college and a world-class university, enabling them to work closely with students, both as teachers and research collaborators. 

The interdisciplinary foundation of a Barnard education is formed by their signature Nine Ways of Knowing—lenses that create a framework for understanding the world: Reason and Value, Social Analysis, Cultures in Comparison, Language, Laboratory Science, Quantitative and Deductive Reasoning, Historical Studies, Literature, and Visual and Performing Arts. Requirements in these areas allow for maximum flexibility and, more often than not, the shape of each student’s education is unique. Add to this myriad job and internship possibilities and all that the City and the world have to offer, and the opportunities for learning are endless. Students pursue a truly global education through study, research, and travel abroad. They learn to excel, collaborate, and lead with The Athena Center for Leadership Studies. They become part of the Barnard Center for Research on Women and its nearly 44–year history of promoting inquiry and advancing knowledge about women.

With Barnard’s commitment to the liberal arts, their exemplary teacher-scholars, and their understanding that an education takes place both in and out of the classroom, Barnard students find new ways to think about themselves, their world, and their roles in changing it.

Mission Statment | The Barnard College Mission Statement
 
Barnard College mission aims to provide the highest quality liberal arts education to promising and high-achieving young women, offering the unparalleled advantages of an outstanding residential college in partnership with a major research university. With a dedicated faculty of scholars distinguished in their respective fields, Barnard is a community of accessible teachers and engaged students who participate together in intellectual risk-taking and discovery. Barnard students develop the intellectual resources to take advantage of opportunities as new fields, new ideas, and new technologies emerge. They graduate prepared to lead lives that are professionally satisfying and successful, personally fulfilling, and enriched by love of learning.

Furthermore as a college for women, Barnard embraces its responsibility to address issues of gender in all of their complexity and urgency, and to help their students achieve the personal strength that will enable them to meet the challenges they will encounter throughout their lives. Located in the cosmopolitan urban environment of New York City, and committed to diversity in its student body, faculty and staff, Barnard prepares its graduates to flourish in different cultural surroundings in an increasingly inter-connected world.

The Barnard community thrives on high expectations. By setting rigorous academic standards and giving students the support they need to meet those standards, Barnard enables them to discover their own capabilities. Living and learning in this unique environment, Barnard students become agile, resilient, responsible, and creative, prepared to lead and serve their society.