Undergraduate Global Engagement

formerly the office of Global Programs

Sitting at geo-political, cultural, and geographic crossroads between the West and East, Greece is an exciting touchpoint for collaboration and learning. This program takes Athens as a vantage point to consider larger contemporary issues regarding urban planning and nation-making, public life and democracy, climate crisis and displacement, and immigration and the accommodation of cultural alterity. This program gives students the opportunity to:

• Learn Beyond the Classroom: Combine seminar study with field visits to unique locations, meetings with local experts, and the acquisition of practical project-based skills.
• Make a Lasting Impact: Collaborate to curate a permanent exhibition showcasing the significance of the Athens Global Center’s neoclassical building in the city’s cultural and political life.
• Expand Your Horizons: Develop intercultural competencies, acquire skills in critical thinking, archival and oral history research, and public presentation, and cultivate deeper self-awareness while engaging with global perspectives.

This program is offered by Columbia Global through its newly established Athens Global Center, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Public Humanities Initiative, and the Center for Undergraduate Global Engagement.

Eligibility and Application

• Open to undergraduate Columbia and Barnard students in good academic and disciplinary standing.
• Minimum 3.0 cumulative GPA. Students must also maintain a 3.0 GPA during the semester before going abroad.

How to apply?

Want to apply? Click the “Start Your Application" button at the top of this page. If the button doesn't appear above, the program is not yet accepting applications. You will be asked to set up a short profile, which will allow us to send you relevant information about your application. Once you’ve created a profile, you will see a checklist of items that you will need to submit. These generally include:

• Application questionnaire(s)
• Personal statement
• Official transcript(s)
• Academic Recommendation
• Interview

Academics

Hellenism and the Topographical Imagination, UN3935, 3 points.

Instructor: Dimitris Antoniou, Associate Research Scholar and Lecturer in Hellenic Studies,
Department of Classics and Associate Director, Stavros Niarchos Foundation Public Humanities
Initiative

Hellenism and the Topographical Imagination will examine the way particular spaces—cultural, urban, literary—serve as sites for the production and reproduction of cultural and political imaginaries. It will place particular emphasis on nationalism and the theme of the polis (the city) as well as on spatial representations of and responses to notions of the Hellenic across time. What understandings of Greek culture, society, and environment emerge from cartography, scientific expeditions, archaeological excavations, and, more recently, economic and artistic commissions? We will engage in a historically informed study of the “right now” and learn through collaborative work, cross-media exploration, and a project-based approach. The program will be structured around classroom seminars centered on the study and discussion of texts, films, and cultural artifacts; site visits, field trips, and walking tours; and workshop sessions, all of which will prepare students for this year’s final project—curating a permanent exhibition in the new Athens Global Center examining the neoclassical building’s important place in the capital’s cultural and political life.

Fulfills the Global Core and Hellenic Studies Minor requirements

Pending approval by the Committee on Instruction

Note: The University reserves the right to withdraw or modify the courses of instruction or to change the instructors as may become necessary.

PROGRAM Schedule

GRADES AND TRANSCRIPTS

Grading Policy

Click here for the Columbia summer program grading policies.

Transcripts

Upon successful completion of the program, grades are entered into Columbia's online grading system.

No credit is granted to students who do not complete the full program.

Columbia students: Grades appear on SSOL and your transcript as semester grades from courses taken at Columbia. For more information, please see the section on Academic Credit in Steps to Study Abroad.

Barnard students: Grades appear on eBear and your transcript as any semester grades from courses taken at Barnard. For more information, please see the section on Credit and Transcripts for Barnard Students on our Barnard student pages.

Life in Athens

The program will be based in Athens, a cosmopolitan metropolis and the capital of Greece. Housing will be in shared apartments with kitchens, in a lively, diverse neighborhood with many restaurants, cafes, and supermarkets. Students are responsible for their own meals. Students should expect to devote their time in Athens to program activities. There will be a day trip to Aegina and an overnight trip to Meteora and Trikala. A more detailed schedule will be provided prior to the start of the program.

People

Dimitris Antoniou is a Lecturer in Hellenic Studies and Associate Director of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Public Humanities Initiative (SNFPHI) at Columbia University. His research and teaching draw on anthropological and historical approaches to examine state operation and the making of public history in Greece. In particular, Dimitris studies unrealized government initiatives and failed architectural projects. At Columbia he develops new Global Core seminars, supervises public humanities projects in Greece, and works closely with artists, curators, educators, and community leaders to create physical and digital spaces where the Columbia community and the Greek public can engage with the work of the humanities.

Nicolas Nicolaides holds a Ph.D. in intellectual history. He is currently a fellow at the Academy of Athens, studying early 19th-century Greek libraries. Previously, he was a fellow at the American School for Classical Studies at Athens, focusing on the French mercantile community in Ottoman Athens. At Columbia Nicolas has served as an instructor for the Athens Curatorial Project and an online summer course in public humanities and Hellenic Studies. As the Program's Teaching Assistant he will be working with students for their final project.

Photis Korosiadis is a visual artist and a documentary filmmaker. He studied cinema, fine arts, and architecture at the University of Thessaloniki, the Athens School of Fine Arts, and the National Technical University of Athens. Since 2023 he has been collaborating with Columbia faculty and students as well as the Athens Global Center in the context of study trips and public humanities projects. As the Program Assistant he will be supporting the students' work and introducing them to Athens' rich cultural life.

Financial Considerations

*Summer 2025 Tuition and Fees

Resources for Accepted Students