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March 2023

03-14-2023
Candice Hopkins (Carcross/Tagish First Nation) CCS ’03 recently joined Bard’s faculty as part of the College’s transformative initiatives in Native American and Indigenous studies, developed in partnership with Forge Project and supported by a $50 million endowment. Hopkins, CCS Bard Fellow in Indigenous Art History and Curatorial Studies and Forge Project’s executive director, speaks with Shanna Ketchum-Heap of Birds (Diné/Navajo) for ArtReview about Indigenous self-determination and the importance of this new collaboration between the Native-led arts and cultural organization Forge and Bard College. “We realized that we could attempt to enact quite radical institutional change through a partnership between Forge and Bard,” said Hopkins. “One of those involved naming: American Studies is now American and Indigenous Studies. There are cluster hires for faculty at all different levels, and scholarships (including living expenses) for Native students. There is also support for the recruitment of Native students, because Native students do not always know what opportunities are out there for them. And if they do not know then they are not going to apply. But if they also do not see themselves represented, people are going to feel really alienated when they come to a place.” 

Hopkins notes that these College-wide initiatives, including the establishment of a Center for Indigenous Studies, were “built upon the good work that Bard was already doing with their Andrew W. Mellon grant called ‘Rethinking Place: Bard-on-Mahicantuck’. At the center of it was the question of ‘how do we make land acknowledgments actionable?’ because they have become often rote, performative and not based on real collaboration or community engagement.”

Announced in September 2022, these initiatives are having an immediate impact on Bard’s community and its undergraduate and graduate academic programs. “The intent was for this to be felt right away, and I am already seeing it happening. People are coming here; more Native folks are coming to teach and be engaged with postdoctoral students. It will be interesting to see what comes out of it and what students do, what impact that they make,” she said. 

Hopkins, who currently advises and teaches at CCS Bard, will curate a major exhibition Indian Theater, opening June 24, 2023 at the Hessel Museum of Art.
Full Story in ArtReview
Photo: Candice Hopkins. Photo by Johnny Fogg
Meta: Type(s): Faculty,Alumni | Subject(s): Division of Social Studies,Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion,Bard Graduate Programs,American and Indigenous Studies Program,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Center for Curatorial Studies,Bard Undergraduate Programs |
03-14-2023
Speaking with Mira Jacob on Thresholds, Layli Long Soldier MFA ’14 said she will sometimes watch cute animal videos on YouTube in order to get into a mental space conducive to creativity. The method is comical, but the effect is integral to Long Soldier’s practice. “I have to be empty of all of the daily concerns and societal concerns, to a certain degree,” she said. “Then there’s a deeper Layli that’s allowed to come.” Discussing the creative life at length, Long Soldier emphasized the need to accept one’s limitations and to work within them, achieving “creative liberation,” and the need for artists to free themselves from pervasive myths about creativity. “I think there is a false belief that it’s always there,” Long Soldier said. “It is, as they say, a practice. You have to learn the ways to access it, and to use it, and to keep it vibrant and keep it alive.” Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award in Poetry and the PEN/Jean Stein Book Award, Long Soldier will be awarded the Charles Flint Kellogg Award in Arts and Letters this May at Bard College’s 163rd Commencement.
Listen Now
Photo: Layli Long Soldier.
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): MFA |
03-07-2023
Photographer Emily Allen ’22 talks with F-Stop magazine about her inspirations, creative practice, and current project “Sit Tibi Terra Levis,” which originated as her Senior Project and was recently featured in the magazine. “With this portfolio, I hope to draw attention to photography as a process and an object and its humanity–its connection to death, to life, and to memory,” said Allen, who studied photography, classics, and medieval studies at Bard. “I used the techniques we use to attempt to preserve ourselves throughout history to preserve my images.” The photographic prints in her book were created using processes humans have historically used on our bodies after death. Some were brushed with oil according to ancient Greek rites, others soaked in honey as the Babylonians did, some were processed in simulation of modern American chemical embalming, and others incompletely fixed so they continue to degrade and decompose over time. In this project, Allen was fascinated by the kinds of similarities and subversions these processes had when used on photographs versus on our bodies.
 
Self Portrait © Emily Allen
Self Portrait © Emily Allen

When looking at images, Allen doesn’t have one strict definition of what a photograph can be, rather she looks for resonance. “Literally the word photograph means ‘light drawing’–to me anything made using light sensitive materials and light is a photograph whether it is representative of our physical world or not . . . A good photograph convinces me of the reality in the world within the boundaries of the paper–I have to believe in it. I love when photographs feel like bubbles, each containing their own little universe,” she says.
Read More in F-Stop
Photo: From "Sit Tibi Terra Levis" © Emily Allen
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Photography Program,Medieval Studies Program,Division of the Arts,Classical Studies Program,Alumni/ae |
03-07-2023
American theater and opera director and cofounder of SITI Company Anne Bogart ’74, who studied drama and dance at Bard and received an honorary doctorate of fine arts from the College in 2014, has won a 2023 Obie Award for Lifetime Achievement. The Obie Awards honor the highest caliber of off-Broadway and off-off Broadway theater to recognize brave work, champion new material, and advance careers in theater. Bogart accepted her honor at the 66th Obie Awards ceremony in New York City. 

“In 1974, fresh out of college, I moved to New York City. There was nowhere else in the world that made sense to me. I wanted to be where theater was happening. And I wanted to direct plays,” she said in her acceptance speech. In 1992, Bogart, along with Japanese director Tadashi Suzuki and a group of like-minded artists interested in revitalizing and redefining contemporary theater in the United States, founded SITI Company. Bogart was honored by the Obie judges for her 30 years of work with SITI Company, an artistic ensemble company, which created more than 50 productions presented at venues around the world, and pushed the boundaries of contemporary theater through innovative approaches to actor training, collaboration, and cultural exchange. 

In December 2022, Bard’s Fisher Center presented the world premiere of SITI Company’s reimagining of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, codirected by Anne Bogart and Tony Award winner Darron L West. The work, commissioned by the Fisher Center, was the final production in SITI Company’s 30th anniversary “Finale Season.” 
Photo: Anne Bogart. Photo by Calista Lyon

Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Theater Program,Theater and Performance Program,Theater,Division of the Arts,Dance Program,Dance,Alumni/ae |

February 2023

02-28-2023
The American Academy of Arts and Letters has announced the 16 recipients of this year’s awards in music. Among the winners, Bard College Conservatory and Bard Film and Electronic Arts alumnus Luke Haaksma BA/BM ’21 was awarded a Charles Ives Scholarship. Charles Ives Scholarships are $7,500 each and awarded to composers for continued study in composition, either at institutions of their choice or privately with distinguished composers. Harmony Ives, the widow of Charles Ives, bequeathed to the Academy the royalties of Charles Ives’s music, which has enabled the Academy to give awards in composition since 1970. The award winners were selected by a committee of Academy members: Julia Wolfe (chair), Annea Lockwood, David Sanford, Christopher Theofanidis, Augusta Read Thomas, Chinary Ung, and Melinda Wagner. The awards will be presented at the Academy’s Ceremonial on May 24, 2023. Candidates for music awards are nominated by the 300 members of the Academy.

Luke Haaksma is a composer and filmmaker currently based in New Haven, Connecticut. His work has been performed at various festivals, universities, and venues throughout the United States and abroad. Haaksma is a past winner of both the Diana Wortham Emerging Artist Scholarship and the Ione M. Allen scholarship for the performing arts. His piano etude “Crystal Murk” was selected by Jihye Chang to be toured internationally as part of her multi-year solo recital project, “Continuum 88.” While an undergraduate at Bard College and the Conservatory, Haaksma studied composition with Joan Tower, George Tsontakis, and Lera Auerbach, piano with Blair McMillen, and Hammered Dulcimer with David Degge. He was the Conservatory’s  Joan Tower Composition Scholar. He was awarded the Sidney Peterson prize in experimental film, “Best Original Score” by the Dreamachine international film festival, and Official Selections from other Montreal and Los Angeles based festivals. Luke was honored as a 2021 National Hammered Dulcimer Championship finalist at the Walnut Valley music festival in Winfield, Kansas. His most recent string quartet, “talking” piece, was premiered in New York by The Rhythm Method as part of the Lake George Composers Institute. This past summer he was a fellow at the Brandeis Composers Conference. Luke began graduate studies at the Yale School of Music this past fall.

The American Academy of Arts and Letters was founded in 1898 as an honor society of the country’s leading architects, artists, composers, and writers. Early members include William Merritt Chase, Childe Hassam, Julia Ward Howe, Henry James, Edward MacDowell, Theodore Roosevelt, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, John Singer Sargent, Mark Twain, and Edith Wharton. The Academy’s 300 members are elected for life and pay no dues. In addition to electing new members as vacancies occur, the Academy seeks to foster and sustain an interest in Literature, Music, and the Fine Arts by administering over 70 awards and prizes totaling more than $1 million, exhibiting art and manuscripts, funding performances of new works of musical theater, purchasing artwork for donation to museums across the country, and presenting talks and concerts.
Read more
Photo: Luke Haaksma. Photo by Emma Daley
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Film and Electronic Arts Program,Division of the Arts,Bard Conservatory,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Conservatory of Music |
02-21-2023
For Anat Ebgi CCS ’08, the arts culture in Los Angeles encourages a feeling of comradery in an environment where people are more open to taking risks. “Last year, I opened my third gallery in Los Angeles on Fountain Ave in East Hollywood,” Ebgi writes for Artnet News. “At the time, the dealers I’d been surrounded by for years were expanding to New York, Tokyo, Seoul—faraway cities with entirely different vibes and histories. But for me, it’s still all about L.A. There’s something special about this place—about the way it fosters talent and encourages creativity and exploration.” In her view, there is a sense of grassroots collaboration that distinguishes the local art scene, and the collectors themselves are often in film or music, which “informs their approach to the art world and collecting,” she continues. “They’re looking less for trophies than for artworks that can generate an imaginative spark, something that can get ideas flowing.”
Read More in Artnet News
Photo: Anat Ebgi. Photo by Matthew Kroening, courtesy of Anat Ebgi
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Center for Curatorial Studies |
02-14-2023
Since first partnering with [email protected] and Bard College in 2015, students at Kingston High who participated in the program have “achieved an overall graduation rate of over 90%,” writes the Daily Freeman. [email protected], founded at Bard by Dariel Vasquez ’17 and Harry Johnson ’17, partners with institutions to improve the educational outcomes of young men of color through their “Our Space” methodology. At Kingston High, high school students are matched with current Bard students as mentees “to foster academic persistence as well as positive identity and character development.” With the success of the program, [email protected] and Kingston High hope to expand their offerings to create a “brotherhood-bridge-program” for seventh and eighth graders “to receive support, mentoring, and guidance before they enter high school.”
Read More in the Daily Freeman
Photo: [email protected] students participate in a meeting at Kingston High School. Photo courtesy of Jessica Clegg/Ulster BOCES
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion,Alumni/ae |
02-13-2023
Opus 40 has reached an agreement to purchase the historic home of Bard professor, alumnus, and artist Harvey Fite ’30. Bard College was a partner in the process, and will provide programming support in the house going forward, to include educational programs, workshops, and faculty residencies. Harvey Fite created Opus 40, the 6.5-acre bluestone sculpture park in Saugerties, New York, and built the house. The purchase was made possible in part by major support from the Thompson Family Foundation, the New York State Assembly, and the town of Saugerties.

Bard College President Leon Botstein said, “It’s an honor to participate in the preservation of this unique sculpture and land art made by an alumnus and long-time faculty member of Bard and our neighbor in the Hudson Valley. We look forward to expanding joint programming with Opus 40 in the future and are thankful to the Richards family for their efforts preserving Harvey Fite’s legacy.”

Harvey Fite was a member of the faculty at Bard College for 36 years and founded the College’s art department before his retirement in 1969.
Read More
Photo: The late Bard professor and alumnus Harvey Fite ’30.
Meta: Type(s): Faculty,Alumni | Subject(s): Studio Arts Program,Faculty,Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae |
02-08-2023
Photographer Lisa Kereszi ’95 has won a Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation biennial competition award for $20,000 granted to dedicated artists whose work shows promise of further development. Kereszi is among 20 artists selected by the foundation for the 2022 biennial competition. The monetary grant is intended to give artists the opportunity to produce new work and to push the boundaries of their creativity. By doing so, it seeks to make a difference in the lives of the recipients at a moment in their career when they need it most. The awards, accompanied with the prestigious recognition, enhance the visibility and stature of artists in the art world.

Artists who work in painting, sculpture, printmaking, photography, video, and craft media are eligible for the award. Approximately 50 designated nominators from throughout the United States recommend candidates to be considered. Nominees are then reviewed and vetted by a jury of seven individuals. Nominators and jury members are artists, critics, museum professionals, and members of the Foundation’s Board of Trustees.  

Lisa Kereszi was born in 1973 in Pennsylvania and grew up outside Philadelphia with a father who ran the family auto junkyard and a mother who owned an antique shop. In 1995, she graduated from Bard College with a BA in photography and literature/creative writing. In 2000, Kereszi went on to earn an M.F.A. in photography from the Yale School of Art, where she has taught since 2004 and is now Senior Critic in Photography and Director of Undergraduate Studies in Art. She recently was a MacDowell Fellow and a Gardner Fellowship Finalist. Her work is in many private and public collections including the Whitney Museum of American Art, New Museum of Contemporary Art, Brooklyn Museum of Art, Study Collection of the Museum of Modern Art, Berkeley Art Museum, and the Yale University Art Gallery. Her publications include: The More I Learn About Women (2014), Joe’s Junk Yard (2012), Fun and Games (2009), Fantasies (2008), Governor’s Island (2004), and Lisa Kereszi: Photographs (2003). She has two books coming out later this year, including one published by Minor Matters, the photobook imprint run by fellow Bardian, Michelle Dunn Marsh ‘95.

About the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation
Established in 1918 by L.C. Tiffany, son of Charles Lewis Tiffany who founded the New York jewelry store Tiffany & Co., the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation is the earliest artist-endowed foundation in the United States, and is the first created by an artist during his or her lifetime. In 1946 the Foundation changed its program from the operation of an artists’ retreat to the bestowing of grants to artists. These grants were awarded annually through a competition in painting, sculpture, graphics, and textile design; a range of categories reflecting Tiffany’s manifold talents and interests. Each year applicants sent examples of their work to the National Academy of Design, where it was exhibited and judged. The Foundation also supported a plan by which artworks were purchased and donated to institutions, an apprenticeship program enabling young craftspeople to work with masters, and a program of direct grants to young painters and sculptors. In 1980, the grant programs were consolidated into a biennial competition. Today, the competition grants $20,000 awards to artists selected for their talent and individual artistic strength. Since 1980, the competition has granted $9,534,000 in awards to 491 artists nationwide.
Learn more here
Photo: Lisa Kereszi self-portrait taken at Bard Professor Emeritus of Photography Larry Fink's farm circa 2008.
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Photography Program,Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae |
02-07-2023
Tanya Marcuse SR ’81, artist in residence in the Photography Program at Bard, has received a MacDowell Artist Residency Fellowship for spring/summer 2023. Marcuse’s fellowship will support work toward the completion of her project, Book of Miracles, to be published by Nazraeli Press. This project, in direct conversation with the 16th-century Book of Miracles, a compendium of biblical, astronomical, and apocalyptic miracles, aims to visualize phenomena that seems to defy the laws of nature, using fire, paint, and the staging of fantastical scenes. Photography often walks a thin line between fact and fiction, or dwells in a realm where the two cannot be distinguished; the proposed work takes part in this pendulum swing between belief and doubt.

MacDowell Fellows’ applications are reviewed by a panel of esteemed professionals in each discipline. These panelists make their selections based on applicants’ vision and talent as reflected by a work sample and project description. Once at MacDowell, selected Fellows are provided a private studio, three meals a day, and accommodations for a period of up to six weeks. Marcuse was previously a MacDowell Fellow in 2018.
Learn more at MacDowell
Photo: Tanya Marcuse in her studio with new large works from Book of Miracles. Photo by Jonah Romm ’24
Meta: Type(s): Faculty,Alumni | Subject(s): Photography Program,Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs,Bard College at Simon's Rock |
02-07-2023
Arthur Holland Michel ’13, Bard alumnus and a senior fellow at Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs, writes for the Washington Post that the Chinese balloon spotted over the United States—just one of the many instruments observing the Earth from the sky—is an important lesson in the increasing prevalence of surveillance technology. “If the Chinese stratospheric balloon spotted floating about a dozen miles above the northern United States is indeed a spy craft, as the Pentagon claims, it’s hard to believe that it was meant to chart its course in secrecy,” Michel writes. “If anything, it was more likely dispatched precisely for the purpose of being seen.” In Michel’s view, the psychological impact of the balloon may hold more weight than its actual presence, as the sky is already filled with aerial equipment designed to collect information, from satellites to spy planes to drones. It is not “solely the prying digital eyes of nefarious foreign balloons and spy sats that the public ought to be concerned about,” he continues. “In the past decade, aerial surveillance has quietly become a common practice among domestic police agencies at every level of government.”
Read more in the Washington Post
Photo: Arthur Holland Michel ’13.
Meta: Type(s): Article,Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae |

January 2023

01-31-2023
The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts has awarded a Curatorial Research Fellowship to Susan Aberth, Edith C. Blum Professor of Art History and Visual Culture, and Bard alumnus Gilbert Vicario CCS ’96, chief curator at Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM). The fellowship of $50,000 will fund their research for a new exhibition planned for 2024 at PAMM, which will examine metaphysical and esoteric impulses that influenced a cohort of artistic and academic individuals in the Americas in the 20th century, with a prominent focus on women, queer, and marginalized artists. “The Spring 2022 grantees are notable for their resilience, ingenuity, and dedication to supporting artists at every stage of their careers,” said Rachel Bers, the program director at the foundation. “As the culture shifts, they work side by side with artists to find ways to critically and creatively engage the forces that shape our world.”

Further reading:

Bard College Professor Susan Aberth Awarded a Nancy B. Negley Artists Residency
Photo: L-R: Susan Aberth. Gilbert Vicario.
Meta: Type(s): Faculty,Alumni | Subject(s): Faculty,Division of the Arts,Art History and Visual Culture,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Center for Curatorial Studies |
01-31-2023
Bard College Assistant Professor of Dance Souleymane Badolo and MFA alum in Music/Sound and American and Indigenous Studies Program faculty member Kite (aka Suzanne Kite MFA ’18) have won 2023 Creative Capital “Wild Futures: Art, Culture, Impact” Awards, which will fund the creation of experimental, risk-taking projects that push boundaries formally and thematically, venturing into wild, out-there, never-before-seen concepts, and future universes real or imagined. 
 
Creative Capital awarded 50 groundbreaking projects—comprising 66 individual artists—focused on Technology, Performing Arts, and Literature, as well as Multidisciplinary and Socially Engaged forms. Souleymane Badolo (with Jacob Bamogo) won an award in Dance. Kite won an award in Technology. Awardees will receive varying amounts up to $50,000 in direct funding to help finance their projects and build thriving artistic careers. The award provides a range of grant services from industry connections and financial planning to peer mentorship and community-building opportunities. Grant funding is unrestricted and may be used for any purpose to advance the project, including, but not limited to, studio space, housing, groceries, staffing, childcare, equipment, computers, and travel. The combined value of the 2023 Creative Capital Awards totals more than $2.5 million in artist support. 
 
“The 2023 Creative Capital cohort reaffirms the unpredictable and radical range of ideas alive in the arts today—from artists working in Burkina Faso to Cambodia and across the United States. We continue to see our democratic, open-call grantmaking process catalyze visionary projects that will influence our communities, our culture, and our environment,” said Christine Kuan, Creative Capital President Executive Director. 
 
The Creative Capital grant is administered through a national open call, a democratic process involving external review of thousands of applications by international industry experts, arts administrators, curators, scholars, and artists. The 2023 grantee cohort comprises 75% BIPOC artists, representing Asian, Black or African American, Latinx, Native American or Alaskan Native, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, and Middle Eastern-identified artists; 10% of artists identify as having a disability; and 59% of artists identify as women, gender nonconforming, or nonbinary. The cohort includes emerging, mid-career, and established artists between the ages of 25 and 69. The artists are affiliated with all regions of the United States and its territories, as well as artists based in Cambodia, Burkina Faso, Germany, and Japan. 
 
Kite also won a 2023 United States Artists Fellowship in Media. The award honors her creative accomplishments and supports her ongoing artistic and professional development. Kite is one of 45 USA Fellows across 10 creative disciplines who will receive unrestricted $50,000 cash awards. USA Fellowships are awarded to artists at all stages of their careers and from all areas of the country through a rigorous nomination and panel selection process. Fellowships are awarded in the following disciplines: Architecture & Design, Craft, Dance, Film, Media, Music, Theater & Performance, Traditional Arts, Visual Art, and Writing. Learn more about USA Fellowships here.
 
Souleymane ‘Solo’ Badolo is a Brooklyn-based dancer, choreographer, and founder of the Burkina Faso–based troupe Kongo Ba Téria, which fuses traditional African dance with Western contemporary dance. A native of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, Badolo began his professional career with the African dance company DAMA. He has also performed with Salia nï Seydou and the National Ballet of Burkina Faso, and worked with French choreographers Elsa Wolliaston and Mathilde Monnier. Badolo and Kongo Ba Téria are featured in the documentary Movement (R)evolution Africa. He appeared in the 2015 BAM Next Wave Festival; has created solo projects for Danspace, New York Live Arts, Dance New Amsterdam, Harlem Stage, the 92nd Street Y, and New York’s River to River Festival; and was commissioned to create a dance for Philadanco as part of James Brown: Get on the Good Foot, which was produced by the Apollo Theater and toured nationally and internationally. He was nominated for a Bessie Award in 2011 as outstanding emerging choreographer, received the Juried Bessie Award in 2012, and a 2016 Bessie for Outstanding Production for his piece Yimbégré, which “gloriously communicated the clash and reconciliation of the different traditions held within one’s life, one’s body.” The Suitcase Fund of New York Live Arts has supported Badolo’s ongoing research in Africa. He graduated with an MFA from Bennington in June 2013. He has been on the Bard College faculty since 2017 and previously taught at the New School, Denison University, and Bennington College. 
 
Kite aka Suzanne Kite is an Oglála Lakȟóta performance artist, visual artist, and composer raised in Southern California, with a BFA from CalArts in music composition, an MFA from Bard College’s Milton Avery Graduate School, and is a PhD candidate at Concordia University for the forthcoming dissertation, sound and video work, and interactive installation Hél čhaŋkú kiŋ ȟpáye (There lies the road). Kite’s scholarship and practice explores contemporary Lakota ontology through research-creation, computational media, and performance. Kite often works in collaboration, especially with family and community members. Her art practice includes developing Machine Learning and compositional systems for body interface movement performances, interactive and static sculpture, immersive video and sound installations, poetry and experimental lectures, experimental video, as well as co-running the experimental electronic imprint, Unheard Records. Her work has been featured in various publications, including the American Indian Culture and Research Journal, the Journal of Design and Science (MIT Press), with the award-winning article, “Making Kin with Machines”, and the sculpture Ínyan Iyé (Telling Rock) (2019) was featured on the cover of Canadian Art.
Photo: L-R: Kite. Souleymane ‘Solo’ Badolo performing his piece Yimbégré (photo by Chris Kayden).
Meta: Type(s): Faculty,Alumni | Subject(s): Division of the Arts,Division of Social Studies,Dance Program,Dance,Bard Graduate Programs,American and Indigenous Studies Program,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): MFA,Bard Undergraduate Programs |
01-10-2023
In 1965, Life hired photojournalist and Bard alumnus Steven Schaprio ’55 to photograph the then-ascendant Andy Warhol for the magazine. Life never published the photo series, and only now are they being published posthumously after Schapiro’s death in 2022. Rolling Stone featured a series of photos from Andy Warhol and Friends: 1965–1966, which “includes many never-before-seen documents of a pivotal time in Warhol’s life as he helped shape popular culture for decades to come.”
Read More in Rolling Stone
Photo: Steve Schapiro ’55 and Andy Warhol and Friends: 1965–1966, published posthumously.
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Photography Program,Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae |

December 2022

12-20-2022
“Jon Batiste is not afraid of a jazzy suit,” writes André-Naquian Wheeler for Vogue. Photography by Visiting Artist in Residence Jasmine Clarke ’18 accompanies Wheeler’s article, showing Batiste preparing for his first performance at the White House. Batiste, who performed “The Star-Spangled Banner,” “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” and France’s national anthem “La Marseillaise,” requested that his family be in attendance, and especially his wife, the writer Suleika Jaouad, who has written about her diagnosis of an aggressive form of leukemia. “Seeing Suleika step out for her first public outing in a year after her cancer treatment meant a lot,” Batiste said. Batiste’s 89-year-old grandfather, an activist, also in attendance, commented on the symbolism of Batiste’s inclusion in the state dinner. “Discussing with [him] how the original builders of the White House were enslaved Americans whilst walking into the State Dinner as honored guests was quite a moment,” Batiste said. Clarke’s photography captures Batiste and guests preparing for the event, the musician’s excitement clear from Clarke’s vulnerable candids and striking portraits.
Read More in Vogue
Photo: Jon Batiste. Photo by Jasmine Clarke ’18, courtesy Clarke
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Photography Program,Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae |
12-20-2022
A “flurry of news” from COP27, the recent United Nations Climate Change Conference, meant that a policy change in the United States has gone largely unnoticed, writes Peter Howard ’03 in an opinion piece coauthored with Max Sarinsky for the Hill. It involves a change to the way the government measures the “social cost of carbon,” which “places a dollar value on greenhouse gas emissions and enables government decision-makers to weigh the costs and benefits of policies that affect climate pollution,” they write. First established under the Bush administration in 2008, the previous social cost of carbon was widely considered a “conservative underestimate.” Based in part on work done by Howard, the EPA revised the official social cost of carbon in 2020, from $51 to $190 for each ton of carbon-dioxide emissions. Now, because of action by the Biden administration, “decision-makers weighing critical policy choices will be equipped with a much more accurate tool for understanding climate impacts.”
Read More in the Hill
Photo: Peter Howard ’03.
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae |
12-20-2022
American classical singer Julia Bullock VAP ’11 released Walking in the Dark, her debut solo album, on December 9, 2022, on Nonesuch Records. NPR named the album one of the “10 Best Classical Albums of 2022" and listed it as number 14 on the “Top 50 Albums of 2022.” “Soprano Julia Bullock's affecting solo debut, with its breathtaking spin on a deep cut by the enigmatic Connie Converse and a sublime rendition of Samuel Barber's Knoxville: Summer of 1915, traces the tenuous connections individuals share with one another and their own senses of purpose on earth,” writes NPR Music producer Tom Huizenga.
NPR’s 10 Best Classical Albums of 2022
NPR’s Top 50 Albums of 2022
Photo: Julia Bullock. Photo by Allison Michael Orenstein
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Bard Graduate Programs,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Conservatory of Music |
12-13-2022
“Here’s how a popcorn company ended up buying a roller rink,” writes Alexandra Zissu for the Times Union. BjornQorn, the popular popcorn company coowned by Jamie O’Shea ’03, Bjorn Quenemoen ’03, and Stephanie Bauman ’05 needed a new facility as they expanded their business. Quenemoen and Bauman, who are married, spoke with the Times Union about their recent purchase of Skate Time 209 in Accord, New York, for just that purpose. “We were looking at a lot of the standard factory buildings. They weren’t particularly appealing to us,” said Bauman. Around the same time, a local real estate broker learned BjornQorn was in the market for a new facility. “He was like, you guys are the right people for this building,” Bauman said. Alongside converting part of the space for production, BjornQorn plans to continue operating the skate rink, including possibly adding a “sort of indoor beer garden situation.” “As long as we’re expanding, bring some joy into it. Have a laugh, drink a beer,” Bauman said. “And why not put on roller skates?”
Read More in the Times Union
Photo: L-R: Stephanie Bauman ’05 and Bjorn Quenemoen ’03. Photo courtesy BjornQorn
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae |
12-13-2022
At the 66th Evening Standard Theatre Awards celebration in London, Daniel Fish’s UK iteration of his Tony Award–winning re-orchestrated revival of Oklahoma! was named Best Musical, and Patrick Vaill ’07 took home the Best Musical Performance Award for his role as Jud Fry in the play. Vaill originated the role 15 years ago as a theater and performance senior in Fish’s 2007 Bard staging, which had been commissioned by the then Director of Bard’s Theater Program JoAnne Akalaitis. When Fish adapted the production for Bard’s 2015 SummerScape season, Vaill was cast again as Jud Fry and stayed in this role as the production went from off-Broadway to Broadway. The only remaining original cast member, Vaill joins a mixed British and American cast for the London production. “To be received by the audience and the city in this way is beyond anybody’s reasonable expectation of life,” Vaill said.
Read more in the Evening Standard
Photo: Patrick Vaill ’07 as Jud Fry in the Bard Fisher Center’s 2015 SummerScape production of Oklahoma!. Photo by Cory Weaver
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Division of the Arts,SummerScape,Theater and Performance Program | Institutes(s): Bard Theater Program,Bard Undergraduate Programs,Fisher Center |
12-06-2022
“I’m relieved this bill passed, but I don’t feel any safer or protected than we were last week,” writes Nikkya Hargrove ’05 for Parents magazine in response to the passage of the Respect for Marriage Act (RFMA) in the Senate. The act would require states to recognize same-sex and interracial marriage licenses no matter the issuing state, but Hargrove ultimately questions the RFMA’s reach and ramifications. “The bill forces us to think about what ‘protection’ means for the LGBTQIA+ community,” she writes. “It's not a one-size-fits-all kind of bill.” Hargrove remains thankful for the passage of the RFMA, but says the work continues. “We celebrate, but our fight goes on for true equality for all.”
Read More in Parents Magazine
Photo: Nikkya Hargrove ’05.
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Human Rights,Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion,Alumni/ae |
12-06-2022
Print magazine profiles animator Jeff Scher ’76 and looks at his most recent work: a video for Tom Petty’s “Call Me the Breeze,” from the late musician’s recently released Live at the Fillmore compilation. “All Scher needs to make his movie magic is some live-action film, a chromatic supply of watercolor and pastels and a rotoscope to get his cinematic juices boiling,” writes Steven Heller. “His films can be joyful, unforgettable and heartbreaking.”
Full Story in Print Magazine
Photo: Tom Petty’s “Call Me the Breeze,” created by animator Jeff Scher ’76.

Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae |
12-06-2022
Eliminating bail for low-level offenses has proved that you can maximize freedom while not endangering public safety, write Dyjuan Tatro ’18 and Scott Hechinger. Cash bail and the pretrial detention system disproportionately penalize poorer defendants; eliminating the requirement allows people to continue to work and support their families while fighting their charges. Yet in spite of bail reform successes, including in New York State, some Democrats have allowed Republicans to control the narrative around the policy and have even blamed bail reform efforts for midterm losses.
Full Story from NBC
Photo: Photo by Bob Jagendorf, cc-by-2.0
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Bardians at Work | Institutes(s): Bard Prison Initiative |

November 2022

11-16-2022

Bard Conservatory Orchestra, Conducted by Leon Botstein, Performs Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker for In-Person and Remote Audiences, December 3

Fisher Center Premieres SITI Company’s Production of Dickens’
A Christmas Carol, Co-Directed by Anne Bogart ’74 and Darron L West,
Concluding SITI Company’s “Finale Season,” December 16–18


ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON —The Fisher Center at Bard celebrates the holidays with two seasonal classics given fresh interpretations by world-renowned artists with deep connections to the college. Leon Botstein leads the Bard Conservatory Orchestra in a symphonic concert performance of Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker on December 3, and the Fisher Center presents the world premiere of SITI Company’s reimagining of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, co-directed by Anne Bogart ‘74 and Tony Award winner Darron L West. The work, commissioned by the Fisher Center, is the final production in SITI Company’s 30th anniversary “Finale Season,” and runs for three performances, December 16-18.

In its special holiday performance on December 3, the 80-piece Bard Conservatory Orchestra, with a 24-member children’s chorus, takes on Tchaikovsky’s score for perhaps the most widely performed holiday classic, the two-act ballet The Nutcracker. The concert showcases the skill of the exceptional young players comprising the orchestra. It gives Fisher Center audiences a world-class rendering of the music, which Bard visiting associate professor of music Peter Laki, in a program note, contends is “the only thing critics liked about the piece from the start,” and is “what has ensured The Nutcracker’s place in the repertoire for 130 years, and is likely to keep it there.”

After fruitful work-in-progress performances in December 2021, SITI Company returns to the Fisher Center to premiere a uniquely SITI A Christmas Carol. They conjure the ghosts of the past, present, and future to speak to our society’s immediate need for gratitude, charity, fairness, justice, and equity. The cast includes Akiko Aizawa, Will Bond, Gian-Murray Gianino, Leon Inguslrud, Ellen Lauren, Kelly Maurer, Barney O’Hanlon, Stephen Duff Webber, and special guests Violeta Picayo and Donnell E. Smith. The production features costumes and scenery by James Schuette, lighting by Brian H Scott, and sound by Darron L West.

Gideon Lester, Artistic Director of the Fisher Center, says, “For 30 years, the legendary SITI Company has been one of the most inspiring and influential American theater ensembles. It’s an honor for the Fisher Center at Bard to collaborate with the company to create their ‘finale’ production—a wholly original adaptation of A Christmas Carol that brings Dickens’ words to new life through the theatrical power of imagination—in SITI’s inimitable style. Anne Bogart is a Bard alum, so this is a fitting homecoming. We’re delighted to continue our collaboration with her at her alma mater and to welcome her superb collaborators back to the Sosnoff Theater.”

Anne Bogart has said, “SITI Company and I are thrilled to return to Bard to share our encounter with Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. I graduated from Bard in 1974, and my trajectory was deeply affected by all of my experiences there. Bard instilled in me a sense of adventure and an enduring curiosity.”

Performance Schedule and Tickets

Bard Conservatory Orchestra, conducted by Leon Botstein, performs The Nutcracker on Saturday, December 3, at 8 pm EST, in the Fisher Center’s Sosnoff Theater. In-person tickets are available for a suggested donation of $15–20, and livestream access is pay-what-you-wish.

Fisher Center presents SITI Company’s A Christmas Carol Friday, December 16, at 8 pm; Saturday, December 17, at 6 pm; and Sunday, December 18, at 2 pm. Tickets are $25–65, with $5 tickets for Bard students made possible by the Passloff Pass and a 20% discount for groups of six or more.

Tickets for both events can be reserved at fishercenter.bard.edu, by phone at 845-758-7900 (Monday–Friday, 10 am–5 pm EST), or by email at [email protected].
Photo: Ebenezer Scrooge (Will Bond) in A Christmas Carol. Photo by Chris Kayden
Meta: Type(s): Event | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Fisher Center LAB,Fisher Center Presents | Institutes(s): Bard Conservatory of Music,Fisher Center |
11-08-2022
Speaking with the Council on Foreign Relations, Rebecca Granato ’99, vice president for global initiatives for Bard College and director of OSUN Hubs for Connected Learning Initiatives, spoke to the need for systematized enrollment of refugee students into institutions of higher education. Noting that “primary and secondary education for refugees is most frequently treated as an emergency response,” Granato outlined the impact that a more inclusive educational approach would have for displaced students. “Between interrupted education and poor-quality opportunities in host countries, even the brightest youth often lack the necessary skills,” she says. Support structures like those offered through the Open Society University Network are necessary to support these students, not only in moments of crisis, but throughout their educational journeys. “We really need to create pathways and pipelines between different higher education institutions and programs,” Granato says. “We need to include connected opportunities, scholarships in countries of first asylum, and also third-country opportunities so that students can move between degree possibilities, like any of us would, who want to get a higher education.”
Photo: Rebecca Granato ’99 (front row, third from right), students, and staff from the Hubs Refugee Higher Education Access Program (RhEAP) pose for a photo during the program’s launch. Photo by Moris Albert
Meta: Type(s): Alumni,Staff | Subject(s): Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): OSUN |

October 2022

10-25-2022
“Everybody loves a Toni Morrison, an Audre Lorde, a James Baldwin,” Bard alumna Xaviera Simmons ’05 said to the New York Times. “Books are fabulous, but you can’t stay in a book club or a reading circle or a listening stance and expect things to miraculously change.” Simmons’s new exhibition, Crisis Makes a Book Club, puts the question of the efficacy of reading groups as a means of accomplishing systemic change at the fore. At the center of the exhibition is “Align” (2022), a “40-foot-long wooden shedlike structure with phrases gradually coming into focus: ‘unlearning and undoing,’ ‘white-structured disasters,’ ‘commitment to transformation.’” The work, “both humorous and wholly serious,” was created in response to “a group of very wealthy, very influential and very seasoned white women in the arts, philanthropy, and academia” whom Simmons knew. Presented alongside “Align” are other works by Simmons, as well as the first solo museum show by Charisse Pearlina Weston, whose work also engages in themes of racial justice. Crisis Makes a Book Club is on display now through March 5, 2023, at Queens Museum.
Read More in the New York Times
Photo: Xaviera Simmons ’05 at the Queens Museum. Photo by Jasmine Clarke ’18 for the New York Times
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion,Bard Graduate Programs,Alumni/ae |
10-18-2022
On January 7, 2021, Venezuela’s Special Action Forces raided the La Vega neighborhood of Caracas, leaving 23 people dead in what the community calls the “La Vega massacre.” The special police unit has been accused of targeting working-class neighborhoods, criminalizing young men for where they live as it attempts to root out gang activity. As part of an ongoing project supported by the Pulitzer Center and a Getty Images Inclusion Grant, Bard alumna Lexi Parra ’18 gets to know the women of La Vega who are maintaining their community and pushing back against state and gang violence. 

Lexi Parra majored in human rights and photography at Bard College.

Further Reading

  • As gang, police violence rages, a neighborhood tries to connect (Washington Post)
  • Venezuelan-American Photographer Lexi Parra ’18 Named Recipient of a 2022 Getty Images Annual Inclusion Grant
  • Bard College Student Wins Davis Projects for Peace Prize

Photo: Nayreth holds her newborn daughter, Salomé, in her home in La Vega. Photo by Lexi Parra ’18
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Photography Program,Human Rights,Division of the Arts,Division of Social Studies,Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion,Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae |
10-14-2022
Bard College will host a book launch and colloquium to honor the novel Eden Revisited, written by the late, distinguished alumnus László Z. Bitó ’60. Bitó, granted asylum from his native Hungary in 1956, went on to develop the gold standard drug for glaucoma as he pursued a celebrated scientific career at Columbia University. In later life, he devoted himself to writing and became a force in Hungarian intellectual life and philanthropy, and published numerous works. Eden Revisited is his first book to be published in English in more than a decade.

The colloquium brings together preeminent scholars of religion who will speak to the novel’s themes: Bruce Chilton ’71, director of the Institute of Advanced Theology at Bard, which is copublishing the book with Natus Books, Alan Avery-Peck, Kraft-Hiatt Professor in Judaic Studies at the College of the Holy Cross, and Claudia Setzer, professor of religion at Manhattan College. Leon Botstein, president of Bard College, will introduce the panel. A discussion with audience members will follow the talks.

The book launch and colloquium take place on Saturday, October 22 from 1:45 pm-3:15 pm in the Bitó Conservatory Building, Performance Space. It will also be livestreamed.

This event is part of Family and Alumni/ae Weekend at Bard College. Visit families.bard.edu for more information.

Alan Avery-Peck is Kraft-Hiatt Professor in Judaic Studies at the College of the Holy Cross, in Worcester, Massachusetts. At Holy Cross, he teaches courses on all aspects of Judaism, ranging from an introduction to Judaism to an upper-level seminar on theological responses to the Holocaust. A specialist in early rabbinic Judaism, Avery-Peck’s research focuses on early Rabbinic Judaism and the relationship between early Judaism and emergent Christianity, especially in the context of contemporary interfaith relations. Among other projects, he is part of a team of scholars and clergy producing a new presentation of the Revised Common Lectionary (http://readingsfromtheroots.bard.edu), that is, the list of Hebrew Bible and New Testament readings used in church worship. He is also a series editor and author for The New Testament Gospels in Their Judaic Context (Brill Publishers), and his commentary on Second Corinthians appears in The Jewish Annotated New Testament (Oxford University Press).

Claudia Setzer (Ph. D. Columbia) is Professor of Religious Studies at Manhattan College in Riverdale, NY. Her books include, The Bible in the American Experience (Society of Biblical Literature, 2020 with David Shefferman), The Bible and American Culture: A Sourcebook (Routledge, 2011, with David Shefferman), Resurrection of the Body in Early Judaism and Early Christianity (Brill, 2004), and Jewish Responses to Early Christians (Augsburg Fortress, 1994). She studies early Jewish-Christian relations, the development of belief in resurrection, women in the Greco-Roman era, nineteenth-century women interpreters of Scripture, and the Bible in American culture. She currently chairs the SBL group “The Bible in America” and is an associate editor for a forthcoming Study Bible from Westminster John Knox Press. In 2006, she founded the Columbia University Seminar on the New Testament. She is currently writing a book on the use of the Bible in progressive movements (abolitionism, women’s suffrage, civil rights, environmentalism, anti-trafficking).

Bruce Chilton ’71 is the Bernard Iddings Bell Professor of Philosophy and Religion and Director of the Institute of Advanced Theology at Bard College. He received his B.A. from Bard College; M.Div. and ordination to the diaconate and the priesthood from General Theological Seminary; and Ph.D. from Cambridge University. His books include Abraham’s Curse; Rabbi Jesus: An Intimate Biography; God in Strength; Rabbi Paul: An Intellectual Biography; Judaic Approaches to the Gospels; Mary Magdalene: A Biography; Revelation; Trading Places; Jesus’ Prayer and Jesus’ Eucharist; Forging a Common Future; Jesus’ Baptism and Jesus’ Healing; Visions of the Apocalypse; and Christianity: The Basics. He was editor in chief of Bulletin for Biblical Research and founding editor of Journal for the Study of the New Testament, Studying the Historical Jesus series (E. J. Brill and Eerdmans).
Watch the livestream
Photo: László Z. Bitó. Photo by Abraham Szigethy
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Theology Concentration,Religion and Theology,Jewish Studies,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Institute for Advanced Theology |
10-12-2022
Artist, publisher, and Bard College alumnus Paul Chan MFA ’03 has been named a 2022 MacArthur Fellow. "He draws on a wealth of cultural touchstones—from classical philosophy to modern literature, critical theory, and hip-hop culture—to produce works that respond to our current political and social realities,” the MacArthur Foundation says, “making those realities more immediately available to the mind for contemplation and critical reflection.” Chan’s work, which “[strives] to express humanity’s complexities and contradictions through an artistic practice that moves across media,” has been exhibited in the New York Museum of Modern Art, the Walker Art Center, the Guggenheim Museum, and others. Chan received the Bard College Alumni/ae Association’s Charles Flint Kellogg Award in Arts and Letters in 2021.

The MacArthur Fellowship is a no-strings-attached award to extraordinarily talented and creative individuals as an investment in their potential. There are three criteria for selection of MacArthur Fellows: exceptional creativity, promise for important future advances based on a track record of significant accomplishments, and potential for the fellowship to facilitate subsequent creative work. Recipients may be writers, scientists, artists, social scientists, humanists, teachers, entrepreneurs, or those in other fields, with or without institutional affiliations. Although nominees are reviewed for their achievements, the fellowship is not a lifetime achievement award, but rather an investment in a person’s originality, insight, and potential.

MacArthur Fellows receive $800,000 stipends that are bestowed with no conditions; recipients may use the money as they see fit. Nominated anonymously by leaders in their respective fields and considered by an anonymous selection committee, recipients learn of their selection only when they receive a call from the MacArthur Foundation just before the public announcement.

Paul Chan received a BFA (1996) from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and an MFA (2003) from Bard College. His work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions at such national and international venues as the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Drawing Center, New York; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; Museum of Cycladic Art, Athens; Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; and Schaulager, Basel. He is also the founder and publisher of Badlands Unlimited (established 2010). He received the Bard College Alumni/ae Association’s Charles Flint Kellogg Award in Arts and Letters in 2021.

Further Reading

Bard Professor Sky Hopinka Named 2022 MacArthur Fellow
More about Paul Chan's Award from the MacArthur Foundation
Photo: Paul Chan MFA ’03. Photo courtesy MacArthur Foundation

Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Bardians at Work,Bard Graduate Programs,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): MFA |
10-10-2022

The Lecture Series, “Second Chances: Shakespeare and Freud,” Will Be Held in November

This November, Bard College presents renowned scholars Stephen Greenblatt and Adam Phillips delivering the Anthony Hecht Lectures in the Humanities in honor of preeminent poet, alumnus, and former Bard faculty member Anthony Hecht ’44. Greenblatt, who is the John Cogan University Professor of the Humanities at Harvard University, and Phillips, who is a visiting professor in the Department of English at the University of York, will present the lecture series, “Second Chances: Shakespeare and Freud.” Yale University Press will publish the lectures.

The lecture series includes “Shakespeare’s First Chance” by Stephen Greenblatt and “Freud’s First Chance,” by Adam Phillips on Thursday, November 10, at 5 pm; “Second Chances: For and Against” by Adam Phillips on Friday, November 11, at 10 am. Free and open to the public, these lectures will take place in Weis Cinema of the Bertelsmann Campus Center at Bard College. A reception precedes each lecture. For more information about this lecture series, please call (845) 758-7405.

The final lecture in the series, “Shakespeare's Second Chances” by Stephen Greenblatt will be held on Wednesday, November 16 at 6:30pm at The Morgan Library & Museum in New York City. Tickets for the Morgan Library lecture are $25; $20 for Morgan Members and Bard College affiliates; and free for students with a valid ID. Reserve tickets here or call (212) 685-0008, ext. 560.

Stephen Greenblatt, Shakespearean scholar, literary historian, and author, is Cogan University Professor of the Humanities at Harvard University. He is the author of 14 books, including Tyrant: Shakespeare on Politics; The Rise and Fall of Adam and Eve; The Swerve: How the World Became Modern; Shakespeare’s Freedom; Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare; Hamlet in Purgatory; Marvelous Possessions; and Renaissance Self-Fashioning. He is General Editor of The Norton Anthology of English Literature and of The Norton Shakespeare, has edited seven collections of criticism, and is a founding editor of the journal Representations. His honors include the 2016 Holberg Prize from the Norwegian Parliament, the 2012 Pulitzer Prize and the 2011 National Book Award for The Swerve, MLA’s James Russell Lowell Prize (twice), among many others.

Adam Phillips, psychoanalyst and writer, was formerly Principal Child Psychotherapist at Charing Cross Hospital in London. He is a Visiting Professor in the Department of English at the University of York, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He is the author of many books of psychoanalysis and literary criticism, most recently On Wanting To Change and On Getting Better.

The Anthony Hecht Lectures in the Humanities at Bard College were established in 2007 to honor the memory of this preeminent poet by reflecting his lifelong interest in literature, music, the visual arts, and our cultural history. Anthony Hecht graduated from Bard in 1944 and taught at the College from 1952–55 and 1962–66. Every two years a distinguished scholar delivers a series of lectures at Bard College and in New York City that addresses works close to Hecht’s own imagination and sympathies. Each lecture series is published by Yale University Press. Previous Hecht Lecture Series speakers include literary scholar and author Christopher Ricks; historian, critic, author, and broadcaster Simon Schama; renowned historian Garry Wills; classics scholar Mary Beard; literary critic and musicologist Daniel Albright; and artist and designer Maya Lin.

“It is a great honor that Anthony Hecht chose Bard as his home, both as a student and a faculty member, and we are delighted to recognize his extraordinary achievements through this important lecture series,” says Bard College President Leon Botstein.
Photo: L-R: Stephen Greenblatt and Adam Phillips. Photo by Jerry Bauer
Meta: Type(s): Event,Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae |
10-04-2022
Associate Professor of Environmental and Urban Studies M. Elias Dueker, Associate Professor of Biology Gabriel G. Perron, and Bard biology graduates Daniella Azulai ’17 and Mary Reid ’21 have copublished a new study, “Bacteria communities and water quality parameters in riverine water and sediments near wastewater discharges,” in the peer-reviewed journal Scientific Data. ​​Over five months, they monitored microbial contaminants relating to the treated water outflow of the wastewater treatment plant operated by Bard, which releases into the Saw Kill, a tributary of the Hudson River and also the source of fresh water for the campus. This is the first of many datasets and research papers that they hope to publish on Bard’s water system. Preliminary data analyses provide insight into the impacts of watershed-wide usage of the Saw Kill as both drinking water source and treated sewage receiver. Future use of this dataset will include a focus on endotoxins and antibiotic resistant bacterial genes, water contaminants only now gaining broader attention in water quality and microbiological sciences.

All of the sampling was conducted as a joint Bard Summer Research Institute project between Dueker’s lab and Perron's lab in summer 2015. Lab members included: Marco Spodek ’17, Beckett Lansbury ’16, Yuejiao Wan ’17, Pola Kuhn ’17, Haley Goss-Holmes ’17. Coauthors Azulai and Reid worked on this project both as undergraduate and post-baccalaureate students.

“This project demonstrates the power of community asking scientific questions, and academia–students, faculty, and staff–being able to help answer those questions through careful observational and applied research,” said Dueker. “Our hope is that this database serves as a tool for researchers and communities around the world trying to respond to stewardship challenges in a science-based and community-accessible way.”
Read the full study in Scientific Data
Bard CESH Sawkill Monitoring Program
Photo: Team of students who participated in the Saw Kill sample collection for this study. (L-R) Becket Landsbury ’16, Pola Khun ’17, Clea Shumer, Daniela Azulai ’17, Haley Goss-Holmes ’17, Yuejiao Wan ’17, and Marco Spodek ’17.
Meta: Type(s): Faculty,Alumni | Subject(s): Environmental/Sustainability,Environmental and Urban Studies Program,Division of Science, Math, and Computing,Biology Program,Alumni/ae,Office of Undergraduate Research | Institutes(s): Center for Environmental Sciences and Humanities |

September 2022

09-20-2022
The Chicago-based Floating Museum, an art collective codirected by Bard alumnus Jeremiah Hulsebos-Spofford ’07, will serve as the artistic team leading the fifth edition of the Chicago Architecture Biennial, or CAB 5. Titled This is a Rehearsal, CAB 5 “will build on and expand the collective’s ongoing work,” writes Matt Hickman for the Architect’s Newspaper. “Floating Museum is organized to work at the intersection of disciplines, where civic participation inspires and shapes our process. It’s both a thrill and challenge to collaborate with the CAB as the artistic team of the 2023 edition,” said the members of Floating Museum. With This is a Rehearsal, the collective hopes to showcase work that demonstrates the ways in which “contemporary environmental, political, and economic issues are shared across national boundaries but are addressed differently around the world through art, architecture, infrastructure, and civic participation.” CAB 5, This is a Rehearsal, is scheduled to open September 2023.
Read More in the Architect’s Newspaper
Photo: Jeremiah Hulsebos-Spofford ’07. Photo courtesy of Floating Museum
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Division of the Arts,Studio Arts Program |
09-20-2022
As the world watches the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant suffer “weeks of shelling,” the potential for “another nuclear disaster on the scale of the Chernobyl explosion” looms large, writes Bard alum C Mandler ’19 for CBS news. The similarities between Chernobyl and Zaporizhzhia are as much organizational as they are structural, says Jonathan Becker, executive vice president and vice president for academic affairs for Bard College. Both share “an environment… in which people are disincentivized from communicating genuine problems to higher-ups,” Becker says, which could result in a “series of mistakes, which are reinforced by a system which doesn't encourage transparent communication.” A nuclear disaster in Ukraine would be catastrophic on “both human and geopolitical” levels, Becker says. Should a nuclear disaster occur, “it will be difficult to imagine the path forward after that,” he said.

 
Read More on CBS news
Photo: Russian bombardment outside Zaporizhzhia. Photo courtesy mvs.gov.ua
Meta: Type(s): Faculty,Alumni | Subject(s): Politics and International Affairs,Politics,Political Studies Program,Philosophy Program,Faculty,Division of Social Studies,Division of Languages and Literature,Care and Maintenance,Alumni/ae,Written Arts Program | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
09-20-2022
This month, New York Governor Kathy Hochul declared a state disaster emergency following evidence of the spread of poliovirus in wastewater. Nsikan Akpan ’06, who runs the health and science desk at WNYC/Gothamist, spoke with NPR’s Ayesha Rascoe to explain what this executive order means. “Health officials say the poliovirus that's in Long Island sewage right now—it's genetically linked to the paralytic case that was recorded in Rockland County earlier this summer, which was the first such case in nearly a decade in the United States,” says Akpan.
Listen to the interview on NPR
Photo: Nsikan Akpan. Photo courtesy of PBS
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae |
09-19-2022
Countertenor Chuanyuan Liu, who graduated from the Bard Conservatory of Music’s Vocal Arts Program in 2021, has been named a grantee of the Met’s Education Fund. Education Fund grants are available to semifinalists, finalists, and Grand Finals winners of the Metropolitan Opera Eric and Dominique Laffont Competition, following an audition with the Met artistic staff. The grants are intended to support the development of these young artists and are made possible by the generosity of donors. Since the 2021 Laffont semifinals, Chuanyuan Liu has been involved in three world premiere projects: Pittsburgh Opera’s production of In a Grove, with music by Christopher Cerrone and libretto by Stephanie Fleischmann; Philadelphia Orchestra’s concert version of Kevin Puts and Greg Pierce’s The Hours; and Huang Ruo and David Henry Hwang's highly anticipated new opera M. Butterfly 蝴蝶君 at Santa Fe Opera. Liu has committed himself to an Asian-focused project each year stating, “as someone who grew up in China and spent all of my adulthood in the US, I have seen firsthand the differences but also the common ground. I want to use as much power as I have to build a bridge.”

Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Bard Graduate Programs,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Conservatory of Music |
09-12-2022
LSA Family Health Service, a leading community nonprofit supporting thousands of low-income and immigrant families in East Harlem, announced that Jonah Gensler ’92 will lead the organization as its new chief executive officer (CEO). Gensler brings deep experience in nonprofit executive leadership, social services, and community engagement.
Read More

Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae |
09-06-2022
Profiled in the New York Times, the artist Martine Syms MFA ’17 “is the sort of ‘new media’ artist who antiquates the term. Since her days as a film programmer at clubs like the Echo Park Film Center in Los Angeles, she has turned the various lenses of media around to interrogate what society expects of Black women, and Black artists in particular,” writes Travis Diehl. This fall, Syms has an independent feature film showing in theaters with worldwide distribution, as well as exihibtions on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, and CCS Bard. "Grio College," the title of Syms’ retrospective show at CCS Bard’s Hessel Museum, is also the fictional school in Syms’s feature film The African Desperate (2022). “The curriculum that she presents is larger than what a college typically covers,” said Lauren Cornell, the chief curator at the Hessel. “It encompasses one’s whole life, friends, thinkers, culture.”

Martine Syms: Grio College, curated by Lauren Cornell, Chief Curator and Director of the Graduate Program, is on view at the CCS Bard Hessel Museum of Art through November 27, 2022.
Full story in the NY Times
Photo: Martine Syms, DED, 2021, digital video (color, sound), 15:35 minutes. Image copyright Martine Syms, courtesy of the artist and Bridget Donahue, NYC
Meta: Type(s): Article,Alumni | Subject(s): Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion,Bard Graduate Programs,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): MFA,Center for Curatorial Studies |

August 2022

08-31-2022
Museum Collecting Lessons: Acquisition Stories from the Inside by Steven Miller ’70 is “the first book of its kind,” writes Antiques and the Arts Weekly. In a Q&A with the publication, Miller spoke about his curatorial career, the range of his acquisitions, and the role collectors play in furthering a museum’s mission. Miller hopes his book will demystify the acquisition process for readers. “I hope readers will understand that what they see in museums did not enter in some mysterious manner,” Miller says, but instead “have been acquired for public benefit with considerable thought.” Museum Collecting Lessons: Acquisition Stories from the Inside was published May 26, 2022.
Read More in Antiques and the Arts Weekly
Photo: Steven Miller ’70 and his new book, Museum Collecting Lessons: Acquisition Stories from the Inside. Photo by Warren Westura
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae |
08-30-2022
As part of the 2022 Whitney Biennial, Nayland Blake ’82, “bearish, Merlin-bearded, soft-spoken in the manner of a blacksmith teaching kindergartners,” offers advice to artists as part of their performance series “Got an Art Problem?” Writing for the New Yorker, Hannah Seidlitz outlines Blake’s contributions to this year’s Biennial, including “Rear Entry” and “Gender Discard Party,” in which “guests were invited to ‘bring your own baggage’ and dance away the woes of classification.” With “Got an Art Problem?,” Blake schedules meetings with guests who are asked to “illustrate their art problems,” which Blake then talks through with the guest until their time is up. Offering advice to one guest, an artist who goes by Zaun whose work attempts “to visualize the living grid,” Blake asked a very simple question: “What is a game?” “A game is a system of rules that organize behavior,” Blake said. “What’s delightful is seeing somebody operate within those rules and yet do this unexpected thing.” 
Read More in the New Yorker
Photo: Nayland Blake ’82.
Meta: Type(s): Faculty,Alumni | Subject(s): Studio Arts Program,Faculty,Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae |
08-15-2022
Pete Mauney ’93 MFA ’00 says his photographs of fireflies can range from “a spa for the eyes” to “almost pure chaos.” For NPR, Lara Pellegrinelli spoke with Mauney, who has spent almost a decade photographing fireflies in the Hudson Valley, using Photoshop to painstakingly compile hundreds of timed exposures into a single image. The images, Pellegrinelli writes, are catching the eye of artists and scientists alike, sparking the interest of researchers pursuing “new evidence that firefly swarms can synchronize their flashes.” Mauney is now a part of a group of volunteers helping collect data for computer scientist and biophysicist Dr. Orit Peleg of the BioFrontiers Institute of the University of Colorado, Boulder. Still, for Mauney, the images, and the process of composing them, are the primary thing. “I never get tired of it,” Mauney says. “And I never get tired of the challenge and the puzzle of trying to construct the images — and trying to construct a good image, because it’s not enough for me to let the bugs do the heavy lifting.”
Read and Listen on NPR
Photo: Fireflies outside Greenport, New York, in June. Photo courtesy Pete Mauney ’93 MFA ’00
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Photography Program,Division of the Arts,Bard Graduate Programs,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): MFA,Bard Undergraduate Programs |
08-02-2022
What’s the secret to Food and Wine’s best ice cream in New York State? Keeping it local, says Brian Ackley ’02 and Lisa Farjam ’00, owners of Fortunes, the award-winning ice cream shop in Tivoli, New York. Speaking with Chronogram, Ackley said: “We wanted to take advantage of not only the upstate dairy, but the upstate fruit, which has this really short moment, but when it comes it’s really amazing and very special.” Drawing from local sources, including Montgomery Place Orchards, clearly helps Fortunes stay in the news, but ultimately, for the two Bard alums, it’s always been about the local experience. “We just decided that Tivoli really needed an ice cream shop. So we started the shop four years ago and it’s just been going ever since,” Ackley says.
Read More in Chronogram
Photo: Image courtesy of @fortunesicecream on Instagram.
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |

July 2022

07-26-2022
Asleep on the job? Dr. Sara Mednick ’95, Bard alumna and professor of cognitive science at the University of California, says that could be a good thing for productivity. Speaking with Discover magazine, Mednick shared insights into the cognitive benefits of naps, which “benefit everything that nighttime sleep helps, including emotional regulation, attention, alertness, motor function and memory.” The length and timing of a nap also impacts its effects on our well-being, with higher benefits from naps before 1 pm, leading many companies and universities to create “designated sleeping pods to allow students and employees to nap whenever they need to.” Building off of findings from a 2018 paper coauthored by Mednick, Discover outlines that while “the benefits of napping may vary across different individuals,” given their many cognitive benefits, it might be time to reconsider how naps fit into our personal and professional lives.
Read More in Discover
Photo: Photo by Jacob Bøtter.
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Division of the Arts,Dance Program,Dance,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
07-26-2022
For her “lyrical and haunting” Senior Project, I Went Back to Sit in the Sun, Alice Fall ’22 won second place in Lenscratch’s 2022 Student Prize Awards. “In Alice Falls’s I Went Back to Sit in the Sun, images are alive, the still photographs aren’t still,” writes Alexa Dilworth. Fall will receive $750 as well as a mini exhibition on the Curated Fridge as part of the prize package. In an interview with Lenscratch, Fall described her process and artistic philosophy. “When I am in tune with my body and emotion and the way I physically respond to an image—whether I am making work or engaging with images I’ve already made, my vision is sharpest,” she said.
Read More in Lenscratch
Photo: “Sarah Looking” by Alice Fall ’22. Photo courtesy the artist
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Photography Program,Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
07-21-2022
Micah Gleason GCP ’21, VAP ’22 is currently the music director and conductor on a project in residency at the cell theatre in Manhattan. The Final Veil is a new movement chamber opera based on the true story of Franceska Mann, a Polish-Jewish ballet and burlesque dancer who was captured by the Nazis and used her skills as a dancer to attempt to escape. It was composed by JL Marlor and co-conceived with dancer/director Cassandra Rosebeetle. The show also includes two current VAP students, Abby Cheng and Katherine Lerner-Lee.

Performances are July 14–31, on Thursday Friday, Saturday at 8pm, and Sunday at 5pm at the cell theatre. Book tickets and learn more here.
 
Learn more about The Final Veil
Photo: Scene from the cell theatre's production of The Final Veil, conducted by Micah Gleason GCP ’21, VAP ’22, composed by JL Marlor, and co-conceived with dancer/director Cassandra. Rosebeetle.
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Bard Graduate Programs,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Conservatory of Music |
07-19-2022
“How can we find such camaraderie in the very thing that so often slights us?” asks Joe Vallese ’04 MAT ’05, editor of It Came from the Closet: Queer Reflections on Horror. Publisher’s Weekly, in a starred review, calls the anthology “full of surprises.” Comprised of 25 essays on horror from contemporary queer authors, including 2018 Bard Fiction Prize winner Carmen Maria Machado, “the pieces are a brilliant display of expert criticism, wry humor, and original thinking.” Awarding it a starred review, Publisher’s Weekly says “there’s not a weak piece in the pack.” It Came from the Closet: Queer Reflections on Horror will be published October 4, 2022, by Feminist Press and is available for preorder now.
Read More in Publisher’s Weekly
Photo: Joe Vallese ’04 MAT ’05 and his new anthology, It Came from the Closet: Queer Reflections on Horror. Photo by Alex Servello
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion,Division of Languages and Literature,Written Arts Program | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs,Master of Arts in Teaching |
07-19-2022
“Sophocles had no trouble with structure,” writes Mary Norris for the New Yorker, struggling to find a way into her own tale. Taking a page from the late John Bennet, her friend and longtime editor for the New Yorker, Norris started at the beginning, telling the story of her trip to see Antigone with Bennet before his recent death. The Senior Project of Francis Karagodins ’22, Antigone, based on an original translation by Karagodins, was staged outdoors at Opus 40 in Saugerties, New York, the sculpture park and museum created by the late Bard professor and alumnus Harvey Fite ’30. “The setting was evocative: birdsong and scudding clouds at twilight, with the mountains for a backdrop,” Norris writes. While Bennet was studied in the play, Norris found herself more unfamiliar, and as such found Tiresias’s entrance to be the play’s most startling development. “While the other performers all seemed afraid of stumbling on the paving stones (Fite actually died of a fall in his own quarry), Tiresias alone, blind and urgent, had a motive to place each foot squarely on the earth.” Shortly after the two saw Antigone, Bennet was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. “Two weeks later, on July 9, he died, at home,” Norris writes, “releasing a great commingling of sadness and gratitude among family and friends, our lives graven where his plow had gone.”
Read More in the New Yorker
Photo: Antigone Gives Token Burial to the Body of Her Brother Polynices, drawing, Jules-Eugène Lenepveu (MET, 1991.267).
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Foreign Languages, Cultures, and Literatures Program,Division of Languages and Literature,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
07-12-2022
Ahead of the release of his new documentary, Endangered, Ronan Farrow ’04 spoke with Stephen Colbert on the Late Show about the threats facing journalists worldwide. In the United States, journalists are facing threats of violence for their reporting, spurred by authoritarian figures framing them as the enemy of the people—a tactic that, while not new, as Farrow notes, is nonetheless troubling when it comes to the health of our democracy. “We need more and better reporting in communities around this country. We need to support our journalists,” he said. “Otherwise, we're going to have people who are in this state of rage, who are very manipulable by these political leaders, who want to deploy these authoritarian arguments.” Endangered, which follows four journalists and the dangers they face in their work, is streaming now on HBO Max.

Watch the Interview

Stream Endangered on HBO Max
Photo: Promotional image for Endangered, streaming now on HBO Max.
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Philosophy Program,Division of Social Studies,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
07-05-2022
“Universities have a role to play in humanizing refugees and helping them establish new lives in new countries,” writes Rebecca Granato ’99, associate vice president for global initiatives at Bard College and the director of the Open Society University Network (OSUN) Hubs for Connected Learning Initiatives. In an essay for Times Higher Education, Granato offers four simple ways universities can support displaced persons and students, using OSUN as an example of the efficacy of collaboration across networks. Alongside collective advocacy for expanded visa access, university networks like OSUN can “share best practices and develop new approaches to admitting and supporting refugee students, leverage their collective strength to advocate with governments for safe and durable solutions, and share both financial and human resources.” “There is strength in numbers,” Granato writes, “and university collaborations demonstrate this when it comes to supporting displaced youth in accessing higher education.”
Read More in Times Higher Education
More about OSUN Hubs

Meta: Type(s): Faculty,Article | Subject(s): Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): OSUN Hubs for Connected Learning Initiatives,OSUN,Bard Undergraduate Programs |

June 2022

06-28-2022
The detective, as a figure, looms large in the “American mythology,” says Theo Wenner ’09, speaking to Interview about his new book of photography, Homicide. “It’s like a Western, or baseball,” Wenner says. “I wanted to see what it looks like now. Does it actually exist like you think it does? The way they dress, the way they talk?” In creating Homicide, which visually documents a year spent alongside the NYPD’s North Brooklyn Homicide squad, Wenner says his studies with Stephen Shore at Bard informed his approach to this work of photojournalism. “It’s not one single thing that Shore imparts on you. You start to realize the importance of objects,” Wenner says. Objects, Wenner says, can be more true than a portrait, which captures a projection of how someone wishes to be seen. Objects, by contrast, are “unbiased,” especially when it comes to the grim subject matter of Homicide. “You’re staring at the person’s face and it’s like they got caught mid-sentence, the eyes open and looking off into wherever, there’s like a yellow M&Ms wrapper next to the victim,” Wenner says. “Those little details take on so much significance.”
Read More in Interview
Photo: Theo Wenner ’09. Photo courtesy of artist
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Photography Program,Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
06-21-2022
“Lil’ Deb’s is a sensory explosion of queer exuberance and kitsch . . . ” writes Von Diaz for the Washington Post. “Deb’s is not a gay bar; it’s a restaurant. Food is the focus, and the menu is innovative, experimental and incredibly memorable. And as its name suggests, Deb’s is a place where people from all walks of life convene, where the only thing that’s illicit is how sinfully sumptuous the food is, where the staffers can take pride in preparing meals that are as unique as they are and where deliciousness becomes an extension of queer resistance.” In the article, Bard alum and restaurant editor at Bon Appétit Elazar Sontag says, “It is an explicitly queer space in every single way. But they also are turning out some of the best food in this country. And they're doing it with such intention. Every single dish is telling a story.”
 
Please Wait to Be Tasted: The Lil' Deb's Oasis Cookbook by Carla Perez-Gallardo ’10, Hannah Black, and Wheeler (Princeton Architectural Press, June 2022) will transport you, according to Diaz, “Much like the restaurant is more than a restaurant, the cookbook is more than a cookbook.”
Full story in the Washington Post
Photo: Lil' Deb's Oasis. Photo courtesy of lildebsoasis.com
Meta: Type(s): Alumni,Article | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion |
06-21-2022
Best known for Opus 40, “a massive hand-built sculpture, with ramps, walls, and pedestals, covering 6.5 acres in Saugerties” and “one of the first American ‘earthworks,’” the life and work of Harvey Fite ’30 will be presented in a retrospective running June 3–July 10, 2022, at the at Emerge Gallery and Lamb Center. Ahead of the exhibition, Chronogram covered the span of Fite’s life, including the influence dyslexia had on his life and his “fierce passion” and “geniality.” “Every life is a journey, but some people voyage farther than others,” writes Sparrow, noting Fite’s ultimate goal of “[reducing] the human body to its essential form, almost the way driftwood is smoothed by the action of water.” Let the Stone Tell the Story: An Inside Look at Sculptor Harvey Fite’s Studio Work runs June 3–July 10, 2022, at Emerge Gallery and the Lamb Center in Saugerties, New York.
Read More in Chronogram
Photo: The late Harvey Fite ’30, alumnus and former Bard professor.
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Studio Arts Program,Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
06-21-2022
Iconic jazz pianist and composer Ran Blake ’60 received the 2022 Louis Armstrong SATCHMO™ Award. Blake was honored with the award at the 2022 Louis Armstrong International Continuum: Armstrong & Company, a virtual symposium and concert presented by Columbia University’s Center for Jazz Studies, in conjunction with the Louis Armstrong Educational Foundation. The award honors great, living jazz artists who have a history of sharing their love of music through a lifetime of performance and jazz education. Recipients are selected for their important and lasting contributions in the world of jazz education and reflect the spirit of Louis Armstrong and his inspiring belief in the power of the language of jazz.
Watch the award presentation
Photo: Ran Blake ’60.
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Awards,Alumni/ae |
06-16-2022
Bard College’s Division of Arts is pleased to announce the appointment of Lucas Blalock ’02 as assistant professor of photography. His tenure-track appointment begins in the 2022–23 academic year. 

Lucas Blalock ’02 is a photographer and writer whose work explores the potentials of mannerism in photography. He has been included in exhibitions at The Whitney Museum of American Art, The Museum of Modern Art, The Walker Art Center, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Malmo Kunsthall. He has also staged solo exhibitions at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles and the Museum Kurhaus in Kleve, Germany as well as in galleries in the US and in Europe, including Ramiken Crucible, White Cube, Eva Presenhuber, and Rodolphe Janssen.
 
Blalock’s books include, Towards a Warm Math (Hassla, 2011), Windows Mirrors Tabletops (Morel, 2013), Making Memeries (SPBH, 2016), A Grocer’s Orgy (Primary Information, 2018), Figures (Zolo Press, 2022), and Why Must the Mounted Messenger Be Mounted? (Objectiv, 2022). Oar Or Ore, an expansive survey of the artist’s work since 2013 as seen through the lens of recent exhibitions will be published by Museum Kurhaus later this year.
 
Blalock, originally from Asheville, North Carolina, holds a BA from Bard College (Class of ’02), attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, and received his MFA from UCLA. He is represented by Galerie Eva Presenhuber in Zurich and New York and by Rodolphe Janssen in Brussels.
Photo: Lucas Blalock ’02. Photo by Gertraud Presenhuber. Courtesy the artist and Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Zurich/New York
Meta: Type(s): Faculty,Alumni | Subject(s): Photography Program,Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae,Academics |
06-07-2022
In an intimate, six-part webcomic for McSweeney’s, Nguyên Khôi Nguyễn ’04 depicted the fertility journey his wife and he took during the COVID-19 pandemic. Throughout “In Our Own Time: One Couple’s Fertility Journey,” written and illustrated by Nguyễn, the couple is depicted at all stages of their journey to pregnancy via IVF and IUI. The series, which concluded on May 31, documents the experience and emotions of Nguyễn’s wife, the couple’s initial inability to go together to a doctor during the pandemic, and the hopeful, happy conclusion of their journey together.
Read Full Series in McSweeney’s
Photo: Nguyên Khôi Nguyễn ’04.
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae |
06-07-2022
“My relationship with Morrison lasted a third of my life and was not wholly intimate and not fully professional,” writes A.J. Verdelle MFA ’93 in Miss Chloe: A Memoir of a Literary Friendship with Toni Morrison. The Los Angeles Review of Books says Verdelle’s new book “creates an echo chamber that deftly evokes the voice of Toni Morrison,” and, for the reviewer, it served as an introduction to Verdelle’s work more broadly. “The book had grabbed me from the first page,” writes Wayne Catan. “Not only because Verdelle pulls back the curtain to display the duo’s intimate life together, but because of Verdelle’s engaging prose.” Miss Chloe not only chronicles Verdelle’s friendship with Morrison, whose birth name, Chloe A. Wofford, gives the book its title, but is threaded with reflections on Verdelle’s own childhood, her racist experiences in Catholic school, and “discussions of craft as seen through Morrison’s eyes.” Verdelle draws lessons, both personal and professional, from Morrison, including how to live in the world as a Black author. “Rather than succumb to the distraction of responding to what others thought she, or we, could not be, Toni Morrison refused to race-splain,” Verdelle writes.
Read More in the Los Angeles Review of Books
Photo: A.J. Verdelle MFA ’93 and her new book, Miss Chloe: A Memoir of a Literary Friendship with Toni Morrison.
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Bard Graduate Programs,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): MFA |
06-07-2022
For formerly incarcerated individuals returning to their communities, “clean, safe, and stable” housing is crucial, says Shawn Young ’19, upstate reentry resident for the Bard Prison Initiative. Speaking to his experience as a Bard alumnus through the Bard Prison Initiative, Young told the Good Work Hour on Radio Kingston that a housing-first reentry model can make the difference for people attempting to reestablish themselves in the communities they lived in before their incarceration. “When our folks, when our alumni/ae, when our students come back to their community, they have places that they can go to live,” Young says. In-prison education programs like BPI are transformative for incarcerated men and women, but in order for alumni/ae to “rise to whatever potential they can achieve,” Young says care and concern, especially from those who have had similar experiences, is often a deciding factor in a successful transition. “I didn’t get to this place simply because,” Young said. Now, through his work with BPI and the All Of Us community action group, Young is focused on giving back.
Listen Now on Radio Kingston
Photo: Shawn Young ’19. Photo by Jamaica Miles
Meta: Type(s): Staff,Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Care and Maintenance | Institutes(s): Bard Prison Initiative |

May 2022

05-24-2022
What do AccuWeather and bottled tap water have in common? To find out, you’ll have to watch The G Word by Adam Conover ’04, a Netflix series on the workings and failings of government. Nell Minow, writing for RogerEbert.com, calls Conover’s new show a lively examination of the “one out of every 16 people” who work for the government—and how their labor touches every aspect of American life. Each episode begins with a positive story about the work of governance before shifting into an examination of its challenges and failures. “The government is better at setting up systems that work than protecting them from predation by businesses who want to profit from what has already been paid for with tax dollars,” Minow writes. Coproduced by Barack and Michelle Obama, The G Word is streaming now on Netflix.
Read More on RogerEbert.com
Photo: Adam Conover ’04. Photo by Tom Wool
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Philosophy Program,Division of Social Studies,Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae |
05-24-2022
In conversation with Emma Wolukau-Wanambwa, Bard alumna Tiffany Sia ’10 and Assistant Professor Sky Hopinka imagined “anticolonial futures for the moving image” for Art in America. Sia spoke to her current interests in the proliferation of moving images on social media and “the idea of film as witness.” “Film is potentially incriminating, if someone is documented doing something that may be considered a criminal act,” Sia said. Hopinka spoke to filmic intentionality, both with respect to its production and its audience. “I’m interested in focusing on very specific things within my own beliefs, family, tribe, or region,” Hopinka said, “not in catering to a white audience or white gaze.”
Full Conversation in Art in America
Photo: L-R: Tiffany Sia ’10 (photo by Johnny Le) and Sky Hopinka.
Meta: Type(s): Faculty,Alumni | Subject(s): Film and Electronic Arts Program,Asian Studies,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
05-24-2022
“Rachel Careau’s meticulous and agile translation of this pair of novels [Chéri and its sequel, The End of Chéri] brings to Anglophone readers some of Colette’s finest writing, rich in the sensuality for which she is widely known — but also in the sharpness of her social observations, so ahead of her time that they come across as radical even by contemporary standards,” writes Tash Aw in the New York Times Book Review.
Read More in the New York Times
Photo: Rachel Careau MFA ’91 and her new works of translation, Chéri and The End of Chéri by Colette.
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Book Reviews | Institutes(s): MFA |
05-17-2022
“Something this common needs to be normalized and talked about,” says Hannah Bronfman ’11 in an interview with Ebony. Bronfman chronicled her three-year fertility journey, including a painful miscarriage, on YouTube and Instagram, an experience she says helped her feel less alone. “So many of us suffer in silence and this kind of just felt like the appropriate thing to be discussing and emphasizing that there’s no shame in this journey,” she says. With the help of a doula and an OB she trusted, Bronfman had a safe vaginal birth at a private facility, an experience, she emphasized, she did not take for granted. “Obviously, that’s not what most Black women experience, and I want to do everything I can to speak out, bring awareness to the lack of access, and share resources to people who need them.”
Read More in Ebony
Photo: Rachel Careau MFA ’91 and her new works of translation, Chéri and The End of Chéri by Colette.
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Studio Arts Program,Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
05-03-2022
Bard alumni Adam ’11 and Zack Khalil ’14, cofounders of the Indigenous art collective New Red Order, worked with Counterpublic on their upcoming triennial, which will run May 15 to August 15, 2023, “pulling double duty as both participating artists and curators,” writes Taylor Dafoe for Artnet. The triennial will be installed along a six-mile stretch of Jefferson Avenue in St. Louis, Missouri. New Red Order will produce work focusing on “what is locally referred to as Mound City, partnering with the Osage Nation to make a film documenting the tribe’s efforts to repatriate the landmark.” Alumna Diya Vij ’08 will also curate the exhibition.
Read More on Artnet
Photo: New Red Order. Image courtesy of collective
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Photography Program,Film and Electronic Arts Program,Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |

April 2022

04-26-2022
Teaching without an agenda is not something that concerns Kate Belin BA ’04, MAT ’05. “I do have an agenda. I want to see a national shift in how we teach math, what math is, and who has access to it,” Belin said in an interview with Chalkbeat. In their role at the Bronx’s Fannie Lou Hamer Freedom High School, they continue to teach the mathematics of gerrymandering, “an especially relevant topic” today, and one that “will likely continue to be.” A winner of the 2021 Math for America (MƒA) Muller Award for Professional Influence in Education, Belin says their belief in the power of education was developed while at Bard, both as an undergraduate and graduate student. “I learned in college that mathematics was about creativity, patterns, problem-solving, and many more things that aren’t necessarily taught in K-12 school,” they said. “The master’s program at Bard College gave me hope that it was possible to bring more real mathematics into schools and that more students might fall in love with it, too.”
 
Read More on Chalkbeat
Photo: Kate Belin BA ’04, MAT ’05 (left) sits with two students from Fannie Lou Hamer Freedom High School in the Bronx. Courtesy of Kate Belin
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Mathematics Program,Division of Science, Math, and Computing,Bardians at Work,Bard Graduate Programs,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Master of Arts in Teaching,Bard Undergraduate Programs |
04-26-2022
As part of its 2022 “Culture” issue, T, the New York Times Style Magazine, interviewed Tschabalala Self ’12, Bard alumna and visiting artist in residence, on the creative life and the connection between her practice of sewing and familial identity. Her mother collected fabric, Self says, something that comes to mind as she incorporates sewing into her artistic repertoire. Her mother could make a dress from scratch—something Self says is beyond her. “For me, sewing’s a kind of collaging,” Self said. “And it does have this association with my mom, who’s one of the most important people to me. Working this way feels like honoring her.” A part of “24 Hours in the Creative Life,” Self’s interview is part of an issue that Hanya Yanagihara, editor in chief of T, says “is dedicated to living a creative life, which is something that all of us, whether self-proclaimed artists or not, have available to us.” The issue also features advice for early- and mid-career artists from Bard faculty member Nayland Blake ’82.
 
Read More in T
Photo: Tschabalala Self ’12 photographed at her studio in New Haven, CT, on December 15, 2021. Photo by Maegan Gindi
Meta: Type(s): Faculty,Alumni | Subject(s): Studio Arts Program,Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
04-26-2022
Jennifer H. Madans ’73, former National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) associate director for science and acting director, cowrites an op-ed for The Hill about how a lack of government funding for the NCHS was a “weak link in the administration’s data-driven COVID-19 response.” The NCHS is the Department of Health and Human Services’ equivalent of the Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics. It collects and disseminates core public health information on births, deaths, chronic and acute disease, disability and health care access and utilization. “Just as the timeliness and granularity of employment data, with information by state, if not county, and by sector or product category, help bolster our economy and job growth, more timely and granular health statistics would improve public health.”
 
Madans asserts: “Had investments been made in maintaining and modernizing the health data infrastructure we would have had information on COVID-related deaths, hospitalizations, ambulatory care visits and symptoms along with information on the impacts of the pandemic on wellbeing. This would have allowed for immediate tracking of the pandemic at its earliest stages and the continuing monitoring of response capabilities as it changed course. Without this investment, the data that were produced were delayed and in many cases they were of limited quality, which hampered our ability to control the pandemic and meet the health and health care needs of the population.”
Read more on The Hill
Photo: Jennifer H. Madans ’73.
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Sociology Program,Division of Social Studies,Alumni/ae |
04-26-2022
The spyware technology Pegasus “can extract the contents of a phone, giving access to its texts and photographs, or activate its camera and microphone to provide real-time surveillance,” writes Ronan Farrow ’04 for the New Yorker. In a wide-ranging profile of NSO Group, the Israeli firm that developed Pegasus, Farrow pressed current and former employees of the firm on the sales and usage of their software, which has been linked to repressive regimes and is purportedly utilized by governments worldwide for espionage.

Read More in the New Yorker

Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
04-26-2022
In 2021, Maya Whalen-Kipp MS ’20 was awarded a John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship by the New York Sea Grant. One of 74 chosen for the 42nd class of Knauss Fellows, Whalen-Kipp began her one-year fellowship in February 2021, working as the marine and energy interagency coordinator for the DOE Wind Energy Technology Office and Water Power Technology Office. “Through the Knauss Fellowship, I have gained hands-on experience in understanding how innovative technology gets funded by the federal government and am working with phenomenal people who are thinking very critically on how we can support a just renewable energy transition,” said Whalen-Kipp. “My experience here is valuable for my professional career transition from environmental academia to real applications of ocean renewable energy development. I hope to now continue in the field for the foreseeable future.” 
 
Learn More
Photo: Maya Whalen-Kipp MS ’20.
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Environmental/Sustainability,Bardians at Work,Bard Graduate Programs,Alumni/ae |
04-12-2022
After 26 years, New York’s Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) was restored for incarcerated students in New York State, thanks to the advocacy of BPI and others. TAP helps eligible New York State residents pay tuition at approved schools in New York State. BPI’s Senior Government Affairs Officer Dyjuan Tatro ’18, alongside the College & Community Fellowship, led a grassroots effort to call for the restoration of TAP for incarcerated people, mobilizing advocates, educators, alumni/ae, and those communities directly impacted by this policy. “Restoring TAP funding to incarcerated people will increase public safety, save taxpayer dollars, and create extraordinary inroads to college in communities we most often fail to engage in higher education,” Tatro said.
 
In addition to expanding access for individuals pursuing college-in-prison, BPI hopes that this landmark decision will help further national reform. “In this new era, we look forward to many more educators and institutions joining us as we continue the work to expand college opportunity in and outside of prison that is as ambitious and optimistic as our students, and that honors the breadth and capacity of their imaginations,” said Jessica Neptune ’02, director of national engagement at the Bard Prison Initiative. “There’s never been a more crucial time to do this work.”
 
Read More
Photo: Photo by China Jorrin ’86
Meta: Type(s): Staff,Alumni | Subject(s): Higher Education,Education,Alumni/ae,Academics | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs,Bard Prison Initiative |
04-05-2022
After coauthoring Flavors of Oakland at 17, it might have seemed inevitable that Bard alum Elazar Sontag would end up as the restaurant editor for a major publication. But according to Sontag, who worked for years in the food industry, that hasn’t always been the plan. “I didn’t work in restaurants because I thought it would make me a better food writer,” Sontag said in an interview with the Oaklandside. “I worked in restaurants because I truly believed that I was going to become a restaurant cook and eventually a chef.” Several experiences led Sontag to a different path, however, who noted that “kitchens are complicated places to be queer.” Now, in his new role as restaurant editor for Bon Appétit, Sontag will continue writing about queer food culture. “So much of what I love to cover as a writer and editor is about these queer restaurant spaces,” he says. “It feels like such a gift that I get to tell the stories and celebrate these spaces that when I was a teen, I didn’t even know that existed.”
 
Read More on the Oaklandside
Photo: Elazar Sontag. Photo by Jasmine Clarke ’18
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Written Arts Program,Division of Languages and Literature,Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion,Career Development,Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
04-05-2022
Named in memory of Bard alumna Betsaida Alcantara ’05, the Anti-Defamation League’s first vice president of communications and digital, who died in February 2022, the Betsaida Alcantara ’05 Communications Professional Internship will offer a Bard student the opportunity to gain firsthand experience working alongside veteran communications professionals. Current Bard students, especially students of color, who have an interest in communications, journalism, public policy, social justice, and/or human rights are encouraged to apply. Applications are due by April 22, 2022.
Read More about Betsaida Alcantara ’05
Photo: Betsaida Alcantara ’05 with President Obama.
Meta: Type(s): In Memoriam,Alumni | Subject(s): Career Development,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |

March 2022

03-22-2022
With fewer students choosing to enroll in college immediately after high school, the Bard High School Early College model provides not only hope but proof that educational reform is possible. Early colleges, which give students the opportunity to earn an associate’s degree while in high school, have been proven to “bridge the gap between high school and higher education,” writes Wayne D’Orio for Education Next. The benefits of attending an early college are many, including savings in tuition costs and higher college graduation rates. Building off of ideas first forwarded by Bard President Leon Botstein in Jefferson’s Children: Education and the Creation of a Hopeful Culture, there are now seven Bard High School Early Colleges nationwide, each of them charting a path forward for their students and for American education as a whole. Still, though the early college model is, by definition, future-focused, the immediate student experience is one of self-discovery and self-belief. “Students surprise themselves” with their achievements, says Stephen Tremaine ’07, vice president for the Early Colleges. After a student told him they hated reading but loved Gilgamesh, he responded: “‘Maybe you don’t hate reading.’ They have success that hasn’t registered yet.”
 
Read More in Education Next
Photo: Students at Bard High School Early College Baltimore.
Meta: Type(s): Faculty,Article | Subject(s): Leon Botstein,Faculty,Education,Early Colleges,Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): BHSECs |
03-22-2022
It might seem natural that visual artists look to the visual for inspiration, but what about the written word? Mieke Marple, writing for LitHub, spoke with 14 contemporary artists about how reading influences their work, including Jibade-Khalil Huffman ’03 and Azikiwe Mohammed ’05. Huffman, whose work incorporates “subtitles, titles, and more abstract juxtapositions of text,” and who has published several books of poetry, says he’s currently reading Go Ahead in the Rain: Notes to A Tribe Called Quest by Hanif Abdurraqib. In his work, “there is typically lots of veering back and forth between a clear sort of description/essay and the more indeterminate shifts of thought that poetry allows.” Mohammed, meanwhile, cites Todd McFarlane’s Spawn as an inspiration. “It is drawn out in a way that feels luxurious, for me, as a Black man, rarely able to have time exist as such,” he says. “The character Spawn is a Black man who has died, and in death found the time that I lack here while among the living.”
 
Read More on LitHub
 
Photo: L-R: Jibade-Khalil Huffman ’03 and Azikiwe Mohammed ’05.
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Studio Arts Program,Division of the Arts,Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
03-15-2022
After leaving his job at Mitchell-Innes & Nash, Gabriel Kilongo ’15 wanted not only to open a gallery, but to start a scene. His new gallery, Jupiter, which opened on March 5 in the North Beach community of Miami Beach, Florida, is meant to challenge not only where art galleries are supposed to open, but what they are designed to do. “I wanted to find a space that was not in a place that is already too trendy, already overdeveloped,” Kilongo said to the New York Times. The gallery, currently showing works by Marcus Leslie Singleton, will emphasize “emerging artists who are adding new perspectives to canonized art historical conversation,” Kilongo says.
 
Read More in the New York Times
jupitercontemporary.com
Photo: Gabriel Kilongo ’15. Photo by Alfonso Duran
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Division of the Arts,Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion,Career Development,Business/Entrepreneurship,Bardians at Work,Art History and Visual Culture,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
03-08-2022
Katy Schneider ’14, features editor for New York magazine, won the American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME) Next Award for journalists under 30. ASME Next Award winners are judged by their portfolio of work and are chosen each year for “their potential to make significant contributions to magazine journalism.” Schneider and the rest of this year’s winners will be honored at ASME’s annual award presentation on April 5, 2022.
 
Read More in New York
 
Read More on the Verge, as Reported by Aude White ’12
Photo: Katy Schneider ’14.
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Division of Languages and Literature,Career Development,Bardians at Work,Awards,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
03-01-2022
Ahead of their first solo exhibition at the Walker Art Center, Carolyn Lazard ’10 spoke with Frieze about their work and how they incorporate Blackness, queerness, disability, and collectivity into their aesthetic. A cofounder of the art collective Canaries, “a network of women and gender non-conforming people living and working with autoimmune conditions and other chronic illnesses,” Lazard sometimes feels uncomfortable with the idea of individuation, of focusing on one artist over another. “The truth is that my work comes out of a long lineage of Black, disabled, and queer people making art,” they say. “My practice doesn’t exist in a vacuum: it is made in relation to the work of other artists who have come before me, and those whose work I learn about day to day.” 
 
Lazard’s work, which spans different mediums, progressed from a love of avant-garde cinema, which they first came into contact with at Bard. Recently, Lazard has experimented with providing multiple ways of presenting a single artwork, both visual and non-visual. “Access has this capacity to break through the boundaries of medium, because of the way it makes art necessarily iterative,” they say. “Through access, a single artwork might exist as a description, as a notation, as sign language, as a transcript or as a tactile object—depending on what people need.” Still, though these categories inform their work, they are resistant to the market trends which seek to define artists, especially Black artists, by a singular trait or identity. “Most museums seem committed to receiving Black art, Black aesthetics, and Black politics—provided it’s on the museum’s terms,” they say. “It’s a complex time to be a Black artist, but when has it not been?”
 
Read More in Frieze
 
Learn More about Carolyn Lazard: Long Take
Photo: Carolyn Lazard ’10.
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Division of the Arts,Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |

February 2022

02-08-2022
Translating Caroline Shaw’s “Partita for 8 Voices” for the stage, Justin Peck collaborated with Shaw and Eva LeWitt ’07 to create Partita, a new ballet for the New York City Ballet. While developing Partita, Peck discovered Sol LeWitt, Eva’s father, was an inspiration for the original score, which led him to her work, which he described as having “a dimensionality and theatricality” integral to this new adaptation. For LeWitt, the ballet spoke to her sense of her own work, especially her use of gravity. “That’s so linked to dance, to humans moving through space, and to the voice too,” LeWitt says. “Those gravitational universes are important to all our art forms.” Partita, performed by eight dancers in sneakers, featured set design by LeWitt, whose “vibrantly colored hanging fabric sets” served as the backdrop for the ballet when it premiered January 27, 2022.
 
Full Story in the New York Times
Photo: L-R: The choreographer Justin Peck, the composer Caroline Shaw, and the artist Eva LeWitt ’07. Photo by Caroline Tompkins for the New York Times
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Studio Arts Program,Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae |
02-01-2022
After posting a weekly food plan for low-income families to Instagram in connection with her work to ease food insecurity, Claire Phelan ’11 connected with fellow chef Shana Maldonado. The two have gone on to create Sobremesa, a pop-up community table that serves seasonal six-course dinners in Buffalo, New York, as reported in Buffalo Spree. The concept for Sobremesa was to encourage connection, says Phelan, an alumna of the Human Rights Program at Bard. “Sobremesa has two goals—serve up beautiful, delicious, and unusual small plates and help people connect,” Phelan says. “People open up over shared meals in a different, intimate way, and we’re very invested in encouraging these conversations.” Alongside Maldonado, Phelan hopes to continue to offer community-focused meals and events, with plans for a pay-what-you-can brunch and cooking lessons in the works.
 
Full Story on Buffalo Spree
Photo: Claire Phelan ’11. Photo courtesy of Claire Phelan ’11
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Human Rights,Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
02-01-2022
Multiple Bard faculty members, both former and present, as well as several alumni/ae will be featured in the 2022 Whitney Biennial. Works by Rindon Johnson MFA ’18, Duane Linklater MFA ’13, and Jon Wang MFA ’19 will be featured alongside those by current and former faculty Nayland Blake ’82, Raven Chacon, Dave McKenzie, Adam Pendleton, and Lucy Raven MFA ’08. David Breslin, co-organizer of this edition of the Biennial, spoke with the New York Times about the curation of work that spoke to the social and political conflict that has taken place since the last Biennial in 2019. “Our hope is that this show permits a taking stock, a way of seeing what we’re maybe not at the end of, but in the middle of,” Breslin says, “and how art can help make sense of our times.” Whitney Biennial 2022: Quiet as It’s Kept will open on April 6, 2022 and will run through September 5, 2022. This year marks the 80th edition of the exhibition, the longest-running of its kind.

Full Story in the New York Times
Read More on whitney.org
Photo: Studio Arts class at Bard College. Photo by Pete Mauney ’93 MFA ’00
Meta: Type(s): Faculty,Alumni | Subject(s): Studio Arts Program,Faculty,Division of the Arts,Bardians at Work,Bard Graduate Programs,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): MFA,Bard Undergraduate Programs |

January 2022

01-26-2022
Photojournalist, documentarian, and activist Steve Schapiro ’55, who died on January 15, 2022, leaves behind a body of work that began with his capturing of the civil rights movement and continued through the current political era. “Over a six-decade career, Mr. Schapiro trained his camera’s eye on an astonishing array of people across the American landscape as he sought to capture the emotional heart of his subjects,” writes Katharine Q. Seelye in a remembrance of Schapiro for the New York Times. His work, which has been featured in magazines and museums alike, focused on a diversity of subjects, from movie stars to migrant workers. His photographs of James Baldwin’s 1963 tour of the South illustrated later editions of The Fire Next Time. After his death was announced, tributes to Shapiro poured out online, including remembrances from Barbra Streisand and Ava DuVernay. He graduated from Bard in 1955 with a degree in literature. He was a transfer student to Bard, which he found “more suitable for free spirits like himself.”
 
Full Story in the New York Times
Photo: Steve Schapiro ’55.
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Literature Program,Division of Languages and Literature,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
01-11-2022
Opus 40, the 57-acre sculpture park created by the late Harvey Fite ’30, former Bard professor and alumnus, will begin 2022 with a combined $650,000 in grant awards. With these new grants, Caroline Crumpacker, executive director of Opus 40, has prioritized preserving the park and ensuring its success. The upkeep of Opus 40 would not be possible without this grant money, says Jonathan Becker, Opus 40 board president and Bard executive vice president, vice president for academic affairs, and director of the Center for Civic Engagement. "The (Mellon) Foundation’s grant, combined with the National Parks Service/Save America’s Treasures grant announced in September, will allow for a truly historic conservation effort and will secure the preservation of Fite’s sculpture for generations to come,” Becker said in a statement.

Full Story in the Times Herald-Record
Photo: The late Harvey Fite ’30, former Bard professor and alumnus.
Meta: Type(s): Alumni,Article,Faculty | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Division of the Arts,Studio Arts Program | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
01-11-2022
Selected by actress Tilda Swinton, artist Cao Fei, and architect David Adjaye, Marie Schleef ’14 was named one of 10 recipients of the first Chanel Next Prize. The biennial prize awards Schleef with €100,000, devoted to a project of her choosing. Schleef’s work as a theater director and multimedia artist centers the female experience and challenges notions of the male gaze. Yana Peel, Chanel’s global head of arts and culture, said in a statement: “We extend Chanel’s deep history of cultural commitment—empowering big ideas and creating opportunities for an emerging generation of artists to imagine the next.” Also included with the prize is access to a network of mentors over the course of the next 20 months.
 
Full Story on ARTnews
Photo: Theater director Marie Schleef ’14. Photo by Hendrik Lietmann
Meta: Type(s): Berlin,Alumni | Subject(s): Theater and Performance Program,Division of the Arts,Bard College Berlin,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs,Bard Theater Program,Bard College Berlin |
01-04-2022
Bard alumnus Bartek Starodaj ’12 MS ’12 was tapped by the city of Kingston, New York, as the new director of housing initiatives, as reported in the Daily Freeman. Starodaj, who lives in Kingston, will be tasked with implementing the Tiny Home Project and a citywide rezoning project, among other responsibilities. “As the new housing director,” Starodaj says, “I look forward to leading a collaborative coalition of residents, activists, and government officials to synergize short- and long-term housing efforts across our great city.”

Full Story in the Daily Freeman
Photo: Stockade District, Kingston, New York. Photo by Ajay Suresh
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Bardians at Work,Environmental and Urban Studies Program | Institutes(s): Bard Center for Environmental Policy,Bard Undergraduate Programs |

December 2021

12-14-2021
Inspired in equal parts by the pandemic, his grandmother, and Julie and Julia, Bard conservatory alumnus ​​Barrett Radziun MM ’13 found sweet fame on Instagram with his account @thetenorchef, writes the Star Tribune. While a graduate student at the Bard College Conservatory of Music, Radziun started baking for his fellow musicians, only to turn the passion into a side business. Now a performer and professor at Texas A&M University-Commerce, when his classes went online, he set about baking every recipe in Claire Saffitz's Dessert Person, documenting his progress on Instagram. “I think part of the reason people have been interested is that because, just like when I found the Bon Appetit channel, it’s beautiful and it feels really positive and uplifting," Radziun says. "I hear from people and they'll say ‘I just wanted to let you know that your posts have been a really bright spot in my life.’”

Full Story in the Star Tribune
Photo: Chocolate-Hazelnut Galette des Rois and Frangipane. Photo by Barrett Radziun MM ’13
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Bard Graduate Programs,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Conservatory of Music |
12-12-2021
The Posse Foundation profiled Tareian King ’16, alumna of the Human Rights Program and Posse Scholar, speaking with her about her work with law firm Geni and Kebe in Senegal. While completing her JD at Pace University, King worked for the Open Society Foundations, DLA Piper, the Mission of Senegal to the United Nations. For King, her new role represents the culmination of her ambitions. “Traveling outside of America felt like a dream prior to attending Bard,” King says. “The Posse Foundation provided me with a summer stipend to intern at the Legal Resources Center in Johannesburg, South Africa. That was my first time in Africa, and it happened because of Posse.”

Full Profile on possefoundation.org
Photo: Tareian King ’16.
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Bardians at Work,Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion,Human Rights | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |

November 2021

11-30-2021
Reading a novel by a river is a peace Amanie Issa ’18 does not take for granted. After graduating from Al-Quds Bard College, Issa was awarded a scholarship to study international human rights law at the Irish Centre for Human Rights in NUI Galway. After witnessing upheaval and trauma firsthand, her time in Ireland has felt like a reprieve. Now working remotely as a legal consultant focusing on women’s economic and social development for the World Bank, she hopes to stay in Galway to pursue a doctoral degree. Still, even with her newfound sense of comfort, Issa can’t help but keep her fellow Palestinians in mind. “I’ve had that feeling of peace that others are yearning for while their school is demolished or they’re kicked out of their house,” Issa says. “Every person in the world deserves to have that feeling.”

Full Story in the Irish Times
Photo: County Galway, NUI Galway. Photo by Dieglop
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Human Rights,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |

October 2018

10-23-2018
Art icon and powerhouse DJ Huxtable talks about process, representation, internet culture, and the future of nightlife in New York City.
Read More
Photo: County Galway, NUI Galway. Photo by Dieglop
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Division of the Arts | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
10-09-2018
BPI alumnus Jule Hall spoke powerfully about college behind bars during the Race and Justice Summit at the Atlantic Festival in Washington, D.C.
Read More
Photo: County Galway, NUI Galway. Photo by Dieglop
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Prison Initiative |
10-09-2018
Poet Layli Long Soldier reflects on the relatively unknown official apology issued to indigenous people on behalf of the U.S. government in 2009.
Read More
Photo: County Galway, NUI Galway. Photo by Dieglop
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Division of Social Studies | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
10-02-2018
Exhibitions of Sacabo’s Tagged series of photogravure prints open in Atlanta and New Orleans later this month.
Read More
Photo: County Galway, NUI Galway. Photo by Dieglop
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Division of the Arts | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
10-02-2018
As an English-language tutor in Beijing, Elia uses articles and images in the Times to deepen conversation skills, improve listening, and develop vocabulary and grammar.
Read More
Photo: County Galway, NUI Galway. Photo by Dieglop
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |

September 2018

09-20-2018
Cashel, who was diagnosed with Lyme disease at age 7, is founder of Suffering the Silence, a nonprofit dedicated to overcoming the stigma of chronic illness.
Read More
Photo: County Galway, NUI Galway. Photo by Dieglop
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Bardians at Work | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
09-19-2018
When trans people transition, their voices often don't. Kawitzky and other NYU researchers are looking into how to change that.
Read More
Photo: County Galway, NUI Galway. Photo by Dieglop
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Bardians at Work,Wellness | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
09-18-2018
Susso, a West African émigré, teaches at the International Community High School in the Bronx. He is the first NYC teacher to receive the award in 23 years.
Read More
Photo: County Galway, NUI Galway. Photo by Dieglop
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Education,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Master of Arts in Teaching |
09-18-2018
Raphael Bob-Waksberg ’06 and cocreator Lisa Hanawalt talk about the origin story of their “depressingly good” animated series.
Read More
Photo: County Galway, NUI Galway. Photo by Dieglop
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
09-18-2018
Moscoso, currently senior curator at the Museo Tamayo in Mexico City, will head the curatorial team for the UK’s largest contemporary arts festival.
Read More
Photo: County Galway, NUI Galway. Photo by Dieglop
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Bard Graduate Programs,Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Center for Curatorial Studies |
09-01-2018
Morley, whose “Brent, Bandit King” is narrated by a computer program known as the Facilitator, talks about AI, the gaming world, and his story’s path to publication.
Read More
Photo: County Galway, NUI Galway. Photo by Dieglop
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Bardians at Work,Division of Languages and Literature | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |

August 2018

08-14-2018
Dalia Najjar ’14, general manager of Palestine-based Farouk Systems, has secured a $1 million agricultural grant for local producers/farmers to expand regional sourcing.
Read More
Photo: County Galway, NUI Galway. Photo by Dieglop
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Environmental/Sustainability,Bard Graduate Programs,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
08-14-2018
The Bard alum shares photographs from her summer on the road, taken in between shoots for two new movies and shows with her band.
Read More
Photo: County Galway, NUI Galway. Photo by Dieglop
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Division of the Arts,Music | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
08-14-2018
As a Bard student, Letz traveled to five countries to study the effects of globalization on small farmers. Now she’s turned her passion for growing local and organic into the thriving Bluma Farm.
Read More
Photo: County Galway, NUI Galway. Photo by Dieglop
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Politics and International Affairs,Environmental/Sustainability,Alumni/ae |
08-07-2018
We don’t accept all-male panels on women’s issues, says Mustafa. So why do we still discuss refugee policy without refugees?
Read More
Photo: County Galway, NUI Galway. Photo by Dieglop
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Bardians at Work,Politics and International Affairs |

July 2018

07-30-2018
Wolff, who joined the recovery effort in New Orleans during her first year at Bard, returns to the city to lead its first family-focused agency.
Read More
Photo: County Galway, NUI Galway. Photo by Dieglop
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Bardians at Work | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs,Center for Civic Engagement |
07-25-2018
The Block Museum of Art is devoting its first-floor gallery to Chan’s media work Happiness (finally) after 35,000 years of civilization.
Read More
Photo: County Galway, NUI Galway. Photo by Dieglop
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Film,Bardians at Work,Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): MFA |
07-25-2018
McLean and Strack, who met at Bard and later married, have turned a shared love of literature into a successful singing and songwriting career.
Read More
Photo: County Galway, NUI Galway. Photo by Dieglop
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Master of Arts in Teaching,Bard Undergraduate Programs |
07-23-2018
First, writes Fiori, we have to recognize the latent marginalization of minority populations in the mainstream media.
Read More
Photo: County Galway, NUI Galway. Photo by Dieglop
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Division of Languages and Literature |
07-23-2018
“Trump implies that if Montenegro were not in NATO, then the United States could stay uninvolved in a war between Montenegro and Russia. This ignores both geography and history.”
Read More
Photo: County Galway, NUI Galway. Photo by Dieglop
Meta: Type(s): Faculty | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Politics and International Affairs | Institutes(s): Center for Civic Engagement |
07-14-2018
Rozsa wrote his Senior Project on Carter’s famous Crisis of Confidence speech. Here, he interviews Carter about the prescience of that speech in the era of President Trump.
Read More
Photo: County Galway, NUI Galway. Photo by Dieglop
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Bardians at Work,Politics and International Affairs | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
07-09-2018
The Brownsville Community Culinary Center, cofounded by Bard alum Lucas Denton, helps young people create career opportunities for themselves while serving their community.
Read More
Photo: County Galway, NUI Galway. Photo by Dieglop
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Wellness,Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
07-03-2018
Bard alumnus John Yau talks to Martha Wilson, founder of Franklin Furnace, and artist William Villalongo about Johns’s life and work.
Read More
Photo: County Galway, NUI Galway. Photo by Dieglop
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Division of the Arts | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
07-02-2018
Susan Mernit ’74, CEO of Hack the Hood, introduces low-income students of color to careers in tech by hiring and training them to build websites for local businesses in their communities.
Read More
Photo: County Galway, NUI Galway. Photo by Dieglop
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Information Technology,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |

June 2018

06-21-2018
Bard alumna Lola Kirke talks with Nylon’s Sandra Song ahead of the release of her debut album in August.
Read More
Photo: County Galway, NUI Galway. Photo by Dieglop
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Music,Film,Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
06-12-2018
“If we want to hold the powerful accountable,” says Farrow, “one of the best tools to do that is through reporting.”
Read More
Photo: County Galway, NUI Galway. Photo by Dieglop
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |

May 2018

05-29-2018
Union organizer David Rolf ’92 is at the forefront of the shift in the labor movement, from a focus on organizing workers in manufacturing to those in the service sector.
Read More
Photo: County Galway, NUI Galway. Photo by Dieglop
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Division of Social Studies | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
05-26-2018
Bard College held its one hundred fifty-eighth commencement on Saturday, May 26, 2018. At the commencement ceremony, Bard President Leon Botstein conferred 469 undergraduate degrees on the Class of 2018 and 164 graduate degrees.
Read More
Photo: Megan J. Smith Credit: Karl Rabe
Meta: Subject(s): Academics,Alumni/ae,Student | Institutes(s): Bard Prison Initiative |
05-22-2018
Bard alumna Noor Gharzeddine’s Are You Glad I’m Here will be shown at the Brooklyn Film Festival on June 9–10.
Read More
Photo: Megan J. Smith Credit: Karl Rabe
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Film | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
05-15-2018
“Farrow draws on both government experience and fresh reporting to offer a lament for the plight of America’s diplomats—and an argument for why it matters.”
Read More
Photo: Megan J. Smith Credit: Karl Rabe
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Politics and International Affairs,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs,Bard College at Simon's Rock |
05-15-2018
Bard alumna Odetta Hartman continues to explore and reinvent American folk expression in her second album, Old Rockhounds Never Die.
Read More
Photo: Megan J. Smith Credit: Karl Rabe
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Music,Alumni/ae |
05-10-2018
Smith, an award-winning entrepreneur and tech evangelist, will deliver the address at the College’s 158th commencement on Saturday, May 26.
Read More
Credit: Photo: Joi Ito
Meta: Type(s): Event | Subject(s): Student,Division of Science, Math, and Computing,Leon Botstein,Alumni/ae,Academics |
05-01-2018
Conover, a Bard alum and creator of the TV comedy Adam Ruins Everything, says Wolf did what comedians are supposed to do: she told the truth, and no one should be apologizing.
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Credit: Photo: Joi Ito
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae |

March 2018

03-13-2018
Bard College and Simon’s Rock alumnus Ronan Farrow ’04 will receive the Point Courage Award, recognizing his advocacy for the future of the LGBTQ community in his work as a journalist.
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Credit: Photo: Joi Ito
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Early Colleges,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Center for Civic Engagement,Bard Undergraduate Programs,Bard College at Simon's Rock |

February 2018

02-27-2018
Arthur Holland Michel '13 is a finalist for the Anthony Lukas Work-in-Progress Award, given to support the completion of significant works of nonfiction on topics of political and social concern.
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Credit: Photo: Joi Ito
Meta: Type(s): Event | Subject(s): Division of Science, Math, and Computing,Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
02-27-2018
Award-winning choreographer Arthur Aviles fell in love with dance as an undergraduate at Bard College, where he studied with Jean Churchill, Lenore Latimer, and Aileen Passloff.
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Credit: Photo: Joi Ito
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Dance,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
02-20-2018
Sohrab Mohebbi, a graduate of the Bard Center for Curatorial Studies, will join SculptureCenter as head curator in April.
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Credit: Photo: Joi Ito
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Center for Curatorial Studies |
02-13-2018
"Formed amid the fruitful live-music scene at Bard College," this Hudson Valley band "is slicing and dicing indie rock in its own image."
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Credit: Photo: Joi Ito
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
02-13-2018
Inés Katzenstein will head MoMA’s Patricia Phelps de Cisneros Research institute for the Study of Art from Latin America.
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Credit: Photo: Joi Ito
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Center for Curatorial Studies |
02-13-2018
Kayla Gerdes is drawing on her troubled past to advocate for criminal justice reform and more support for prisoners after their release.
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Credit: Photo: Joi Ito
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Bardians at Work | Institutes(s): Bard Prison Initiative,Center for Civic Engagement |
02-11-2018
The artist Celeste Dupuy-Spencer interprets what’s happening on Page 76 of newly published or upcoming titles.
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Credit: Photo: Joi Ito
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Division of the Arts,Bardians at Work | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
02-02-2018
Designer Paris Starn’s debut collection draws inspiration from her great-grandmother’s aprons.
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Credit: Photo: Joi Ito
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Bardians at Work,Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |

January 2018

01-19-2018
Journalist and Bard alumna Moira Donegan ’12 on why she started the online list of men in the media industry accused of sexual harassment, and what her life has been like since.
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Credit: Photo: Joi Ito
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
01-16-2018
Spahr and Young, both of whom teach at Mills College, argue that in shielding students from sexual harassers, professors support a broken system.
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Credit: Photo: Joi Ito
Meta: Subject(s): Alumni/ae |
01-16-2018
Ronan Farrow ’04 talks about Hollywood, journalism, and the Weinstein exposé that launched a movement in this wide-ranging interview.
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Credit: Photo: Joi Ito
Meta: Subject(s): Alumni/ae |
01-05-2018
Houthi forces have captured a U.S. Navy unmanned underwater research vehicle off the coast of Yemen. Gettinger, codirector of Bard's Drone Center, weighs in.
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Credit: Photo: Joi Ito
Meta: Type(s): Event | Subject(s): Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |

December 2017

12-18-2017
Mariel Fiori will cohost a new program on Radio Kingston, which plans to expand to FM and move to a new home in the city.
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Credit: Photo: Joi Ito
Meta: Type(s): Staff | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Bardians at Work | Institutes(s): Center for Civic Engagement |
12-10-2017
Dan Gettinger, Bard alumnus and codirector of Bard's Drone Center, talks about how Isis uses recreational drones for propaganda purposes.
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Credit: Photo: Joi Ito
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Bardians at Work,Politics and International Affairs,Division of Science, Math, and Computing | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
12-01-2017
Bard alumnus J.I. Abbot reflects on the late William Mullen, his Greek professor at Bard, for his engaged mentoring and lifelong impact on Abbot's own teaching.
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Credit: Photo: Joi Ito
Meta: Type(s): Alumni,In Memoriam | Subject(s): Division of Social Studies,Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |

November 2017

11-27-2017
Curator and art dealer Cros is one of five young women who will make the art world go round in 2018, according to W magazine.
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Credit: Photo: Joi Ito
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Division of the Arts,Bardians at Work | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
11-20-2017
Eva-Marie Quinones, now a doctoral student at Yale, discusses the Unity March for Puerto Rico in her role as head of national youth engagement. Interview by Stephanie Presch '15.
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Credit: Photo: Joi Ito
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Bardians at Work,Politics and International Affairs,Division of Social Studies | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs,Center for Civic Engagement |
11-19-2017
The Sundance Art of Nonfiction Fund will support the Khalil brothers' new film, Untitled Norval Morrisseau Project.
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Credit: Photo: Joi Ito
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Bardians at Work,Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
11-17-2017
Julia Bullock MM '11 speaks about her life as an opera singer and her role as Dame Shirley in the world premiere of John Adams’s Girls of the Golden West.
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Credit: Photo: Joi Ito
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Bardians at Work,Music | Institutes(s): Bard Conservatory of Music |
11-14-2017
Eli Pariser, Upworthy president and cofounder, author, and Bard College at Simon’s Rock alumnus, visited an Internet and Society class at Bard High School Early College Queens.
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Credit: Photo: Joi Ito
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Division of Science, Math, and Computing,Early Colleges,Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Center for Civic Engagement,BHSECs,Bard College at Simon's Rock |
11-14-2017
Bard alumna and editor of the Bard-sponsored Spanish language magazine La Voz Mariel Fiori ’05 has won the Woman of the Year Award from the American Association of University Women.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Bardians at Work | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs,Center for Civic Engagement |
11-14-2017
Drone Center codirector and cofounder Dan Gettinger '13 discusses how U.S. military spending on drones in 2018 is set to outpace 2017 spending.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Division of Science, Math, and Computing,Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
11-14-2017
Loudis comes to World Policy Journal most recently from Al Jazeera America, where she was a digital features editor.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Politics and International Affairs,Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs,Bard Globalization and International Affairs Program |
11-12-2017
Artist Anna Sew Hoy will be the first Martha Longenecker Roth Distinguished Artist in Residence, noted for "expanding the field of art, celebrating material and craft, and engaging with students and the public."
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Bardians at Work,Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): MFA |

October 2017

10-29-2017
Duane Linklater's Wood Land School creates site-specific exhibitions of works by indigenous artists—most recently an ambitious, yearlong project at Montreal’s SBC Gallery.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Bardians at Work,Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): MFA |
10-25-2017
Alyssa Greenberg MA '12, who received her Ph.D. in art history from the University of Illinois at Chicago this year, has been named a Leadership Fellow at The Toledo Museum of Art. This recently established program cultivates membership of the next generation of museum leaders through an innovative, experiential program that also builds partnerships across the broader industry and community.

Judith Gura MA '99 is on the faculty at the New York School of Interior Design. Her most recent book is Postmodern Design Complete: Design, Furniture, Graphics, Architecture, Interiors, published by Thames & Hudson.

Melissa Riebe McCaffrey MA '10 has been named regional director of New York Fine Art Appraisers' newly opened New England office in Boston. Assisted by a team of appraisers and experts in a range of specialties—including jewelry, Americana, modern and contemporary art, and antique furniture—she provides onsite appraisal services to local and New England clientele.

Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Division of the Arts,Bardians at Work | Institutes(s): Bard Graduate Center |
10-25-2017
Unspecified Promise, a sculpture and performance art piece by Guillermo Calzadilla MFA '02 and Jennifer Allora, speaks to the personal aftermath of Hurricane Maria.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Bardians at Work,Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): MFA |
10-25-2017
Bard Prison Initiative alumnus Darren Mack was recently honored with the 2017 Citizens' Social Action Award from Citizens Against Recidivism in recognition of the accomplishments and contributions he has made since his release from prison. Currently pursuing his master of social work at Hunter College, Darren has been involved with the CUNY Black Male Initiative at City College, became a member of the Education from the Inside Out Coalition, is an active member of Just Leadership USA and its Close Rikers campaign, and is a 2016–2017 New York Civil Liberties Union–Community Organizing Institute Fellow as well as a Beyond the Bars Fellow.

Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Center for Civic Engagement,Bard Prison Initiative |
10-19-2017
The Hunter College MFA in Studio Art announces the appointment of painter and writer Carrie Moyer MFA '02 as the new director of Hunter’s nationally ranked graduate studio art program.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Bardians at Work,Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): MFA |
10-18-2017
Adriana Farmiga, a Bard MFA alumna who has taught at the Cooper Union School of Art since 2011, has been appointed assistant dean at the school.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Bardians at Work,Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): MFA |
10-16-2017
Gavin Rayna Russom '97 examines her trans-feminine identity through her new music.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Bardians at Work,Music | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
10-15-2017
Bard MFA alumna Colleen Brown '11 and nine other selected artists explore art and civic life in Vancouver through events, installations, and residencies.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Division of the Arts,Bardians at Work | Institutes(s): MFA |
10-13-2017
Campus will be bustling this weekend as parents, family members, and alumni/ae come back to experience the Annandale autumn and reconnect with each other. Numerous special events will take place, including performances, campus tours, panel discussions, sample classes, meet-the-President forum, and a Blithewood Sunset Soiree.
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Meta: Type(s): Event | Subject(s): Alumni/ae |
10-12-2017
Bard Conservatory alumnus Christopher Carroll is among the young movers and shakers of New York City, in his role as political director of the Associated Musicians of Greater New York.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Division of Social Studies,Politics and International Affairs,Music,Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs,Bard Conservatory of Music |
10-02-2017
Mariel Fiori, Bard alumna and managing editor and cofounder of Bard's La Voz, calls for citizens to press their local leaders and political candidates on immigration reform.
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Meta: Type(s): Staff | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Bardians at Work,Politics and International Affairs | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs,Center for Civic Engagement |

September 2017

09-29-2017
Alumni Madeline Wise '12, Milo Cramer '12, and Morgan Green '12 received three New York Innovative Theatre Awards for their show Minor Character.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Bardians at Work,Theater | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
09-17-2017
Bard Prison Initiative alumnus Rich Gamarra talks with BPI senior advisor Robert Fullilove about how education turned his life around. Gamarra has just completed a master's degree at Columbia.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Wellness,Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Center for Civic Engagement,Bard Undergraduate Programs,Bard Prison Initiative |
09-10-2017
Nikkya Hargrove uses U.S. Rep. John Lewis's commencement address at Bard as a touchstone for thinking about her son's potential.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Bardians at Work | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs,Center for Civic Engagement |
09-05-2017
Walter Becker ’71, guitarist, bassist, and songwriter, cofounded the rock band Steely Dan with Donald Fagen ’69 when they were students at Bard.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Music,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |

August 2017

08-31-2017
As seniors, Arthur Holland Michel ’13 and Dan Gettinger ’13 created the Center for the Study of the Drone at Bard. Now they're industry experts.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Division of Science, Math, and Computing,Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |

June 2017

06-29-2017
Late founder of the NYC neon sign workshop, Let There Be Neon, artist Rudi Stern '59 is widely credited with reviving the craft of neon and revolutionizing its use in art and commerce.
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Meta: Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Division of the Arts |
06-23-2017
Point Foundation, the nation's most prominent scholarship-granting organization for LGBTQ students, has announced its 2017 scholarship recipients, and it’s by far the largest and most diverse group in the organization’s history. Harper Zacharias '19 is among the 52 recipients selected from more than 200 applicants.
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Meta: Subject(s): Academics,Alumni/ae,Politics and International Affairs,Student | Institutes(s): Bard Globalization and International Affairs Program |
06-22-2017
Bach Tong, a 2017 graduate of Bard College, grew up in Vietnam before moving to Philadelphia, where he attended high school. The thought of climbing the corporate ladder after graduation perplexes him. Tong said his leadership in high school antiviolence efforts shaped the course of his education and career path.
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Meta: Subject(s): Politics and International Affairs,Alumni/ae |
06-14-2017
Bard College alumna Charlotte Mandell ’90 has been named one of six finalists for the 2017 Man Booker International Prize, which celebrates the finest works of translated fiction from around the world.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Foreign Language,Division of Languages and Literature,Alumni/ae |
06-05-2017
Read More

Meta: Subject(s): Academics,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |

May 2017

05-26-2017
Bard College held its one hundred fifty-seventh commencement on Saturday, May 27, 2017. At the commencement ceremony, Bard President Leon Botstein conferred 421 undergraduate degrees on the Class of 2017 and 133 graduate degrees, including master of fine arts; doctor and master of philosophy and master of arts in decorative arts, design history, and material culture; master of science in economic theory and policy; master of business administration in sustainability; master of arts in teaching; master of arts in curatorial studies; master of science in environmental policy and in climate science and policy; and master of music in vocal arts and in conducting. The program, took place at 2:30 p.m. in the commencement tent on the Seth Goldfine Memorial Rugby Field and included the presentation of honorary doctoral degrees.
 
Text (unedited) of commencement address by U.S. Representative John Lewis:
 
Thank you, Mr. President; members of the board of trustees; Mr. Chairman; deans; inspired faculty; proud parents, family and friends; and to you, the class of 2017. I’m honored to be here, to see each and every one of you. You look good. You look beautiful, handsome, smart and ready to take on the world. Mr. president, thank you for those kind words, thank you. To each and every one of you receiving a diploma today, I say a congratulations. This is your day. Enjoy it. Take a long deep breath, and take it all in. But tomorrow you must be prepared to roll up your sleeves because the world is waiting for talented men and women to lead it to a better place.
 
You heard it said that I grew up in rural Alabama. That is true. I grew up 50 miles from Montgomery, outside of a little place called Troy. My father was a sharecropper, a tenant farmer. But back in 1944 when I was four years old, and I do remember when I was four, my father had saved $300 dollars, and a man sold him 110 acres of land. My family still owns that land today. On that farm, we raised cotton, corn, peanuts, hogs, cows, and chickens. On the farm, it was my responsibility to care for the chickens. I fell in love raising chickens. Now I know as graduates, as smart, gifted students, you don’t know anything about raising chickens. Do we have anyone here that knows anything about raising chickens? Well, why don’t we compare notes? When a setting hen was set, we had to take the fresh eggs, mark ‘em with a pencil, place them under the setting hen and wait for three long weeks for the little chicks to hatch. Some of you may be saying, “Now, John Lewis, why do you mark those fresh eggs with a pencil before you place them under the setting hen?” Well, from time to time, another hen would get on that same nest, and there would be some more fresh eggs, and (we had to tear) the fresh eggs from the eggs already under the setting hen. Do you follow me? No, you don’t follow me. That’s okay. So when these little chicks were hatched, I would fool these setting hens, I would cheat on these setting hens, I would take these little chicks and give them to another hen and put them in a box with a lantern and raise them on their own, get some more fresh eggs, mark ‘em with a pencil, place them under the setting hen, and encourage the setting hen to stay on the next for another three weeks. When I look back on it, I kept on fooling these setting hens and cheating on these setting hens. It was not the right thing to do. It was not the moral thing to do, not the most loving thing to do, not the most non-violent thing to do. It was not the most democratic thing to do, but I was never quite able to save $18.98 to order the most inexpensive incubator… from the Sears Roebuck store. We used to get the Sears Roebuck catalog. As graduates, as young people, you’ve never seen one of these catalogs. It’s a big book, it’s a heavy book, it’s a thick book. We call it a wish book: “I wish I had this; I wish I had that.”
 
As a little boy about eight or nine years old, I wanted to be a minister. I wanted to preach the gospel. So, with help of my brothers and sisters and cousins, we would gather all of our chickens together in the chicken yard, like you are gathered here today, and we would have church. And I would start speaking or preaching, when I look back on it, some of these chickens would bow their heads. Some of these chickens would shake their heads. They never quite said amen, but I’m convinced that some of those chickens that I preached to during the forties and the fifties, tended to listen to me much better than some of my colleagues listen to me today in Congress. And some of those chickens were just a little more productive. At least they produced eggs. But that’s enough of that.
 
When we would visit the little town of Troy, visit Montgomery, visit Tuskegee, visit Birmingham, I saw these signs that said “white men,” “colored men,” “white women,” “colored women,” “white waiting,” “colored waiting.” To go down town on a Saturday afternoon to the theater, to see a movie, all of us little black children had to go upstairs to the balcony. All the little white children when downstairs to the first floor. I kept asking my mother, my father, my grandparents, my great-grandparents: Why? They would say “that’s the way it is. That’s the way it is. Don’t get in the way. Don’t get in trouble.” But one day, in 1955, 15 years old, in the tenth grade, I heard about Rosa Parks, I heard the words of Martin Luther King Jr. on an old radio during the Montgomery bus boycott. And the words of Martin Luther King Jr. and the actions of Rosa Park inspired me to find a way to get in the way. I got in the way, I got in trouble, but I call it good trouble, necessary trouble. I say to you, the graduates of the class of 2017, you must go out and get in trouble, necessary trouble that helps make our country and our world a better place. You must do it.
 
When you see something that is not right, something that in not fair, something that is not just, you have a moral obligation, a mission, and a mandate to stand up, to speak up, and speak out. Those of us who live on this little planet we call Earth, we have a right to know what is in the food we eat. We have a right to know what is in the water we drink. We have a right to know what is in the air we breathe.
 
So I say to you, my young friends, it is left up to you. You must do your part, and when you leave this great college, go out there, get in the way, make a little noise, be bold, be brave, be courageous. Use your education and your training to redeem the soul of our nation and maybe help make our world a better place for all human beings. Our world, our little world, our little planet is dependent on you, so, please, don’t let us down.
 
You know during the sixties, as (President Botstein) told you, I was arrested a few times, 40 times, beaten, left bloody, unconscious. I thought I was going to die on that bridge in Selma. Since I’ve been in Congress five more times (arrested), and I’ll probably get arrested again for something. But on that bridge, I thought I saw death, but I lived. You will live to tell the story. You can do it. As you go out there, do your work. Never become bitter or hostile. Never get lost in a sea of despair. Keep the faith, keep your eyes on the prize, and never hate. As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “hate is too heavy a burden to bear.”
 
During the sixties, I met a man by the name A. Philip Randolph. He was the dean of black leadership who helped plan the March on Washington on August 28, 1963. This man was born in Jacksonville, Florida. He moved to New York City. He became a champion of civil rights, human rights, and labor rights. From time to time, as we were planning to march on Washington, he would say, “maybe our foremothers and our forefathers all came to this great land in different ships, but we all in the same boat now, and we must look out for each other.” So it doesn’t matter whether you black or white, Latino, Asian-American, or Native-American. We’re one people. We’re one family. We all live in the same house. Not just the American house, but the world’s house. So, we must learn to live together. And never give up, never give in, dream dreams, and make those dreams real. I wish you well. So, with faith, hope, peace, and with love, thank you very much.
 
PHOTO AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD AT: bard.edu/news/pressphotos/
CAPTION INFO: U.S. Rep. John Lewis
PHOTO CREDIT: Karl Rabe
 

ABOUT THE COMMENCEMENT SPEAKER

 
U.S. Representative John Lewis was elected to Congress in November 1986 and has served as U.S. Representative of Georgia’s Fifth Congressional District since then. He is senior chief deputy whip for the Democratic Party in the House, a member of the House Ways and Means Committee and its Subcommittee on Income Security and Family Support, and ranking member of its Subcommittee on Oversight.
 
As a student at Fisk University, Lewis organized sit-in demonstrations at segregated lunch counters in Nashville, Tennessee. In 1961, he volunteered to participate in the Freedom Rides, which challenged segregation at interstate bus terminals across the South. Lewis risked his life on those rides many times by simply sitting in seats reserved for white patrons. He was beaten severely by angry mobs and arrested for challenging the injustice of Jim Crow segregation in the South.
 
During the height of the movement, from 1963 to 1966, Lewis was named chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), which he helped form. SNCC was largely responsible for organizing student activism in the movement, including sit-ins and other activities. By 1963, at the age of 23, Lewis had become a nationally recognized leader and was dubbed one of the “Big Six” leaders of the civil rights movement. He was an architect of and a keynote speaker at the historic March on Washington in August 1963. The following year, Lewis coordinated SNCC efforts to organize voter registration drives and community actions during the Mississippi Freedom Summer.
 
On March 7, 1965, Hosea Williams, another notable civil rights leader, and Lewis led more than 600 peaceful protesters across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama. They intended to march from Selma to Montgomery to demonstrate the need for voting rights in the state. The marchers were attacked by Alabama state troopers in a brutal confrontation that became known as “Bloody Sunday.” News broadcasts and photographs of the event helped hasten passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
 
He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Medal of Freedom, Lincoln Medal from the historic Ford’s Theatre, and National Education Association Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Award. In 2001, Lewis was awarded the only John F. Kennedy “Profile in Courage” Award for Lifetime Achievement ever granted by the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation.
 
Lewis holds a B.A. in religion and philosophy from Fisk University and is a graduate of the American Baptist Theological Seminary in Nashville. He lives in Atlanta, Georgia. He has one son, John Miles.
Photo: U.S. Representative John Lewis

Meta: Subject(s): Student,Politics and International Affairs,Leon Botstein,Education,Alumni/ae,Academics |
05-24-2017

Bard College Held its 157th commencement on Saturday, May 27, 2017.
Live Webcast at 2:30pm
​

The commencement address was given by U.S. Representative John Lewis, who received an honorary doctorate of civil law. Honorary degrees were also awarded to classicist Mary Beard, computer scientist Erik D. Demaine, West Point Dean and Brigadier General Cindy R. Jebb, artist Brice Marden, mathematician Karen Saxe ’82, and philanthropist Charles P. Stevenson Jr. At the commencement ceremony, Bard President Leon Botstein conferred 421 undergraduate degrees on the Class of 2017 and 133 graduate degrees.
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Photo: U.S. Representative John Lewis
Meta: Type(s): Event | Subject(s): Student,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |

April 2017

04-13-2017
Arthur Holland Michel '13 comments that drones are becoming commonplace both among criminals and the police.
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Photo: U.S. Representative John Lewis
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Division of Science, Math, and Computing,Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
04-09-2017
The Fire Next Time has been republished by Taschen in a new edition that pairs James Baldwin's text with images by the civil rights–era photographer Steve Schapiro.
Read More
Photo: U.S. Representative John Lewis
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Politics and International Affairs,Bardians at Work,Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
04-06-2017
Jonathan Cristol considers how North Korea's latest ballistic missile test raises the stakes on Trump's meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping and complicates his position with China.
Read More
Photo: U.S. Representative John Lewis
Meta: Type(s): Faculty | Subject(s): Politics and International Affairs,Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Center for Civic Engagement,Bard Undergraduate Programs |

February 2017

02-04-2017
Lertxundi talks about the influence Bard film professors John Pruitt and Peter Hutton have had on her work.
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Photo: U.S. Representative John Lewis
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Division of the Arts,Bardians at Work,Film | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |

January 2017

01-26-2017
Bard alumnus Duane Linklater's show at NYU's 80WSE gallery engages with questions about the under- and misrepresentation of indigenous artists in galleries and museums.
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Photo: U.S. Representative John Lewis
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Division of Social Studies,Politics and International Affairs,Bardians at Work,Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): MFA |
01-25-2017
How the Citizen Science Teaching Fellows Program Challenges and Supports Students and Alumni/ae
A remarkable group of students and alumni/ae has played an essential role supporting Bard first-years in the labs during Citizen Science. Now celebrating its fifth year, the Citizen Science Teaching Fellows Program is having a big impact on the lives of Bardians on campus and after graduation.
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Meta: Type(s): Student | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Bardians at Work,Division of Science, Math, and Computing,Student | Institutes(s): Citizen Science,Bard Undergraduate Programs |
01-24-2017
The fifth annual Bard Works program runs from Sunday, January 22, to Friday, January 27, offering opportunities for students to gain valuable career tools as they near graduation. Juniors and seniors participate in a series of workshops, networking events, and other professional development activities. With the support of mentors from the campus community and beyond, students hone their business etiquette and job searching skills, work on public speaking and workplace leadership, and explore how to translate their undergraduate education to the global marketplace. Participants include 60 students and more than 100 alumni/ae, parents, and local professionals. Visit website

Meta: Type(s): Event | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Bardians at Work,Career Development | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs,Center for Civic Engagement |
01-20-2017
The artist Tschabalala Self employs a signature blend of paint, recycled materials, fabrics, and collage to depict women of color in her work, defiantly reclaiming their stories.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Division of the Arts,Bardians at Work | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
01-10-2017
Vogue highlights the diversity of the march organizers and their willingness to engage in difficult conversations around race and privilege.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Politics and International Affairs,Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
01-06-2017
Drones: Is the Sky the Limit?, the first major U.S. museum exhibition on pilotless aircraft, is set to open at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum on May 10.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Division of Social Studies,Division of Science, Math, and Computing,Politics and International Affairs,Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
01-05-2017
Nona Faustine makes photographs that expose the history of slavery in the United States, particularly for black women, and its ties to locations in New York City and to national landmarks.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Bardians at Work,Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): ICP |
01-05-2017
Fulbright scholar Jane Wong reflects on "tangled familial relationships and the lingering influences of immigrant parents in poems replete with images of nature, insects, food and people."
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Division of Languages and Literature,Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |

December 2016

12-31-2016
Multidisciplinary artist Christine Sun Kim was born deaf, and she uses sound in her work to challenge and disturb the norms of the hearing world.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Division of the Arts,Bardians at Work | Institutes(s): MFA |
12-11-2016
The award honors two Americans every year under the age of 40 who are committed to public service in their communities.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Center for Civic Engagement,Bard Prison Initiative |
12-08-2016
Mariel Fiori, Bard alumna and cofounder/editor of La Voz, was selected as one of Hudson Valley Magazine's 2015 Women in Business. The 2015 and 2016 honorees were recognized at a luncheon on Thursday, December 8 at Villa Borghese in Wappingers Falls. Senator Sue Serino was the keynote speaker at the event. Fiori cofounded La Voz, a Spanish-language magazine for the Hudson Valley, with Emily Schmall '05 as a student TLS project in 2004. She has been celebrated for her work as a journalist and local activist. Learn More

Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Bardians at Work | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs,Center for Civic Engagement |
12-07-2016
Science writer and Bard alumnus Nsikan Akpan examines a surge in fake news stories with real-world impact, beginning in 2010 and leading up to this year's election.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Division of Science, Math, and Computing,Politics and International Affairs,Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
12-02-2016
Chris Claremont became an industry icon by emphasizing the importance of character development, storytelling, and melodrama in his long career at Marvel Comics.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Division of the Arts,Bardians at Work,Division of Languages and Literature | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |

November 2016

11-27-2016
Party People, a play by the Universes ensemble, cofounded by Steven Sapp and Mildred Ruiz-Sapp, reflects on leaders of movements for racial justice.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Theater,Division of Social Studies,Politics and International Affairs,Music,Bardians at Work,Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
11-26-2016
South African curator and CCS Bard graduate Gabi Ngcobo will curate the 2018 Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Division of the Arts,Bardians at Work | Institutes(s): Center for Curatorial Studies |
11-23-2016
Marcelle's Kokomo "is the perfect embodiment of the Freudian Uncanny concept: familiar and disquieting at the same time."
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Bardians at Work,Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
11-21-2016
“Being exposed to some of the major works in Western Civilization, I saw myself as a citizen in a new way," says George Chochos, alumnus of BPI and Yale Divinity School.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Bardians at Work,Religion and Theology | Institutes(s): Bard Prison Initiative,Bard Undergraduate Programs,Center for Civic Engagement |
11-21-2016
Last week, Bard brought more than 50 students to the nation's capital for Bard Works D.C. During the three-day program, students heard from alumni/ae, parents, and friends in the Bard network who are living and working in the D.C. area. Panel topics included politics, government, nonprofit, private sector, and arts-related careers. Networking receptions were held throughout the program so that students had the opportunity to meet and mingle with panelists and other program participants. Bard Works 2017, a weeklong professional development event for Bard juniors and seniors, will take place January 22–27 in Annandale. Bard Works is made possible by a generous grant from an anonymous donor and is a collaboration between the Bard Center for Civic Engagement, the Bard Career Development Office, the Dean of Student Affairs Office, the Office of Development and Alumni/ae Affairs, and the Bard College Alumni/ae Association Board of Governors.

Meta: Type(s): Event | Subject(s): Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae,Career Development | Institutes(s): Center for Civic Engagement |
11-20-2016
Bard alumna Tschabalala Self discusses her new solo exhibition of collaged fabric and paint work exploring the black female body, and the ongoing impact of the Bard faculty on her practice.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Division of the Arts,Bardians at Work | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
11-18-2016
Work by several Bard alumnae and faculty members will be featured in the Whitney Biennial this spring. Bard alumnae include Celeste Dupuy Spencer (Studio Arts), Dani Leventhal MFA '10 (Film/Video), Carrie Moyer MFA '02 (Painting), and Leila Weinraub (MFA). Faculty artists include Susan Cianciolo (MFA visiting artist in Painting), Kevin Everson (MFA Film/Video faculty), An-My Lê (Photography), Ulrike Müller (MFA Painting cochair), and Cauleen Smith (MFA Film/Video faculty).  

Meta: Type(s): Faculty | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Division of the Arts,Bardians at Work | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs,MFA |
11-16-2016
Video artist Tal Yarden '81 brings a "visual lullaby for the city" to Times Square billboards in Counting Sheep, featuring music composed with his brother, Guy Yarden '84.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Music,Film,Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
11-09-2016
The growth in sales at BjornQorn, a solar-powered popcorn business started by Class of 2003 Bard graduates Bjorn Quenemoen and Jamie O'Shea, has brought the venture to a pivot point.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Wellness,Environmental/Sustainability,Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
11-03-2016
Mariel Fiori '05, community leader and cofounder and editor of La Voz, will be honored by Newburgh Girl Power at their awards dinner on Friday, November 11.
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Meta: Type(s): Staff | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Bardians at Work | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |

October 2016

10-27-2016
The Bard Prison Initiative and other programs in the Consortium for Liberal Arts in Prison are models for how similar initiatives might expand under a new Pell pilot program for inmates.
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Meta: Type(s): Student | Subject(s): Student,Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Center for Civic Engagement,Bard Undergraduate Programs,Bard Prison Initiative |
10-23-2016
​Conover focuses his astute comedy on the election in “The Adam Ruins Everything Election Special” on truTV, a taped version of a live stage show he performed in 15 cities.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Division of Social Studies,Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
10-22-2016
Campus will be bustling this weekend as parents, family members, and alumni/ae come back to experience the Annandale autumn and reconnect with each other. Numerous special events will take place, including performances, campus tours, panel discussions, sample classes, and athletic events.
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Meta: Type(s): Event | Subject(s): Alumni/ae |
10-13-2016
Idaho is one of the most welcoming states in the Union for refugees, settling nearly 1,000 a year, mostly from war-torn regions in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Division of the Arts,Bardians at Work | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
10-06-2016
Actress Gaby Hoffmann on her role in the groundbreaking Amazon series Transparent and her remarkable childhood growing up in Manhattan's Chelsea Hotel.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Film,Bardians at Work,Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |

September 2016

09-26-2016
Kalb founded Bellows and has played in Bard bands Eskimeaux and Told Slant. This album is the "most fully realized since Kalb brought it to life in his Bard College dorm room."
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Music,Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
09-21-2016
Fishkin has created a series of compositions—and a brand new instrument, the Lady's Harp—building on his experience of tinnitus.
Read More

Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Bardians at Work,Music | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
09-13-2016
“Most of our students come from the poorest communities,” says BPI founder and director Max Kenner '01, “but they return as extraordinary role models.”
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Meta: Type(s): Event | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Bardians at Work | Institutes(s): Bard Prison Initiative,Bard Undergraduate Programs,Center for Civic Engagement |
09-12-2016
Mozart in the Jungle star Kirke talks about the privileges of an arts education and the power of being in a show with strong female characters.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Division of the Arts,Bardians at Work,Film | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |

August 2016

08-24-2016
The "liberal arts comedy" of Bard alumnus Adam Conover's TruTV series, Adam Ruins Everything, aims not only to entertain but also to educate.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Division of Social Studies,Film,Bardians at Work,Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
08-24-2016
The eighth annual La Guelaguetza de Poughkeepsie, coorganized by Bard's La Voz, celebrated the culture of Oaxaca, Mexico and the Latino community of the Hudson Valley.
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Meta: Type(s): Staff | Subject(s): Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Center for Civic Engagement,Bard Undergraduate Programs |
08-24-2016
Writer, director, and cinematographer Sonja Tsypin has been awarded the first place 2016 KODAK Student Cinematography Scholarship for her dramatic narrative Powder Room.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Film,Bardians at Work,Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
08-10-2016
Kenner talks about BPI's reentry program, which provides career counseling and helps students transition to life after prison, and emphasizes the practical value of a liberal arts education.
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Meta: Type(s): Event | Subject(s): Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Center for Civic Engagement,Bard Undergraduate Programs,Bard Prison Initiative |
08-10-2016
Opus 40 is the masterwork of the late Bard professor and alumnus Harvey Fite '30, the product of his "ceaseless vision" and 37 years of labor.
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Meta: Type(s): Faculty | Subject(s): Bardians at Work,Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
08-10-2016
Professor An-My Lê urged Emma Ressel to send a portfolio from her Senior Project to New York Magazine. The result is Ressel's ornate and vibrant photo spread.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Bardians at Work,Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |

July 2016

07-29-2016
Alexandra Bettina '11, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, has made a discovery that could make waves in wiping out drug-resistant bacteria.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Bardians at Work,Wellness,Division of Science, Math, and Computing | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
07-27-2016
Florida International University biology professor and Bard alumnus Matthew DeGennaro discusses his work modifying mosquitos to reduce the transmission of diseases like dengue and Zika.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Bardians at Work,Wellness,Division of Science, Math, and Computing | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
07-27-2016
Bard High School Early College Manhattan alumna Sophia Van Valkenburg is part of the team that's made it possible to view the Times archive in a new, mobile-friendly design.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Division of Science, Math, and Computing,Early Colleges,Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): BHSECs |
07-27-2016
Cristol, senior fellow at Bard's Center for Civic Engagement, predicts a more "assertive and interventionist" approach in a Hillary Clinton administration.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Politics and International Affairs,Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Center for Civic Engagement,Bard Undergraduate Programs |
07-18-2016
New York Times commentators consider the phenomenon of Marie Kondo's popular books on tidying up. Alumna Elizabeth Royte urges readers to start by buying less stuff.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Bardians at Work,Environmental/Sustainability | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
07-14-2016
After 20 years exhibiting her work internationally, visual artist Amy Granat '98 returned to her native St. Louis, opening an intimate, salon-like gallery intent on "art meeting life."
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Bardians at Work,Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
07-14-2016
Writer and artist Rikki Ducornet, recipient of the Bard College Arts and Letters award, constructs a series of paper scrolls in response to Margie McDonald's whimsical sculptures.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Division of Languages and Literature,Bardians at Work,Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |

June 2016

06-26-2016
Bard researcher, alumnus, and Hudsonia director Erik Kiviat '76 has made a career out of understanding and protecting the natural environment of the Hudson Valley.
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Meta: Type(s): Faculty | Subject(s): Division of Science, Math, and Computing,Environmental/Sustainability,Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
06-23-2016
Carusone and Gardner opened Republic Restoratives in May in the Ivy City neighborhood, which has several distilleries and breweries. Women are still relatively rare in the industry.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
06-23-2016
Salisbury makes his directorial debut with Everything's OK, a postapocalyptic live action/animated hybrid, which was accepted to the Cannes short film program.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Division of the Arts,Bardians at Work,Film | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
06-22-2016
Hanusik's poignant photos of southern communities grappling with the effects of climate change have been published in Oxford American's "Eyes on the South" series.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Bardians at Work,Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
06-20-2016
The Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation has unveiled its biennial list of 2015 grantees. Among them are two Bard MFA faculty members, Pam Lins and A. L. Steiner, and three MFA alumni/ae: Jared Buckhiester '13, Rochelle Goldberg '15, and Kelly Kaczynski '03. More on Arforum

Meta: Type(s): Faculty | Subject(s): Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae,Division of the Arts | Institutes(s): MFA |
06-19-2016
Artist Kate Stone '09 and writer Hannah Schneider '09 met at Bard; now they've created a "poignant and witty" collection of illustrated short stories.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Division of Languages and Literature,Bardians at Work,Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
06-06-2016
On the eve of her second solo exhibition at the Rachel Uffner Gallery, Greenbaum discussed the profound influence of her Bard mentor, Elizabeth Murray.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Division of the Arts,Bardians at Work | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
06-03-2016
In the late 1970s, Atwood was living in Paris and had a chance encounter with blind students, from that stemmed her award-winning series of photographs.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Division of the Arts,Bardians at Work | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
06-03-2016
The success of incarcerated students should move education leaders to rethink college admission and the values and purpose of higher education, says Kenner.
Read More

Meta: Type(s): Faculty | Subject(s): Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Center for Civic Engagement,Bard Undergraduate Programs,Bard Prison Initiative |
06-02-2016
Bard alumna and La Voz cofounder and editor Mariel Fiori has been named to the inaugural class of the etsy.org Hudson Valley Good Work Program.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
06-02-2016
Troy Simon, once a troubled, illiterate teenager, has now graduated from Bard and is on his way to Yale.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Bardians at Work,Religion and Theology | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |

May 2016

05-25-2016
Bard Prison Initiative alumnus George Chochos started his college education behind bars. Last week he graduated with his master of divinity from Yale Divinity School.
Read More

Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Religion and Theology,Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Center for Civic Engagement,Bard Undergraduate Programs,Bard Prison Initiative |
05-25-2016
Chris Claremont has written more X-Men comics than anyone else, and his work has had a major impact on the franchise and the superhero genre generally.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Division of Languages and Literature,Bardians at Work,Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
05-23-2016
"I found myself going back to my childhood at Bard," writes Ducornet. "That campus had provided me so many amazing experiences."
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Division of Languages and Literature,Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
05-09-2016
BPI students are "some of the most driven and talented undergraduates we have anywhere in the United States," says Max Kenner, Bard Prison Initiative founder and director.
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Meta: Type(s): Staff | Subject(s): Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Center for Civic Engagement,Bard Prison Initiative |
05-03-2016
Bard College students and alumnae have won several prestigious awards and honors. Julia Tinneny ’18 has been awarded a 2016 Davis Projects for Peace Prize. Tinneny will spend the summer in Senegal, where she will work on a grassroots project to promote economic empowerment for women. Her project, called “Jappal,” the Wolof affirmative that translates to “hold on,” focuses on education and skill building for poor women living in the rural community of Sandiara. Through the development of economic independence within their own community, these women are able to break an aggressive cycle of poverty leading to domestic servitude or marriage far from their home village. The $10,000 Davis prize will support a two-year course that provides training for women in tailoring, artisanal skills, and the production of sellable goods. Tinneny is focusing on global and international studies at Bard. Projects for Peace was created in 2007 through the generosity of Kathryn W. Davis, a lifelong internationalist and philanthropist who believed that today’s youth—tomorrow’s leaders—ought to be challenged to formulate and test their own ideas.
 
Sophie Lazar ’15 has won a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship (ETA) to Ukraine for 2016–2017. Lazar is one of four ETA Fulbright recipients who will be placed in Ukraine to help teach English at the university level while serving as cultural ambassadors for the United States. Virginia Hanusik ’14 has been named an alternate recipient of the U.S. Fulbright Scholarship to the London School of Economics, where she has been accepted into the City Design and Social Science Master’s program.
 
Angie Del Arca ’16 has won a 2016 Humanity in Action Fellowship. Del Arca is one of 48 students selected from a nationwide pool of 513 applicants. The Humanity in Action Fellowship program brings together an international group of undergraduates and recent graduates from colleges including William and Mary, New York University, Harvard, and Duke, as well as students from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, Poland, and Ukraine, to explore past and present examples of resistance to intolerance, with a goal of encouraging future leaders to be engaged citizens and responsible decision makers. Del Arca’s fellowship will take her to Amsterdam, Berlin, Copenhagen, Sarajevo, and Warsaw. An orientation workshop in Washington, D.C., will focus on American civil rights, Holocaust education, European security and political issues, as well as how to engage human rights work in innovative and artistic ways.
 
Kayla Adams ‘19 and Corrina Gross ‘19 have both won Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarships to study abroad this summer in Qingdao, China. Sponsored by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, Gilman scholars receive up to $5,000 toward study abroad or internship costs. The program aims to diversify the students who study abroad and the countries and regions where they go. Congressman Gilman, who retired in 2002 after serving in the House of Representatives for 30 years and chairing the House Foreign Relations Committee, commented, “Study abroad is a special experience for every student who participates. Living and learning in a vastly different environment of another nation not only exposes our students to alternate views, but also adds an enriching social and cultural experience. It also provides our students with the opportunity to return home with a deeper understanding of their place in the world, encouraging them to be a contributor, rather than a spectator in the international community.”
 
Dariel Vasquez ’17 was named a finalist out of a record number of 775 nominees nationwide for the prestigious Truman Scholarship. The Truman Scholarship Foundation, established by Congress in 1975 as the federal memorial to our 33rd president, awards scholarships for students demonstrating outstanding leadership potential and communication skills, academic excellence, and a commitment to careers in government or the nonprofit sector.
 
Photo: L-R: Dariel Vasquez, Julia Tinneny, Corrina Gross, Kayla Adams, and Angie Del Arca Credit: Photo: Bari Bossis '19
Meta: Type(s): Student | Subject(s): Student,Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
05-03-2016
Bard College students and alumnae have won several prestigious awards and honors. Among them are two Fulbrights, two Gilman Scholarships, a Davis Project for Peace Prize, a Humanity in Action Fellowship, and a Truman Scholarship finalist.
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Photo: L-R: Dariel Vasquez, Julia Tinneny, Corrina Gross, Kayla Adams, and Angie Del Arca.
Meta: Type(s): Student | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Bardians at Work,Student | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |

April 2016

04-28-2016
The Dutchess County Regional Chamber of Commerce 40 Under 40 Shaker Awards were presented on April 28, recognizing the next generation of leaders in the region.
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Photo: L-R: Dariel Vasquez, Julia Tinneny, Corrina Gross, Kayla Adams, and Angie Del Arca.
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Bardians at Work,Environmental/Sustainability | Institutes(s): Bard MBA in Sustainability,Bard Prison Initiative,Bard Undergraduate Programs,Center for Civic Engagement |
04-25-2016
The Bard College community packed the Bertelsmann Campus Center and other campus venues for Teach-In 2016 on Tuesday, April 19, and Wednesday, April 20. The Teach-In featured lectures, workshops, performances, and exhibitions designed to educate and engage the campus.
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Photo: Guest artist Clifford Owens speaks with Teach-In coorganizer Natalie Desrosiers. Credit: Photo: Pete Mauney '93 MFA '00
Meta: Type(s): Student | Subject(s): Student,Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae,Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs,Center for Civic Engagement |
04-15-2016
Schapiro speaks about the Bowie photo shoot that would produce some of the most iconic album art and magazine images of the 1970s, now collected in his new book, Bowie.
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Photo: Guest artist Clifford Owens speaks with Teach-In coorganizer Natalie Desrosiers. Credit: Photo: Pete Mauney '93 MFA '00
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Division of the Arts,Bardians at Work | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
04-13-2016
Bard alum Felix Walworth '13 plays music in four New York City bands, and is releasing an album on June 17 for Told Slant, a band formed on the Bard campus.
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Photo: Guest artist Clifford Owens speaks with Teach-In coorganizer Natalie Desrosiers. Credit: Photo: Pete Mauney '93 MFA '00
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Bardians at Work,Music | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
04-04-2016
Max Kenner '01, Bard College alumnus and Bard Prison Initiative founder and executive director, has been named an honoree of the Tribeca Film Festival's 2016 Disruptive Innovation Awards.
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Photo: Guest artist Clifford Owens speaks with Teach-In coorganizer Natalie Desrosiers. Credit: Photo: Pete Mauney '93 MFA '00
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs,Bard Prison Initiative |
04-01-2016
The "Shakespeare-steeped" poetry of distinguished poet, Bard College alumnus, and former Bard faculty member Anthony Hecht '44 is praised in the New Criterion.
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Photo: Guest artist Clifford Owens speaks with Teach-In coorganizer Natalie Desrosiers. Credit: Photo: Pete Mauney '93 MFA '00
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Division of Languages and Literature,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |

March 2016

03-25-2016
Conductor David Bloom '13, M.M. '15 offers tips on leading youth orchestras and reveals what it’s like to work with Courtney Love.
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Photo: Guest artist Clifford Owens speaks with Teach-In coorganizer Natalie Desrosiers. Credit: Photo: Pete Mauney '93 MFA '00
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Music,Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs,Bard Conservatory of Music |
03-24-2016
Artistic Director Fionn Meade CCS '09 called de Bellis and fellow new hire Adrienne Edwards "two of the most exciting and dynamic curators in contemporary interdisciplinary practice."
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Photo: Guest artist Clifford Owens speaks with Teach-In coorganizer Natalie Desrosiers. Credit: Photo: Pete Mauney '93 MFA '00
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Bardians at Work,Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Center for Curatorial Studies |
03-23-2016
"The tattered history of the Ojibway people of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula is redeemed through punk-rock humor" in Adam and Zack Khalil's INAATE/SE/.
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Photo: Guest artist Clifford Owens speaks with Teach-In coorganizer Natalie Desrosiers. Credit: Photo: Pete Mauney '93 MFA '00
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion,Film,Bardians at Work,Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
03-16-2016
Madeleine Wise '12, Milo Cramer '12, and Morgan Green ’12 of the New Saloon appear in the upcoming Minor Character: Six Translations of Uncle Vanya at the Same Time.
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Photo: Guest artist Clifford Owens speaks with Teach-In coorganizer Natalie Desrosiers. Credit: Photo: Pete Mauney '93 MFA '00
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Bardians at Work,Theater | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
03-13-2016
Arthur Holland Michel, cofounder and codirector of Bard's Center for the Study of the Drone, talks about the public fascination with, and fear of, drones.
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Photo: Guest artist Clifford Owens speaks with Teach-In coorganizer Natalie Desrosiers. Credit: Photo: Pete Mauney '93 MFA '00
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Division of Social Studies,Division of Science, Math, and Computing,Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
03-11-2016
The American Academy of Arts and Letters has awarded Bard alumnus and composer Dylan Mattingly a Charles Ives Scholarship of $7,500, which is given to composition students of great promise.
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Photo: Guest artist Clifford Owens speaks with Teach-In coorganizer Natalie Desrosiers. Credit: Photo: Pete Mauney '93 MFA '00
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Bardians at Work,Music,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
03-03-2016
BPI founder Max Kenner '01 and alumnus George Chochos '08 speak about the program's history, expansion, and its profound impact on students.
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Photo: Guest artist Clifford Owens speaks with Teach-In coorganizer Natalie Desrosiers. Credit: Photo: Pete Mauney '93 MFA '00
Meta: Type(s): Event | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Bardians at Work | Institutes(s): Center for Civic Engagement,Bard Prison Initiative,Bard Undergraduate Programs |
03-03-2016
Virginia Hanusik's photography project focuses on coastal land loss in Louisiana, which relates to work she began during her sophomore year at Bard.
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Photo: Guest artist Clifford Owens speaks with Teach-In coorganizer Natalie Desrosiers. Credit: Photo: Pete Mauney '93 MFA '00
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Division of Social Studies,Division of the Arts,Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
03-02-2016
J. p. Lawrence '14, an Army National Guard member who was deployed to Iraq, reports on an American lawyer who defends Ugandans wounded on American bases in Iraq.
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Photo: Guest artist Clifford Owens speaks with Teach-In coorganizer Natalie Desrosiers. Credit: Photo: Pete Mauney '93 MFA '00
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Division of Social Studies,Politics and International Affairs,Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
03-02-2016
Ben Hopkins ’14 and Liv Bruce ’15, who make up the punk band PWR BTTM, require that every venue where they perform have gender-neutral bathrooms.
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Photo: Guest artist Clifford Owens speaks with Teach-In coorganizer Natalie Desrosiers. Credit: Photo: Pete Mauney '93 MFA '00
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion,Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae,Music | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |

February 2016

02-25-2016
Elizabeth Royte '81 wrote the cover story for the March issue of National Geographic on how one third of global food is wasted, and the people who are working to change that.
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Photo: Guest artist Clifford Owens speaks with Teach-In coorganizer Natalie Desrosiers. Credit: Photo: Pete Mauney '93 MFA '00
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Division of Social Studies,Wellness,Environmental/Sustainability,Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
02-24-2016
"Apple’s marketing promises that each new product will help us live up to our highest ideals; however, more often than not, the products ... enable our basest impulses," Marrs writes.
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Photo: Guest artist Clifford Owens speaks with Teach-In coorganizer Natalie Desrosiers. Credit: Photo: Pete Mauney '93 MFA '00
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Division of Social Studies,Division of Science, Math, and Computing,Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
02-23-2016
Arthur Holland Michel '13, cofounder and codirector of Bard's Center for the Study of the Drone, gives input on the use of drones to prevent rhino poaching in South Africa.
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Photo: Guest artist Clifford Owens speaks with Teach-In coorganizer Natalie Desrosiers. Credit: Photo: Pete Mauney '93 MFA '00
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Bardians at Work | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
02-14-2016
"Worm Loves Worm ... brilliantly explores the idea of love between two beings, regardless of gender (or species) and despite societal ­pressures."
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Photo: Guest artist Clifford Owens speaks with Teach-In coorganizer Natalie Desrosiers. Credit: Photo: Pete Mauney '93 MFA '00
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Division of Languages and Literature,Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae,Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
02-13-2016
Nguyen Khoi Nguyen, video and multimedia editor at Science magazine, created this video on last week's monumental, first-time detection of gravitational waves.
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Photo: Guest artist Clifford Owens speaks with Teach-In coorganizer Natalie Desrosiers. Credit: Photo: Pete Mauney '93 MFA '00
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Division of Science, Math, and Computing,Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
02-11-2016
Cekala found beauty in the salt used to keep Boston roads safe. Her curiosity has led to an exhibition of photography and video, now on view for the second time in the city.
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Photo: Guest artist Clifford Owens speaks with Teach-In coorganizer Natalie Desrosiers. Credit: Photo: Pete Mauney '93 MFA '00
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Division of the Arts,Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
02-11-2016
Cynthia Conti-Cook will receive the Michele S. Maxian Award for Outstanding Public Defense Practitioner for her instrumental role in the Eric Garner case.
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Photo: Guest artist Clifford Owens speaks with Teach-In coorganizer Natalie Desrosiers. Credit: Photo: Pete Mauney '93 MFA '00
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
02-10-2016
Caitlin Keogh is now being represented by Chelsea gallery Bortolami. Her work can be found in the well-received group exhibition “Flatlands” at the Whitney Museum of Art.
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Photo: Guest artist Clifford Owens speaks with Teach-In coorganizer Natalie Desrosiers. Credit: Photo: Pete Mauney '93 MFA '00
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Bardians at Work,Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): MFA |
02-09-2016
The new culinary education center, cofounded by world-renowned restaurateur Claus Meyer, is free to residents of Brownsville, Brooklyn.
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Photo: Guest artist Clifford Owens speaks with Teach-In coorganizer Natalie Desrosiers. Credit: Photo: Pete Mauney '93 MFA '00
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Center for Civic Engagement,Bard Undergraduate Programs |
02-01-2016
Joris-Peyrafitte’s "tragic love story for the no-labels generation" began as his Senior Project at Bard in 2014, and has now won a Special Jury Award at the Sundance Film Festival.
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Photo: Guest artist Clifford Owens speaks with Teach-In coorganizer Natalie Desrosiers. Credit: Photo: Pete Mauney '93 MFA '00
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Film,Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |

January 2016

01-29-2016
Ralph Nader interviewed environmental writer and Bard alumna Elizabeth Royte '81 on why vultures are critical to the ecosystem.
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Photo: Guest artist Clifford Owens speaks with Teach-In coorganizer Natalie Desrosiers. Credit: Photo: Pete Mauney '93 MFA '00
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae,Environmental/Sustainability | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
01-28-2016
Founded at Bard in 2010 and led by alumni/ae, Contemporaneous now makes its home in New York City. The ensemble plays Murray's in Tivoli on February 2.
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Photo: Guest artist Clifford Owens speaks with Teach-In coorganizer Natalie Desrosiers. Credit: Photo: Pete Mauney '93 MFA '00
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Music,Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs,Bard Conservatory of Music |
01-27-2016
Arthur Holland Michel investigated how a small team of engineers built the first lethal Predator drone and created the basis for modern drone warfare leading up to the Sept. 11 attacks.
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Photo: Guest artist Clifford Owens speaks with Teach-In coorganizer Natalie Desrosiers. Credit: Photo: Pete Mauney '93 MFA '00
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Division of Social Studies,Division of Science, Math, and Computing,Politics and International Affairs,Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
01-22-2016
The fourth annual Bard Works program runs from Sunday, January 24, to Friday, January 29, offering opportunities for students to gain valuable career tools as they near graduation. Juniors and seniors participate in a series of workshops, networking events, and other professional development activities. With the support of mentors from the campus community and beyond, students hone their business etiquette and job searching skills, work on public speaking and workplace leadership, and explore how to translate their undergraduate education to the global marketplace. Participants include 65 students and more than 50 alumni/ae, parents, and local professionals.
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Meta: Type(s): Event | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Bardians at Work,Career Development | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs,Center for Civic Engagement |
01-22-2016
Bard MFA alumna Robin Coste Lewis discusses her book Voyage of the Sable Venus, which won the National Book Award last year.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Division of Languages and Literature,Bardians at Work,Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): MFA |
01-11-2016
Jedamiah Wolf, alumnus of the Bard Center for Environmental Policy, coauthors this examination of how and why Congress removed sustainability concerns from the 2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae,Environmental/Sustainability | Institutes(s): Bard Center for Environmental Policy |
01-08-2016
Eight Bard alumni/ae are involved in the production of Bieber Bathos Elegy, created by Felix Bernstein '13, which will premiere at the Whitney Museum in New York City on January 15. This hybrid work by New York–based artist, poet, and writer Bernstein combines musical performance, poetry, cabaret drag, and opera to explore the concept of bathos—the failure to achieve pathos—and illuminate issues of identity and persona through the character of Justin Bieber. The work is directed by Gabe Rubin '14 with assistant director Clara Lipfert MFA '18, composed by Rron Karahoda '13, with production design by George Dupont '14 and sound design by Cammisa Buerhaus MFA '18, and features musical performances by Leila Bordreuil '13 and Lazar Bozic '14.
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Meta: Type(s): Event | Subject(s): Division of Languages and Literature,Theater,Music,Alumni/ae,Division of the Arts,Bardians at Work | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
01-05-2016
"At a time when many people question the value of a liberal-arts education, Max Kenner believes — fervently — that studying the humanities and sciences can transform lives."
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Credit: Photo by China Jorrin
Meta: Type(s): Staff | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Bardians at Work | Institutes(s): Bard Prison Initiative,Center for Civic Engagement |
01-04-2016
Films by Film and Electronic Arts faculty members So Yong Kim and Kelly Reichardt as well as alumnus Miles Joris-Peyrafitte '14 will premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, later this month. Reichardt's Certain Women features Kristen Stewart, Laura Dern, Michelle Williams, and James Le Gros. The film follows the intersecting lives of three women in small-town America, and is based on short stories by Maile Meloy. In Kim's Lovesong, with Jena Malone, Riley Keough, and Brooklyn Decker, the relationship between two friends deepens during an impromptu road trip. Joris-Peyrafitte's As You Are is the telling and retelling of a relationship between three teenagers through a construction of disparate memories prompted by a police investigation, with Owen Campbell, Charlie Heaton, Amandla Stenberg, John Scurti, Scott Cohen, and Mary Stuart Masterson.

Meta: Type(s): Faculty | Subject(s): Division of the Arts,Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae,Film | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |

December 2015

12-17-2015
Holland Michel, Bard alumnus and codirector of Bard's Drone Center, unfolds the little-known history of the rise of unmanned aircraft in the American military.
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Meta: Type(s): Staff | Subject(s): Division of Science, Math, and Computing,Politics and International Affairs,Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
12-11-2015
A study by two researchers at the Center for the Study of the Drone, at Bard College, provides a comprehensive overview of the risks posed to manned aircraft by unmanned aircraft.
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Meta: Type(s): Event | Subject(s): Division of Social Studies,Division of Science, Math, and Computing,Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Center for Civic Engagement,Bard Undergraduate Programs |
12-11-2015
With the holiday season approaching, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) estimates that up to one million new drones will be entering U.S. airspace, creating potentially dangerous situations for unmanned and manned aircraft. A new study released today by The Center for the Study of the Drone at Bard College offers a comprehensive examination of incidents involving drones and manned aircraft in the national airspace over the past two years. Using data from the FAA and Department of Interior, the report, “Drone Sightings and Close Encounters: An Analysis,” explores 921 incidents in the national airspace from December 2013 to September 2015. Coauthors Dan Gettinger and Arthur Holland Michel identified 327 close encounters in which drones presented some level of hazard to manned aircraft, 90 of which involved commercial multiengine jets, and 594 sightings, in which drones were spotted near or within manned aircraft flight paths but did not pose immediate danger of collision.
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Credit: Photo by Don Hamerman
Meta: Type(s): Event | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Division of Science, Math, and Computing,Division of Social Studies,Bardians at Work,Politics and International Affairs | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs,Center for Civic Engagement |
12-10-2015
Bard senior Antoinette Kane has been honored with the 2015 Spirit Award, which recognizes a young person in foster care who is succeeding in college. The award carries a $10,000 scholarship.
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Credit: Photo by Don Hamerman
Meta: Type(s): Student | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Bardians at Work | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs,Center for Civic Engagement |
12-05-2015
She may feel more comfortable as a supporting player, but Blythe Danner proves she can hold her own as a lead in the new film I’ll See You in My Dreams.
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Credit: Photo by Don Hamerman
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Division of the Arts,Bardians at Work,Film | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
12-02-2015
Hudson Valley Magazine interviewed Bard alumna and La Voz editor Mariel Fiori for their December Women in Business issue.
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Credit: Photo by Don Hamerman
Meta: Type(s): Staff | Subject(s): Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion,Division of Languages and Literature,Foreign Language,Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Center for Civic Engagement,Bard Undergraduate Programs |

November 2015

11-26-2015
After graduating from Bard, photography major Nick Zinner became the guitarist of the band the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Zinner's photographs of his life on and off stage are now on view at an L.A. gallery.
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Credit: Photo by Don Hamerman
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Bardians at Work,Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
11-25-2015
After earning degrees from Bard and New York Theological Seminary and enrolling at Yale, George Chocos shared his story recently as part of Senate and House briefings with faith leaders.
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Credit: Photo by Don Hamerman
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Religion and Theology,Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Center for Civic Engagement,Bard Undergraduate Programs,Bard Prison Initiative |
11-25-2015
Janet Echelman MFA '98 creates aerial sculptures out of high-tech fibers used in NASA spacesuits. Her work has been commissioned for the inaugural exhibition at the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
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Credit: Photo by Don Hamerman
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Bardians at Work,Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
11-18-2015
Center for Civic Engagement Senior Fellow Jonathan Cristol discusses revisions to the UNSC within the current structure.
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Credit: Photo by Don Hamerman
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Bardians at Work,Politics and International Affairs,Division of Social Studies | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs,Center for Civic Engagement |
11-18-2015
After spending his last two years taking college classes at BHSEC Manhattan, Conrad Taylor transferred to Binghamton University and got elected to City Council.
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Credit: Photo by Don Hamerman
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Politics and International Affairs,Early Colleges,Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Center for Civic Engagement,BHSECs |
11-13-2015
On Thursday, November 12, the Center for Civic Engagement at Bard College brought 48 students to the nation's capital for Bard Works D.C. This career development event featured Bard alumni/ae presenting on their work in the D.C. area, with opportunities for students to ask questions and connect with leaders in politics, government, the nonprofit and private sectors, and the arts. The Bard Works D.C. schedule included a reception on Thursday evening with Bard alumni/ae, parents, and friends, and a day of panels on Friday. Bard Works 2016, a weeklong professional development event for Bard juniors and seniors, will take place January 24–29 in Annandale.

Meta: Type(s): Event | Subject(s): Career Development,Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Center for Civic Engagement |
11-12-2015
Governor Andrew Cuomo welcomed 80 additional educators to the Master Teacher Program this fall, including Bard MAT alumna and Red Hook Central School District science teacher Amanda Stoddard MAT '08. These outstanding teachers have been recognized for their dedication to providing the most innovative STEM education to their students, their commitment to professional growth, and their enthusiasm for sharing their successful practices with colleagues in their schools and districts. Stoddard joins fellow Bard MAT alumni/ae master teachers Kate Belin '05, Colleen Bucci '08, and Beth Goldberg '06.

Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Bardians at Work | Institutes(s): Master of Arts in Teaching |
11-11-2015
Los Angeles–based photographer and Bard alumnus Skyler Dahan talks about how a class with Bard Professor Tim Davis got him out of his comfort zone.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Division of the Arts,Bardians at Work | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
11-09-2015
For the first time, the Museum of Modern Art and the Performa art biennial have co-commissioned a work: There Are Certain Facts That Cannot Be Disputed, by Bard alumna Juliana Huxtable.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Division of Languages and Literature,Bardians at Work,Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
11-08-2015
Washington State native and Bard alumna Jenny Riffle answered curator Stuart Pilkington's call for landscape photography in one's own back yard with Snoqualmie Evergreens.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Bardians at Work,Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
11-01-2015
Seven of the 10 recipients of the 2015 Anonymous Was A Woman Award have Bard College affiliations, including faculty members, visiting artists, artists in residence, and alumnae. Anonymous Was A Woman is an unrestricted grant of $25,000 that enables women artists, over 40 years of age and at a significant juncture in their lives or careers, to continue to grow and pursue their work. The award is given in recognition of an artist's accomplishments, artistic growth, and the quality of her work. The Bard-affiliated 2015 winners are: Wendy Ewald, former Bard MFA visiting artist; Rachel Harrison, Bard MFA faculty member and former visiting artist; Pam Lins, Bard MFA faculty member; Jennifer Montgomery, former Bard MFA faculty and Bard MFA ’94 alumna; Dona Nelson, Bard MFA faculty member; Lisa Sanditz, visiting assistant professor of studio arts at Bard College; Julianne Swartz, artist in residence in studio arts at Bard College and Bard MFA ‘02 alumna. More about the award

Meta: Type(s): Faculty | Subject(s): Division of the Arts,Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): MFA,Bard Undergraduate Programs |
11-01-2015
Last week Gettinger and Holland Michel participated in a two-day war game designed to explore the different ways that drones could be used for tactical and strategic effect in a conflict.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Division of Science, Math, and Computing,Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
11-01-2015
"Focusing on diverse topics ... Siegel’s increasingly elegant and astute works dive deep into her subjects but never explain them," writes Steel Stillman.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Division of the Arts,Bardians at Work | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |

October 2015

10-30-2015
Bard alumna and deaf artist Christine Sun Kim received her MFA in Music/Sound from Bard. Her installations highlight the conceptual aspects of sound and engage both deaf and hearing participants.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Bardians at Work,Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
10-26-2015
Visitors came from around the country to visit Annandale October 23 – 25 for Family and Alumni/ae Fall Weekend. The three-day schedule included a host of activities, from canoeing on Tivoli Bays to the Fisher Center debut of The Orchestra Now, Bard's new training orchestra and master's degree program. Participants attended sample classes in every division, shared the annual Fall Harvest Lunch and many other meals, enjoyed a farmer's market and student art sale, student and alumni/ae athletic events, and behind-the-scenes tours of favorite places on campus.

Meta: Type(s): Event | Subject(s): Admission,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
10-22-2015
J. p. Lawrence '14 interviews Bard biologist Felicia Keesing and other experts about the potential increase in the number of rodents and ticks brought about by a local abundance of acorns.
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Meta: Type(s): Faculty | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Environmental/Sustainability,Division of Science, Math, and Computing | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
10-09-2015
Mark O'Connell writes about how Simon's Rock Dean Leslie Davidson gave him the support he needed as a struggling, young gay man.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Early Colleges,Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard College at Simon's Rock |
10-09-2015
"Austrian and Curato turn the simple wedding of two worms into a three-ring circus that slyly turns the whole controversy over same-sex versus heterosexual marriage on its head."
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Division of the Arts,Bardians at Work,Division of Languages and Literature | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
10-07-2015
Eden, one of the first graduates of Bard's Center for Curatorial Studies, talks about her new role leading Houston nonprofit, multidisciplinary art center DiverseWorks.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Division of the Arts,Bardians at Work | Institutes(s): Center for Curatorial Studies |
10-04-2015
Fite transformed a 6.5-acre abandoned stone quarry in Saugerties, New York, into a monumental sculpture park. Now visitors can stay overnight in Fite's own house.
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Meta: Type(s): Faculty | Subject(s): Bardians at Work,Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
10-03-2015
Jim Toia captures nature in his work, creating art from preserved spider webs. An exhibition of his work is now on view at the New Jersey State Museum.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Division of the Arts,Bardians at Work | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |

September 2015

09-30-2015
Jonathan Cristol '00 talks with Anna Maria Tremonti and Michelle Fanzo about the impact of the permanent member nations on the UNSC.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Politics and International Affairs,Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Center for Civic Engagement,Bard Undergraduate Programs |
09-28-2015
Tirzah Brott's Senior Project gets some media attention and she lands a job as an assistant photo editor at New York magazine with the help of fellow alumna Roxanne Behr '10.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Career Development,Bardians at Work,Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
09-28-2015
After speaking at Bard on September 28 about her memoir, Suffering the Silence, which started as her Senior Project, Cashel appeared on Good Day New York on Fox 5.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Wellness,Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
09-27-2015
"Adam Conover’s new television series isn’t the first dedicated to the fine art of debunking, but it’s one of the most entertaining."
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Theater,Bardians at Work,Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
09-26-2015
Jonathan Cristol, Bard alumnus and senior fellow at the Center for Civic Engagement, answers an intriguing question from the application for the Bard Globalization and International Affairs Program.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Politics and International Affairs,Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Center for Civic Engagement |
09-20-2015
Daniszewski and Lazar are tutors in the New Generation Academy, an intensive one-year college preparatory program, at Bard partner American University of Central Asia.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Bardians at Work | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs,Center for Civic Engagement,IILE |
09-19-2015
Fennelly talks about working with Maryanne Amacher and David Behrman as a student in the Bard MFA program.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Division of the Arts,Bardians at Work,Music | Institutes(s): MFA |
09-13-2015
On Monday, September 28, Bard alumna Allie Cashel ’13 will read from a memoir of her experience with chronic Lyme disease, Suffering the Silence: Chronic Lyme Disease in an Age of Denial. The reading is presented by the Written Arts and Biology Programs. A living portrait of chronic Lyme disease and its patients’ struggles for recognition and treatment, Suffering the Silence, originally Allie Cashel’s Senior Project, is now a full-length memoir that details Cashel’s own experience with chronic Lyme and shares the stories of a number of other patients from around the world. Introduced by Mary Caponegro ’78, Bard literature professor, and followed by a Q&A, this event takes place at 7:30 p.m. in Weis Cinema in the Bertelsmann Campus Center.
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Meta: Type(s): Event | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Bardians at Work,Wellness,Division of Science, Math, and Computing,Division of Languages and Literature | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
09-11-2015
"I suspect the timeline for Assad to go will keep getting pushed into the future," says Jonathan Cristol, Bard alumnus and senior fellow at the Center for Civic Engagement.
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Meta: Type(s): Faculty | Subject(s): Politics and International Affairs,Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Center for Civic Engagement,Bard Undergraduate Programs |
09-08-2015
Emmy-winning actress Blythe Danner '65 has built a remarkable resume of stage and screen roles, but Brett Haley's I'll See You in My Dreams will be her first lead part in a film.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Theater,Film,Bardians at Work,Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
09-07-2015
Benjamin Barron '15, who cofounded the new fashion and culture publication ALL-IN with fellow alum Allison Littrell '14, tells us why he's not crazy and why print is more important than ever.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Division of Languages and Literature,Bardians at Work,Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
09-06-2015
Eccles and Katrib's selection of works by eight artists uses smartphones, billboards, and sculpture to challenge the meaning of public space.
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Meta: Type(s): Faculty | Subject(s): Bardians at Work,Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Center for Curatorial Studies |
09-04-2015
"A growing influencer in wood work, Sam Horowitz, showcases his intimate relationship with natural materials to reconstruct and influence our environments," writes Meg Busacca.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Division of the Arts,Bardians at Work | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
09-02-2015
The 2008 grad has moved up fast, and "distinguished himself as a fearless reporter on all things media."
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Bardians at Work,Politics and International Affairs | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
09-01-2015
Back in high school, when Betsaida Alcantara was considering college applications, her counselor told her Bard was “too out of reach.” But she applied anyway, and got accepted. Recently, a friend joked that when Alcantara, director of media planning for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, was traveling on Air Force One earlier this year, she should have called that counselor from the plane.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Politics and International Affairs,Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Center for Civic Engagement,Bard Undergraduate Programs |
09-01-2015
Back in high school, when Betsaida Alcantara was considering college applications, her counselor told her Bard was “too out of reach.” But she applied anyway, and got accepted. Recently, a friend joked that when Alcantara, director of media planning for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, was traveling on Air Force One earlier this year, she should have called that counselor from the plane. The anecdote was well received by her audience of Clemente Course in the Humanities graduates, to whom she gave this year’s commencement address.

Alcantara, 31, has come a long way since arriving in the United States at age 10 with her parents, neither of whom spoke English, from the Dominican Republic. From involvement in community outreach, she went on to join the press teams for Senators Robert Menendez and Charles Schumer, and the Obama presidential campaign; high-level communications positions at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), General Services Administration (GSA), and Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD); and now, handling communications for a presidential candidate. She credits her remarkable rise to a combination of openness, a hunger for knowledge, good mentoring, and her Bard education. “It’s been an incredible journey and I still haven’t processed it all,” she says. “Bard taught me how to think critically, write, and be creative—three important skills for a successful career in media, politics, and communications.”

She says leaving HUD was not an easy decision. “Secretary Julián Castro is a rising star in the Democratic Party,” she says. “I went to HUD because I wanted to get back to a mission, and you can’t find a more fundamental mission than having a roof over your head.” Castro (touted as a possible running mate to Clinton) had just arrived in Washington from being mayor of San Antonio, and Alcantara wanted to help him acclimatize. But less than a year into the job, the Clinton office called her. “They saw my work at EPA, GSA, and HUD and thought I was a very creative communicator. I was flattered and torn.” She listed pros and cons: The pros—“I’m young, I don’t have children, I should do it while I can”—won.

Betsaida Alcantara; HUD Photography
Betsaida Alcantara
HUD Photography

Alcantara has always been a community and political activist. Her father is a labor organizer who mobilized migrant farmworkers in New York State 20 years ago, and started one of the first migrant labor organizations. She chose Bard because of its political activism. “I remember U.S. News & World Report ranked Bard near the top for political activism. I knew people from Bard who were involved with migrant farm work advocacy, so it was a natural connection.”

She studied political science with Omar Encarnación, professor of political studies, as Senior Project adviser. After graduating, she worked for the Worker Justice Center of New York. When Bard’s Career Development Office called and suggested she apply for a Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute Public Policy Fellowship in Washington D.C., she went for it, and within months, was working for both Menendez, one of the few Hispanic senators in Congress, and Schumer as a policy fellow. It was doubly gratifying that the senators were fighting for the immigration reform bill, one of her core interests. “Our family came to this country legally, but I saw the struggle of undocumented people.

In 2008, she joined the Obama campaign as deputy press secretary in Florida and bilingual spokesperson. She describes it as “communications boot camp. But I was young and hungry to learn. And I learned that elections matter.”

The following year she became deputy press secretary for the EPA, dealing with such issues as 2010’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill. “The EPA is one of the most vilified agencies, so from a communications standpoint it was extremely challenging, but also incredibly rewarding,” she says. She was promoted to press secretary, and worked on climate change, the first national program for fuel-economy standards for vehicles, and greenhouse gas emissions. “These were proposals that could change the course of a country, and that to me was incredibly exciting.” The position also offered her first crossover role, in which she was addressing the general population as well as the Hispanic audience. One task was to get out public health and environmental messages and engage more people. So she arranged for EPA Director Lisa Jackson, the first African American to head that agency, to appear in Oprah Magazine and on The Dr. Oz Show, appealing directly to moms.

In 2012, she accepted the position of communications director at GSA. It was a controversial time: the organization was embroiled in scandal following high-level firings over misspent taxpayer dollars. Friends questioned her choice. But, she points out, “We had a mandate from the president saying, ‘You are the new leadership of GSA, turn the ship around.’” It was her first management role. She was in charge of 100 people, with an annual budget of around $10 million. And she started by arranging a series of high profile interviews for the GSA director, such as with CNN and the New York Times.

To expand her career options, she applied for a six-month President’s Leadership Workshop at the White House. She was one of only 20 accepted out of thousands. As soon as she heard Castro was moving to HUD, she told the White House she wanted to be his communications director. “Two days later I was in his office talking to him. That’s how quickly it moved.” Alcantara says she had a great time at HUD, and planned to stay longer, until the Clinton campaign came calling.

For Clinton, she’s working on strategic planning, centered on the candidate herself, organizing interviews and media events. “There’s so much noise out there it’s hard to get the message out,” she says. “How do you let people know about her criminal justice reform initiative? Or that she's proposing a huge college assistance program? It’s a tough job, but I like challenges and I want to make sure Hillary wins.”


Photo: Bard alumna Betsaida Alcantara in conversation with President Obama. Credit: Photo by Pete Souza
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Politics and International Affairs,Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Center for Civic Engagement,Bard Undergraduate Programs |

August 2015

08-28-2015
Bard ecologist Erik Kiviat and Simon's Rock colleague Robert Schmidt were the first scientists to discover clam shrimp in New Jersey. Now Kiviat is on the hunt again for the rare crustacean.
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Photo: Bard alumna Betsaida Alcantara in conversation with President Obama. Credit: Photo by Pete Souza
Meta: Type(s): Faculty | Subject(s): Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae,Division of Science, Math, and Computing | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
08-19-2015
The Center for the Study of the Drone analyzed data from the Federal Aviation Administration and found 295 near misses between drones and manned aircraft in the U.S. since November 2014.
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Photo: Bard alumna Betsaida Alcantara in conversation with President Obama. Credit: Photo by Pete Souza
Meta: Type(s): Event | Subject(s): Division of Science, Math, and Computing,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
08-14-2015
Louis Heilbronn's first exhibition at the Galerie Polaris in Paris was a revelation for many photography critics.
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Photo: Bard alumna Betsaida Alcantara in conversation with President Obama. Credit: Photo by Pete Souza
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
08-12-2015
Molly Myerson moved from New York City to the Bay Area where she now has a pasture-raised flock of 200 Japanese quail.
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Photo: Bard alumna Betsaida Alcantara in conversation with President Obama. Credit: Photo by Pete Souza
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
08-12-2015
Bard Alumnus Ian Samuels was named in Filmmaker magazine's annual survey of new talent.
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Photo: Bard alumna Betsaida Alcantara in conversation with President Obama. Credit: Photo by Pete Souza
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Bardians at Work,Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
08-05-2015
More than 20 years ago Feldman started her now wildly successful crystal glassware company in her apartment with just $2,500 in savings.
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Photo: Bard alumna Betsaida Alcantara in conversation with President Obama. Credit: Photo by Pete Souza
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Bardians at Work,Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
08-05-2015
Herb Ritts '74 was famous for his celebrity portraits. Now his collection is on display in a career retrospective at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.
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Photo: Bard alumna Betsaida Alcantara in conversation with President Obama. Credit: Photo by Pete Souza
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |

July 2015

07-25-2015
Bard alumnus David Duckler’s origins as a tea importer began on a trip to China where he studied, through Bard College, on a Fulbright scholarship focused on tea culture and folklore.
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Photo: Bard alumna Betsaida Alcantara in conversation with President Obama. Credit: Photo by Pete Souza
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
07-16-2015
"Iran is going to get a nuclear weapon. Sooner or later, sanctions or no sanctions, deal or no deal," states Cristol, director of the Bard Globalization and International Affairs Program.
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Photo: Bard alumna Betsaida Alcantara in conversation with President Obama. Credit: Photo by Pete Souza
Meta: Type(s): Faculty | Subject(s): Division of Social Studies,Politics and International Affairs,Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Center for Civic Engagement,Bard Undergraduate Programs,Bard Globalization and International Affairs Program |
07-15-2015
Alumnus Dumaine Williams ’03, principal of Bard High School Early College Cleveland, urges legislators to support the Go to High School, Go to College Act of 2015.
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Photo: Bard alumna Betsaida Alcantara in conversation with President Obama. Credit: Photo by Pete Souza
Meta: Type(s): Event | Subject(s): Early Colleges,Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae,Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion | Institutes(s): Center for Civic Engagement,BHSECs,Bard Undergraduate Programs |
07-15-2015
Faustine’s series of self-portraits, titled "White Shoes," feature photographs of Faustine posing nude before New York landmarks where African men and women were once bought and sold.
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Photo: Bard alumna Betsaida Alcantara in conversation with President Obama. Credit: Photo by Pete Souza
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Bardians at Work,Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae,Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion | Institutes(s): ICP,Center for Civic Engagement |
07-06-2015
Bard alumnus and trustee Charles S. Johnson III has received a "Celebration of Civil Rights Milestones" award from the State Bar of Georgia and the Center for Civil and Human Rights.
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Photo: Bard alumna Betsaida Alcantara in conversation with President Obama. Credit: Photo by Pete Souza
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion,Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae,Division of Social Studies | Institutes(s): Center for Civic Engagement,Bard Undergraduate Programs |
07-04-2015
The Center for the Study of the Drone at Bard College has partnered with The Verge to create a database of the first 500 exemptions to the FAA's commercial drone restrictions.
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Photo: Bard alumna Betsaida Alcantara in conversation with President Obama. Credit: Photo by Pete Souza
Meta: Type(s): Event | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Division of Science, Math, and Computing,Division of Social Studies | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs,Center for Civic Engagement |

June 2015

06-30-2015
Alcantara leaves the communications department at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to join the Clinton presidential campaign as director of media planning.
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Photo: Bard alumna Betsaida Alcantara in conversation with President Obama. Credit: Photo by Pete Souza
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Politics and International Affairs,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
06-27-2015
Levy, an alumna of Bard's joint MFA program with The International Center of Photography (ICP), creates Hard to Swallow, a mini-documentary about the water crisis in Flint, Michigan.
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Photo: Bard alumna Betsaida Alcantara in conversation with President Obama. Credit: Photo by Pete Souza
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Bardians at Work | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
06-25-2015
Morrison takes a fresh approach to the study of microscopic killers: she combines new computational tools with traditional scientific methods.
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Photo: Bard alumna Betsaida Alcantara in conversation with President Obama. Credit: Photo by Pete Souza
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Wellness,Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae,Division of Science, Math, and Computing | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
06-24-2015
Soprano Clarissa Lyons ’11, alumna of the Bard College Conservatory of Music Graduate Vocal Arts Program (VAP), has been invited to join the Metropolitan Opera Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, capping an exciting year in which she was named the Grand Prize Winner at Florida Grand Opera’s Young Patronesses of the Opera Competition and the Glenn & Ginger Flournay Award Winner at Shreveport Opera’s Mary Jacobs Smith Singer of the Year Competition. In January, Lyons participated in The Song Continues series at Carnegie Hall, where she performed in a master class led by Warren Jones. She will return to Carnegie Hall in January 2016 to present a Spotlight Recital in Weill Hall as part of The Song Continues series alongside tenor Miles Mykkanen and pianist Ken Noda.
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Credit: Photo by Marielle Hayes
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Division of the Arts,Bardians at Work,Music,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Conservatory of Music |
06-11-2015
Choreographer, composer, and jazz singer Jeanne Lee makes this list of exceptional black women composers to look out for in June for Black Music Month.
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Credit: Photo by Marielle Hayes
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion,Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae,Music | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
06-11-2015
On June 11, Bard College's La Voz magazine was awarded the second place prize for Best Small Circulation Publication at the 2015 Ippies award ceremony. The Ippies are the only journalism awards in New York City to honor reporting in English and in languages other than English by the ethnic and community press. La Voz, cofounded by Mariel Fiori '05 and Emily Schmall '05 in 2004 as a Trustee Leader Scholar (TLS) project, serves the Latino community of the Hudson Valley with a free Spanish-language magazine.


Meta: Type(s): Event | Subject(s): Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion,Alumni/ae,Foreign Language | Institutes(s): Center for Civic Engagement,Bard Undergraduate Programs |
06-09-2015
The musical adaptation of Fun Home, the best-selling graphic memoir by Simon's Rock alumna Alison Bechdel, who received her A.A. degree in 1979, has won the Tony Award for best new musical.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Music,Division of Languages and Literature,Early Colleges,Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae,Theater | Institutes(s): Bard College at Simon's Rock |

April 2015

04-14-2015
 This summer, Jonah Richard is one of 54 student interns from across the U.S. worked side-by-side with top researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory to see how they seek out real-world solutions to the nation's energy challenges.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Environmental/Sustainability,Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
04-14-2015
This spring Triangle invites you to visit us at 20 Jay Street in Brooklyn, Suites 318 + 350 to meet artists-in-residence. View works-in-progress and engage directly with the artists whose projects span drawing, installation, painting, pedagogy, performance, photography, sculpture, video and more. 
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Bardians at Work,Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): MFA |
04-13-2015
Bard alumni Mildred Ruiz-Sapp '92 and Steven Sapp '89 each received the 2015 Doris Duke Artist Award in theatre. Mildred Ruiz-Sapp is an actress, poet, vocalist, and playwright; husband Steven Sapp is an actor, poet, director and playwright. Together, the two co-founded UNIVERSES in The Bronx, NY in 1995. UNIVERSES is an award winning poetic musical theater ensemble that has toured extensively nationally and abroad. The Doris Duke Artist Award, provided by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, is given to artists who have received national recognition for their work. The award provides grantees $275,000 and access to resources for audience development and creative exploration.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion,Theater,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
04-08-2015
"GABI is like a Princess and the Pea–style mattress, constructed of layers and layers of chiffon, looped vocals, soft pink light glowing."
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Music,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
04-02-2015
Ian Bickford has immersed himself in Bard's early colleges. He began as a student at Bard College at Simon's Rock in Massachusetts, and then served as a faculty member at Simon's Rock before joining the faculty at Bard High School Early College–Queens. Now he has returned to his alma mater to launch the new Bard Academy at Simon’s Rock: a 9th and 10th grade boarding and day college-preparatory program that will open its doors this fall.
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Meta: Type(s): Faculty | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Bardians at Work,Early Colleges | Institutes(s): Bard College at Simon's Rock |

March 2015

03-24-2015
In the late 1960s, Arthur Tress began creating staged photos of children's dreams and nightmares, producing a haunting series that went against the photojournalistic conventions of the time.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Division of the Arts,Bardians at Work | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
03-17-2015
Bard students founded Contemporaneous on campus in 2010. On March 8, the group returned to Bard for a well-received anniversary concert.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Student,Music,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs,Bard Conservatory of Music |
03-17-2015
Josephine Sacabo's haunting photographs, on view at the New Orleans Museum of Art, are created using a wet collodion on metal process that dates back to the 19th century.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Bardians at Work,Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
03-16-2015
Bard alumna Raquel Hardy and her high school boyfriend had very different experiences transitioning from a public high school in a poor neighborhood to elite private colleges (39:28).
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Bardians at Work | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
03-12-2015
Bard artist in residence Medrie MacPhee, alumnus Jeremiah Hulsebos-Spofford '06, and former visiting artists James Clark and Jane Rosen have been selected for the prestigious American Academy of Arts and Letters Annual Invitational Exhibition of Visual Arts. The exhibition features paintings, sculptures, photographs, and works on paper by 40 contemporary artists and will be on view at the galleries of the American Academy of Arts and Letters in New York City from March 12 through April 12. Participating artists were chosen from a pool of over 200 nominees submitted by the members of the Academy.
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Meta: Type(s): Event | Subject(s): Bardians at Work,Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |

February 2015

02-02-2015
CCS Bard alumna Ruba Katrib, curator at SculptureCenter in New York, discusses her journey from artist to curator and how women in the arts can support each other.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Division of the Arts,Bardians at Work | Institutes(s): Center for Curatorial Studies |

January 2015

01-30-2015
Allison Cekala '06 uses photography and video to trace the journey of road salt from Chile to Boston in her new exhibition at the Museum of Science.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Bardians at Work,Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae,Film | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
01-22-2015
The Times reviews Kansas City Choir Boy, a new opera featuring members of Contemporaneous under the musical direction of David Bloom '13.
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Meta: Type(s): Event | Subject(s): Student,Music,Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae,Theater | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
01-18-2015
The third annual Bard Works program runs from Sunday, January 18, to Friday, January 23, offering opportunities for students to gain valuable career tools as they near graduation. Juniors and seniors participate in a series of workshops, networking events, and other professional development activities. With the support of mentors from the campus community and beyond, students hone their business etiquette and job searching skills, work on public speaking and workplace leadership, and explore how to translate their undergraduate education to the global marketplace. Participants include more than 50 alumni/ae, parents, and local professionals. On Thursday, January 22, the program takes place in New York City with a day of panels and a networking reception hosted by the Bard College Alumni/ae Association Board of Governors. Read More


Meta: Type(s): Event | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Bardians at Work,Career Development | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs,Center for Civic Engagement |
01-14-2015
Four Bardians are involved in The Scarlet Ibis: Mallory Catlett '92, director; David Cote '92, librettist; Joe Silovsky '91, set designer; and Stefan Weisman '92, composer.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae,Bardians at Work | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
01-13-2015
Dylan Mattingly is composing the score for Quest, a film about the life-changing relationship between one of Mattingly's former teachers and another student.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Bardians at Work,Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae,Music | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
01-07-2015
Bard alumnus Ian Dreiblatt visits temple cults, urban landscapes, and cultures both modern and ancient through Robert Kelly's A Voice Full of Cities.
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Meta: Type(s): Faculty | Subject(s): Division of Languages and Literature,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
01-02-2015
The Bard Prison Initiative "is symbolic of what is best about our college and our community," says BPI director and Bard alumnus Max Kenner in this interview.
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Meta: Type(s): Staff | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Bardians at Work | Institutes(s): Bard Prison Initiative,Bard Undergraduate Programs,Center for Civic Engagement |

December 2014

12-22-2014
Contemporaneous, a new music ensemble featuring Bard students and alumni/ae, is performing the opera Kansas City Choir Boy with Courtney Love under the musical direction of David Bloom '13.
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Meta: Type(s): Event | Subject(s): Student,Music,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs,Bard Conservatory of Music |
12-22-2014
Erica Ball composed her first piece of music at age five. Now Ball, who majored in music and environmental studies at Bard, is working on her Ph.D. in composition at the University of Pennsylvania.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Music,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
12-11-2014
“The most important thing we can do in the United States isn’t just [to] transform the prison system,” says Max Kenner '01. “We have to transform education in this country ...”
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Meta: Type(s): Staff | Subject(s): Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Center for Civic Engagement,Bard Undergraduate Programs,Bard Prison Initiative |
12-10-2014
Rhinebeck's beloved Sinterklaas festival is the brainchild of Bard alumnus Jeanne Fleming ’70, who is also behind the famous Greenwich Village Halloween Parade.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
12-10-2014
Sundance describes Ian Samuels's new film as, "A heartbroken alien dreamer from the moon transitions into young adult life in Los Angeles just like any other 20-something."
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Film,Bardians at Work,Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
12-09-2014
Arthur Holland Michel cautions that the state of consumer drone regulation is “like the early days of the automobile, with people speeding and not knowing what they were doing."
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Division of Science, Math, and Computing,Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
12-03-2014
Between 2008 and 2013, architectural photographer Felicella captured all 212 branch libraries of New York City’s three public library systems.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Division of the Arts | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
12-03-2014
Mariel Fiori talks about the character of the Hudson Valley's Hispanic population, and why she founded Bard's La Voz magazine to help serve its needs.
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Meta: Type(s): Staff | Subject(s): Division of Languages and Literature,Foreign Language,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Center for Civic Engagement,Bard Undergraduate Programs |
12-02-2014
Chan’s “singular artistic voice” and versatile practice won him the prestigious award, which includes a $100,000 prize and an exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Bardians at Work,Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): MFA |
12-01-2014
David Parker ’81 choreographs this new take on Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker, with "enough creative pluckiness to reawaken the holiday spirit." Performances December 20–21.
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Meta: Type(s): Event | Subject(s): Dance,Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |

November 2014

11-24-2014
After being trapped in the 2010 earthquake, Brelsford has gone on to raise money for the people of Haiti, continue her research, and compete as a paraclimber.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Division of Science, Math, and Computing,Early Colleges,Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Center for Civic Engagement,Bard College at Simon's Rock |
11-20-2014
Arthur Holland Michel, Bard alumnus and codirector of Bard's Center for the Study of the Drone, weighs in on this Google Hangout.
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Meta: Type(s): Staff | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Bardians at Work,Division of Science, Math, and Computing,Division of Social Studies | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs,Center for Civic Engagement |
11-11-2014
This work-in-progress "easily has the makings of a professional production," writes Seth Rogovoy.
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Meta: Type(s): Event | Subject(s): Student,Music,Bardians at Work,Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae,Theater | Institutes(s): Fisher Center,Bard Undergraduate Programs |
11-01-2014
Lisa Oppenheim is the recipient of the prestigious Aimia | AGO Photography Prize which carries a $50,000 CAD prize in addition to a six-week, fully funded residency.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae,Bardians at Work | Institutes(s): MFA |

October 2014

10-30-2014
Opus 40, the 6 1/2 acre outdoor sculpture created by Bard alumnus and faculty member Harvey Fite, has been named to the prestigious 2014 list of endangered landscapes by The Cultural Landscape Foundation.
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Meta: Type(s): Faculty | Subject(s): Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
10-27-2014
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Environmental/Sustainability | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
10-25-2014
Bard College's newest athletic facility, Honey Field, was dedicated in a ceremony on Saturday afternoon. The ceremony was followed by an intrasquad baseball scrimmage.
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Meta: Type(s): Event | Subject(s): Athletics,Alumni/ae,Bardians at Work | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
10-24-2014
The Environmental Consortium of Colleges & Universities has awarded its Great Work Award in honor of Thomas Berry this year to Erik Kiviat ’76, executive director and cofounder of Hudsonia, a not-for-profit institute for research, education, and technical assistance in the environmental sciences based at the Bard College Field Station on the Hudson River. A certified wetland scientist, Kiviat has more than 45 years’ experience with natural history and environmental issues—especially those related to rare native species as well as invasive nonnative species—in the Northeast, and across North America, Europe, and Africa.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Environmental/Sustainability,Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Center for Civic Engagement,Bard Undergraduate Programs |
10-17-2014
Bard Prison Initiative founder and director Max Kenner '01—who "champions the transformative power of a college degree for inmates nationwide"—is honored with the Smithsonian Ingenuity Award.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Center for Civic Engagement,Bard Undergraduate Programs,Bard Prison Initiative |
10-17-2014
Max Kenner kicked off his acceptance speech by sharing the story of how the Bard Debate Union at Eastern Correctional Facility beat the University of Vermont this fall.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Bardians at Work | Institutes(s): Center for Civic Engagement,Bard Undergraduate Programs,Bard Prison Initiative |
10-17-2014
Max Kenner, Bard alumnus and executive director of the Bard Prison Initiative (BPI), has won the 2014 Smithsonian American Ingenuity Award in Education. The awards recognize 10 of the year’s most amazing achievements and the innovators behind them. On October 16, Smithsonian magazine, the flagship publication of Smithsonian Media, announced winners of the third annual American Ingenuity Awards, saluting 10 groundbreaking individuals across nine categories including technology, performing and visual arts, natural and physical sciences, education, historical scholarship, social progress, and youth achievement. Max Kenner conceived of and created the BPI as a student volunteer organization when he was an undergraduate at Bard College in 1999. Over the last decade, Kenner has led the expansion of BPI from a pilot program with 15 students to a nationally recognized education initiative enrolling nearly 300 students across six campuses in correctional facilities throughout New York State.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Prison Initiative,Bard Undergraduate Programs,Center for Civic Engagement |
10-17-2014
One-third of food is lost or wasted, writes Bard alumna Elizabeth Royte, but producers and consumers can take steps to change that.
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Meta: Type(s): Event | Subject(s): Wellness,Environmental/Sustainability,Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae,Politics and International Affairs | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
10-14-2014
Bard alumna and La Voz editor Mariel Fiori '05 has been named an Entrepreneurial Woman of the Year by Gateway to Entrepreneurial Tomorrows, Inc. (GET). GET promotes economic development in the Hudson Valley by supporting women, minorities, youth, and veterans in starting their own businesses. Every year the organization recognizes outstanding regional businesspeople with the Hudson Valley Entrepreneurial Awards. Mariel Fiori, who cofounded the Spanish-language magazine La Voz as a Bard student and has edited the publication for a decade, will be recognized for her contributions as a community leader. Fiori and five other awardees will be honored at GET's 10th anniversary celebration on Thursday, October 23, as part of the Hudson Valley Entrepreneurial Conference and Expo in Wappinger Falls.
Credit: Photo by Richard Renaldi
Meta: Type(s): Staff | Subject(s): Bardians at Work,Division of Languages and Literature,Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs,Center for Civic Engagement |
10-13-2014
What makes herpes viruses so difficult to kill? Biophysicist Z. Hong Zhou may have found the answer in a layer of microscopic chain mail, writes Bard biology alumna Diana Crow '13.
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Credit: Photo by Richard Renaldi
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Division of Science, Math, and Computing,Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
10-10-2014
Stunning photography by Laura Steele and Pete Mauney '93 MFA '00 appears in issue 10.
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Credit: Photo by Richard Renaldi
Meta: Type(s): Faculty | Subject(s): Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |

September 2014

09-19-2014
Los Angeles-based painter Mary Weatherford MFA '06 has won the Artists' Legacy Foundation 2014 Artist Award and will receive a $25,000 cash prize.
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Credit: Photo by Richard Renaldi
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae,Bardians at Work | Institutes(s): MFA |
09-17-2014
Cartoonist, graphic memoirist, and Simon's Rock alumna Alison Bechdel has been named a 2014 MacArthur fellow. The prestigious award carries a $625,000 stipend over five years.
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Credit: Photo by Richard Renaldi
Meta: Type(s): Event | Subject(s): Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae,Early Colleges | Institutes(s): Center for Civic Engagement,Bard College at Simon's Rock |
09-05-2014
Bard alumnus Lindsay Hill's first novel, Sea of Hooks, has won the PEN Center's top prize for fiction. Hill will give a reading of his work at Bard on September 22.

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Credit: Photo by Richard Renaldi
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Division of Languages and Literature,Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
09-05-2014
On Monday, September 22, author Lindsay Hill ’75, will read from his novel, Sea of Hooks, winner of the 2014 PEN Center USA Fiction Award, finalist for the Chautauqua Prize, and named one of the top 10 books of the year by Publisher’s Weekly and New York magazine. Kirkus Reviews calls Sea of Hooks “a remarkable and multifaceted novel—philosophical, poignant and puzzling,” while Publisher’s Weekly writes that “nearly every paragraph astonishes, every moment rich with magic and daring.”
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Division of Languages and Literature | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |

August 2014

08-21-2014
LGBT family activist Gabriel Blau ’02 has put children's voices front and center in his dedicated advocacy for equal rights.

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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs,Center for Civic Engagement |
08-18-2014
The Daily Freeman offers a collection of Bard College images from its archives. The photos are from the 1980s and 1990s, and include campus scenes and commencement shots.
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Meta: Type(s): Event | Subject(s): Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
08-10-2014
Works by Israeli artist and Bard graduate Orit Raff MFA '03 "transcend national identities, challenge assumptions and transport viewers." 
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): MFA |
08-07-2014
As hobbyists and companies take to the sky with drones, Arthur Holland Michel writes that we need a more intelligent debate about how to regulate unmanned aircraft.
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Meta: Type(s): Staff | Subject(s): Division of Science, Math, and Computing,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
08-01-2014
"There is no poetry without a politics," says Bard alumnus Andrew Durbin '12 in this interview about poetry, surveillance, and the Internet.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Politics and International Affairs,Division of Languages and Literature,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs,Conjunctions |
08-01-2014
Conductor Marcelo Lehninger '07 led the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood last week, under less hectic circumstances than he did the first time, when James Levine resigned in 2011.

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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Music | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |

July 2014

07-15-2014
Bard College photography major turned couture model Louise Parker provides a unique look at quiet scenes backstage with her fellow models.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae,Bardians at Work | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
07-15-2014
As seniors, Arthur Holland Michel ’13 and Dan Gettinger ’13 created the Center for the Study of the Drone, an interdisciplinary research and arts project based at Bard. Now the center is becoming a leader in the national conversation about the social, economic, ethical, and political implications of drone use.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Division of Social Studies,Division of Science, Math, and Computing,Politics and International Affairs,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Center for Civic Engagement,Bard Undergraduate Programs |
07-14-2014
Though Hamas's new drone program may not have an immediate impact on the conflict with Israel, drones could play a bigger role should Israel send ground troops into Gaza, according to Gettinger.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Division of Social Studies,Division of Science, Math, and Computing,Politics and International Affairs,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
07-14-2014

In the
Bardian

By Dan Gettinger ’13 and Arthur Holland Michel ’13

As seniors, Arthur Holland Michel ’13 and Dan Gettinger ’13 created the Center for the Study of the Drone, an interdisciplinary research and arts project based at Bard. The idea was to bring together academics from a variety of disciplines to discuss, study, and learn about unmanned and autonomous systems technology and its implications for warfare, law enforcement, and other civilian applications. Their project has evolved to include seminars, lectures, debates, roundtable discussions at Bard and in New York City, a blog, and a weekly news roundup that Thomas Keenan, associate professor of comparative literature and director of Bard’s Human Rights Project, calls “one of the most authoritative sources anywhere for news about drones of all sorts.”

Gettinger’s interest in drones began in his sophomore year, when he took a seminar taught by Walter Russell Mead, James Clarke Chace Professor of Foreign Affairs and the Humanities. Gettinger was intrigued by Thucydides’s account of the Peloponnesian War and how choices in weapons platforms affected the strategies of the ancient city-states. His Senior Project explored drones and the changing nature of modern warfare. Holland Michel, a double major in historical studies and written arts, broached the idea of a center for studying drones to Gettinger. In fall 2012, the two assembled a faculty team and helped design a course on drones that met with overwhelming student response, and the center took flight.


At the time we first talked about creating the Center for the Study of the Drone, U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan and Yemen were peaking. Al Jazeera and the New York Times were regularly running stories about these operations, which the CIA was refusing to acknowledge. Drones hadn’t become a media sensation yet, but a public debate on the issue had begun. Advocates claimed that drones were more precise, surgical, and humane than the alternatives, while human rights activists decried the loss of civilian life, the psychological trauma of living under drones, and the threat that drones pose to privacy. The debate seemed inarticulate, misinformed, and immobilized by its own narrowness. This, we soon figured out, was no accident. Nobody really understood the drone—nobody really even knew what a drone was.

Defining the word “drone” is an exceedingly complex challenge. In the public imagination, a drone is a weaponized, unmanned aircraft that watches, and engages, members of extremist organizations in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen, and the Horn of Africa. But from a technological perspective, this definition is too narrow. An unmanned submarine is technically a drone, too. One of our goals was to help broaden the public definition of drones to include all kinds of unmanned vehicles, be they airborne, land borne, or aquatic. As we understand it, a drone is a machine that uses sensors to collect information about its environment, and then uses actuators to either manipulate its own location and orientation in that environment or manipulate the environment itself. Some drones require a human controller to be in the loop; others can respond to their environment autonomously, according to their programming. All drones, no matter their shape or size, are irresistible, fascinating, uncanny, and somewhat terrifying; we want to find out why, and how, the combination of appeal and fear influences the public conversation. This is becoming increasingly important, as drones are not just for foreign operations anymore.

In 2015, the Federal Aviation Administration plans to create licensing procedures and air traffic rules for unmanned aerial vehicles in United States airspace. Unmanned technology is set to become an enormous industry, with some insider optimists predicting that the sector could be worth up to $400 billion in the next few years. More realistic estimates range between $13 billion and $85 billion. Whatever the dollar figure, demand for drones is expected to be extremely high. A farmer who previously operated a $3 million helicopter to survey his crops for $6,000 an hour will be able to run a $20,000 multirotor drone for a few hundred dollars per day (agriculture is expected to account for 80 percent of domestic acquisitions). Police departments will turn to unmanned aerial vehicles as a cheap and effective alternative to manned helicopters. NASA and NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) already fly military hand-me-down drones to survey animal migratory patterns and weather changes. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection bureau maintains a fleet of drones, which it lends to police departments, the FBI, and U.S. Department of Justice agencies.

The unmanned vehicle industry is growing despite the fact that the use of drones by law enforcement agencies is controversial. In this era of pervasive surveillance, the idea of government agencies acquiring yet another highly capable surveillance platform to monitor the domestic population is unpopular. Fears of an era of unbounded aerial surveillance have prompted state and local legislatures across the nation to pass bills that curtail aerial surveillance by both private citizens and government organizations. But drone technology, like the Internet, has developed far more quickly than the policies that are meant to regulate it. Driven by the promise of high profits, the industry is developing ever more sophisticated drones, from solar-powered drones that can remain airborne for up to five years to drones the size of insects. Each new drone is accompanied by a set of new ethical questions and policy challenges.

When Amazon announced in December that the company was developing a system for drones to deliver packages under five pounds to Amazon customers in 30 minutes, the prospect of large-scale domestic drone use departed from the realm of hobbyists and futurists and entered mainstream society. By putting its weight behind the controversial idea of domestic drones, Amazon thrust the drone debate into high gear, and highlighted the need for an informed policy response. Crucially, the Amazon announcement put pressure on the FAA to develop a domestic drone integration plan—an extremely complex task. The announcement mattered because it will require society to develop a framework for understanding the implications of unmanned technology beyond the current limited scope of the drone debate. What remains to be seen is whether Amazon’s drone delivery system will actually work in time for the prospective 2015 launch date. Critics note a long list of safety concerns. For example, many believe that Amazon drones can’t possibly work in crowded urban environments. Nevertheless, Amazon’s backing could help the technology and regulatory communities resolve lingering safety and privacy concerns. The question seems to be “when will this happen?”
rather than “will this ever happen?”

This past fall, Keith O’Hara, assistant professor of computer science, taught (De-)Coding the Drone. The four-credit class, which we designed with Professor O’Hara, combines hands-on training in unmanned systems programming with a humanities-based reading list and guest speakers from philosophy, the arts, history, and political science. The fall also saw a formal debate on drones (“Resolved: Drones Do More Good Than Harm”) with Bard students, cadets from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, and faculty from both institutions.

In a bid to help the public organize the mass of information and media buzz surrounding this subject, we created the Weekly Roundup, a short, accessible list of the latest news, analysis, commentary, art, and tech from the drone world. Each week, the roundup goes out to an expanding community of interested citizens, researchers, pilots, artists, journalists, and writers. The blog features news analysis, portfolios, and interviews, while the website is a platform for historical, cultural, and aesthetic perspectives on current events. The interviews on the website attempt to bring unheard voices into the conversation about drones. In late fall, for example, we interviewed Natalie Jeremijenko, an artist and engineer who uses unmanned technology to create environmental solutions, and is considered a leading voice on the intersection of art, environmentalism, and technology. In 1997 she created the first-ever piece of “drone art,” flying a small, camera-equipped drone over large tech campuses in Silicon Valley.

The center’s efforts have been praised by a number of influential people and organizations. When Dan wrote about how the German Pirate Party (a socially liberal party favoring Internet freedom and political transparency, among other issues) flew a drone toward German Chancellor Angela Merkel at a campaign rally, the story was distributed widely among the Pirate Party and its supporters. Our work has been quoted by Bloomberg News, and featured in Slate, USA Today, Wired, Artforum, and elsewhere. In January and February, we cosponsored two panel discussions at the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs. We are also providing research for the filmmaker Carl Colby’s forthcoming feature documentary on domestic weaponized drone use.

Initiatives to expand the center’s programs include concepts for tech literacy programs at Bard’s partner institutions, including the Bard High School Early Colleges, and development of an online archive for research about drones. We are confident that, through this collective enterprise, the public will be better equipped to face the social, economic, ethical, and political challenges that lie ahead.

Read the spring 2014 issue of the Bardian:

Photo: Dan Gettinger ’13 (left) and Arthur Holland Michel ’13, holding a
student-built drone. Credit: Photo by Don Hamerman.
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Division of Social Studies,Division of Science, Math, and Computing,Politics and International Affairs,Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Center for Civic Engagement,Bard Undergraduate Programs |
07-10-2014
Bard alumna Gia Coppola '09 talks about making her first film, working with actor and author James Franco, and how professor Stephen Shore helped her get started.
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Credit: Photo ©2013 Fabrizio Maltese/Contour/Getty Images
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Division of the Arts,Film | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
07-09-2014
In the Bardian

By William Stavru '87

During the past year, Gia Coppola ’09, somewhat reluctantly, has become a regular on the film festival circuit, with her feature film directorial and writing debut, Palo Alto, being screened—and lauded—at such prestigious venues as the Telluride, Venice, Toronto, and Tribeca film festivals. Coppola says, “Film festivals are scary to me, but if the cast and crew are with me, then they can be fun. We’re able to celebrate the work.” Based on the eponymous collection of stories by James Franco (Scribner’s, 2010), who also stars in the film, Palo Alto details the troubled lives of a group of high school students in Palo Alto, California, exploring the teenagers’ characters and how their exploits and relationships become searches for meaning.

Coppola, who admits that her own high school years were neither fun nor productive, says she felt a kinship to the characters and was drawn to the dialogue and sense of teen malaise conveyed in the book. “In 2010, I met James Franco and we started talking about photography and about his book. I read it and thought the language and mood were spot on for the world he was creating, so we decided to turn it into a film,” she says.

In the book, myriad characters wander in and out of interlinked stories, so Coppola had a challenge in adapting the collection. “I had to combine characters and focus on the meatier stories, letting others go. James gave me some good advice along the way,” she says. “One of my biggest surprises in writing the screenplay—aside from discovering how lonely and draining writing can be—is that the film goes through several filtrations until it becomes something very different than what you’ve started with. Over time, the script almost starts to tell you what it needs to be.”

Coppola and her small crew started filming on Halloween 2012 in Woodland Hills and other neighborhoods of the San Fernando Valley north of Los Angeles. She says, “The shoot was low-budget and very familial; the boys [the crew] lived in my mom’s house and I often cooked dinner for them.” They wrapped in 30 days.

With the surname Coppola, one can expect that Gia is genetically predisposed to a life behind a camera lens. She is matter of fact when discussing her large, dynastic Hollywood family. Sticking to a short list of who’s who: Her grandfather is director/writer/wine producer/hotelier Francis Ford Coppola (The Godfather films, Apocalypse Now); her aunt is director/writer Sofia Coppola (Lost in Translation, The Virgin Suicides); her cousins are accomplished actors Nicholas Cage and Jason Schwartzman. She appreciates the many talents of each, especially her aunt and grandfather. “I love my grandfather’s work—I just rewatched The Conversation—and Sofia’s films,” she says.

Although she was determined to maintain a healthy distance from her family in order to find her own voice as a writer and a filmmaker, she did seek guidance regarding the business aspects of filmmaking. “My grandpa gave me some advice in dealing with industry executives and the money people—it’s incredibly hard to find financing, and even harder to figure out distribution. Sofia, as a young, soft-spoken woman director, had dealt with the same issues I was facing. Even though I know I have great people to turn to, I didn’t want my family’s ideas to infiltrate my work too much or rely too heavily on those connections.”

Coppola maintains that, regardless of the amount of help, nothing could have equipped her for directing her first project. “There’s no way you can be prepared for your first film; you just feel like a teenager going through very teenage insecurity,” she says. “My grandpa likes to say that directing is all about problem solving and that you need to learn to love anxiety. That’s true.”

Postproduction brought the young filmmaker other important teachable moments. Coppola says, “I learned the most in the editing room. When you’re shooting, you work from a script and let the film take its course. But I didn’t fully understand how important editing is and how it can dramatically change the look and tone of the film.”

One thing Coppola did understand before directing her film is how to use a camera, which she learned as a photography major at Bard. She chose the College in order to study with Stephen Shore, Susan Weber Professor in the Arts and director of Bard’s Photography Program. “I was a fan of Stephen’s work, so I studied photography,” she says, adding that she also enjoyed working with Gregory Moynahan and Robert Culp, both associate professors of history, who taught “an interesting class on revolutions.” Shore agreed to advise Coppola; her Senior Project was an exhibition of street and diaristic photography. “I liked the idea that Bard was close to New York City, but I could have a rural college experience,” she says. “I also liked that Bard is a liberal arts college but one that has a very creative environment.”

After graduation she tried bartending (“I liked making gin martinis, served cold, cold, cold!”) and booked work as a fashion photographer. “I was just trying to find work that inspired me. Then I shot behind the scenes on the set of Twixt, my grandfather’s film that came out in 2011. That’s where I learned a lot about how a movie is made.”

Variety said Palo Alto “brings a fresh humanity” to the topic of disaffected modern youth: “Coppola’s adaptation balances the tired sensationalism of kids behaving badly with a welcome dose of sympathy. . . . Coppola cycles through a wide range of emotions, from humor to horror, as these not-quite-kids, not-quite-adults pick fights, deface public property and seek easy gratification . . . [Palo Alto] boasts a clear and confident voice of its own, and it will be exciting to see where the young Coppola goes from here.”

With her first feature film complete, Coppola is enjoying having more down time, which she spends reading books (she was in the middle of John O’Hara’s Appointment in Samarra at the time of this interview) and considering future projects. “I’m not sure what I will do next,” she says. “I have some original ideas, but I don’t know if they will go anywhere. A dream project would be to adapt a story by Raymond Chandler. It would be fun to modernize an old mystery the way [director Robert] Altman did with The Long Goodbye.”

Palo Alto is set for wide release in June, following a limited release in Los Angeles and New York.

Read the spring 2014 issue of the Bardian:

Credit: Photo ©2013 Fabrizio Maltese/Contour/Getty Images
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Film,Career Development,Bardians at Work,Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |

June 2014

06-27-2014
Lia Soorenian ’14 talks about her Davis Project in the village of Litchk in Armenia, where she is promoting sustainable beekeeping as an alternative to the local mining industry.
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Credit: Photo ©2013 Fabrizio Maltese/Contour/Getty Images
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Politics and International Affairs,Wellness,Environmental/Sustainability,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Center for Civic Engagement,Bard Undergraduate Programs |
06-23-2014
Four covers from Bard's La Voz magazine will be displayed in the exhibition “Vive La Guelaguetza: An Encounter with Oaxaca” at the Mid-Hudson Heritage Center in Poughkeepsie, New York, through July 19. The exhibition commemorates La Guelaguetza, a world-famous cultural festival from Oaxaca, Mexico, which for the last five years has been celebrated locally at Waryas Park in Poughkeepsie. The festival, which attracts thousands of spectators, will take place on August 3 this year. The La Voz covers on display feature the town's past La Guelaguetza celebrations, and are on view alongside paintings, photography, and traditional costumes from the state of Oaxaca. Bard College students Mariel Fiori '05 and Emily Schmall '05 founded La Voz in 2004 as a Trustee Leader Scholar (TLS) project, aiming to serve the Latino community of the Hudson Valley with a free Spanish-language magazine. Fiori is still editor at La Voz, and the award-winning publication now has an estimated 20,000 readers in the area. La Voz will mark its 10th anniversary with a celebratory evening at the Spiegeltent at Bard's Fisher Center on August 12.

Meta: Type(s): Event | Subject(s): Foreign Language,Division of Languages and Literature,Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion,Division of Social Studies,Alumni/ae,Division of the Arts | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs,Center for Civic Engagement |
06-20-2014
Jay Nelson blurs the lines between art and architecture with his remarkable and functional creations, including refurbished boats and campers as well as one-of-a-kind tree houses.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae,Bardians at Work | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
06-06-2014
Bard alumni Joel Clark '05, Tavit Geudelekian '05, Andrew Kopas '08, and Mark Perloff '08 are part of King Post Studios, which last year launched a board game based on Herman Melville's Moby Dick, and is now working on a new game for the Anglo-Saxon epic poem Beowulf.

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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Bardians at Work,Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae,Division of Languages and Literature | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |

May 2014

05-27-2014
The Bard Prison Initiative has been offering college in prison since 1999, providing a life-changing, cost-effective model for other programs nationwide.
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Meta: Type(s): Event | Subject(s): Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Prison Initiative,Bard Undergraduate Programs,Center for Civic Engagement |
05-23-2014
In the wake of an attack on a Pakistani student studying in India, Bard alumnus Saim Saeed discusses the importance of academic exchange programs between the two nations.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Politics and International Affairs | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs,Center for Civic Engagement |
05-21-2014
Bard alumnus Chris Claremont '72 revitalized the X-Men comic book series, creating some of its most iconic characters ... with a little help from studying political theory at Bard.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Division of Languages and Literature,Film,Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
05-21-2014
Bard alumnae Kate Belin '04, MAT '05 and Beth Goldberg MAT '06 have been named New York State Master Teachers by Governor Andrew M. Cuomo. Belin and Goldberg are among 215 STEM educators from across the state chosen to expand the first cohort of New York State Master Teachers. They join the 104 Master Teachers announced in October 2013—which included Colleen Bucci MAT '08—bringing the total number of Master Teachers in New York to 319. Master Teachers receive a $60,000 stipend over four years, serve as mentors, and participate in professional development sessions.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs,Master of Arts in Teaching |
05-02-2014
What do you get when you cross the hit show Breaking Bad with Percy Bysshe Shelley's sonnet "Ozymandias"? An opera like no other. Playing in New York City on May 19.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Music,Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae,Opera | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
05-01-2014
Until recently Bard alumnus Dan Cline was teaching English language classes to young people in Haisyn, Ukraine, working on community projects, and even ending up in the local press for his efforts. That changed over the winter as political unrest in the country grew into a revolution and the Peace Corps evacuated all its volunteers from the country.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Career Development,Foreign Language,Division of Languages and Literature,Politics and International Affairs,Division of Social Studies,Alumni/ae,Bard Abroad | Institutes(s): Center for Civic Engagement,Bard Undergraduate Programs |

April 2014

04-25-2014
Composer, pianist, and singer Akie Bermiss performs live in studio, interspersed with interview segments with host Sahr Ngaujah.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae,Music | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
04-20-2014
Bard alumni/ae Sean Colonna '12, Thomas "Parker" Hatley '13, and Molly McFadden MFA '12 have been awarded 2014–2015 Fulbright Scholarships. Colonna and McFadden will be working in Germany, Colonna teaching English and McFadden investigating current movements in the field of art and disabilities. Hatley has been selected for an English Teaching Assistant Award to Mexico.

Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Division of the Arts,Bardians at Work,Foreign Language,Alumni/ae,Division of Social Studies | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs,Center for Civic Engagement,IILE |
04-17-2014
Skin Horse Theater, founded by five Bard graduates, has won two Big Easy Awards for their newest work, Nocturnes: Best Original Work (Devised) and Best Lighting Design.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Theater,Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
04-10-2014
Hazel Gurland-Pooler's The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. has won a 2013 Peabody Award, which recognizes exceptional storytelling in electronic media.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae,Film | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
04-09-2014
Bard alumni Ben Richter and Stefan Weisman are among the winners of Wild Rumpus Music's 2013–2014 Commissioning Project for emerging composers. Their work will be featured in an upcoming season of Wild Rumpus Music performances.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae,Music | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
04-02-2014
"We've managed to make Bard a place that includes incarcerated people not as subjects of some kind of charity, but as students who are judged with the same courtesy and generosity, and with the same level of expectations and rigor as other students on campus."
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Meta: Type(s): Staff | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Bardians at Work | Institutes(s): Center for Civic Engagement,Bard Undergraduate Programs,Bard Prison Initiative |

March 2014

03-28-2014
Bard graduate and current Bard Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) student Joy Sebesta ’13 organized the presentation of the National Museum of Mathematics traveling exhibition, Math Midway 2 Go, at the Marlboro Elementary School in Ulster County on March 5. This traveling version of the museum’s hands-on math exhibits offered students in grades 3 to 5 an opportunity to enjoy math, engage their minds, and de-stress before the upcoming state tests.
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Meta: Type(s): Event | Subject(s): Student,Division of Science, Math, and Computing,Alumni/ae,Education | Institutes(s): Master of Arts in Teaching,Center for Civic Engagement,Bard Undergraduate Programs |
03-20-2014
A track from the record Thunder Lay Down in the Heart by composer Christopher Tignor ’98 features a new recording of poet and Bard professor emeritus John Ashbery.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Music,Division of Languages and Literature,Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
03-20-2014
Contemporaneous, a new music ensemble featuring Bard alumni/ae and students, is in residence at the University of New Orleans, where they will play free concerts that include works by acclaimed composer Yotam Haber.
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Meta: Type(s): Event | Subject(s): Student,Music,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
03-18-2014
Kate Hartman ’03—founder and director of The Social Body Lab in Toronto—is creating wearable technology that increases the visibility of cyclists, runners, and walkers.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Division of the Arts,Division of Science, Math, and Computing | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
03-18-2014
Andrew Gori '04 and Ambre Kelly's SPRING/BREAK has been offering an inclusive, accessible alternative to the traditional art fair for three years, with solid attendance, positive reviews, and strong sales.

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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Division of the Arts | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
03-17-2014
Soprano Julia Bullock has won the first prize of the Walter W. Naumburg Foundation’s international vocal competition. Ms. Bullock’s prize includes a $15,000 cash award, two New York concerts, and an unspecified number of concerts elsewhere in the United States.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Bard Conservatory | Institutes(s): Bard Conservatory of Music |
03-17-2014
Daniel Gordon has been selected by Amsterdam’s Foam photography museum as the 2014 winner of its Paul Huf Award, which is given annually to a photographer under the age of 35. The award carries a €20,000 ($27,800) prize and an exhibition at the museum.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
03-17-2014
Bard Works is a career-oriented professional development program for juniors and seniors at Bard College that prepares them for work after graduation. Bard Works provides participants with the tools, strategies, and networking opportunities to hone their job search skills and lay a foundation for success in the workplace. Working with alumni/ae, parents, and mentors, participants explore how to convert their Bard experience in the liberal arts to a job after college.


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Meta: Type(s): Student | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Student,Career Development | Institutes(s): Center for Civic Engagement |
03-10-2014
Yishay Garbasz spent March 2013 touring the abandoned towns around the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan. Ritual and Reality, exhibited at Ronald Feldman Fine Arts in New York City, is the result.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Politics and International Affairs,Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
03-05-2014
Bard MFA faculty and alumna Amy Sillman will be featured in the Whitney Biennial for the second time this year, and her acclaimed survey Amy Sillman: One Lump or Two will come to CCS Bard.
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Meta: Type(s): Faculty | Subject(s): Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): MFA,Center for Civic Engagement |

February 2014

02-27-2014
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Meta: Type(s): Faculty | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Bard Conservatory,Music | Institutes(s): Bard Conservatory of Music,Bard Undergraduate Programs |
02-20-2014
Bard alumni/ae Adrian Grenier and Gaby Hoffmann star in a new film about how a group of old friends comes together in the wake of an apocalyptic cyber attack.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae,Film | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
02-12-2014
Bard alumnus Braden Lamb '03 and fellow artist (and his wife) Shelli Paroline talk about their work as creators of the popular Adventure Time comic book series that accompanies the hit TV show.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Bardians at Work,Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae,Film | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |

January 2014

01-28-2014
Angela Onwuachi-Willig argues that President Obama should invite Max Kenner to tonight's State of the Union address in order to show his commitment to education for all.
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Meta: Type(s): Staff | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Bardians at Work | Institutes(s): Center for Civic Engagement,Bard Undergraduate Programs,Bard Prison Initiative |
01-21-2014
Ian Berry M.A. '98 directs Skidmore College’s Tang Museum, which he has transformed into an interdisciplinary teaching laboratory that stands out among peer institutions.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Division of the Arts | Institutes(s): Center for Curatorial Studies |
01-15-2014
Maude Standish was recognized in the marketing and advertising category. She is a cofounder of Tarot, a Millenial trend insight company, director of strategy at Mistress Social, and writes for Vice, the Huffington Post and Agency Spy. She will be speaking at SXSW this year.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
01-02-2014
Third-generation filmmaker Gia Coppola is making a name for herself with her forthcoming film Palo Alto. She both directed the film and adapted the script from James Franco's short story collection.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Division of the Arts,Film,Division of Languages and Literature | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |

December 2013

12-18-2013
Bard College's Office of Development and Alumni/ae Affairs has been honored with awards from the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education.
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Meta: Type(s): Event | Subject(s): Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
12-12-2013
Saving Mr. Banks, the new film about Disney's Mary Poppins, includes Richard Sherman and Robert Sherman (both class of '49) as characters. In this interview, Richard tells the story behind the new movie.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Film,Music | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
12-10-2013
California Academy of Sciences exhibit engineer and Bard alumnus Tosh Chiang '04 has designed a series of exhibits for the museum in his dream job.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Division of Science, Math, and Computing,Career Development,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
12-02-2013
Bard alumnus and parent Pierre Joris '69 has won the Modern Language Association's Aldo and Jeanne Scaglione Prize for a Translation of a Scholarly Study of Literature. Joris, professor emeritus of the University at Albany, State University of New York, receives the award for his translation of Paul Celan’s The Meridian: Final Version–Drafts–Materials.

Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Division of Languages and Literature,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |

November 2013

11-27-2013
Class of 2003 alumni and freshman dorm-mates Bjorn Quenemoen and Jamie O'Shea have combined their skills in farming and solar energy to create a unique snack.

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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Wellness,Environmental/Sustainability,Career Development,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Center for Civic Engagement,Bard Undergraduate Programs |
11-25-2013
Bard alumnus Dan Cline '08 has been volunteering with the Peace Corps in Ukraine for more than a year. He currently lives and works in the town of Haisyn, where he teaches English as a second language to primary and secondary school students at the Haisyn School-Gymnasium. Shocked to find that the classrooms had no dictionaries, Cline is raising funds to provide better learning tools for Haisyn’s students and teachers. He has also organized English language clubs at the school and has been offering extra tutoring to students. Cline acts as vice president of the Peace Corps Gender and Development Working Group in the region, and as secretary of the HIV/AIDS Working Group. He is also involved in groups for Technology for Development and the National Olympiad.

Cline also recently received a Small Project Assistance Program grant through USAID for his keystone Peace Corps service project. With this grant, Cline will organize and oversee the construction of an outdoor athletic complex on the school grounds, which will be open to the larger community. The project will also involve Cline's Young Volunteers' Club, and will make available healthy lifestyle education for students. Cline has recently garnered media attention in Ukraine for his varied and committed work on behalf of young people in Haisyn, including interviews published in The Tribune of Labor and the Haisyn Herald.



Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Career Development,Education,Foreign Language,Politics and International Affairs | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs,Center for Civic Engagement |
11-25-2013
A political studies and philosophy major, Bard College alumnus Saim Saeed ’13 won a Davis Projects for Peace Award for his project, “Living Together—Navigating Common Grounds: A MENA-EU Initiative” in Istanbul, Turkey. In May 2012, during his junior year at Bard, the New York Times published his op-ed essay "Shouting in the Mirror." After graduating from Bard College, Saeed went to work as a writer for the American Interest. In this interview, he talks about the importance of his study abroad experience at Bard.


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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Career Development,Division of Languages and Literature,Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion,Politics and International Affairs,Admission | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs,Center for Civic Engagement,IILE |
11-22-2013
When Daniel Pacheco ’07 accepted a job through Engineers Without Borders to work in Cambodia, he had no idea that he would end up launching his own sustainable energy company there. Four years later, he's helping to bring energy independence to communities throughout the country. Working with Cambodian colleagues, Pacheco installs solar in homes, orphanages, and clinics, and makes sure these systems are sustainable for local people in the long term.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Politics and International Affairs,Alumni/ae,Career Development,Environmental/Sustainability,Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs,Center for Civic Engagement |
11-21-2013
Cinematographer and Bard alumnus Jake Magee '10 is the cinematographer for Naz + Maalik, a film about two closeted Muslim teens who are followed by FBI agents.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Film,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
11-12-2013
Journalist Matt Taibbi ’92 has emerged as one of the shrewdest, most tenacious reporters of our nation’s financial system and politics. In this interview with William Stavru '87, he discusses financial regulation, the multiparty system, and the state of journalism today.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Economics,Alumni/ae,Division of Languages and Literature,Politics and International Affairs | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
11-12-2013
Hazel Gurland-Pooler '99 of Ark Media is coproducing two episodes of The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross, a PBS documentary series hosted by scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Division of Social Studies,Film,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
11-12-2013
In the Bardian

By William Stavru '87

Over the past decade, journalist Matt Taibbi ’92 has emerged as one of the shrewdest, most tenacious reporters of our nation’s financial system and politics. For someone with an international reputation as an agitator extraordinaire, he is disarmingly soft-spoken, affable, and polite. Taibbi began his writing career in Russia, his first destination after leaving Bard, then spent time in Uzbekistan and Mongolia, where he enjoyed a short stint as a professional basketball player. After 10 years abroad, Taibbi returned to the United States. Settling in New York City, he began writing for the New York Press, an alternative free weekly, now defunct. Taibbi’s merciless, wicked style got him a job at Rolling Stone; his long, in-depth pieces on Wall Street reform and other troubling financial policy decisions earned him a rock star’s level of notoriety that has been amplified by his frequent appearances on news and opinion shows such as the Rachel Maddow Show, Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Real Time with Bill Maher, and Fox News. Whether or not one agrees with Taibbi’s point of view, his work inarguably has helped reaffirm the importance and merit of political reportage.

In his books—Spanking the Donkey: Dispatches from the Dumb Season (2005); Smells Like Dead Elephants: Dispatches from a Rotting Empire (2007); The Great Derangement (2008); and Griftopia (2010)—Taibbi takes to task the elected officials, government agencies, and financial institutions at the root of our current economic crisis. (“You win the modern financial-regulation game by filing the most motions, attending the most hearings, giving the most money to the most politicians and, above all, by keeping at it, day after day, year after fiscal year, until stealing is legal again,” he wrote in a scathing Rolling Stone article, “How Wall Street Killed Financial Reform.”) His pieces synthesize picaresque narratives and a policy-wonkish intimacy with finance and banking regulations and legislation, with the effect of making his readers’ indignation almost palpable. Bardians may remember him also for his 2011 Town and Country article—“Is Bard the New Brown?”—in which he examines his own feelings and nostalgia for Bard, which means many things to many different alumni/ae. I had the chance to chat with him right before Bard Commencement and just after his article on the LIBOR (London Interbank Offered Rate) scandal appeared on his Rolling Stone blog. Here are edited excerpts from the interview.

Bill Stavru: Can you recall a single event that served as your political awakening?
Matt Taibbi: I was raised in a household in which both parents, especially my mother, were politically active, so I thought about politics from an early age. My mother was a social worker and she would tell me stories about what her clients were going through, so some of my point of view must have come from her experiences.

Did you study economics at Bard? You have an incredibly good understanding of how the machinations of this economy work.
I didn’t study economics. I never thought I’d be doing this type of reporting for a living, so I have absolutely no finance background. But I don’t look at what I do as really covering economics. When I’m assigned a story or somebody approaches me with an interesting angle on an issue, my job is to get up to speed as quickly as possible. With banking and finance, there’s no way to do a story without a lot of studying. It’s like crime reporting, but cloaked in camouflaging professional jargon.

Can you discuss the research you do for your books and articles? Because you have such a strong voice, people may underestimate how much research you do to make these stories credible.
The first thing I do, particularly with all the financial stories, is to narrow the scope of the story down to a single concept that I’m trying to understand and express. It can be something like, How does LIBOR work? How do they come up with that benchmark interest rate and how could you manipulate that? Then I call people until I’m satisfied that I understand that one thing. Obviously, a reporter has to call people on all sides of the issue before writing the background for the story. If you look closely at the stories I write, they have one single concept and then the rest is background. Who are these people? What led up to the event and what was its resolution? The main part of the research is just figuring out how a thing works, which requires finding somebody who can communicate that to you in terms an outsider will understand.

Do you think we’ve come too far to ever get back to a well-regulated, workable, and ethical financial/banking system?
That’s a difficult question. I feel strongly that we can’t regulate all these problems away. The solutions have to come from within; there’s no way to be on top of everybody all the time to make sure that they’re not stealing. You can’t have a policeman every five feet on a city block. It’s the same with the financial system. You have to rely on people to have ethics. That’s what’s gone wrong in this situation; I don’t think it’s a lack of regulation or even a lack of police presence— the lack of ethics has just been so widespread. Say you work for one of the megabanks and you’re going to sell a packet of crappy subprime bonds to a pension fund in Minnesota. You’re basically going to rob the life savings of state workers so you can drive a nicer car? We have to restore a sense of patriotism, or responsibility.

What political events and/or policy changes have given you more hope in the past few years, if any?
There are a lot of signs in Washington that the regulatory establishment has come around to the idea that the “too-big-to-fail” situation is not tenable, and that they have to break up these financial institutions. Legislation in the Senate sponsored by Sherrod Brown [D-Ohio] and David Vitter [R-Louisiana] to break up the banks got a fairly hysterical response from the banking industry, which to me indicated that it had a chance of going somewhere. When banking reform amendments were filed in the past, the banks would just ignore them, but now I think they’re worried. And some of the federal reserves—the Dallas Fed, St. Louis Fed, New York Fed—are talking about how “too-big-to-fail” is unsustainable. It would be revolutionary to go in and break up these companies.

It would be. These are not people who are unfriendly to big banking or business in general. Even some CEOs and ex-CEOs were saying, “Well, actually we are getting too big to manage.”
Yes. Sandy Weill, the former CEO of CitiGroup, which was the first of what they call the supermarket banks, said in 2012, “This doesn’t work.” The [1999] repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act [the 1933 law that separated investment from commercial banking to lower the risk of financial crashes] created CitiGroup. There’s really no intellectual argument in favor of “too-big-to-fail” anymore. It would make these banks less competitive but that doesn’t have much to do with American business. A functioning American corporation will be able to get financing from somewhere. The only thing that would be different is that a few banking executives won’t make as much money, and people are slowly coming around to that realization. I think there’s hope.

You’ve been fearless in your quest for a story. Has there been any situation in which you’ve contemplated taking a certain action and then decided that you couldn’t follow through with it?
When I lived in Russia, I knew Russian reporters who faced real risks when they researched and wrote stories; some of them were shot or attacked. I didn’t have that same problem. The physical safety aspect of my work has never seriously crossed my mind, but there are people who are irrational and will respond very aggressively to even being mentioned in a story.

We have a Republican Party that seems unable to reconcile itself on many issues, including immigration reform and gay marriage. We also have a Democratic Party that’s splintering over national security and other stands. Do you think America is ready for a multiparty system?
People are ready, but it’s not going to happen, because there are so many powerful interests who want to keep things the way they are. The two-party system is an incredibly effective mechanism for political conservatism. It has managed to continually move the needle in the direction of wealth and power for 30 or 40 years. I don’t think anybody within that system has any appetite for creating a third party; so the impetus will have to come from somewhere else. Whoever tries to do it is going to end up targeted by the entire political mechanism and discredited somehow; so I just don’t see it happening. Also, where would the money come from?

How do you decompress from all the grim news that you report on?
I follow a lot of sports and over the years I’ve gotten a lot better at keeping my home life and my professional life separate. People overestimate how depressing this job can be for me. The work is a real intellectual challenge, and there are very attractively horrible characters to write about.

In 2008, you wrote in The Great Derangement, “If there’s a villain in this book, I might offer some of the congressional representatives. . . but really the best selection might actually be me. And I have no idea what that means, but it’s probably not good.” Do you have any idea what that means now?
[Laughs.] At that time, I was covering the presidential campaign and was really conflicted about what I was doing. I had a deep sense that all of the glitzy campaign coverage was a distraction from some larger, more important issue that we weren’t looking at. And that turned out to be true: the economic crisis. I don’t have any existential angst about what I do for a living anymore, because now I’m really covering the complicated reality—these finance issues—that had been hidden from me. Back then, I was flailing around trying to make this sideshow funny, or do something with it, and so I was experiencing a lack of self-confidence.

How do you feel about the profession of journalism today? Do you think it is doing what it’s supposed to do?
The Internet has radically changed the possibilities for this profession. One of the reasons people became cynical about journalism years ago is that it had become very homogenized. Everybody wrote in the same detached, faceless, third-person voice. We had that incredible period in the 1970s with Bob Woodward, Carl Bernstein, and others. But then, except for a few publications here and there, the whole concept of advocacy journalism really disappeared. Now we’re getting back to that type of investigative reporting, largely, I think, because financial interests don’t have control over the whole journalistic landscape anymore. There are people on the Internet—which isn’t under that control—who are doing really cool things. People are doing their own investigations or document dumps, so journalists have access to information that was never available before.

At the same time, the mainstream media has a lot of the problems it has always had. It’s still locked into a fake narrative about our political system; if you travel across America you’ll find 70 percent of people are still completely obsessed with this blue/red, football-game concept of how politics work. That speaks to some kind of failure, on the part of the media, that the country hasn’t gotten past that divisiveness. I think we’re going in the right direction, but there are still problems.

Another thing is that technology and the media have worked to shorten our attention span, so it’s gotten harder to do what I do for a living and have any success. There aren’t a lot of people willing to read a 6,000-word article about a serious issue unless you make it really entertaining. It’s an uphill battle for most readers. That means fewer publications are going to pay for that story because the audiences are smaller.

Would you like to comment on recent news stories about government surveillance and freedom of the press?
People are missing the larger significance of these stories. It’s much more serious than a pattern of targeting journalists. If we get used to the government approving things like extralegal drone assassinations and torture on a mass scale, then pretty soon we stop being squeamish about things like illegal surveillance, wiretapping, the use of regulatory agencies to collect data on political enemies, etc. As much as people would like to think that their leaders are smart, the reality is that politicians are often too stupid, too lazy, and too paranoid to handle that kind of power responsibly. Giving presidents the power to assassinate without real legal review, and then expecting them to not use technical tools available to them to spy on/pressure their political enemies, is just naive. The abuse of journalists that we’re facing now is the inevitable consequence of our failure to react properly to Abu Ghraib [the Baghdad prison where human rights violations occurred], Bradley Manning [U.S. soldier arrested in 2010 for passing classified material to WikiLeaks], and so on. We created this monster and now everyone, not just journalists, has to figure out a way to tame it.

You played professional basketball in Mongolia but you don’t write or talk about it much.
I did play there when I was in my mid-20s and I was only just starting in journalism. I wrote a short piece about it for the Boston Globe Magazine. It was a crazy, wild experience. I was a celebrity in Mongolia. I was known as the Mongolian version of Dennis Rodman. I dyed my hair different colors and I got into fights in almost every game. I was actually ordered by the team owner to play to the crowd. We had a player on our team who was like the Mongolian Michael Jordan; he was a great player. We would walk around town together and people would come up to us and get our autographs. But I had a really bad experience at the end—I caught pneumonia and almost died. I had to come back to the United States and I was in recovery for months, so I just never got around to writing about playing basketball.

What are you working on now?
I’m finishing up a book that is a compare-and-contrast exercise on how justice is served differently among rich people and poor people. I have a bunch of Wall Street crime stories in it, and stories about regular criminals in the system, and how easy it is for the non–Wall Street criminals to get arrested. There’s a lot of material in there about inner-city life and jails. It’s new territory for me.

That’s timely; the whole prison system seems to be in question. We’re spending a lot of money keeping people incarcerated when maybe they shouldn’t be.
That’s the premise of the book. Violent crimes actually decreased rapidly in the last 20 years, but we’ve doubled the prison population during that time, thanks in large measure to the increased length of sentences, drug convictions, and “three strikes” mandatory incarcerations. More than half of federal prisoners are serving time for a drug offense, but only 11 percent are being incarcerated for a violent crime. There’s a correlation between the length of sentences, race, and class. There’s something going on that has nothing to do with crime. The book is an attempt to get to the intrigue, the mystery, of what’s going on with our prison population.

Is there a TV show in your future?
I could never do a TV show. My father was a television reporter and my stepmother was a CNN anchor so I grew up around TV my whole life and I know how hard it is. It requires a skill set that I don’t have. You have to be quick on your feet and also radiate a consistently positive, cheerful presence. People underestimate how hard it is. The older I get the more I realize that I should just stick to what I do.

But it looks like everyone is having a lot of fun on Real Time with Bill Maher.
That’s because shows like his are moderated by professionals. When you’re a guest on those shows you see how people like Bill Maher or Rachel Maddow earn their money. They have to get guests, who aren’t always professional performers, to stay within the confines of a 45- second hit. It has to be light enough for the advertisers, but heavy enough to be interesting. It’s a delicate line to balance, and they’re really good at it.

You visited campus in spring 2013 to be part of a public conversation on the U.S. financial system with Sandy Lewis. [Lewis is a former broker who pleaded guilty to stock manipulation in 1989 and was later pardoned by President Clinton. He has been a formidable critic of Wall Street.] The event was packed; people couldn’t get in to the auditorium. How did it feel to come back to campus as a media star and as someone who’s an expert on some of the most serious economic policy failures in our nation’s history?
I love coming back to Bard. I spoke on campus once before as an alumnus, a long time ago at a Commencement Week event. I’m proud to have gone to Bard and to see how well it’s done. [Professor of English] Ben La Farge was really good to me. I was having a hard time, and Ben wrote letters to me, even during summer vacation. He really encouraged me in my career.

Do you have any advice for undergraduates who want to be journalists?
I have a standard line I tell young people who want to get into the business: Move overseas, learn a language, and study something else. Have expertise in something, whether it’s botany, medicine, or whatever. In my case, I spoke Russian, and became thought of as an expert in Russian politics. That enabled me to get work. In my opinion, life experience is more important than going to journalism school.

Living overseas when you’re 22 or 23 is fun. There’s so much pressure in this country to succeed and have money, and to not be a failure. I think it’s good for young people in their twenties to get away from that. Go to Southeast Asia or wherever and just live for a while. The number one thing you need as a journalist is life experience so you can develop your own point of view. Once you get older and have kids or get locked into a mortgage, your ability to pick up and move is limited. When you’re 22 or 23, life is an open canvas—go do whatever you want.


Read the fall 2013 issue of the Bardian:

Credit: Photo by Richard Renaldi
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Division of Languages and Literature,Economics,Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae,Politics and International Affairs | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
11-08-2013
In the Bardian

By Helene Tieger ’85


“The business of an undergraduate college is to graduate not only persons who know how to make a living, but also persons who know how to live.”
—Rev. Bernard Iddings Bell, Warden of St. Stephen’s College (
Lyre Tree magazine, Sept. 27, 1929)

On a foggy January day in northernmost Vermont, Justin Gallanter ’34 recounted his memories of his years at St. Stephen’s College, the precursor to Bard: “At a school with 100 students and a faculty of maybe 15, there were no secrets.” His gaze was clear, his memory sharp, and his presence, as the last known living St. Stephen’s alumnus, a bridge to the past.

Gallanter wrote in his admission application that he and his parents were first interested in St. Stephen’s after reading President Bernard Iddings Bell’s Common Sense in Education. The Gallanters were impressed by the clarity of Bell’s philosophy of education and his energetic commitment to building a rigorous residential community then sustained by four campus institutions: the curriculum, chapel, athletics, and fraternities.

Bell believed that the ideal college would be one in which students were seen as “responsible persons” and that the curriculum should be adapted to the individual student, rather than forcing undergraduates to conform to a fixed program of study.

Bell came to St. Stephen’s in 1919 as the country was regrouping from the First World War. The college was struggling; it had fewer than 30 students enrolled. By 1930, when he personally reviewed and approved Gallanter’s application for admission, B.I. (as he was known) had overseen the construction of four new buildings, including Hegeman with its brand new science labs; tripled enrollment; coordinated the merger of St. Stephen’s with Columbia University; and imprinted the community with the force of his personality and his socialist (some said radical) views.

Founded in 1860, St. Stephen’s had always provided a strong classical education for young men planning to attend Episcopal seminary, but in the 20th century the college began to expand, seeking as students “men contemplating business careers; men looking forward to lives of social service; men wishing later to enter professional schools of Medicine, Law, Education, Theology, Engineering, or Journalism . . . ” (College Catalogue, 1930).

Justin Gallanter was just 16 when he arrived at St. Stephen’s, but many of his opinions were fully formed. His admission application reads: “I am poor in mathematics and physics because they do not interest me.” He was, however, a serious student, excelling in English, Latin, French, and history. He recalled that St. Stephen’s teachers were generally excellent, though, he said, “There was a Greek professor, Harry, who . . . spoke 17 languages that all sounded like English.”

Gallanter was able to recall all of his 32 classmates. Together, the Class of 1934 participated in the rituals and ceremonies of the time, including the annual Freshman/Sophomore Tug o’ War over the Sawkill Creek and the sumptuous Boar’s Head Dinner at Christmas. In winter, they would skate on the frozen river, using their academic robes as black sails. Pranks were common: one story tells of the college horse being led into a student’s Stone Row room and left there for hours.

The 1921 St. Stephen’s soccer team
Justin Gallanter ’34
The only openly Jewish student at the time, Gallanter said he experienced no prejudice, and he enjoyed the music and community of mandatory daily chapel attendance. The Chapel of the Holy Innocents’ bell was rung at 6:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. to announce morning communion and vesper services. The communion service was optional, but strict attendance was kept each evening, when robed students sat in assigned seats. Each student was allowed only 15 chapel cuts per semester, and missing a Sunday service counted for three cuts, ensuring that students remained on campus over the weekends.

Gallanter did not belong to a fraternity, but he called himself an “honorary Sig” because his roommate was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon. Each society had its own house on campus for meetings and gatherings. S.A.E. was a national fraternity, while Kappa Gamma Chi and Eulexian, both of which had begun as literary societies soon after St. Stephen’s was founded, were unique to the college. Unaffiliated students were “Non-Socs” (for non-society men).

Like most things at St. Stephen’s, the pros and cons of the fraternities were intensely debated. Nevertheless, until the early 1940s when they were abandoned, fraternities structured the social life of the College. Fraternity brothers ate together at special tables in the dining hall, and each house was responsible for maintaining one of the three tennis courts then installed on Oak Lawn in front of Stone Row. Annual dance weekends saw the fraternities competing to transform the gym to best effect. These weekends also included elaborate banquets to which distinguished guests were invited. During his 2010 visit to Bard (see Spring 2011 Bardian), the Rev. John Mears ’35 recalled waiting tables at one of these banquets, attended by then Governor Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt. (They would have been doubly distinguished guests, as F.D.R. was also a trustee of St. Stephen’s College. When he was inaugurated as president, Roosevelt resigned from the board of trustees.)

Gallanter boasted no athletic prowess (athletics, no doubt, did not interest him) but B.I. was determined to build strong bodies to house strong souls. In 1921, Bell had fulfilled the dreams of generations of St. Stephen’s students by constructing the Memorial Gymnasium, named to honor alumni who had died in the First World War. The College embarked on a program of intercollegiate athletics that included football, basketball, hockey, tennis, and later, lacrosse. Competing and sometimes winning against schools like Amherst, St. Lawrence, RPI, or MIT brought tiny St. Stephen’s into the national spotlight.

Despite all this progress, spring 1933 was inauspicious. Four years into the Depression, the College was running a dangerous deficit. B.I. despaired and recommended on March 4 that St. Stephen’s “be closed as of June 30th next.” The remaining board members did not close the College, but chose instead to create a budget that slashed operating expenses and halved the deficit by halving the salaries of the entire staff. Bell could not reconcile his vision for the College to these terms and submitted his resignation. Donald Tewksbury was chosen to head the College—not as president, but as dean, on leave of absence from Columbia. Tewksbury did not hesitate to effect change. He reduced mandatory chapel attendance to three times per week, and dropped the classics requirement altogether. In his Educational Program for Bard College, he placed a heavy academic emphasis on the arts, and outlined the Moderation and Senior Project requirements familiar to Bard students today. The following spring, the Board agreed to change the name of St. Stephen’s College to Bard, in the belief that more grant dollars would be given to a modern, secular school.

Bard President Leon Botstein says Bard today continues the tradition of academic excellence. “Throughout my 38 years at Bard I’ve been conscious of the ideals of my predecessors,” he said. “Like them, we require our students to take themselves seriously in college, and expect that what they learn here shapes what they do in the world. If the College today is a center for and a model of cultural creation, debate, service, and political exchange among citizens of the future, then we are doing our job, as we have always done.”

Helene Tieger ’85 is Bard College archivist.

*Correction: the print version of this article incorrectly labels this as a photo of the soccer team.

Read the fall 2013 issue of the Bardian:

Photo: The 1921 St. Stephen’s basketball team*
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
11-07-2013
Raj Mukherji '00 is one of youngest people ever to join the New Jersey State Assembly.
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Photo: The 1921 St. Stephen’s basketball team*
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Politics and International Affairs,Early Colleges,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard College at Simon's Rock,Center for Civic Engagement |
11-07-2013
On a foggy January day in northernmost Vermont, Justin Gallanter ’34 recounted his memories of his years at St. Stephen’s College, the precursor to Bard: “At a school with 100 students and a faculty of maybe 15, there were no secrets.” His gaze was clear, his memory sharp, and his presence, as the last known living St. Stephen’s alumnus, a bridge to the past.
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Photo: Photo: Justin Gallanter ’34
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |

October 2013

10-27-2013
Musician Donald Fagen has penned a literary memoir focusing on his musical influences, not stardom.
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Photo: Photo: Justin Gallanter ’34
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Music,Alumni/ae |
10-26-2013
Lawyer, statesman, author, and (soon-to-be) television personality Ronan Farrow '04 has the resume of someone twice his age.
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Photo: Photo: Justin Gallanter ’34
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Politics and International Affairs,Early Colleges,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs,Bard College at Simon's Rock |
10-21-2013
Where privatization and charity fail, investments in watershed services can solve the global water crisis, writes CEP alumna Karen Corey.
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Photo: Photo: Justin Gallanter ’34
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Environmental/Sustainability | Institutes(s): Bard Center for Environmental Policy |
10-18-2013
Bard College and Simon's Rock alum Ronan Farrow '04 has a new MSNBC show and a book in the works.
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Photo: Photo: Justin Gallanter ’34
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Politics and International Affairs,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Center for Civic Engagement,Bard Undergraduate Programs,Bard College at Simon's Rock |
10-17-2013
Lilly Bechtel '09 harnesses the healing power of yoga in her work with veterans who are coping with post-traumatic stress disorder.
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Photo: Photo: Justin Gallanter ’34
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Wellness | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
10-16-2013
Bard College Master of Arts in Teaching (Bard MAT) graduate Colleen Bucci ’08 has been named a New York State Master Teacher by Governor Andrew M. Cuomo. Bucci is one of 104 educators from four regions to be selected as the first group of New York State Master Teachers. Bucci, who graduated from the Bard MAT Program in 2008, is a biology teacher in the Hyde Park Central School District.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Master of Arts in Teaching |
10-16-2013
Larissa Phillips examines the social, environmental, and parenting implications of hunting for food.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Wellness,Environmental/Sustainability,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
10-16-2013
Composer Sung Jin Hong '03 plans to stage his new mini-opera Breaking Bad—Ozymandias next year. The piece will combine elements of the hit show with Percy Bysshe Shelley's sonnet "Ozymandias."
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Film,Division of Languages and Literature,Music,Opera | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
10-15-2013
Alumni/ae Day and Family Weekend will take place on campus October 25–27. Join us for a variety of events, including What's New at Bard, the Ask the President forum, sample classes, performances by the American Symphony Orchestra, campus tours, and panel discussions. Click below to view the full program.
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Meta: Type(s): Event | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Student | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
10-15-2013
How do you turn a graphic novel into a musical? Broadway veterans took the unconventional childhood memoir Fun Home, by Alison Bechdel A.A. '79, and adapted it for the stage.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Theater,Music,Division of Languages and Literature,Early Colleges,Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Center for Civic Engagement,Bard College at Simon's Rock |
10-15-2013
City Year volunteers work as tutors, classroom assistants, and after-school program leaders to give struggling students a boost in U.S. cities. Jennifer Spadaccia '13 is among the 42 young adults providing academic support in New Orleans schools with City Year.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Career Development | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs,Center for Civic Engagement |
10-14-2013
Bard alumnus, actor, and filmmaker Andrew Gilchrist '05 discusses his new film, Sea Pig, which recently won Best Short Film at both the Kansas City Film Festival and the Coney Island Film Festival.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Film,Theater | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
10-10-2013
Canadian and Omaskêko Cree artist and Bard alumnus Duane Linklater MFA '13 has won the nation's Sobey Art Award for contemporary artists under the age of 40.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Division of the Arts | Institutes(s): MFA |
10-10-2013
Gabriel Blau '02 founded the God and Sexuality National Academic Conference at Bard in 1998. These days, he's advocating for LGBT families as the new executive director of the Family Equality Council.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Religion and Theology,Politics and International Affairs,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Center for Civic Engagement,Bard Undergraduate Programs |
10-08-2013
Meher Varma '07 encourages international students to consider studying in the United States by relating some of the best things about being at Bard.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Admission,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
10-04-2013
The Bard Prison Initiative is expanding. This summer the program opened two new campuses in New York State, one of which restored BPI's program for women after Bayview Correctional Facility in Manhattan was closed after Hurricane Sandy. BPI has more students enrolled in its programs and a more diverse array of classes than ever before. In June, the program hosted a conference on the liberal arts in prison with its growing consortium of national partner organizations. BPI has also hired three new site directors, all of whom are Bard alumni/ae: classicist Rana Al-Saadi Liebert '01, writer Joe Vallese '06, and sculptor Pamela J. Wallace '87.
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Meta: Type(s): Event | Subject(s): Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Center for Civic Engagement,Bard Prison Initiative |

September 2013

09-30-2013
Artist Amy Sillman is both a graduate and faculty member of Bard's MFA program. Her first museum retrospective, one lump or two, opens Thursday at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston.
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Meta: Type(s): Faculty | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Division of the Arts | Institutes(s): MFA |
09-25-2013
Bard alumnus Dan Gettinger '13, of the Center for the Study of the Drone at Bard College, considers questions of collectivism and individuality raised at the recent Maker Faire in New York City.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Division of Science, Math, and Computing | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
09-19-2013
Recent graduate Saim Saeed '13 writes about the challenges of political self-determination and the appeal of patriarchs.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Politics and International Affairs | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
09-16-2013
Bard alumna Lisa Kereszi's photography is an homage to the medium, guided by everyday life and objects rather than any preconceived goals by the artist.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
09-12-2013
President Obama has nominated Richard G. Frank '74 for the position of assistant secretary for planning and evaluation in the Department of Health and Human Services.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Politics and International Affairs,Wellness,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
09-10-2013
Vocal Arts Program alumnae Lucy Dhegrae M.M. '12 and Ariadne Greif M.M. '10 performed at the Resonant Bodies Festival in Brooklyn, and will sing at Bard on Sunday in "Dawn Upshaw and Friends."

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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Music,Bard Conservatory,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Conservatory of Music |
09-04-2013
Bard alumnus, writer, and director David Cote '92 will direct two plays in New York City this month: Otherland, which he wrote, and Something Something Über Alles, written by late Bard faculty member Assurbanipal Babilla.

Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Theater,Alumni/ae,Division of Languages and Literature | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
09-03-2013
Gia Coppola's first feature film, Palo Alto—which she adapted from James Franco's short story collection—was well received at the Telluride Film Festival.

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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Film,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |

August 2013

08-30-2013
Opus 40, the sculptural masterwork (now museum) of the late Bard alumnus and professor Harvey Fite '30, hosted the Felice County Fair last weekend, featuring Béla Fleck, the Felice Brothers, Amy Helm, and more.
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Meta: Type(s): Faculty | Subject(s): Music,Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
08-23-2013
Independent theater companies like Skin Horse Theater are finding fertile ground for experimentation in the city.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Theater,Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
08-21-2013
“The first photo books that registered with me were a few Aperture titles at the bookstore at Bard College," writes Michelle Dunn Marsh. "Stephen Shore’s Uncommon Places, Larry Fink’s Social Graces ..."
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Meta: Type(s): Faculty | Subject(s): Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
08-16-2013
You may never look at a hamburger the same way again. “Despite the rather disgusting quality of many of these images," writes Feinstein, "there is still an allure.”
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Wellness,Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
08-14-2013
Hannah Bronfman '11 is a woman of many talents—among them DJ, restaurateur, and brand creator. In this interview, she talks about her new mobile app and gives advice to enterprising college students.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Division of Science, Math, and Computing,Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
08-11-2013
Bard Conservatory graduate Ming Aldrich-Gan '10 is the music director for Bradley Cole at the New York International Fringe Festival.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Theater,Music,Bard Conservatory,Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs,Bard Conservatory of Music |
08-06-2013
Arthur Holland Michel '13, of Bard's Center for the Study of the Drone, examines the many possible uses of drone technology, and the ethical implications of drone development.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Division of Social Studies,Division of Science, Math, and Computing,Politics and International Affairs,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Center for Civic Engagement,Bard Undergraduate Programs |
08-01-2013
Bard alumnus, performer, screenwriter, and playwright Nick Jones '01 talks about how the Netflix approach of making an entire series available at once enables a different kind of viewing experience.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Theater,Division of Languages and Literature,Film,Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
08-01-2013
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Environmental/Sustainability,Division of Languages and Literature | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |

July 2013

07-30-2013
Contemporaneous, a new music ensemble featuring Bard alumni/ae and students, was on WNYC's Soundcheck this week with musician Jherek Bischoff.
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Meta: Type(s): Event | Subject(s): Student,Music,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
07-29-2013
Bard alumnus Adam Goldman '08, creator of the hit Web series The Outs, is working on a new show called Whatever this is., featuring alumnae Sasha Winters '08 and Madeline Wise '12. The series focuses on the junior members of a video production crew in New York City, as they struggle to meet their personal goals while working underpaid jobs.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Division of the Arts,Film,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
07-26-2013
Scott Gendel '99 weaves an Appalachian tale through music.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Music,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
07-19-2013
Alex Kalman cofounded Red Bucket Films while studying at Bard. Later this month he plans to release a new, free app called Camra, which enables users to edit a one-minute video on the go.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Film Series,Division of Science, Math, and Computing | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
07-18-2013
Gaby Hoffmann '04 lived in the famous Chelsea Hotel in New York City as a child, setting the stage for her acting career.

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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Theater,Film,Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
07-18-2013
Bardians Liza Birnbaum '10, Molly Schaeffer '10, and Paul Cavanagh '11 started a new literary journal in Portland, Oregon, in memory of Bill Cranshaw '10, their friend who passed away after graduation.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Division of Languages and Literature,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
07-17-2013
Mohammed Adawulai came to Simon's Rock from Ghana in 2005 as an exchange student. This May, he graduated magna cum laude, sharing the commencement stage with Ben Bernanke, and calling attention to the wealth gap between nations in the global north and south.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Politics and International Affairs,Economics,Early Colleges,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Center for Civic Engagement,Bard College at Simon's Rock |
07-09-2013
Read More

Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Politics and International Affairs,Early Colleges,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Center for Civic Engagement,Bard Undergraduate Programs,Bard College at Simon's Rock |
07-03-2013
Bard artist, alumnus, and longtime faculty member Harvey Fite crafted the massive Opus 40 sculpture park, "one of the most extraordinary pieces of sculpture ever created by a single man."
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Meta: Type(s): Faculty | Subject(s): Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
07-02-2013
A Rite opens this weekend at the Fisher Center. Co-creators Anne Bogart '74 and Janet Wong discuss the innovative dance-theater piece.
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Meta: Type(s): Event | Subject(s): Theater,SummerScape,Dance,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Fisher Center |
07-01-2013
Bard Conservatory Vocal Arts Program graduate Julia Bullock receives a rave review for her "full-voiced, stunningly paced account of 'Somewhere,'" in the San Francisco Symphony's concert performance of West Side Story.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Conservatory of Music |

June 2013

06-28-2013
Bard lands at number 15 on the Forbes list of top 50 colleges for return on investment.
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Meta: Type(s): Event | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Admission | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
06-27-2013
Bard alumnus Ben Rubenstein '04 MAT '06, a member of the mathematics faculty at BHSEC Manhattan, has received a 2013 Blackboard Teaching Award. Presented by Manhattan Media, the United Federation of Teachers, Columbia Teachers College, and the New School, the Blackboard Awards honor outstanding educators from all grade levels and education communities.

Meta: Type(s): Faculty | Subject(s): Division of Science, Math, and Computing,Alumni/ae,Early Colleges | Institutes(s): BHSECs,Center for Civic Engagement,Bard Undergraduate Programs |
06-26-2013
The New York Times calls Corps Exquis, by Daniel Wohl '03, a "deliciously lovely new album." Bard percussion faculty members, who compose the group So Percussion, perform on the album.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Music | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
06-26-2013
Sara Wintz's first full-length collection of poetry, Walking Across A Field We Are Focused On At This Time Now, "takes the twentieth century and gives it a new haircut," writes Claire Wilcox.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Division of Languages and Literature,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): MFA |
06-25-2013
Writer Sherman Yellen '53 pens "Screenplay for a 60th Wedding Anniversary" for his wife, designer Joan Yellen '55.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Theater,Division of Languages and Literature,Film,Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
06-18-2013
Several Bard alumni from the mid-90s have reunited Challenge of the Future, the band they started at Bard, for concerts and recordings to benefit the daughter of their late classmate Sebastian Quezada '96. Band members include Nick Zinner '96, Aaron Diskin '95, Mike Guy '96, Seth Prouty '96, and Simon Marcus.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Music | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
06-17-2013
Bard alumnus Adam Goldman '08, creator of the hit Web TV series The Outs, gives the New York Times a tour of his Brooklyn home.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Film | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
06-17-2013
Bard alumnus Jordan Bridges '96 continues a family legacy of acting, following in the footsteps of his father Beau Bridges, grandfather Lloyd “Sea Hunt” Bridges, and uncle Jeff Bridges (of Big Lebowski fame).


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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Theater,Film,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
06-14-2013
Actor, comedian, and Bard alumnus Chevy Chase '68 and his wife, Jayni, will be in Woodstock this weekend to be recognized by the Catskill Mountainkeeper environmental organization and to raise funds for the Opus 40 sculpture park and museum.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Film,Environmental/Sustainability,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Center for Civic Engagement,Bard Undergraduate Programs |
06-12-2013
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Division of Science, Math, and Computing,Division of Social Studies | Institutes(s): Center for Civic Engagement |
06-12-2013
Bard Graduate Center alumna and MFA Boston fashion arts curator Michelle Tolini Finamore Ph.D. '10 explores the intersection of couture and cooking in a recent event at the museum, using her own personal collection of cookbooks by fashion designers.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Graduate Center |
06-04-2013
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Division of the Arts | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |

May 2013

05-31-2013
Deirdre Faughey '00 interviews Bard Prison Initiative director Max Kenner '01, who founded BPI while still an undergraduate at Bard.
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Meta: Type(s): Staff | Subject(s): Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Center for Civic Engagement,Bard Undergraduate Programs,Bard Prison Initiative |
05-29-2013
in the Bardian

Only 10 playwrights—out of nearly 600—have been accepted into the Public Theater’s prestigious 2013 Emerging Writers Group (EWG), a selective program created to nurture the work of new playwrights. Manuel Borras Oliveras ’08 is one of them. “Being accepted into the program was one of the most satisfying experiences, in terms of being acknowledged for my writing,” says Oliveras, who takes nothing for granted, having come to playwriting via an unconventional route: while incarcerated, as a student in the Bard Prison Initiative.

With EWG, Oliveras has attended writing retreats; participated in “speed-dating sessions” with agents, directors, and actors; and met established playwrights such as Suzan-Lori Parks (Venus; Topdog/Underdog) and David Henry Hwang (M. Butterfly). “It’s the environment you want to be in,” says Oliveras. “It’s school for me. I tackle it like I tackled Bard College, soaking up as much knowledge and education as I can.”

Oliveras grew up in the Bronx. Conditions in his neighborhood were harsh. He made it to 11th grade before he dropped out of school. At 17, Oliveras ended up in prison. “My life drastically turned at that point. I did not really know anything about my future, other than the fact that I was going to do a lot of time,” he says.

Awaiting sentencing in the city’s detention center, Oliveras’s head raced. He realized that his only option was to make the most of his time—17 years. Once in prison, he immediately enrolled in a GED class and threw himself into the schoolwork. “I felt like I could redeem myself a little bit, instead of only bringing tears to my mother’s and family’s eyes,” he says. “When I obtained my GED, it felt monumental. I knew then that I wanted to pursue education as far as possible.”

Oliveras began applying to college-in-prison programs. Unfortunately, the 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act repealed federal Pell Grant funding for incarcerated students. Within months, New York State’s thriving network of postsecondary correctional higher education programs collapsed. So Oliveras began a journey of voracious independent study through books in prison libraries. “I was reading philosophy, history; I read a lot about my culture. I read Puerto Rican writers: Miguel Piñero and Julia de Burgos. My mind started expanding. I read about Pedro Albizu Campos, Che Guevara, the Black Panthers, and other influential people who had been through struggles like me.” He built friendships with older prisoners who were motivated to make the most of their time—starting and running community and educational programs on the inside.

When he was moved to Sing Sing in Ossining, New York, Oliveras enrolled in a theology program for college credit run by Mercy College. After he completed the program, he had no further opportunities for higher education until being transferred to Woodbourne Correctional Facility. “At Woodbourne, I saw a flyer for the Bard College program [the Bard Prison Initiative]. I immediately signed up. I wrote an entrance essay. Close to 200 guys applied. I thought, ‘Thank God I went through the theology program, because it taught me how to structure an essay.’ My essay got me an interview with Max Kenner ’01 [BPI executive director] and Daniel Karpowitz [BPI director of policy and academics, and lecturer in law and the humanities]. Only 11 of us were chosen. I felt so honored,” says Oliveras. “Bard came in at a time when other programs were leaving. I’m eternally grateful to Bard.”

Oliveras appreciates the quality of his Bard education, especially the focus on exploring ideas through writing. “It opened up my worldview,” he says. “It introduced me to writers like John Dewey, Plato, Shakespeare. I met professors who had written books, and I could sit down and talk to them. At those moments I felt totally free.” He was awarded an associate’s degree in 2006 and a bachelor’s degree in 2008.

During this period, Oliveras found himself taking writing very seriously. He cofounded Rehabilitation Through the Arts (RTA) at Woodbourne, a program that uses theater as a transformative tool, and applied what he was learning at Bard to his drama projects. “I kept reading plays and seeing what others had done,” he remembers. “I mimicked what they wrote, then I eventually started telling my own unique story.” He was the lead writer for Starting Over, a group-written play that was performed at Woodbourne and Sing Sing, and is being turned into a film as well as slated for production in New York City. Through RTA, Oliveras met Arin Arbus, associate artistic director of Theater for a New Audience in New York City. She read his work and encouraged him to submit it to theaters on the outside. Arbus showed a writing sample—“Dear Friend,” which is a letter to a man being incarcerated for the first time—to Mark Plesent, producing artistic director of the Working Theater in New York City; based on that, Plesent commissioned Oliveras’s full-length play, Song to a Child Like Me. The play’s first public reading, attended by his sister and other family members, was held at the Working Theater while Oliveras was still on the inside.

In September 2010, Oliveras was released. Balancing a full-time job as a housing advocate for Common Ground (a nonprofit dedicated to ending homelessness in New York City), he still writes every day. “In prison, I led a monastic life fully immersed in writing and studies. Out here, I need to work, pay bills, cook,” he says. “I had to relearn all this. It takes time. But I separate at least two hours a day to write. Never neglect your writing, or the work suffers.”

EWG provides playwrights with a stipend, master classes with established playwrights, a biweekly writers’ group led by members of the Public’s Literary Department, opportunities to attend rehearsals and productions at the Public, tickets to shows at other theaters, artistic and professional support, and at least one public reading of their work. Oliveras marvels at meeting with playwrights he once read in A-block. He’s aiming for a full production of one of his plays, and hopes to be able to write full time. “It takes a lot of courage sometimes, using what I’ve learned,” he says emphatically. “There were moments that were really tough. The change wasn’t overnight. It took a lot of things. I had to grow up to be a man in prison."

Read the spring 2013 issue of the Bardian:


Photo: Manuel Borras Oliveras ’08
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Division of Languages and Literature,Bardians at Work,Alumni/ae,Theater | Institutes(s): Center for Civic Engagement,Bard Undergraduate Programs,Bard Prison Initiative |
05-29-2013
Since graduating from the Bard Prison Initiative, the writing career of Manuel Borras Oliveras ’08 has blossomed. He has been accepted to the Public Theater's prestigious 2013 Emerging Writers Group, a selective program created to nurture the work of new playwrights. Of his Bard education behind bars, Oliveras says, “It opened up my worldview. It introduced me to writers like John Dewey, Plato, Shakespeare. I met professors who had written books, and I could sit down and talk to them. At those moments I felt totally free.”
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Theater,Division of Languages and Literature,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs,Bard Prison Initiative |
05-21-2013
Mentored by CCS Bard director Tom Eccles, Gabi Ngcobo M.A. '10 has become the first curatorial fellow of POOL, a new, Zurich-based program to develop and encourage emerging curatorial talent. She will curate their first exhibit this summer.

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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Center for Curatorial Studies |
05-21-2013
Diplomat, lawyer, and writer Ronan Farrow '04 examines the Benghazi hearings. "Congress isn't just wasting America's time—it's squandering a chance to save lives in the future."
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Politics and International Affairs,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Center for Civic Engagement,Bard Undergraduate Programs,Bard College at Simon's Rock |
05-17-2013
Depending on one’s viewpoint, it would seem either incongruous or quite likely that twins would study the same subjects at the same college. But for Alina and Janeta Marinova ’06, a double major in economics and mathematics at Bard was simply something both of them wanted to pursue. Here, they talk about their time at Bard and where their careers have taken them since then.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Division of Science, Math, and Computing,Alumni/ae,Economics | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
05-17-2013
Fashion photographer, designer, and Bard alumnus Tapu Javeri speaks with Pakistan's Friday Times about national style, working with models under water, and photographing Aung San Suu Kyi.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
05-16-2013
Macalester College professor and Bard alumna Karen Saxe '82 has been named a Congressional fellow of the American Mathematical Society and elected as second vice president of the Mathematics Association of America.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Division of Science, Math, and Computing,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Center for Civic Engagement,Bard Undergraduate Programs |
05-06-2013
The Bard SummerScape festival opens on Saturday, July 6 at 8pm, with A Rite, a major new dance-theater piece by the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company and SITI Company. Co-commissioned by SummerScape and created by Bill T. Jones and Anne Bogart '74, two titans of American performing arts, A Rite commemorates the centenary of Stravinsky’s ballet The Rite of Spring and its notorious, game-changing Paris premiere.
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Credit: Photo by Paul B. Goode
Meta: Type(s): Event | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Dance,SummerScape,Theater | Institutes(s): Fisher Center |
05-04-2013
A playground where Adam Yauch '86 played as a child has been renamed in his honor. The Beastie Boys member known as MCA died last year after a battle with cancer.
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Credit: Photo by Paul B. Goode
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Music,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
05-01-2013
The New York Times praised Julia Bullock's "rosy, agile voice" as Vixen in a production of "The Cunning Little Vixen" at the Peter Jay Sharp Theater in New York City.
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Credit: Photo by Paul B. Goode
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Music | Institutes(s): Bard Conservatory of Music |

April 2013

04-29-2013
New York–based artist John Jurayj's exhibition What's Left is on view at the Walter Maciel Gallery in Los Angeles through May 25.
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Credit: Photo by Paul B. Goode
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Division of the Arts | Institutes(s): MFA |
04-28-2013
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Credit: Photo by Paul B. Goode
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Division of the Arts,Economics | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
04-26-2013
Alumnus and ICP-Bard faculty member Joshua Lutz '97, MFA '05 (ICP) blends fact and fiction in his new photography book and solo show Hesitating Beauty.
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Credit: Photo by Paul B. Goode
Meta: Type(s): Faculty | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Division of the Arts | Institutes(s): ICP,MFA |
04-26-2013
Photographer and Bard alumnus Paul Salveson '06 has won the National Media Museum's 2013 First Book Award for his collection Between the Shell.
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Credit: Photo by Paul B. Goode
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
04-26-2013
Valerie Doescher '11 was an all-star activist for global human rights while a student at Bard. She is the recipient of the Cooky Heiferman Signet Award and the Clinton R. and Harriette M. Jones Award from the College. These days her work continues as a programs associate at the Coalition for the International Criminal Court.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Division of Social Studies,Alumni/ae,Politics and International Affairs,Religion and Theology | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs,Bard Globalization and International Affairs Program,Center for Civic Engagement,Bard Prison Initiative |
04-23-2013
Alexis Gambis '03 will be shooting key scenes for his film The Fly Room at Bard in June. Gambis is seeking extras and actors for speaking roles. Auditions will be held on April 25 and 26.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Film,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
04-16-2013
Bard alumnus Nsikan Akpan '06 made the jump from biomedical research to science journalism, and gives advice to his fellow science writers on how to do the same.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Division of Languages and Literature,Division of Science, Math, and Computing | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
04-16-2013
Four Bard alumni/ae have been recognized by the Fulbright Commission and the Center for Arabic Study Abroad (CASA) for the 2013–2014 award year. Matthew Christian '11 (Simons Rock '07) has won a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to Senegal. Amith Gupta '12 and Amber Winick BGC '12 have been named as alternates for research awards to Jordan and Hungary, respectively. Bardian Ada Petiwala '12 has won a language fellowship from CASA for the 2013–2014 academic year. She will spend the year in Cairo, where she will hone her language skills and continue her study of Middle Eastern politics and culture.

Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Foreign Language,Politics and International Affairs | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs,Center for Civic Engagement,Bard Graduate Center |
04-15-2013
Miss Lovely, a film directed by Ashim Ahluwalia '95, won the award for best feature at Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Film | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
04-11-2013
Two graduates of the Bard MFA program, Carrie Moyer MFA '02 in Painting and Chris Sollars MFA '07 in Sculpture, have been announced as 2013 Guggenheim Fellows.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Division of the Arts | Institutes(s): MFA |
04-02-2013
In a career spanning five decades, Bard alumnus Steve Schapiro '55 has made his mark as a celebrity and documentary photographer, particularly known for his many iconic portraits of musicians, actors, and artists in the 1960s and 1970s.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Division of the Arts | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
04-02-2013
Bard alumnus Richard Frank '74 is a Harvard economics professor and adviser to President Obama on healthcare reform.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Economics,Wellness,Politics and International Affairs | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |

March 2013

03-21-2013
The celebration on April 14 will include an open house with chamber music performances, followed by a celebration in the performance hall at 4 p.m., with Conservatory director Robert Martin; musical performances by students of the Conservatory and Bard’s Music Program; a reading by acclaimed poet Robert Kelly, Asher B. Edelman Professor of Literature; and remarks by László Z. Bitó ’60 and Bard College president Leon Botstein.
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Credit: Photo by Chris Cooper
Meta: Type(s): Event | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Bard Conservatory,Music | Institutes(s): Bard Conservatory of Music,Bard Undergraduate Programs |
03-15-2013
Elyse Foladare '12 got involved in AmeriCorps while studying at Bard. These days she's working with the organization as a watershed ambassador, taking care of the habitat in her native New Jersey.
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Credit: Photo by Chris Cooper
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Environmental/Sustainability,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Center for Civic Engagement,Bard Undergraduate Programs |
03-14-2013
Acclaimed dancer and choreographer Arthur Aviles '87 reprises the role created for him 25 years ago, performing D-Man in the Waters on March 30 and April 5 at the Joyce Theater in New York City.


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Credit: Photo by Chris Cooper
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Dance,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
03-13-2013
Lindsey Shute CEP '07 participated in a recent Tedx Manhattan talk titled "Changing the Way We Eat," in which she talks about farming as a career path for young people. (Her segment begins at minute 26.)

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Credit: Photo by Chris Cooper
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Environmental/Sustainability,Wellness | Institutes(s): Bard Center for Environmental Policy |
03-13-2013
Bard alumna and Oberlin professor Julia Christensen '00 has received a prestigious Creative Capital grant to build DIY video projectors out of reclaimed electronic waste.
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Credit: Photo by Chris Cooper
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Division of the Arts,Environmental/Sustainability | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
03-12-2013
Bard College and Simon's Rock alumnus Ronan Farrow has been awarded a 21st Century Leadership Award from the National Committee on American Foreign Policy.

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Credit: Photo by Chris Cooper
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Politics and International Affairs,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs,Bard College at Simon's Rock |
03-07-2013
Hesitating Beauty, a new book of photography by Joshua Lutz '97, MFA '05 (ICP), is a meditation on his mother's mental illness. His work will be on display at New York’s ClampArt Gallery from April 11th to May 18th.


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Credit: Photo by Chris Cooper
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Division of the Arts,Division of Languages and Literature | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs,ICP |
03-01-2013
Roberta Smith for the New York Times calls the paintings of recent Bard graduate Lucy Dodd MFA '12 "as wry as they are beautiful."
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Credit: Photo by Chris Cooper
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): MFA |
03-01-2013
Alexis Gambis '03 has crafted a career at the intersection of science and film, launching a film festival, pursuing advanced degrees in molecular biology and film, and making movies that tell a different story about scientists.

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Credit: Photo by Chris Cooper
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Film,Division of Science, Math, and Computing | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |

February 2013

02-27-2013
The Da Capo Chamber Players present a program of chamber works in their annual “Celebrate Bard!” concert, on Monday, March 11, at 8 p.m. at the new László Z. Bitó '60 Conservatory Building. “Da Capo’s annual ‘Celebrate Bard’ concert features faculty composers, other composers from the area, Bard alumni, and current students. It is thus a celebration of the creativity, imagination, continuing influence and vitality of the Bard Music Program,” says flutist and Da Capo member Patricia Spencer.
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Credit: Photo by Chris Cooper
Meta: Type(s): Event | Subject(s): Student,Alumni/ae,Music | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
02-25-2013
John Kisch '76 has been collecting visual artifacts of African American cinema for decades. Now his collection is available to museums, as a coffee table book, and as an iPad app.

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Credit: Photo by Chris Cooper
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Division of the Arts,Film | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
02-14-2013
Bard Prison Initiative graduate José Pérez received his associate's degree from Bard in January, and got married on Valentine's Day, but he's still behind bars. He doesn't come up for parole for seven years, but he and his wife are planning for the future.

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Credit: Photo by Chris Cooper
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Center for Civic Engagement,Bard Prison Initiative |
02-14-2013
On Tuesday, February 19, Bard College will host a talk and discussion with Salim B. “Sandy” Lewis, a Wall Street leader, founder of his firm, who now, with his wife, is the owner and operator of Lewis Family Farm in Essex, New York, a beef farm with a unique USDA certificate in grass. Lewis will explore “Why Fixing Wall Street and the Economy is Critical to the World” in a discussion with Matt Taibbi ’92, the renowned political and financial columnist for Rolling Stone.
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Credit: Photo: Fred Conrad, The New York Times
Meta: Type(s): Event | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Economics,Environmental/Sustainability,Wellness,Politics and International Affairs | Institutes(s): Bard Center for Environmental Policy,Bard MBA in Sustainability,Bard Undergraduate Programs,Center for Civic Engagement,Hannah Arendt Center,Levy Economics Institute |
02-12-2013
Bard alumna Susan Lowenstein Kitchell '48 will receive a "Standing on Her Shoulders Award" from the Women's Fund of Western Massachusetts for her work in reproductive rights.


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Credit: Photo: Fred Conrad, The New York Times
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Wellness | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs,Center for Civic Engagement |
02-08-2013
Sung Jin Hong '03 creates and directs One World Symphony's Baroque[n] Hearts, which also features Bard alumna Eva Sun '09.

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Credit: Photo: Fred Conrad, The New York Times
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Music,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
02-07-2013
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Credit: Photo: Fred Conrad, The New York Times
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Music,Theater | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
02-06-2013
BuzzFeed offers "23 Reasons Why Ronan Farrow Is Cooler Than You."

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Credit: Photo: Fred Conrad, The New York Times
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Politics and International Affairs | Institutes(s): Bard College at Simon's Rock,Bard Undergraduate Programs,Center for Civic Engagement |
02-05-2013
A new partnership between Bard's Center for Civic Engagement and regional schools has Bard students offering homework help and mentoring to local students.
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Credit: Photo: Fred Conrad, The New York Times
Meta: Type(s): Student | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Student | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs,Center for Civic Engagement |

January 2013

01-31-2013
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Credit: Photo: Fred Conrad, The New York Times
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Film,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
01-28-2013
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Credit: Photo: Fred Conrad, The New York Times
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Religion and Theology,Politics and International Affairs,Music,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Center for Civic Engagement,Bard Undergraduate Programs,Longy School of Music |
01-23-2013
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Credit: Photo: Fred Conrad, The New York Times
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Theater | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
01-23-2013
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Credit: Photo: Fred Conrad, The New York Times
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Division of Science, Math, and Computing,Film,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
01-14-2013
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Credit: Photo: Fred Conrad, The New York Times
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Politics and International Affairs,Wellness,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs,Center for Civic Engagement |
01-11-2013
Devotees of American Public Media’s Marketplace will be pleased to know that the show’s Africa correspondent is Bard’s very own Gretchen Wilson ’97. During the last eight years, Wilson has established herself as a political reporter who tackles serious labor, economic, and social justice issues.
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Credit: Photo by Candace Feit
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Division of Languages and Literature,Politics and International Affairs | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs,Center for Civic Engagement |
01-09-2013
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Credit: Photo by Candace Feit
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Theater,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
01-07-2013
Millions around the world consider basic water and sewerage systems a far-off luxury. Fortunately, people such as Christophe Chung ’06, a water supply and sanitation consultant at the World Bank, are helping to bring the life-sustaining liquid to some of the world’s most water-scarce places, North Africa and the Middle East.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Division of Science, Math, and Computing,Politics and International Affairs,Wellness,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Center for Civic Engagement,Bard Undergraduate Programs |
01-07-2013
In the Bardian

Few of us truly appreciate how our most essential element—water—makes its way from the source, through plumbing, and out a tap. In fact, millions around the world consider basic water and sewerage systems a far-off luxury. Fortunately, people such as Christophe Chung ’06, a water supply and sanitation consultant at the World Bank, are helping to bring the life-sustaining liquid to some of the world’s most water-scarce places, North Africa and the Middle East.

The World Bank lends money for capital projects, provides infrastructure-planning expertise, and collaborates with public agencies, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and private firms to initiate projects in many developing countries. Chung is an urban water specialist working on teams that aim to upgrade and expand water infrastructure in Beirut, improve basic service delivery in slum areas of Cairo, and help implement pollution control programs in Lebanon and Egypt. He also works on a capacity-building project based in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, which trains public officials to better manage water resources. “I do believe the work is needed, especially now with so many transitions in the region,” says Chung. “But while I’ve developed a real love for infrastructure and utility management, I’ve come to realize that talking about it
may not be the best pick-up line to use.”

Bringing water and sewerage systems to poor urban and rural communities is critical to economic progress and social stability. Chung points out that contaminated water is the leading cause of cholera, dysentery, and typhoid—diseases that contribute to high infant and child mortality rates in some African nations. Illness decreases worker productivity, prevents children from attending school, and increases medical expenses for families already living on meager incomes. In addition, no industrial or agricultural product can be made or grown, packaged, and distributed without ample, sanitary water. Put simply, clean water saves lives.

Chung helps with the planning and preparation necessary for getting these complex projects off the ground. Says Chung, “The World Bank requires that all proposed projects go through an extensive review to ensure that the project is beneficial, realistic, and self-sustaining by the time the bank’s involvement is complete. We also make sure that social and environmental safeguards are taken into account so that the project doesn’t have an adverse impact on people and the environment. We consult with local governments and stakeholders, NGOs, community leaders, and universities to ensure that those affected by and benefiting from the project are taken into account in our project design and implementation. Also, at a very macro level, we have to evaluate the country’s existing capacity, finances and budgeting, and its ability to maintain or operate the system after it’s built.”

Chung’s interest in addressing the challenges faced by residents of the Middle East began while he was a political studies major at Bard. However, it was an art history course about war and architecture that took his political thinking in a different direction. He says, “I was initially concerned with the broader question of how peace could be brought about through political system reform, but then I came to believe that stability is also contingent upon basic considerations, like how people of different ethnicities and religions interact with each other in their day-to-day lives. That led me to examine the role of public space in postwar stability and redevelopment, which drew me to explore the political dimensions of urban planning and architecture.”

When he was a senior, Chung won a Watson Fellowship, which provides college graduates with a $25,000 stipend for international travel and independent study. Fellows are chosen from among the nation’s leading colleges and universities. Recipients stay abroad for 12 months and delve deeply into a particular issue or project. Chung traveled to rural communities in Peru, Bolivia, Vietnam, and India, where he studied terrace farms—multileveled fields built into mountains and hills and supported by various types of retaining walls.

Terraced fields reduce erosion and water runoff, making them more water efficient. Chung became particularly interested in how traditional farming techniques can be used to adapt to climate change and water scarcity. He also documented how rural residents maintain their agricultural livelihoods in the face of political difficulties, globalized food markets, and the constant pull of the city. “Rural farmers continually wrestle with the idea of leaving the farming life and moving to the city. This tension got me interested in urban migration and growth.”

Returning to the United States, Chung worked as a program assistant in New York City for the UN Development Programme’s Equator Initiative and enrolled in the master’s program in urban planning at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 2009. “Going from Bard to MIT seemed to fit,” he says. “What I appreciated at both places were the small classes, discussion-based learning, and emphasis on innovation and critical thinking.” In his master’s program, Chung became deeply interested in studying water and sanitation infrastructure. He spent the summer of 2010 in Ethiopia working for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees; he conducted water-quality assessments in four refugee camps, where many children suffered from water-borne diseases. The very existence of the camps—their size and the relative spontaneity with which they appear—is exactly the type of social problem that urban planners hope to deter. Wrote Chung in his blog from Ethiopia: “The fact that a settlement of thousands—a virtual city—can form in the middle of nowhere, and a small office of individuals is made responsible for all aspects of the refugees’ lives, is challenging, to say the least.”

Chung has been working at the World Bank for more than a year, and he plans on staying put. “I like Washington, D.C.,” he says. “After traveling so much, I’m happy to be settled. I’ve even started buying stuff for myself. Like furniture.”

Read the fall 2012 issue of the Bardian:

Photo: Christophe Chung (center) in eastern Ethiopia, 2010, conducting
water-quality tests.
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Wellness,Division of Science, Math, and Computing,Politics and International Affairs,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Center for Civic Engagement,Bard Undergraduate Programs |
01-04-2013
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Photo: Christophe Chung (center) in eastern Ethiopia, 2010, conducting
water-quality tests.
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Film,Division of Science, Math, and Computing | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |

December 2012

12-28-2012
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Photo: Christophe Chung (center) in eastern Ethiopia, 2010, conducting
water-quality tests.
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Division of Languages and Literature,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
12-17-2012
Kerry Ryan Chance '02 first traveled to South Africa as a junior at Bard. These days, she's doing social-anthropological research in the dangerous, politically volatile Kennedy Road shantytown outside Durban. By William Stavru ’87, in the Bardian.
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Credit: Photo by Richard Renaldi
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Politics and International Affairs | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs,Center for Civic Engagement |
12-03-2012
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Credit: Photo by Richard Renaldi
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Division of the Arts | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |

November 2012

11-26-2012
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Credit: Photo by Richard Renaldi
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
11-20-2012
Volunteering with Physicians for Peace, Gail Grisetti '68 directs training projects for health care providers who serve patients with disabilities. Gail helps connect local programs with institutions in the United States to improve physical therapy education.
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Credit: Still from video by Physicians for Peace
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Wellness | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs,Center for Civic Engagement |
11-19-2012
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Credit: Still from video by Physicians for Peace
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Politics and International Affairs,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
11-14-2012
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Credit: Still from video by Physicians for Peace
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Division of the Arts | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
11-07-2012
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Credit: Still from video by Physicians for Peace
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Division of the Arts | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
11-01-2012
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Credit: Still from video by Physicians for Peace
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Environmental/Sustainability,Division of Science, Math, and Computing | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs,Center for Civic Engagement |

October 2012

10-22-2012
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Credit: Still from video by Physicians for Peace
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
10-16-2012
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Credit: Still from video by Physicians for Peace
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Division of Languages and Literature,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
10-12-2012
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Credit: Still from video by Physicians for Peace
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Division of Languages and Literature,Theater | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
10-08-2012
The Bard-St. Stephen's Alumni/ae Association, in conjunction with the Computer Science Program and the Career Development Office, invite you to Bard Alumni/ae Day and Tech Meetup on October 20. Join Kate Hartman '03, current students, faculty, and fellow alumni/ae for an illuminating day of classes, demonstrations, panels, tours, and more.
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Photo: Unidentified man in Bard Observatory, c. 1938-42. Credit: Photo by Wendell MacRae. Courtesy of the Bard College Archives.
Meta: Type(s): Event | Subject(s): Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
10-04-2012
Persistence of Vision began at Bard as the Senior Project of Kevin Schreck '11. The documentary chronicles the 30-year effort of filmmaker Richard Williams to make the ani­mated film The Thief and the Cob­bler. Today Persistence of Vision premiered at the Vancouver International Film Festival. Click here to read the review in Variety or click below to watch the trailer.
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Photo: Still from Persistence of Vision
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Film | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |

September 2012

09-27-2012
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Photo: Still from Persistence of Vision
Meta: Type(s): Faculty | Subject(s): Division of Languages and Literature,Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): MFA |
09-26-2012
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Photo: Still from Persistence of Vision
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Music,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
09-10-2012
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Photo: Still from Persistence of Vision
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Religion and Theology,Environmental/Sustainability,Career Development,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Center for Civic Engagement,Bard Undergraduate Programs |
09-10-2012
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Photo: Still from Persistence of Vision
Meta: Type(s): Student | Subject(s): Student,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): MFA |
09-09-2012
The Bard student comedy group Olde English kept the campus laughing for years. Now Olde English Comedy—Ben Popik '05, Adam Conover '04, Joel Clark '05, and Caleb Bark BHSEC '06, '11—are back on campus screening their award-winning first film, The Exquisite Corpse Project. Click here to view the trailer.
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Photo: A still from The Exquisite Corpse Project.
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Division of the Arts,Film,Theater | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |

August 2012

08-23-2012
Bard alum Arthur Tress '62 captures San Francisco in political and cultural transition in the summer of 1964.
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Photo: A still from The Exquisite Corpse Project.
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
08-20-2012
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Photo: A still from The Exquisite Corpse Project.
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Theater,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |

July 2012

07-30-2012
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Photo: A still from The Exquisite Corpse Project.
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Politics and International Affairs | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs,Center for Civic Engagement |
07-28-2012
Bard alumnus Vincent Valdmanis '03 works for the United Nations in the newly independent nation of South Sudan, helping the country achieve stability. Vincent strives to "ensure that UN agencies provide shelter, food, and water," while addressing poverty through better access to health care and education. In the Bardian:
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Photo: Vincent meets with security officials during elections for South Sudan independence.
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Politics and International Affairs | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs,Center for Civic Engagement |
07-19-2012
Check out the trailer for the new feature film Hasta Nunca by Bard alum Mark Street '86. This film and some of his other work will be screened at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. on Saturday.
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Photo: A still from Hasta Nunca, by Mark Street
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Film | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
07-16-2012
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Photo: A still from Hasta Nunca, by Mark Street
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
07-02-2012
The Bard Prison Initiative has been educating New York State inmates for 10 years, transforming lives and creating a model for similar programs around the country. In this video, alums and current students share their inspiring BPI stories.
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Meta: Type(s): Event | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Student | Institutes(s): Bard Prison Initiative,Bard Undergraduate Programs,Center for Civic Engagement |

June 2012

06-20-2012
Simon's Rock student Bethany Geiger attends her college's reunion and finds that, "When you're in, you're in for good."
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Meta: Type(s): Student | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Student | Institutes(s): Bard College at Simon's Rock,Bard Undergraduate Programs,Center for Civic Engagement |
06-08-2012
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Environmental/Sustainability | Institutes(s): Bard Center for Environmental Policy,Bard Undergraduate Programs,Center for Civic Engagement |
06-01-2012
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
06-01-2012
What if filmmakers all over the planet documented the same day? Follow the link below to view a trailer for the film One Day on Earth, coproduced by Daniel Lichtblau '03, opening today in New York City.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Film | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |

May 2012

05-30-2012
Bardian filmmakers are turning heads with a new Web series called The Outs, about gay life in New York City. Bard alums involved include Adam Goldman '08 (writer-director), Jay Gillespie '08 (director of photography), Ted King '08 and Andrew Theiss '09 (sound), Sasha Winters '08 (acting), Amanda Warman '09 (producer) and Jake Teresi '10 (key grip). Read more about The Outs in the Huffington Post.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Film | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
05-30-2012
These Bard alumni created a film that "stands on its own as a meditation on the uncomfortable truths, and unexpected joys, of creative collaboration." The comedy troupe Olde English—comprised of Caleb Bark '12, Raphael Bob-Waksburg '06, Joel Clark '05, Adam Conover '04, Ben Popik '05, and Dave Segal '05—premiered their collaborative film The Exquisite Corpse at the Dances With Films Festival in Hollywood.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Theater,Film,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
05-30-2012
What would it take to make faster computers and more efficient solar panels? Jesse Kohl '07 is looking for answers at the crossroads of nanotechnology and clean energy.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Division of Science, Math, and Computing,Environmental/Sustainability,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Center for Civic Engagement,Bard Undergraduate Programs |
05-27-2012
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Meta: Type(s): Student | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Student | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
05-21-2012
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Politics and International Affairs | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs,Center for Civic Engagement |
05-12-2012
Farrow's advice to Dominican graduates: "Shake things up."
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Politics and International Affairs,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs,Bard College at Simon's Rock |
05-12-2012
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Film | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
05-08-2012
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
05-04-2012
Bard alumnus Adam Yauch '86 has passed away at the age of 47 after a battle with cancer. The Bard community mourns this loss. We are proud to have honored Adam last year at Commencement with the Kellogg Award in the arts.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |

April 2012

04-26-2012
Evan Spigelman '09 took home the Big Easy Award for Best Actor in a Musical for Hedwig and the Angry Inch, and Anna Henschel '09 was nominated for Best Director for the production at the Bard Alumni/ae-run Skin Horse Theater.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Theater | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
04-25-2012
Miss Lovely, a film by Bard alum Ashim Ahluwalia '95, heads to the Cannes Film Festival this year as India's only entry.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Film,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
04-22-2012
What do Bard alums do in their spare time? Alumnae Lilly Bechtel ’09 and Maida Ives ’08 started a women's arm wrestling league in New York City.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
04-14-2012
We have more exciting postgraduate fellowship news: Seniors Sadaf Hasan and Rachel Van Horn, and alums Duron Jackson MFA '11 and Maya Perlmann '11 have all been awarded Fulbright Fellowships. Congratulations!

Meta: Type(s): Student | Subject(s): Student,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs,MFA |
04-07-2012
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Division of the Arts | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |

March 2012

03-21-2012
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Division of the Arts | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
03-20-2012
The new Bard Alumni/ae Center is coming together fast. The building is under construction on 9G across from the main entrance to the College. The center will be open during commencement and reunion this year, complete with Two Boots Pizza!
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
03-07-2012
The Bard community is deeply saddened to learn of the death of alum Robert Sherman '49. Robert and his brother Richard (also class of '49) composed the soundtracks to many childhoods in their years at Disney.
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Photo: Richard M. Sherman '49 (L) Robert B. Sherman '49 (R) receive honorary Doctor of Arts degrees at Bard's 151st commencement.
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae,Film,Music | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
03-06-2012
Mariel Fiori ’05, founding editor and managing director of La Voz, has been named one of the Hispanic Coalition NY, Inc.’s 2012 40 Under 40 Rising Stars. La Voz is an independent monthly Spanish-language magazine aimed at bridging the Anglo and Hispanic cultures in the Hudson Valley region. The 40 Under 40 Rising Stars program recognizes members of the Hispanic/Latino community under the age of 40 who have demonstrated outstanding accomplishments and achievements in the areas of business, educations, politics, nonprofit sector, community service, and more.
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Photo: Richard M. Sherman '49 (L) Robert B. Sherman '49 (R) receive honorary Doctor of Arts degrees at Bard's 151st commencement.
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Center for Civic Engagement,Bard Undergraduate Programs |
03-03-2012
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Photo: Richard M. Sherman '49 (L) Robert B. Sherman '49 (R) receive honorary Doctor of Arts degrees at Bard's 151st commencement.
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Theater | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |

February 2012

02-27-2012
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Photo: Richard M. Sherman '49 (L) Robert B. Sherman '49 (R) receive honorary Doctor of Arts degrees at Bard's 151st commencement.
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
02-24-2012
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Photo: Richard M. Sherman '49 (L) Robert B. Sherman '49 (R) receive honorary Doctor of Arts degrees at Bard's 151st commencement.
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
02-21-2012
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Photo: Richard M. Sherman '49 (L) Robert B. Sherman '49 (R) receive honorary Doctor of Arts degrees at Bard's 151st commencement.
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Division of Science, Math, and Computing | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
02-19-2012
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Photo: Richard M. Sherman '49 (L) Robert B. Sherman '49 (R) receive honorary Doctor of Arts degrees at Bard's 151st commencement.
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
02-08-2012
On any given evening, the dinner guests of Ali Wentworth '88 may be family members, girlfriends, or dignitaries with Secret Service agents. What are her tips and tricks for entertaining? Ali shares her stories in Food and Wine magazine and in her new book, Ali in Wonderland.
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Photo: Richard M. Sherman '49 (L) Robert B. Sherman '49 (R) receive honorary Doctor of Arts degrees at Bard's 151st commencement.
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
02-06-2012
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Photo: Richard M. Sherman '49 (L) Robert B. Sherman '49 (R) receive honorary Doctor of Arts degrees at Bard's 151st commencement.
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Center for Curatorial Studies |
02-01-2012
What do Bard alumni/ae do after graduation? Some of them create cutting-edge theater that uses "linguistic fireworks" to make "new art for a new generation." Check out Steven Sapp '89, Mildred Ruiz-Sapp '92, and William Ruiz '03 in the new Universes production of Ameriville.
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Photo: Richard M. Sherman '49 (L) Robert B. Sherman '49 (R) receive honorary Doctor of Arts degrees at Bard's 151st commencement.
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Theater,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |

January 2012

01-25-2012
With Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona resigning, a special election is starting to take shape for the Tucson seat. Among the possible contenders? Giffords's chief of staff, Bard alumna Pia Carusone '03.
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Photo: Richard M. Sherman '49 (L) Robert B. Sherman '49 (R) receive honorary Doctor of Arts degrees at Bard's 151st commencement.
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
01-19-2012
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Photo: Richard M. Sherman '49 (L) Robert B. Sherman '49 (R) receive honorary Doctor of Arts degrees at Bard's 151st commencement.
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
01-17-2012
The "demented brilliance" of Bard alumnus Nick Jones '01 has been noted by the New York Times, and his work has appeared at New York's Lincoln Center. His next project? A musical about Grizzly Adams performed by bears.
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Photo: Richard M. Sherman '49 (L) Robert B. Sherman '49 (R) receive honorary Doctor of Arts degrees at Bard's 151st commencement.
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |

December 2011

12-22-2011
Farrow has been a driven international human rights activist since graduating from Bard College at 15. He is currently Hillary Clinton's special advisor on global youth after stops at Yale Law, House Foreign Affairs Committee and UNICEF. He will start a Rhodes fellowship this fall.
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Photo: Richard M. Sherman '49 (L) Robert B. Sherman '49 (R) receive honorary Doctor of Arts degrees at Bard's 151st commencement.
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
12-19-2011
Kyle Allison '01, Ronan Farrow '99, Jessica Mah '06, and Claire Rosen '01 of Bard College at Simon's Rock in Great Barrington, Mass. are making headlines.
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Photo: Richard M. Sherman '49 (L) Robert B. Sherman '49 (R) receive honorary Doctor of Arts degrees at Bard's 151st commencement.
Meta: Subject(s): Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard College at Simon's Rock,Center for Civic Engagement |
12-04-2011
When Rep. Gabrielle Giffords made a surprise Aug. 1 return to Capitol Hill to vote on debt legislation, her chief of staff, Pia Carusone, was at her side, at the center of the action but on the periphery of the spotlight.
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Photo: Richard M. Sherman '49 (L) Robert B. Sherman '49 (R) receive honorary Doctor of Arts degrees at Bard's 151st commencement.
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |

November 2011

11-20-2011
Ronan Farrow '04, a philosophy major and Bard's youngest graduate, serves as special adviser to the secretary of state for global youth issues.
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Photo: Richard M. Sherman '49 (L) Robert B. Sherman '49 (R) receive honorary Doctor of Arts degrees at Bard's 151st commencement.
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
11-07-2011
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Photo: Richard M. Sherman '49 (L) Robert B. Sherman '49 (R) receive honorary Doctor of Arts degrees at Bard's 151st commencement.
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
11-06-2011
Ever wondered what it's like working in subzero temperatures to repair a radio telescope that weighs half a million pounds? Chris Kendall '82 has done just that, and will share his experience working at the Amunsen Scott Station in Antarctica on Nov. 10, 7–9 pm, in Olin 102.
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Photo: Richard M. Sherman '49 (L) Robert B. Sherman '49 (R) receive honorary Doctor of Arts degrees at Bard's 151st commencement.
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
11-03-2011
Wearable communication? Kate Hartman '03 gives a TED talk on fashion that exposes and enables communication with self, others, and the environment.
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Photo: Richard M. Sherman '49 (L) Robert B. Sherman '49 (R) receive honorary Doctor of Arts degrees at Bard's 151st commencement.
Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |

September 2011

09-01-2011
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |

August 2011

08-16-2011
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Meta: Type(s): Faculty | Subject(s): Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
08-04-2011
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Meta: Type(s): Event | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Division of the Arts,Student | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |

July 2011

07-27-2011
Do former New York State prison inmates work harder than the average college student in post-graduation jobs? PBS NewsHour investigates Bard Prison Initiative graduates.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Student,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs,Bard Prison Initiative,Center for Civic Engagement |

May 2011

05-10-2011
Most people think farmers' markets are more expensive than supermarkets—but studies don't always support that conclusion. In fact, they're often cheaper.
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Environmental/Sustainability,Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Center for Environmental Policy,Center for Civic Engagement |

April 2011

04-16-2011
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae,Politics and International Affairs | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |

October 2010

10-21-2010
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Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Alumni/ae | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs,Bard Prison Initiative,Center for Civic Engagement |

June 2005

06-12-2005
Yugon Kim ’98 was a Fine Arts major at Bard and is now a founding partner of IKD, an architectural design firm in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that is cross-disciplinary in nature. "We have backgrounds in architecture, art, exhibition design, furniture and set design. From its inception, the intersection of architecture and art has been at the core of our design philosophy. We enjoy the freedom to work on a wide range of different projects and clients and every day we work on something new."

After Bard, Yugon worked as a furniture maker while continuing his sculptural work. After a few years, he decided to go to architecture school at Harvard's Graduate School of Design. "I worked with a number of architects after graduating, most recently with the Renzo Piano Building Workshop in Genoa, Italy where I oversaw the design and construction of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum extension for a period of six years. At the completion of this project, I co-founded IKD with a classmate from Harvard and have taught at a number area schools, now currently at the Rhode Island School of Design."

At Bard, he enjoyed the freedom to explore whatever he wanted academically. The interdisciplinary opportunities helped develop the kind of thinking that led him to found IKD. "Bard helped me identify my own voice by introducing me to a wide range of voices, both teachers and fellow students," he adds.

Yugon’s advice for current Bardians? "Do what you love. Always take full advantage of an opportunity that comes your way no matter how small. You never know how one thing can lead to another or how things organically come together."

With thanks to the Bard College Career Development Office

Meta: Type(s): Alumni | Subject(s): Division of the Arts,Alumni/ae,Bardians at Work | Institutes(s): Bard Undergraduate Programs |
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Bard Alumni/ae
Office of Alumni/ae Affairs
Anne Cox Chambers Alumni/ae Center
PO Box 5000
Annandale-on-Hudson, NY 12504
Tel: 1-800-BARDCOL
[email protected]
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