Newsmakers

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

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

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.”

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

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

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

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

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.