Norton Batkin, Associate Professor of Philosophy and Art History, Vice President and Dean of Graduate Studies

In a letter to the Bard community, President Leon Botstein memorialized Professor Batkin.

It is with great sadness that I inform the Bard community of the death earlier in the week of our colleague of many years, both on the faculty and in the administration, Norton Batkin. He retired in 2021. Norton was 76 years old. He suffered, with characteristic dignity, from a progressive neurological disease.

Norton received his B.A. with distinction in philosophy from Stanford University. He went on to study painting and worked as a graphic designer in Sweden and San Francisco before completing his M.A. and Ph.D. in philosophy at Harvard University under the guidance of Stanley Cavell. From 1981 through 1988, he was assistant professor in the Department of Philosophy at Yale, where he also acted as assistant director of the Whitney Humanities Center. From 1988 to 1990, he was associate professor and director of the Scripps College Humanities Institute.

Norton was recruited by Bard College in 1991 to become the founding director of the Center for Curatorial Studies and Art in Contemporary Culture (CCS Bard), which now includes the Hessel Museum of Art. Norton established CCS’s reputation for exacting intellectual standards and innovation in its Master's Degree curriculum and in its exhibitions. He recruited a mix of outstanding teachers and renowned practitioners, and forged an international network of artists. Norton initiated the Audrey Irmas Award for Curatorial Excellence, which is awarded annually to leading curators from around the globe.

In 2005, Norton succeeded Robert Martin as dean of graduate studies at Bard and in 2009 he became a vice president. During his tenure, Norton oversaw the growth of Bard’s graduate programs and managed Bard’s complex obligations regarding accreditation and assessment for its academic programs. Norton provided support and guidance to the growing number of graduate program directors with grace and empathy while managing, with stoicism, the unrelenting details and harsh realities of regulatory oversight. In so doing, he defended Bard’s commitment to excellence and innovation.

During his three decades at Bard as an academic administrator, Norton served as well as an associate professor of philosophy and art history. He was beloved as a teacher. He taught and advised Senior Projects, chaired the Philosophy Program, and published many scholarly works in the areas of philosophical aesthetics, philosophy of language, and philosophy of psychology including, Photography and Philosophy (1990); “The Museum Exposed,” in Exhibited (Center for Curatorial Studies Museum, 1994); “Conceptualizing the History of the Contemporary Museum: On Foucault and Benjamin,” in: Philosophical Topics (1997). In 2022, the college recognized Norton’s many distinguished contributions to aesthetics, philosophy, and the administration of cultural and academic institutions with the Bardian Award.

Norton will long be remembered as will his devotion to Bard. I cannot imagine a kinder, gentler colleague or a better friend possessed equally of a razor-sharp intellect and a stunning sense of irony and humor. Norton was a wise and noble soul.

On behalf of the entire Bard community, from its trustees to its faculty, staff, students, alumni/ae, and friends, I want to extend my deepest sympathy and condolences to Norton’s wife Rachel Cavell, our colleague, and their children, Alex ’11 and Liza.

Norton’s family is planning a memorial service to be held in March 2024. I will share details as they become available.

Leon Botstein
President

Post Date: 02-01-2024