Jonathan Becker

Acting President of the College; Professor of Political Studies; Executive Director, Center for Civic Engagement; Vice Chancellor, Global Higher Education Alliance for the 2Ist Century

Primary Academic Program: Global and International Studies

Academic Program Affiliation(s): Bard Globalization and International Affairs Program, Politics, Russian and Eurasian Studies

Academic Expertise: Politics

Area of Specialization: Voting Rights, Democracy and Authoritarianism, Russian and East European, Politics, Media and Politics, Comparative Politics

Biography: Jonathan Becker is entering his 30th year at Bard College. In addition to being acting president of the College, Becker is director of Bard Center for Civic Engagement, which he founded in 2011, and a professor of politics. He also serves as the vice chancellor of the Global Higher Education Network for the 21st Century. He works with Bard’s international and national networks of liberal arts institutions, including: Bard’s partnerships with the American University of Central Asia (Kyrgyzstan); Al-Quds University (East Jersualem); and Bard College Berlin; Bard’s programs with institutions in exile, including the American University of Afghanistan, Parami University (Myanmar), and Smolny Beyond Borders (Russia); the Bard Early Colleges; Bard Prison Initiative; and Clemente Course in the Humanities. He previously served as vice president of international affairs and civic engagement (2012–15), dean of international studies (2001–11), associate dean of the College (2003–11), dean of studies (1998–2001), and dean of students (1997–99). In 2019 and 2021–23, he was interim president of the American University of Central Asia, where he remains a board member. Prior to his leadership at Bard, Becker served as assistant vice president of the Central European University (1995–97).

He is author of Soviet and Russian Press Coverage of the United States: Press, Politics and Identity in Transition (Palgrave, 2003); coeditor ofYouth Voting Rights: Civil Rights, the Twenty-Sixth Amendment, and the Fight for American Democracy on College Campuses (De Gruyter, 2026); and editor of Civic Engagement and Social Action: Locally, Nationally, and Globally (CEU Press, forthcoming). He has recently published articles on youth voting rights in Liberal Education, The Nation, Inside Higher Ed, Forbes, The EDU Ledger, and Times Higher Education; the impact of civic engagement and displaced students and refugees in Times Higher Education; and the challenges of institutional neutrality in Liberal Education. The story of Afghan students’ harrowing escape to freedom and education is told in “A Journey from Kabul to Bishkek and its follow-up, “Our Journey to Bard.” 

BA, McGill University; DPhil, St. Antony’s College, Oxford University. At Bard since 1997.

Contact:

Phone: 845-758-7378
Website: https://cce.bard.edu
Email:
Departments: Center for Civic Engagement,International Studies
Location: Resnick Family Gatehouse
Office: Second Floor