Bard College Catalogue 2009-2010
2009-2010

Campus Facilities

Campus Facilities: Libraries

Charles P. Stevenson Jr. Library, Hoffman Library, and Kellogg Library

The library’s mission is to support the goals of the College and to improve the quality of learning and teaching by providing information services and collections in a variety of formats that serve the needs of its users. In support of this mission the library seeks to (1) sustain and improve its collections and the services and pathways that give access to them; (2) clarify user needs and develop programs that help students to become more independent, more confident, and more resourceful; (3) create an information gateway through the thoughtful use of technology; (4) promote staff learning through collaborative planning, teamwork, and continuing education; and (5) ensure that library facilities are safe, inviting, and well maintained.

As a result of a generous gift from trustee Charles P. Stevenson Jr., Bard’s library complex consists of the Charles P. Stevenson Jr. Library, designed by the award-winning architectural firm of Robert Venturi, and the Hoffman and Kellogg Libraries. The resources of the Stevenson Library and satellite libraries in the Levy Economics Institute, Center for Curatorial Studies, and Bard Graduate Center for Studies in the Decorative Arts, Design History, and Material Culture include 400,000 volumes and more than 14,000 journals available in print or online. For a full description of the library’s collections and services, please visit the Stevenson Library website at www.bard.edu/library.

Campus Facilities: Academic

Milton and Sally Avery Arts Center

The newly renovated Avery Arts complex houses the Jim Ottaway Jr. Film Center, home to the Film and Electronic Arts Program, and the Edith C. Blum Institute, home to the Music Program and The Bard College Conservatory of Music. Music facilities include a practice space for students and staff, faculty offices, classrooms, a listening library, a fully equipped soundproof recording studio, an editing studio, a computer music studio, a composition studio, a jazz band room, and a jazz percussion studio. Students have access to grand and upright Steinway and Yamaha pianos, donated to the College by the manufacturers. The Film Center houses a 110-seat theater equipped with 16- and 35-millimeter film projection and state-of-the-art video projection; a multimedia presentation and performance space; two screening/seminar rooms; a video installation gallery; a multimedia video lab; a shooting studio with control room; printing and processing labs; a sound lab; an animation studio; 20 individual film and video editing suites; faculty offices; and a video library.

Bard College Exhibition Center (UBS Gallery)

The Exhibition Center is a 16,000-square-foot gallery and studio space in the nearby village of Red Hook. The off-campus exhibition and studio space, formerly the Universal Builders Supply (UBS) building, provides a professional-level space for exhibitions by graduating seniors and master of fine arts candidates in the Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts.

Bard College Field Station and Hudsonia Ltd.

The Bard College Field Station is on the Hudson River near Tivoli South Bay and the mouth of the Sawkill. Its location affords research and teaching access to freshwater tidal marshes, swamps and shallows, perennial and intermittent streams, young and old deciduous and coniferous forests, old and mowed fields, and other habitats. A library, a herbarium, laboratories, a classroom, and offices are open to undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, and environmental researchers by prior arrangement. Also based at the field station are the laboratories of the Hudson River National Estuarine Research Reserve of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and Hudsonia Ltd., a research institute. The field station is owned by the College and operated with support from the Research Reserve, Hudsonia, and other public and private funding sources.

Hudsonia Ltd. is an independent, not-for-profit, tax-exempt institute for environmental research and education. Funding for Hudsonia projects comes from government agencies, foundations, conservation and citizens’ groups, businesses, and individuals. Hudsonia focuses on wetland ecology, the Hudson River, biodiversity assessment, conservation biology of rare species and habitats, and ecology and management of invasive plants. Student interns and employees assist in project work.

Bard Hall

Bard Hall is the College’s original academic building, erected in 1852. It is used by the Music Program and other programs for lectures, recitals, rehearsals, and classes. It was completely restored with generous assistance from the late John H. Steinway ’39, who had been a trustee of the College.

Blithewood

Blithewood is the home of The Levy Economics Institute of Bard College. The Blithewood mansion, built in 1900, and its site, originally designed by the renowned landscape architect A. J. Downing, were renovated with a gift from the family of Leon Levy. Undergraduates have access to the Institute’s library in person by appointment and through the campus electronic network, and some undergraduate courses are taught there.

Edith C. Blum Institute

See Avery Arts Center description.

John Cage Trust

The John Cage Trust, created to maintain and nurture the artistic legacy of the late American composer, philosopher, poet, and visual artist John Cage, is now housed at Bard College. The John Cage Trust at Bard College, located in Griffiths House near the campus, provides access to its diverse holdings through on-site research, courses, workshops, and concerts, as well as other educational activities and programs.

Center for Curatorial Studies and Art in Contemporary Culture

The Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College (CCS Bard) is an exhibition, education, and research center dedicated to the study of art and curatorial practices from the 1960s to the present day. The original 38,000-square-foot facility was completed in 1991 through the generosity of Marieluise Hessel and Richard Black. In addition to the CCS Bard Galleries and the Hessel Museum of Art, opened in 2006, CCS Bard houses the Marieluise Hessel Collection of more than 1,700 contemporary works, as well as an extensive library and curatorial archives that are accessible to the general public. Exhibitions are presented year-round in the CCS Bard Galleries and Hessel Museum of Art, providing students and the public with an opportunity to interact with world-renowned artists and curators.

The Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College

Designed by internationally acclaimed architect Frank Gehry, the 110,000-square-foot Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College opened in 2003. The Fisher Center houses two theaters, the Felicitas S. Thorne Dance Studio, the Stewart and Lynda Resnick Theater Studio, and professional support facilities. The Sosnoff Theater, an intimate 900-seat theater with an orchestra, parterre, and two balcony sections, features an orchestra pit for opera and an acoustic shell designed by Yasuhisa Toyota that turns the theater into a first-class concert hall for performances of chamber and symphonic music. The Center also houses Bard’s Theater and Dance Programs and includes Theater Two, a flexible “black box” theater. The Fisher Center is the home of the Bard Music Festival, which entered its 20th season in August 2009; plays host to companies from the United States and abroad during Bard SummerScape, an annual festival of opera, theater, film, and dance; and showcases a variety of performances throughout the year.

The Richard B. Fisher and Emily H. Fisher Studio Arts Building

The Fisher Studio Arts Building, which includes the Procter Art Center, houses large studios for painting and drawing, printmaking, cybergraphics, sculpture, and woodworking. It also contains a welding shop, individual studios for students working on their Senior Projects, a large exhibition area for student shows, and meeting areas.

Hegeman Science Hall and the David Rose Science Laboratories

Hegeman Hall houses the Mathematics and Physics Programs. The Rose Laboratories provide a wide range of equipment for advanced science classes and faculty and student research. The Physics Program has a broad array of research electronics and optics equipment and nuclear-detection devices. Divisional computing facilities include microcomputers for data acquisition and analysis and a network of RISC stations for advanced computing.

Information Technology Services at Henderson Computer Resources Center

Bard Information Technology Services provides broadband Internet access and a multigigabit backbone to the Bard community. Wireless networking is available in many locations on campus. Wired 100Mb Ethernet ports are in all dormitories and many public areas. Support for academic computing includes a state-of-the-art learning and teaching environment, multimedia classrooms, and video teleconferencing. Many students bring computers to Bard, although they are not required to do so. Public computing labs, providing both Macintosh and Windows computers, as well as printers, are located around the campus. One lab is always open 24 hours a day. The Bard Help Desk, located in the Henderson Technology Laboratories, provides support and training to all students, faculty, and staff. Further information is available at http://inside.bard.edu/hcrc.

Kappa House

Kappa House is home to the Bard Prison Initiative (see page 240). The building also contains faculty offices and a kitchen.

Franklin W. Olin Humanities Building

The Franklin W. Olin Humanities Building, constructed with a grant from the F. W. Olin Foundation and completed in 1987, is the main facility for anthropology, history, philosophy, religion, literature, creative writing, foreign languages, art history, and music history classes. The building contains a 370-seat auditorium for concerts, lectures, and conferences. It also includes small lecture rooms, seminar rooms, an art history room with projection equipment, a music history room with demonstration facilities, a poetry room with a library of poetry on tape, study and lounge areas, and an interior court and exterior terrace used for special receptions.

F. W. Olin Language Center

The two-story F. W. Olin Language Center was added to the Olin Humanities Building in 1995 through a special grant from the F. W. Olin Foundation. The facility features classrooms, seminar rooms, a lecture hall, and the state-of-the-art Center for Foreign Languages and Cultures (CFLC). The CFLC offers the Bard community a wide range of tools for foreign-language learning and teaching, as well as for collaboration across curricular, linguistic, geographic, and cultural borders. Its “smart” seminar space provides access to a wide variety of foreign-language audio, video, and software programs via the SANSspace Virtuoso FL digital learning system and an integrated audio-video media server. All Language Center classrooms, and an increasing number of faculty offices, are linked to this network. Internet, video, audio, and international TV are available in all classrooms and can be projected. Broadcasts from more than 20 foreign-language channels are available for viewing in all Olin teaching spaces; recording, editing, and digital archiving of these programs is available in the CFLC. The Center, with an international staff of 20, also has various tutoring spaces, a writing lab, a multimedia development room, and a reception area.

Jim Ottaway Jr. Film Center

See Avery Arts Center description.

Jim and Mary Ottaway Gatehouse for International Study

Home to the Institute for International Liberal Education and the Human Rights Project, the hexagonal gatehouse to the Blithewood estate is one of the oldest buildings on campus. Designed by Alexander Jackson Davis in 1841 and constructed in 1842, the building is a designated state and federal historical landmark. Over the years it has housed Bard’s University Without Walls, the Muriel DeGré Center and lending library, Admission Office, and Publications Office. In 2004, the gatehouse was renamed for James Haller Ottaway Jr. and Mary Hyde Ottaway, who have generously supported Bard’s international programs and students since 1988.

The Gabrielle H. Reem and Herbert J. Kayden Center for Science and Computation

This state-of-the-art, 69,000-square-foot science facility, home to the Biology, Chemistry, and Computer Science Programs, opened in the fall of 2007. The Lynda and Stewart Resnick Science Laboratories wing opened in the spring of 2009. Designed by Rafael Viñoly Architects, a New York City firm, the dramatic two-story building includes nearly 17,000 square feet of dedicated laboratory space. Biology equipment in the facility includes DNA and protein electrophoresis instruments, a digital gel imaging system, an array of standard PCR machines, a Real-Time PCR machine, two fluorescent microscopes, and a wide array of ecology field equipment. Chemistry equipment in the facility includes an advanced 400 MHz nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer (NMR), a liquid chromatograph/mass spectrometer, and gas chromatograph/mass spectrometer. The computer science space includes a cognitive systems lab and a robotics lab. The Center houses an innovative exhibition system for both scientific posters and art. The building also features the László Z. Bitó ’60 Auditorium, capable of seating 65 people; five “smart” classrooms set up for multimedia presentations, and two for videoconferencing; faculty offices; and a series of open spaces for studying, computer work, and informal meetings. The Center features geothermal heating and cooling, and an advanced energy recovery system through which all exhaust air from the building passes.

Shafer House

Shafer House, the longtime residence of the late Frederick Q. Shafer, professor of religion at the College, and Margaret Creal Shafer, has been renovated to accommodate the offices of the Master of Arts in Teaching Program. The midcentury modern facility has offices for faculty and staff and a seminar room that seats up to 15 people.

Woods Studio

Woods Studio houses the classrooms, labs, studios, offices, and exhibition gallery of the Photography Program. The program’s facilities include two black-and-white group darkrooms; color facilities, including nine 4 x 5 enlargers and two processors for 20 x 24 prints; private darkrooms for seniors, equipped with color and black-and-white enlargers for negatives up to 8 x 10; and a mural printing room. A 5,000-square-foot addition to Woods Studio houses an exhibition gallery, a classroom, a 900-square-foot studio, and an advanced digital imaging lab. A basic digital lab, with 12 workstations and a printer capable of handling widths of up to 44 inches, is located in the basement of the nearby Brook House residence hall.

Campus Facilities: Social and Recreational

Heinz O. and Elizabeth C. Bertelsmann Campus Center

The Bertelsmann Campus Center, a 30,000-square-foot facility that opened in 1999, is a central meeting place on campus. It contains the college bookstore and post office; the Career Development, Trustee Leader Scholar Program, Multicultural Affairs, and Student Activities Offices; Down the Road Café; the 100-seat Weis Cinema; lounge areas; public e-mail terminals; multipurpose and conference rooms; a student computer lab; meeting rooms for student clubs and organizations; and art gallery space for members of the community to show their work. The signature exterior feature is a spacious second-floor deck on the building’s south side. The center is named for Heinz Bertelsmann, professor of international relations at Bard from 1947 to 1977, and Elizabeth “Lilo” Bertelsmann, a teacher of German and noted photographer, whose generous gift funded construction of the Center.

Finberg House

Finberg House, located on the east side of Route 9G opposite the main entrance to the campus, provides overnight accommodations for distinguished guests of the College. It was named in honor of Alan R. Finberg, a longtime trustee of the College and husband of the late Barbara D. Finberg, a close friend and member of the board of the Bard Music Festival.

Kline Commons

Kline Commons is the main dining facility on campus. It contains a large main dining room, three smaller alcove dining rooms, meeting rooms, and a faculty dining area. The servery provides multiple stations and a variety of cuisines. Through a continuous service plan, students on the meal plan enjoy the flexibility of dining at the hour of their choice. Information is available at www.dineoncampus.com/bard.

The Green Onion Grocer, which serves as the campus market, is also located in Kline Commons. A variety of produce, dairy, and staple items are available for students to purchase using Bard bucks or cash. The Green Onion Grocer is open Sunday through Friday, from 1:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

Manor House Café

The Manor House Café is steps away from The Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts and features two dining rooms with views of the Catskill Mountains and an outdoor dining terrace. The café is open weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Resident students may use their meal plan at Manor House Café as a meal exchange. Bard bucks are also accepted.

Stevenson Gymnasium

The Stevenson Gymnasium is an athletic and recreational complex made possible by a gift from Charles P. Stevenson Jr., chair of the Bard College Board of Trustees. The 59,000-square-foot complex has a 25-yard, six-lane swimming pool, squash courts, a cardiovascular center, a weight room, locker rooms with saunas, an aerobics studio, and 12,500 square feet of gymnasium space.

The gym space includes basketball and volleyball courts, fencing strips, badminton courts, and seating for 700 spectators. Table tennis is offered in the leisure areas. Outdoor facilities include six lighted hard-surface tennis courts, a lighted platform tennis court, miles of cross-country running and Nordic skiing trails, the Stefano Ferrari Soccer and Lacrosse Complex, Seth Goldfine Memorial Practice Rugby Field, and adjacent multipurpose fields. Staff offices for the Department of Athletics and Recreation and a full-service athletic training room are also housed in the gymnasium.