News & Events

Members of the campus community recently had the opportunity to reflect on a Buddhist sand mandala in the Reem-Kayden Center, created by the Venerable Lama Tenzin Yignen. The mandala was meticulously and artfully installed, then ritually undone in a lesson of impermanence.
http://www.bard.edu/news/news.php?id=60

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.
http://www.gf.org/news-events/2013-Fellows-in-the-United-States-and-Canada/

In celebration of the tenth anniversary of The Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College, the Fisher Center proudly presents Gustav Mahler’s monumental Symphony No. 2. The program will be performed by the largest group of musicians ever assembled on the Sosnoff Stage. Performances take place on Friday, April 26 and Saturday, April 27 at 8 pm; with a preconcert talk at 7 pm by Christopher Gibbs.
http://www.bard.edu/news/releases/pr/fstory.php?id=2423

The Bard SummerScape and Bard Music Festival preview concert, Stravinsky in Paris, will take place in Florence Gould Hall at the French Institute Alliance Française in New York City on April 17. The evening will feature a preconcert talk by Leon Botstein and works by Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Ravel, Poulenc, and Messiaen.
http://www.bard.edu/news/events/event.php?eid=118334&year=2013&month=4&day=17

The Bard College Debate Union continues to expand, and is having a big impact on campus and in the local community. “Bard students tend to be very successful in debate because they think outside of the box,” says Dean Jonathan Becker. In this video, Bard students and coaches discuss building friendships and pushing their intellectual boundaries in competition.

http://www.bard.edu/admission/discover/videos/

Bard College students have won two 2013 Davis Projects for Peace Awards, which provide $10,000 in funding for proposed projects. Political studies and philosophy major Saim Saeed ’13 won a Davis award for his project, “Living Together—Navigating Common Grounds: A MENA-EU Initiative” in Istanbul, Turkey. Human rights major Lauren Blaxter ’13, computer science major Ameer Shalabi ’16, cultural anthropology major Nadine Tadros ’14, and political studies major Daniel Gettinger ’13 have together won a Davis award in support of the Bard Palestinian Youth Initiative.
http://www.bard.edu/news/releases/pr/fstory.php?id=2421

The Bard Prison Initiative has received a two-year, $500,000 grant from the Ford Foundation to support its efforts to provide a rigorous liberal arts education to incarcerated men and women in New York. “The impact of higher education on incarcerated individuals in our society is transformational,” said Jeannie Oakes of the Ford Foundation.
http://www.bard.edu/news/releases/pr/fstory.php?id=2420

On Monday, April 29, the Hannah Arendt Center of Politics and Humanities at Bard College will host a film screening of the biopic Hannah Arendt. Directed by renowned German filmmaker Margarethe von Trotta, the biopic was recently screened at the Toronto International Film Festival, and has just been nominated for six LOLA awards, Germany's version of the Oscar.
http://www.bard.edu/news/releases/pr/fstory.php?id=2419

Bard College's women's basketball season is over, but freshman Tytravia Riley picked up yet another postseason honor when she was named to the National Invitation Tournament and Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association All-Met First Team. She is the first Bard College basketball player—men's or women's—to be honored by this organization.
http://www.bardathletics.com/news/2013/4/5/WBB_0405135055.aspx

Perry Scheetz is a multisport athlete at Bard, competing in soccer, track, and cross-country. She's also a star student who has completed research internships in Brazil and Canada, and will pursue a Ph.D. in inorganic chemistry at Dartmouth College after graduation. Her goal is to take part in the creation of a green alternative fuel for the airline industry.
http://www.bardathletics.com/awards.aspx?aow=9

The Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College presents the final concert of the 2012–13 season of the popular American Symphony Orchestra (ASO) series, an all-Wagner evening in celebration of the 200th anniversary of the composer’s birth. The concert will be conducted by Leon Botstein, music director, on Friday, April 19 and Saturday, April 20.
http://www.bard.edu/news/releases/pr/fstory.php?id=2418

Bard College senior Jose Agustin Sanchez, from Venezuela, has been awarded the prestigious Thomas J. Watson Foundation 2013–14 Fellowship, which provides for a year of travel and exploration outside the United States. Sanchez is majoring in music composition and conducting. His project, “Sounds of Immortality,” will bring him to China, Vietnam, and India.
http://www.bard.edu/news/releases/pr/fstory.php?id=2417

Members of the Bard College Farm will host their second annual Farm Fest fundraiser on April 13, featuring local food and musical performances throughout the day.
http://www.bard.edu/news/events/event.php?eid=118329&year=2013&month=4&day=13

On Monday, April 8, Pulitzer Prize finalist, Bard Fiction Prize winner, and New York Times bestselling author Karen Russell will read from her work. Russell’s highly acclaimed 2011 novel Swamplandia was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, one of the New York Times 10 Best Books of 2011, and a recipient of the New York Public Library Young Lions Fiction Award.
http://www.bard.edu/news/releases/pr/fstory.php?id=2416

From April 17 to 19, the Levy Economics Institute of Bard College will gather top policymakers, economists, and analysts at the 22nd Annual Hyman P. Minsky Conference on the State of the U.S. and World Economies. Participants will discuss the progress of the economic recovery from the global financial crisis and address both financial reform and poverty in the context of Minsky’s work. Click here to view the full schedule of events.
http://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/leading-economists-policymakers-attend-minsky-143127496.html

While the College is on Spring Recess, the Bard men's varsity baseball team (the College's first since 1937) is on the road. A walk-off RBI single by sophomore Tom Danz highlighted their doubleheader split with Crown College in Florida on Monday afternoon.
http://www.bardathletics.com/news/2013/3/25/BB_0325134316.aspx

More than 85 colleges and community organizations across the country have joined the Bard Center for Environmental Policy and C2C Fellows Network in leading a national conversation on democracy and climate change with a screening of The Island President—the 2011 documentary that chronicles Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed’s efforts to confront climate change and rising sea levels, which threaten to submerge the low-lying island nation. The film will be screened on Wednesday, April 17.
http://www.bard.edu/news/releases/pr/fstory.php?id=2413

Bard College will hold its 153rd commencement on Saturday, May 25, 2013. At the commencement ceremony, Bard president Leon Botstein will confer 464 undergraduate degrees on the Class of 2013 and 157 graduate degrees. Former congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and her husband, retired space shuttle commander Mark Kelly, will deliver the commencement address. Honorary degrees will be awarded to Giffords, former commissioner of the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision Brian S. Fischer, microbiologist Jo Handelsman, orchestrator Jonathan Tunick ’58, New York City Schools Chancellor Dennis M. Walcott, and chef Alice Waters.
http://www.bard.edu/news/releases/pr/fstory.php?id=2415

Sō Percussion and the Bard College Conservatory of Music Percussion Program present their second annual spring concert at the Fisher Center on April 12. Works include music by Steve Reich, Lou Harrison, Paul Lansky, and other recent percussion masterworks.
http://www.bard.edu/news/releases/pr/fstory.php?id=2414

Professor Armstead lectures on her book Freedom’s Gardener: James F. Brown, Horticulture, and the Hudson Valley in Antebellum America at Columbia University's Lehman Center for American History on April 24.
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lehmancenter/seminars.html

"The danger of drones is how they change us as humans," writes Arendt Center director Roger Berkowitz on Bard's new Drones Seminar.
http://www.hannaharendtcenter.org/?p=9904

President Botstein reflects on Professor Achebe's life, work, and legacy on CNN. "Achebe's contribution was not merely literary . . . He was committed to his people and his community. He did not shy away from political controversy, and he did so in a manner that was unforgettable."
http://edition.cnn.com/2013/03/22/opinion/opinion-botstein-achebe/index.html

The Bard community was deeply saddened to learn of the death of groundbreaking Nigerian writer and Bard professor emeritus Chinua Achebe. The author and educator was best known for his first and most influential novel, Things Fall Apart. He wrote numerous books, including novels, collections of short fiction, poetry, nonfiction, and children's books. Professor Achebe received more than 30 honorary degrees, as well as many awards for his work. He was the Charles P. Stevenson Jr. Professor of Languages and Literature at Bard from 1990 to 2009. (Photo by Don Hammerman)

The Peace Corps and Bard College have teamed up to launch an expanded Paul D. Coverdell Fellows Program partnership, an initiative that provides graduate school scholarships to returned Peace Corps volunteers. All Fellows complete a degree-related internship in an underserved American community, allowing them to bring home and expand upon the skills they learned as Peace Corps volunteers. Selected Fellows will have the opportunity to work toward a master of arts in teaching.
http://www.bard.edu/news/releases/pr/fstory.php?id=2412

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.
http://www.bard.edu/news/releases/pr/fstory.php?id=2411

The Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College (CCS Bard) has named the Irish curator, writer, artist, and educator Paul O’Neill as director of the graduate program for its two-year Master of Arts program in Curatorial Studies.
http://www.bard.edu/news/releases/pr/fstory.php?id=2410

Joan Tower, Asher B. Edelman Professor of Music, will receive an honorary degree from Smith College at their commencement in May. Professor Tower has taught at Bard College since 1972. She is regarded as one of the most important living American composers, and has made lasting contributions as composer, performer, conductor, and educator in a career spanning more than 50 years.
http://www.smith.edu/newsoffice/releases/NewsOffice13-14.html

On Monday, April 1, Junot Díaz, Pulitzer Prize–winning fiction writer and recipient of a 2012 MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship, will read from his work at Bard College. The New York Times called Díaz “one of contemporary fiction’s most distinctive and irresistible new voices.”
http://www.bard.edu/news/releases/pr/fstory.php?id=2409

Bard College first-year percussion student Chris Gunnell was featured in the annual report of the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. Chris is pursuing a five-year dual degree at Bard, studying music at the Conservatory as well as philosophy and social policy at the College.
http://www.nationalmerit.org/

The Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College presents Monogamy, a major exhibition by Gerard Byrne and Sarah Pierce, curated by Tirdad Zolghadr, on view March 24 – May 26, 2013 in the CCS Bard Galleries.
http://www.bard.edu/news/releases/pr/fstory.php?id=2408

Acclaimed Israeli author and filmmaker Etgar Keret will give a reading at Bard College on Monday, April 15. Keret will read selections from his recent work Suddenly, a Knock on the Door, as well as from The Girl on the Fridge, which contains his earliest stories.
http://www.bard.edu/news/releases/pr/fstory.php?id=2407

Vassar College professor Amitava Kumar interviews Bard College distinguished writer in residence, historian, and photographer Teju Cole. This issue also contains a series of Cole's paired photographs from different global locations, with Kumar's exploration of their relationships to each other and other great works of art.
http://www.guernicamag.com/interviews/pitch-forward/

Bard students have received two Davis Projects for Peace prizes! Saim Saeed has been awarded $10,000 to launch an intercultural youth dialogue course in Istanbul, Turkey. Lauren Blaxter, Ameer Shalibi, Nadine Tadros, and Daniel Gettinger will also receive $10,000 to support the Bard Palestinian Youth Initiative's work in Mas'Ha.

The Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College announces 15 exhibitions curated by CCS Bard master’s degree candidates, on view March 24 – May 26 in the Hessel Museum of Art. These exhibits feature the work of more than 54 major international and emerging contemporary artists including Vito Acconci, Liam Gillick, An-My Lê, and Bruce Nauman, among others.
http://www.bard.edu/news/releases/pr/fstory.php?id=2405

On January 26, the Bard Prison Initiative held its 10th and largest-ever commencement ceremony at Eastern Correctional Facility. Sixty incarcerated students received associate's or bachelor's degrees. The Reverend Calvin Butts, pastor of the Abyssinian Baptist Church in the City of New York, delivered the address and President Leon Botstein presided.

http://vimeo.com/59691635

The Bard College baseball team swept a doubleheader against Yeshiva University on Sunday afternoon in the Bronx, making a splash in their return to varsity status for the first time since the spring of 1937.
http://www.bardathletics.com/news/2013/3/3/BB_0303130859.aspx

Eighty students from Red Hook, Rhinebeck, Kingston, and the three Bard High School Early Colleges competed on Friday, March 1, in a World-Schools-Style debate tournament at Bard. The Bard College Debate Union and the Bard Center for Civic Engagement hosted the second annual tournament, with twice as many middle and high school students participating as did last year.
http://www.bard.edu/news/releases/pr/fstory.php?id=2402

This new series, curated by Bard faculty members Roger Berkowitz and Walter Russell Mead, will engage an ongoing discussion with the nation’s leading bloggers in politics, history, art, and culture. Bard professor Francine Prose, who blogs for the New York Review of Books, will speak on March 5. All events take place at the Bard Graduate Center in Manhattan.
http://www.bard.edu/hannaharendtcenter/events/

Peter Steinfels, professor and co-director of the Center on Religion and Culture at Fordham University, will give a talk titled "Memo to the Papal Conclave: The Crisis in Catholicism Beyond the Headlines," on Monday, March 11.
http://www.bard.edu/news/releases/pr/fstory.php?id=2404

The Bard College swim teams have earned Scholar All-American Status for their academic performance. The women's team has a cumulative GPA of 3.29, and the men's team has a GPA of 3.19.
http://www.bardathletics.com/news/2013/2/26/MSWM_0226135615.aspx

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.
http://www.bard.edu/news/releases/pr/fstory.php?id=2401

This year's Senior Playwrights Project, Choice Is Power, will feature three short plays written, performed, and directed by women. Performances will take place in the Fisher Center's Theater Two, February 28 – March 3.
http://fishercenter.bard.edu/calendar/event.php?eid=117471

Bard College president Leon Botstein has been awarded the Bruckner Society Medal of Honor in recognition of his exemplary work in furthering the understanding and appreciation of the life and work of Anton Bruckner. The award was presented on February 24 at a concert of the American Symphony Orchestra in New York City, before a performance of Bruckner's Symphony No. 8.
http://www.abruckner.com/thebrucknersociety/brucknersocietynew/leonbotstein/

Bard freshman Tytravia Riley capped a fine first season at Bard by being named Co-Rookie of the Year in the Liberty League in the results of coaches' voting released on Thursday. She was also named to the All-Rookie Team and All-Liberty League Honorable Mention.
http://www.bardathletics.com/news/2013/2/21/WBB_0221134215.aspx

“The Secret Listener,” a lecture and recital including a performance of Robert Schumann’s Phantasie, will be presented by acclaimed pianist/conductor Jeffrey Kahane, on Monday, March 4, at 8 p.m. in Olin Hall.
http://www.bard.edu/news/releases/pr/fstory.php?id=2399

Bard's parliamentary debate team, composed of junior Lee Gensler and senior Ian Busher, won the Adelphi Debate Tournament in Garden City, New York, over the weekend of February 16–17. Lee Gensler was also named third overall speaker at the tournament and Ian Busher sixth. In all, five members of the Bard Debate Union participated, with four debating and one judging. The team heads to Western Connecticut State University on February 23–24 for the regional championships.
http://www.bard.edu/news/news.php?id=57

Bard presents its annual Eugene Meyer Lecture in British History and Literature, with acclaimed Irish writer Colm Tóibín. Tóibín will speak about his work with Fintan O’Toole, a leading Irish editor, writer, and critic on Thursday, March 7, at 5:30 p.m.
http://www.bard.edu/news/releases/pr/fstory.php?id=2400

The Fisher Center presents J. S. Bach’s sacred oratorio St. John Passion, featuring members of the Bard College Conservatory Orchestra, conducted by Leon Botstein, with singers from the Bard College Chamber Singers and the Graduate Vocal Arts Program, with James Bagwell, choral director.
http://www.bard.edu/news/releases/pr/fstory.php?id=2398

The Hannah Arendt Center presents this special concert series, featuring music composed and performed by Jewish prisoners in Nazi territories during World War II. Three concerts will feature a brief introduction by a noted scholar in the field, placing the music in social, historical, and political context. The series also includes a screening of the Academy Award–Nominated documentary Orchestra of Exiles, a film about Bronislaw Huberman, the Polish violinist who founded the Israel Philharmonic.
http://www.bard.edu/news/releases/pr/fstory.php?id=2395