Bard College

Bard has admitted approximately 85 displaced Afghan students, the majority of whom are young women whose education was disrupted by the collapse of the U.S.-backed Afghan government last August. Forty-four have already begun their semesters, and others are still in third countries awaiting visas to move to the United States in coming semesters. “Resiliency is certainly a characteristic that they all have, and they would not be here without that,” says Jennifer Murray, the dean of international studies at Bard. “I think there’s ambition and absolute dedication to their families, and, of course, there’s a lot of sadness and trauma.” (Huffington Post) More >

Pete Mauney ’93 MFA ’00 says his photographs of fireflies can range from “a spa for the eyes” to “almost pure chaos.” For NPR, Lara Pellegrinelli spoke with Mauney, who has spent almost a decade photographing fireflies in the Hudson Valley, using Photoshop to painstakingly compile hundreds of timed exposures into a single image. The images, Pellegrinelli writes, are catching the eye of artists and scientists alike, sparking the interest of researchers pursuing “new evidence that firefly swarms can synchronize their flashes.” More >