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Main Image for Office of Institutional Support

Office of Institutional Support

Students using equipment funded through a $500,000 grant from The Sherman Fairchild Foundation.
Photo by Pete Mauney '93 MFA '00
OIS Menu
  • Home
  • Grant Resource Center
The Office of Institutional Support (OIS), one of three offices within the Office of Development and Alumni/ae Affairs, manages the College’s fundraising efforts from foundations, government agencies, corporations, and other entities to support College-wide needs and maintain the College’s ability to raise and receive funding.

OIS News

Click the links below for new grant awards and other OIS news!
  • Bard College Awarded $26,532 Grant from New World Foundation and Partners for Climate Action Hudson Valley for Sustainability Project
    Bard College Awarded $26,532 Grant from New World Foundation and Partners for Climate Action Hudson Valley for Sustainability Project
  • Bard College Awarded $399,000 Grant from Mellon Foundation for Project on Voting Rights
    Bard College Awarded $399,000 Grant from Mellon Foundation for Project on Voting Rights
  • Bard Awarded a $300,000 Grant by the Booth Ferris Foundation

    Bard Awarded a $300,000 Grant by the Booth Ferris Foundation


    Bard College was recently awarded a $300,000 grant by the Booth Ferris Foundation to support the new Center for Ethics and Writing led by Professor Dinaw Mengestu, head of Bard's Written Arts program. The Center will provide a critical framework for students to understand the role language plays in shaping our public discourse and what roles they, as students, scholars, and writers, can play in creating narratives that offer a more complex and dynamic representation of their environment. Through a partnership with Bard Early College High Schools, community college partners, and nonprofit organizations, the Center will reimagine the study of literature and writing as both an academic and social practice. 
  • Bard Awarded $25,000 Post-Incarceration Partnership Grant from Humanities NY

    Bard Awarded $25,000 Post-Incarceration Partnership Grant from Humanities NY


    Bard College was awarded a $25,000 Post-Incarceration Humanities Partnership Grant to support the Bard Prison Initiative's "Bringing Holistic Reentry to the Capital Region" project. Over the next year, BPI will continue to expand its Reentry Resident program throughout Albany and the Capital Region. This program is led by a formerly incarcerated BPI alum and provides support to BPI alumni/ae and formerly incarcerated people. The project will assist alumni/ae as they work to find employment and progress towards continuing education.
  • National Science Foundation Awards Professor Valerie Barr $166,836 Grant

    National Science Foundation Awards Professor Valerie Barr $166,836 Grant


    Professor Valerie Barr has received $166,836 from the National Science Foundation to fund collaborative research efforts through the NSF INCLUDES Alliance: The Alliance for Identity-Inclusive Computing Education (AIICE): A Collective Impact Approach to Broadening Participation in Computing. This grant will support undergraduate and graduate TA training as well as increase degree attainment and retention in computer science programs nationwide. The project includes the revision of the current Megas and Gigas Educate (MaGE) training materials to incorporate identity-inclusive content throughout and develop a web infrastructure that will make these materials available to computer science departments nationwide for use in undergraduate and graduate TA training. Professor Barr and consultants will then assess the use of these materials, assess the impact on students at adopting institutions, compare feedback from TAs pre- and post-adoption, and modify the materials as necessary to help facilitate adoption. 

    This grant also supports a more comprehensive computer science degree attainment analysis which will account for relative changes in identity group size over time. Professor Barr’s new method will provide a more accurate longitudinal attainment analysis based on by-cohort gender and race/ethnicity. To date, this analysis has not incorporated additional identities (e.g., people with disabilities) and has not been connected to intent to major in CS, retention analysis from college entry to graduation, and retention within the first few courses of the CS major. Professor Barr plans to extend this work in a number of ways in order to strengthen understanding of CS entry, retention, and degree attainment by developing an online tool that performs by-cohort analysis to assess institutional performance relative to nationwide norms. This will allow institutions to review their degree attainment outcomes relative to different institutional peers (university versus teaching institutions, public versus private, etc.).
     

Our Staff

  • Josh Bardfield ‘01
    Special Projects Lead, OIS
    Email: [email protected]
    Ext: 7260
     

    Josh Bardfield ‘01

    Special Projects Lead, OIS
    Email: [email protected]
    Ext: 7260
     

    Josh is the Special Projects Lead, OIS, and oversees grant applications for various special projects across the Bard network. Prior to joining Bard in June 2019, Josh spent 20 years working with wide-ranging domestic and global public health initiatives, many which received significant grant funding,  in program development, research, and technical writing spanning the non-profit, civil-service, academic and private sectors. Josh earned his MPH from Columbia University and is a Bard alum, Class of ‘01.
  • Sarah Donnatien
    Administrative Coordinator
    Email: [email protected]
    Ext: 7316

    Sarah Donnatien

    Administrative Coordinator
    Email: [email protected]
    Ext: 7316

    Sarah is the Administrative Coordinator within the Office of Institutional Support. She manages a tier of foundation and corporate grants, manages the office's daily activities, and maintains the OIS grants archive. Sarah attended SUNY New Paltz, where, in 2018 she obtained her Bachelor's in Sociology. Before coming to Bard, Sarah served as an AmeriCorps VISTA with the United Way of the Dutchess-Orange Region.
  • Jordan Jeffries
    Prospect Research Analyst
    Email: [email protected]
    Ext: 7435
     

    Jordan Jeffries

    Prospect Research Analyst
    Email: [email protected]
    Ext: 7435
     

    Jordan Jeffries is the Prospect Research Analyst in the Office of Prospect Research. He searches for foundation prospects for institutional projects at Bard and its affiliates, as well as researching individual prospects for the College. He provides data and documentation to grant seekers on campus and also assists with prospect research on institutional and individual funders. The Office of Prospect Research recommends grant ask amounts, strategies of approach, and provides briefing memos for meetings with potential funders. Jordan has a BFA in illustration from the Maryland Institute College of Art. Check out Jordan's art HERE! 
  • Megan Miller
    Grant Officer
    Email: [email protected]
    Ext: 7262

    Megan Miller

    Grant Officer
    Email: [email protected]
    Ext: 7262

    Megan is the Grant Officer and manages mid-range corporate and foundation institutional grants. Megan earned her BS in Animal and Veterinary Sciences from Clemson University in 2018. During her time at Clemson, Megan was the Marketing and Communications Director for FIRST, an academic and social support program for first-generation students. 
  • Karen Unger
    Associate Vice President, OIS
    Email: [email protected]
    Ext: 7434

    Karen Unger

    Associate Vice President, OIS
    Email: [email protected]
    Ext: 7434

    Karen is the Associate Vice President of the Office of Institutional Support. She directs a staff of six who research and raise significant funding from foundations, corporations and government agencies to strengthen Bard’s commitment as a private institution working for the public interest. Karen began her mission-driven career as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Liberia, West Africa, teaches English as a Second Language at the college level and has worked in administrative and creative roles for national non-profit organizations and public school systems. With a graduate degree from Queens College, CUNY, in creative writing, Karen is also an award-winning author of books for middle and high school students, short stories and print and online magazine articles.  
  • Daina Vitin
    Prospect Research Analyst
    Email: [email protected]
    Ext: 7408

    Daina Vitin

    Prospect Research Analyst
    Email: [email protected]
    Ext: 7408

    As part of the OPR/OIS team, Daina researches, analyzes, and ranks individual, corporate, and foundation prospects and donors. Using internal and external research sources she works to determine those prospects’ capacity and inclination to give. Daina provides strategic and collaborative advice for building relationships through connections and matching donors with like areas of interest. Daina earned her MLIS from Rutgers University.
  • Debra Pemstein
    Vice President of Development & Alumni/ae Affairs
    Email: [email protected]
    Ext: 7405

    Debra Pemstein

    Vice President of Development & Alumni/ae Affairs
    Email: [email protected]
    Ext: 7405

    Debra Pemstein has been vice president for development and alumni/ae affairs at Bard College since 1998. She works with the President, administrators, faculty, staff, and volunteers to raise annual, capital and restricted funds, serves on campus-wide strategic planning committees, and works closely with the President and Trustees as a member of the President's Council. During her tenure, Bard has been able to expand its programs through major capital campaigns that have resulted in new buildings for the performing arts, sciences, dormitories, and administrative use and endowments of several faculty chairs. Debra supervises development activities for all of Bard’s institutes and programs, including the Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts, Bard Music Festival, Bard Prison Initiative, Bard High School Early Colleges, and the Center for Curatorial Studies- Hessel Museum, to name just a few. She also serves as chief administrative officer for the Fisher Center. Debra formerly served as director of major gifts and planned giving for New York City Ballet, director of development for Paul Taylor Dance Company, and associate director of development for the New York Philharmonic. In addition, she is a college lecturer and has presented papers on fundraising topics at national professional conferences. She has served on many boards and advisory committees, including those at Poughkeepsie Day School and Temple Emanuel (Kingston, NY). Currently, Debra is on the Board of Directors of Dutchess Tourism and is the Chair of the Dutchess Tourism Workforce Committee and a member of the Finance Committee. She is also a member of the Dutchess County Economic Development Advisory Council. Debra attended the London School of Economics, received her BBA from George Washington University and is a Certified Fund Raising Executive.

Bard Staff That Work Closely With OIS
 

OIS works closely with the Office of Post-Award Management (OPAM) on post-award grant management. OPAM will be available to help you manage all financial aspects of your grant once it has been received. Once you have been notified of your grant award, OIS will help set up a launch meeting with them to discuss the next steps. You can contact OPAM at [email protected].

For Bard Annandale faculty seeking support for individual projects, please contact Faculty Grants Officer Sue Elvin ([email protected]).

What We Do

What We Do

OIS includes a dedicated cadre of staff that work closely with project directors, program staff, and faculty on the successful submission of grant applications that meet College priorities. Also within OIS is the Office of Prospect Research (OPR), an important part of Bard’s fundraising efforts. OPR finds potential sources of funding and individual donors for the College and recommends outreach efforts. The OIS team has a diverse set of backgrounds that they use to assist you in thinking strategically about raising money for your Bard project. Please feel free to give us a call or stop by to meet with one of our staff members!

OPR by the Numbers

Research completed by OPR on potential sources of funding is key to developing successful grant proposals. 
195 Institutions Researched Per Month
Average Grant Request- $387,387
Average Grant Award- $164,540 

Location and Contact

  • Our Location

    You can find the Office of Institutional Support at:
    Bard College Alumni/ae Center 
    4604 NY-9G, Annandale-On-Hudson, NY 12504
  • Contact Us
    Bard College Office of Institutional Support
    P.O. Box 5000 
    Annandale-on-Hudson, NY 12504-5000

    Sarah Donnatien, Administrative Coordinator
    [email protected]
    845-758-7316
Bard College
30 Campus Road
PO Box 5000
Annandale-on-Hudson, New York 12504-5000
Phone: 845-758-6822
Admission E-mail: [email protected]
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