Bard Professor Dinaw Mengestu Named President of PEN America
Dinaw Mengestu, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Professor of the Humanities and director of the Written Arts Program at Bard College, has been elected president of PEN America, a 103-year-old writers organization whose mission is to celebrate literature and defend freedom of expression. Mengestu, who is also the founder and director of the Center for Ethics and Writing at Bard, will assume leadership at PEN America at a time when threats to freedom of speech are on the rise globally.
First Retrospective Exploring Betty Parsons’ Dual Legacy As Artist and Gallerist to Open at CCS Bard June 2026
In June 2026, the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College will present Betty Parsons, an Artist with a Gallery at the Hessel Museum of Art, the first major retrospective to examine the intertwined legacies of Betty Parsons (1900–1982) as both pioneering abstract artist and trailblazing gallerist who shaped the trajectory of 20th-century American art. On view June 27 through October 18, 2026, the exhibition will be the artist’s largest and most comprehensive survey to date. Read More >>Two Bard College Professors Receive 2025 Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant
Miriam Felton-Dansky, associate professor and director of Bard College’s undergraduate Theater and Performance Program, and Drew Thompson, associate professor of Africana and historical studies at Bard and associate professor at Bard Graduate Center, have received 2025 Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grants. Felton-Dansky was awarded a grant in the category of Articles for “Vetting Regimes: The US Politics of Artist Visas from the Berlin Wall to the Muslim Ban,” and Thompson was awarded a grant in the category of Books for Coloring Surveillance through Polaroids: The Poetics of Black Solidarity and Sociality. Read More >>More Bard News
- Research by Biologist Ellie Diamant Cited in the New York Times
- Bard Alumna Anne Bogart ’74 Inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame
- Vishal Parkash ’27 Speaks to the Annandale Advocate About Building Up Hudson
- Bard Alumnus Arthur Aviles ’87 Awarded a Dance/USA Fellowship to Artists
- Joseph Luzzi’s The Innocents of Florence Featured in the New Yorker and the Guardian
- Kenneth Stern ’75, Director of the Bard Center for the Study of Hate, Quoted in New York Times Opinion