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January 2026 News for Bard Families & Friends |
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Saw Kill River in Snow. Photo Credit: Danni Chen '26. |
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Dear Families,
What a special start to 2026 it has been for Bard College. As you may already know, Bard has met the $500 million dollar-for-dollar challenge grant given by George Soros in January 2020. The deadline for the College to meet that challenge by raising $500 million in endowment gifts was December 31, 2025 and the College submitted a list of all contributions to the endowment challenge totaling $520 million, certified by auditors. As of December 29, 2025, the Open Society Foundations (OSF) had accepted the match and transferred Mr. Soros’ pledge to Bard. All in all, the endowment match was completed with over 1,800 gifts from nearly 1,000 donors. It has, indeed, been a particularly wonderful start to the new year for the entire Bard community!
We have much to look forward to this month with a new cohort of spring transfer students arriving on Tuesday, January 20 and all returning students arriving for check in on Saturday, January 24. Spring classes start on Monday, January 26. Be sure to check out the calendar below my message for the list of upcoming important dates as well as a link to Bard’s full academic calendar.
BardWorks 2026 kicks off in Annandale on Tuesday, January 20 and ends in New York City on Friday, January 23. This is an annual program designed to help Bard students prepare for professional life beyond graduation. BardWorks includes dynamic workshops as well as two networking events where all student participants have the opportunity to connect with Bard alumni/ae and parents/guardians working in a variety of professional fields. For more information about this year’s BardWorks schedule, click here. If you would like to participate in one of the two networking receptions, please complete this form to RSVP to the Annandale Networking Reception on Thursday, January 22 from 6-8pm or this form to RSVP to the New York City Networking Reception on Friday, January 23 from 4:30-7pm.
Over winter break, the five team locker rooms and two communal locker rooms in the Stevenson Athletic Center are being renovated and I am pleased to announce that construction is well underway and on schedule for completion at the start of the spring semester. The project does require additional funding so please consider giving to the Locker Room Renovation Project by clicking here. Donors of $2,500 or more are eligible to name a locker and donors of $100 or more will have their name listed on the donor wall of the Stevenson Athletic Center. For additional naming opportunities, please contact Mackie Siebens '12, Assistant Director of Development for Family Programs, at [email protected]. Many, many thanks to those who have already given to this project.
Of note this spring, the College is looking forward to celebrating Bard’s 50 years of Innovation and Excellence and honoring Bard President, Leon Botstein, on March 26, 2026 in New York City at Cipriani South Street. Tickets for the event are available by using this link and more information can be found below.
Though it is early in the new year, planning for Commencement 2026 is upon us! More information about Commencement weekend, including registration details, will be released in March.
Best Wishes for a Happy New Year,
Mackie Siebens '12
Assistant Director of Development for Family Programs
[email protected] | 845-758-7316
P.S. A heartfelt thank you to all who included Bard in their giving plans in 2025! Every contribution matters and it's never too soon to start planning for the 2026 tax year. Please think about making a gift in 2026 to help support Bard students.
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Bard Gala 2026
Join Bard College in celebrating fifty years of innovation and excellence and honoring Bard College President, Leon Botstein.
Thursday, March 26, 2026 at 6:00 pm
Cipriani South Street, 10 South Street, New York City
Individual tickets as well as tables of 8 or 10 people can be purchased here.
For further information, please contact Linda Baldwin at [email protected] or 845-758-7414.
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Dates to Remember
To view the full 2025–2026 academic calendar, click here.
Saturday, March 14, 2026 – Sunday, March 22, 2026 | Spring Recess
Wednesday, April 29, 2026 | Last Day to Withdraw from a Class
Wednesday, April 29, 2026 | Senior Projects Due (5:00 p.m.)
Thursday, May 7, 2026 | Registration for Fall Classes Opens at 8 a.m.
Wednesday, May 13, 2026 – Tuesday, May 19, 2026 | Completion Days—Regular Classes and Final Exams
Monday, May 18, 2026 | Provisional Senior Grades Due in the Office of the Registrar
Tuesday, May 19, 2026 | Last Day of Spring Classes
Thursday, May 21, 2026 | Baccalaureate Service and Senior Dinner
Saturday, May 23, 2026 | Commencement |
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Family Leadership Council
Members of the Family Leadership Council (FLC) play a leadership role in the Bard community through a range of activities. FLC members develop and participate in on-campus and regional recruiting and mentoring events, promote and provide career opportunities for students, and participate in peer-to-peer fundraising. Parents on the FLC play a role in the success of the Bard College Fund through annual gifts. The Family Leadership Council meets twice each year: once during Family Weekend in the fall and once in the spring. These meetings are open so all Bard families are welcome to attend.
Interested in joining or have questions? Contact Mackie Siebens '12, Assistant Director of Development for Family Programs, at [email protected] or 845-758-7316. |
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Dinaw Mengestu. Photo by Anne-Emmanuelle Robicquet
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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.
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Anne Bogart ’74.
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Bard Alumna Anne Bogart ’74 Inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame
American theater and opera director and cofounder of SITI Company Anne Bogart ’74 was inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame, the only nationally recognized hall of fame honoring lifetime achievement in the American theater. Bogart, who studied drama and dance at Bard and received an honorary doctorate of fine arts from the College in 2014, teaches at Columbia University, where she is a professor and head of the directing concentration.
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L–R: Joseph Luzzi, professor of comparative literature at Bard; The Innocents of Florence.
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Joseph Luzzi’s The Innocents of Florence Featured in the New Yorker and the Guardian
The newest book by Joseph Luzzi, professor of comparative literature at Bard College, has been included in a roundup list of “The Best Books of 2025” by the New Yorker and was reviewed in the Guardian. “Luzzi’s slender and compelling book, with its accounts of forced pregnancy, family separation, and child labor, feels surprisingly and unsettlingly of the moment,” the New Yorker writes.
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Ellie Diamant, whose paper examined how decreased human activity during the pandemic changed the beak structure of dark-eyed juncos.
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Research by Biologist Ellie Diamant Cited in the New York Times
A new research paper coauthored by Ellie Diamant, assistant professor of biology at Bard, was featured in the New York Times in an article about how decreased human activity during the COVID-19 pandemic changed the beak structure of a bird species. Diamant’s paper examines how the beaks of urban-dwelling dark-eyed juncos that hatched during and just after lockdowns resembled the beaks of their counterparts in the wild.
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Our December Supporters
Thank you to Bard families and friends who supported Bard in December. We are grateful for your generosity to the College!
#donorsmakedegreespossible.
Please note that December gifts are still being received and recorded. If you gave by December 31, 2025 but do not see your name listed below, please know that you will be recognized in the February issue of the Annandale Insider. Thank you for your support!
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To give to Bard today, visit giving.bard.edu/bcf. |
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