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July 2026 News for Bard Families & Friends |
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Bard students and community members enjoying a Bard Farm summer potluck. The Bard Farm Stand is open on campus every Thursday from 12pm-5pm through October. |
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Dear Bard Families and Friends,
Welcome families of first-years and new transfer students! You have been subscribed to Bard’s monthly eNewsletter for Bard families: the Annandale Insider. The Insider provides you—and all Bard families—with news and important information from the College. To view archived issues, click here.
Thank you to all who generously donated to Bard before June 30, the end of the College’s fiscal year. We deeply appreciate the outpouring of support from Bard families and friends. To learn more about fundraising, visit our Giving page, FAQs, and Ways to Give.
As you already know, Bard College's Board of Trustees appointed Jonathan Becker to the role of Acting President in June. Jonathan took on the role yesterday, Wednesday, July 1, the start of Bard’s fiscal year. For nearly 30 years, Jonathan has been a Bard faculty member and was promoted into the roles of Executive Vice President and Vice President for Academic Affairs. He has also served as the Director of the Center for Civic Engagement. The Board of Trustees will search for a new permanent leader while Jonathan serves as Acting President and chairs a newly formed Leadership Council, comprising the College’s senior leadership, to work with the board and to ensure their expertise and diverse perspectives inform Bard’s path forward. To read the note that Jonathan Becker circulated to the community yesterday, click here.
There is so much happening on campus this summer, including SummerScape and the 36th annual Bard Music Festival. If you find yourself near Annandale this summer, please consider joining us for a performance or late night dancing at the Spiegeltent. The full schedule and ticket information are on the Fisher Center’s website.
Also on campus are the current exhibitions at the Hessel Museum of Art at the Center for Curatorial Studies: Betty Parsons: An Expanded World, Replica of a Chip: The Weaving Technology of Marilou Schultz, and Uman: In Between.
Most importantly, we are eagerly awaiting the arrival of new students! Bard will welcome first year and transfer students to campus for their respective Language and Thinking programs in August. We look forward to seeing you when you arrive on campus!
Please save the date for Family and Alumni/ae Weekend: October 23-25, 2026. Families are welcome to join us on campus to experience all that Bard has to offer through concerts, tours, tastings, classes taught by our stellar faculty, and more. If you think you may be able to join us, I encourage you to book your accommodations as soon as possible.
Registration and more information will be available in the early fall.
Best Wishes,
Mackie Siebens '12
Assistant Director of Development, Family Programs
[email protected]
845 758 7316
P.S. Be sure to follow Bard Family Network on Instagram for College updates, news and events!
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Dates to Remember
To view the full 2026-2027 academic calendar, click here.
Friday, August 7, 2026 | Arrival Day, Check-in, and Financial Clearance for all other new First-Year Students Reem-Kayden Center, 9am-2pm
Monday, August 10, 2026 – Wednesday, August 26, 2026 | Language and Thinking Program
Friday, August 21, 2026 | Arrival Day, Check-in, and Financial Clearance for All New Transfer Students Reem-Kayden Center, 9am-12pm
Monday, August 24, 2026 – Wednesday, August 26, 2026 | Transfer Student Language and Thinking Program 9am-3:30pm
Thursday, August 27, 2026 – Friday, August 28, 2026 | Matriculation Days - Advising and Class Registration for New First-Year and Transfer Students
Saturday, August 29, 2026 | Arrival Day for All Returning Students, Check-in and Financial Clearance for All Returning Students
Monday, August 31, 2026 | First Day of Fall Classes
Wednesday, September 9, 2026 | Drop/Add Period Ends 5pm
Monday, October 12, 2026 – Tuesday, October 13, 2026 | Fall Break
Friday, October 23, 2026 | Midterm Grades and Criteria Sheets Due from faculty
Friday, October 23, 2026 – Sunday, October 25, 2026 | Family and Alumni/ae Weekend
Thursday, November 26, 2026 – Sunday, November 29, 2026 | Thanksgiving Recess |
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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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Jonathan Becker. Photo by Rachel L. Crittenden
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Recently Appointed Bard College Acting President Jonathan Becker Publishes Youth Voting Essay in Liberal Education
Bard College Executive Vice President and Vice President for Academic Affairs Jonathan Becker, who has been appointed Bard’s acting president beginning July 1, published “Give Them Ballots,” an article on student voting rights in the spring 2026 volume of Liberal Education Magazine, the award-winning flagship quarterly of the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U). Yael Bromberg, who is a Senior Fellow at the Center for Civic Engagement, also published a companion article, “A Detour for Democracy,” in the same issue.
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Steve Schapiro ’55.
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Vanity Fair Features Photography by Steve Schapiro ’55
Music photography by the late Steve Schapiro ’55, Bard alumnus and civil rights photographer, was featured in Vanity Fair. The photos were featured alongside an homage to Schapiro by Sonny Rollins, a legendary jazz musician who passed away in May.
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Richard Aldous, Eugene Meyer Distinguished Professor of History.
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Richard Aldous Reviews Ike and Winston for the Wall Street Journal
Richard Aldous, Eugene Meyer Distinguished Professor of History at Bard College, has published a review in the Wall Street Journal of historian Jonathan W. Jordan’s book Ike and Winston: World War, Cold War, and an Extraordinary Friendship, a detailed exploration of the relationship between Dwight Eisenhower and Winston Churchill as they shaped world events from WWII through the Cold War era.
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Jack Ferver, assistant professor of theater and performance.
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Jack Ferver Featured in the New York Times
Jack Ferver, assistant professor of theater and performance at Bard College, was featured in the New York Times in an article about choreographer Martha Graham, whose work Ferver highlights in what the Times calls an “excellent exhibition” at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. The exhibition curated by Ferver, Martha Graham: The Mother of Psychological Dance, traces the arc of Graham’s groundbreaking career, centering her visionary approach to dance as psychological expression.
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Suddenly Last Summer Featured in the New York Times
Suddenly Last Summer, the Fisher Center LAB opera opening on June 25 as part of Bard SummerScape 2026, was featured in the New York Times. The hybrid music-theater performance is MacArthur Fellow Courtney Bryan’s first work for the stage, and the score she delivers is inspired by the play’s two settings of the Mediterranean coast and the Garden District of New Orleans, Bryan’s hometown. “Musically, I was really interested in trying to find a way to match Tennessee Williams, the energy in the play,” Bryan told the Times.
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Our June Supporters
Thank you to Bard families and friends who supported Bard in June. We are grateful for your generosity to the College!
#donorsmakedegreespossible.
Thanks to generous Bard families, friends and alumni/ae, Bard received many gifts at the end of our fiscal year and it takes some time to process them. If you gave in the month of June but do not see your name listed below, you will be included in the July donor list in the next issue of the Annandale Insider.
Anonymous (12) • John G. Urang '97 and Jennifer Schuberth • Ioannis Kalomoiris and Ioanna Kalogeraki • Paul M. Boocock and Peggy A. Grauwiler • John Radman and Donna M. Radman • David Robertson and Lisa Robertson • Gideon Schiffer and Daphna Epstein • Seiichiro Tanizaki and Heather Jacobson • Mark J. Herbert and Denise Herbert • Irina Lebedeva • Judith A. Winzemer • Mike G. Henry and Nessa J. Richman •
Christian Kelly and Jennifer Kelly • Sandra T. Renner • Lewis E. Farberman and Hagar L. Riley • Kimberly L. Haas • Kamala Grohman and Jefferson Cotton • Martin Kenner and Camilla Smith • Suzanne Otis and Theodore Otis • Andrew Jacobs and Peggy Jacobs • Sarah A. Furstenberg • Jaime Sterling • John J. Miller and Emily Altschul-Miller • Carl Mas and Lara Kaye • Kathleen Carroll • Ilya Levinson and Martine Benmann • Jane A. Brien '89 and Stewart Verrilli • James Sottile and Noell H. Sottile • Peter L. Wilson and Sandra A. Odems • Peter Barrett and Molly Naughton • Anthony Cornicello and Maria Cornicello • Chris Aiken and Angie Hauser • Eric Rice and Sarah Kanchuger • Sue Marcus • Clive A. Spagnoli '86 and Theresa Dimasi • Susan Gans • John Burke and Sarah A. Hahn • Robert W. Lourie • Richard Hough and Vera Hough • Earl Parr III and Lynn M. Parr • Richard Aldous and Kathryn Aldous • Frank J. Komola • Archil Pichkhadze and Sara Deangelis • Kenji Fujita and Vivian Heller • Susan Gallin • Dorothy Vinski • Edward Applebaum and Shari E. Applebaum • Stephanie E. Kufner and Gerald M. Kufner • Evan Eisenberg and Freda C. Eisenberg • William F. Forsyth and Janice C. Forsyth • Stephen Manne and Lisa W. Manne • Jack Spielberg and Sarah Seaver • Kieran Beer and Melissa Benson • Hasan Quamrul Raaquib • Dan Junkins and Minette Junkins • Jim Etkin and Kim Larsen • Andrew S. Szegedy-Maszak and Elizabeth A. Bobrick • James Crane and Sonia Crane • Piotr Karpiak and Katarzyna Lesniak-Karpiak • James Wilmerding • Joerg Deerberg and Ellen L. Fisher-Deerberg • Jamie A. Von Klemperer and Alison M. von Klemperer • Connie Laport • Lindsay Stefans • Peter W. Greenwald and Gail M. Newman • Mark A. Bird and Elizabeth G. Bird • Andrew Thomas and Ashaty Thomas • Larry L. Levin • Kris Geier and Camille Geier • Clayton Saccomanno and Kari Saccomanno • Walter Levitch • Clifford Beinart and Stephanie R. Low • Jason Lannert and Suzanne Pelletier • Rob Mielarczyk and Janice Mielarczyk • Benedito R. Dos Santos and Anna H. More • Matt V. Nestor and Michelle T. Nestor • Timothy D. Cornwell and Alice L. Cornwell • Jay O. Mills and Jennifer Mills • James Knox and Jacqueline Knox • Lina Todd • Susan H. H. Gillespie • Michael Dahlen and Hope Chernov • Nathaniel J. Brown and Patreese A. Martin • Rich Martinelli • Jane E Carleton • Leah K. Barber • Natasha Dillahunt '98 • David W. Jacobowitz '65 and Linda Rodd • Claire Schoen and Stephen Most • Jason T. Robison and Anne S. Robison • Chandra Roychoudhuri • Andrew Greenhill and Ann Greenhill • Fei Liu • Helene Tieger '85 and Paul Ciancanelli • Richard W. Waugaman • Elizabeth Stewart • Tom A. Hagan '77 • Charlotte T. Taylor • Janet E. Kettler • Matthias Gohl and Victoria H. Gohl • Stephen Bardfield • Karl R. Woitach and Sheila Szczepaniak • Stefano Ferrari • Patti Galluzzi • Kate Trimble '94 • Jane Kim • Yolande Brizendine • Trendafil A. Trendafilov • David Meikle
To give to Bard today, visit giving.bard.edu/bcf. |
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