|
June 2026 News for Bard Families & Friends |
|
|
|
Graduating Students at Commencement 2026. Photo Credit: Karl Rabe. |
|
Dear Families,
We celebrated the class of 2026 during commencement weekend at the end of May and welcomed back all the Bard alumni/ae who returned to campus for their reunions. Despite some wet weather, we had a fabulous time congratulating the next generation of Bardians setting out to make their mark on the world. We wish them all the best and invite them back to Annandale any time to visit their Bard family! To view the recorded 2026 commencement ceremony, including the commencement address by Fareed Zakaria, click here. Photos taken during commencement and reunion weekend can be viewed here.
To make a gift in honor of your Bard student, or someone special who has supported your Bardian during their Bard career, please visit Bard’s giving page and be sure to include the name of the person you are honoring in the gift notes section of the giving form.
Five Bard alumni/ae have won prestigious Fulbright Scholarships. This is a tremendous achievement as the program is extremely competitive. The winners are: Danika Dortch '26, a Literature major at the College and a French Horn Performance major at the Conservatory, will conduct an independent research project on the composer Leoš Janácek and his influence on the writer Milan Kundera. Peter Fields '26, a Classical Studies major, has been awarded an English Teaching Assistantship to Romania. Annaliese Simons '26, a Written Arts major, has received a Fulbright study-research grant to pursue a master's degree in public policy (with a focus on Disability Studies) at the Hertie School in Berlin. Shosha Wheeler '26, a Mathematical Sciences major, has been awarded the Fulbright Austria Community-Combined Award. Bridget White '25, an Anthropology and German Studies double major, has won an English Teaching Assistant Fulbright to Germany. Congratulations to all of these award winners!
Bard’s campus is beautiful and busy all summer. Don’t miss Bard SummerScape’s hypnotic blend of myth, melodrama, and psychological intrigue, with Richard Strauss’s seldom heard The Egyptian Helen or The Bard Music Festival’s Mozart and His World, an exploration of Wolfgang Amadé Mozart. Please also join us in Annandale for music, dancing, comedy and more at Spiegeltent from June 26 through August 15. Tickets can be purchased at the Fisher Center’s website. We hope to see you in Annandale this summer!
Sincerely,
Mackie Siebens '12
Assistant Director of Development, Family Programs
845-758-7316
[email protected]
P.S. If you have not already done so and would like to submit your feedback from Commencement Weekend, please complete the survey that was circulated via email on Wednesday, May 27. If you cannot locate that survey link, please email your feedback directly to [email protected]. Your reflections on Commencement Weekend are valuable and help us make improvements to Graduation Weekend every year!
|
|
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 |
|
|
|
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. |
|
|
|
|
|
Journalist and author Fareed Zakaria. Photo by Samuel Stuart Hollenshead
|
Award Winning Journalist and Author Fareed Zakaria Delivered Undergraduate Commencement Address at Bard College’s One Hundred Sixty-Sixth Commencement on Saturday, May 23, 2026
Bard College held its one hundred sixty-sixth commencement on Saturday, May 23, 2026.
|
|
|
Clockwise, L–R: Danika Dortch ’26, Shosha Wheeler ’26, Peter Fields ’26, and Annaliese Simons ’26.
|
Five Bard College Graduates Win 2026 Fulbright Awards
Five Bard College graduates have won 2026–27 Fulbright Awards for individually designed research projects, English teaching assistantships, and the pursuit of a master’s degree. Danika Dortch ’26, Peter Fields ’26, Annaliese Simons ’26, Shosha Wheeler ’26, and Bridget White ’25 all received awards.
|
|
|
Tania El Khoury.
|
Bard Scholar Tania El Khoury Honored With Two Residencies
Tania El Khoury, distinguished artist in residence, associate professor in theater and performance, and director of the Center for Human Rights and the Arts at Bard College, has been honored by two residencies, one with the École Universitaire de Recherche ArTeC, a research school that supports experimental practices, and one with Fabrique Chaillot, a selective program at Théâtre Chaillot within the French National Theater of Dance.
|
|
|
Levy Economics Institute President Pavlina R. Tcherneva and Darrick Hamilton, AFL-CIO chief economist and economic adviser to NYC mayor Zohran Mamdani. Photo by Karl Rabe
|
Bard’s Levy Economics Institute Holds 40th Anniversary Conference
On May 8, at Blithewood Manor, the Levy Economics Institute of Bard College convened its annual conference marking 40 years since the Institute’s founding. The occasion drew the kind of distinguished assembly of economists, journalists, and policymakers that Levy has become known for, united by a shared conviction that conventional economics has consistently failed to reckon with the realities facing the global economy and working Americans.
|
|
|
Composer in Residence Missy Mazzoli.
|
Composer in Residence Missy Mazzoli Profiled in the New York Times
Bard Composer in Residence Missy Mazzoli was profiled in a New York Times article about the Luna Composition Lab, the mentorship program she founded with fellow composer Ellen Reid. The Lab, which turns 10 this year, matches young and experienced composers who are female, nonbinary or gender nonconforming, and mentees receive eight months of mentorship and attend a music festival in New York.
|
|
|
Our May Supporters
Thank you to Bard families and friends who supported Bard in May. We are grateful for your generosity to the College!
#donorsmakedegreespossible.
Anonymous (4) • Margaret Walker • Ina Calver '94 • Pat M. Woodward and Lisa W. Lunt • Kenneth S. Stern '75 and Marjorie Slome • Irina Lebedeva • Ricardo Estrada and Lourdes J. Estrada • Rochelle G. Redfield • Sonja Roach • John von Brachel and Susan von Brachel • Kimberly L. Haas • David J. Weiner and Tija A. Spitsberg • Ross Lum and Erin Lum • Evan D. Kanter and Suzanne M. DuRard • Charles Phillips and Maureen Langloss • Linda R. MacGorman • Victoria H. Sutton and Jim Sutton • Cathy Lanier and Henry D. Lanier • Alexandre Chemla and Lori Chemla • Catriona Shafer • Donna Schragis and Steven Schragis • Frank J. Komola • Jeffrey Gerber and Alisa Peet • Jason Van Driesche • Emily H. Fisher and John Alexander • Mark Sherf and Nicole Sherf • Dorothy Vinski • Craig C. Stuart and Susan E. Kim-Stuart • Douglas Baz and Jill Lundquist • Steven Gasner • Harry Sunshine '76 and Susan Schwimmer • Guy A. Story and Kerry L. Donahue • Suzanne B. Holzberg • Robert E. Menzimer and Megan A. Griffith • John D. Shyer and Marsha A. Shyer • Gregory Fields and Rozanna Leo-Fields • Dan Junkins and Minette Junkins • Jimmy A. Torres Garcia and Amy J. Torres Best • Helen Epstein • Piotr Karpiak and Katarzyna Lesniak-Karpiak • Peter W. Greenwald and Gail M. Newman • Alexis Neider • Mark E. Davidson and Lynn W. Davidson • Benedito R. Dos Santos and Anna H. More • Craig Altrock and Leslee Altrock • Tri C. Nguyen and Maura C. Ryan • Susan H. H. Gillespie • Timothy H. McNerney • David W. Jacobowitz '65 and Linda Rodd • Les C. Montgomery and Melanie R. Maisey • Don Hurowitz '65 and Elizabeth Hurowitz • Jason T. Robison and Anne S. Robison • Alex Andrews • Jeremy Reynolds and Colleen M. Conway • Peter S. Smith and Jane D. Smith • Mary Donovan • Peter Coopersmith and Heather Hart • Jane Kim • Sergio A. Spodek and Celina R. Pipman • David Meikle
To give to Bard today, visit giving.bard.edu/bcf. |
|
|
|
|
