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May 2026 News for Bard Families & Friends |
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Graduating students pose with their graduation cords at the 50 Days to Commencement Countdown Celebration in April. Photo Credit: Zach Butler '29. |
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Dear Bard Families,
Students have taken advantage of the warmer weather this month, starting with Spring Fling over the weekend featuring musical performances, dances, food trucks and more! Seniors also had the opportunity to have a free professional portrait taken at Blithewood on Monday and Tuesday. You will be able to download digital copies for free and order prints for purchase from our website here when the photos are ready.
Bard celebrated its student athletes at the Athletics Awards Banquet on May 5. Students, coaches, faculty, and staff gathered in the Stevenson Athletic Center to enjoy a catered dinner and reflect on all that student athletes accomplished over the course of this academic year.
Does your student need assistance moving out of their residence hall? The Office of Residence Life and Housing has all the information your student needs to know as they prepare to move out of their room. Visit the website to review important move out dates and helpful resources, including details about Dorm Room Movers.
As a reminder, the full schedule for commencement is available online along with an FAQs page. Registration is now closed. Please take note of the important information below and direct questions to the Events Office at [email protected].
- The barbecue following commencement is free for graduating students, but they need to be registered for commencement in advance to receive their complimentary barbecue ticket. They will be prompted to register themselves closer to commencement.
- The commencement tent opens at 1:30pm and the procession begins at 2:30pm.
- Commencement tent seating is offered on a first-come, first-served basis.
- To provide the most enjoyable experience for all of our guests, we request limiting each party to six.
- Please bring your favorite reusable bottles to the ceremony. Bard is reducing the use of plastic bottled water on campus. Bottle-filling stations will offer water refills around the perimeter of the commencement tent.
- Please keep in mind that the weather in the Hudson Valley can vary and change quickly over the course of a single day. We ask that you plan accordingly.
- Parking is limited and guests should plan to park their cars in one of the designated parking areas for the duration of the day and either walk or take one of the shuttle buses to the commencement tent.
Also for those attending commencement, Stark Blooms Flower Truck will be on campus on graduation day, Saturday, May 23 from 11am to 3pm. Flowers sell out quickly so consider placing an order for a bouquet now and collecting it at the truck on May 23. To place your order today, click here.
We welcome gifts to the College from all Bard families and, at this time of year, we encourage families to give to the College in honor of their student or someone (staff or faculty) who has helped their student thrive at Bard over the course of the academic year. Please use this link to give today and be sure to add a note indicating who your gift is honoring. Every donation makes a difference!
My Best,
Mackie Siebens '12
Assistant Director of Development, Family Programs
845-758-7316
[email protected]
P.S. Bard was featured in Forbes in April. The College’s global impact is on full display through its partnership with Parami University, founded by Kyaw Moe Tun. You can read the full article here.
P.P.S. Graduating students may purchase the cords featured in the photo above for $20.26 to contribute to their senior class gift!
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Dates to Remember
To view the full 2025–2026 academic calendar, click here, and to view the full 2026-2027 academic calendar, click here.
Thursday, May 7, 2026 | Registration for Fall Classes Opened 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 |
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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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Yale Coopersmith ’26.
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Bard Student Yale Coopersmith ’26 Recognized as ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge Award Recipient
Yale Coopersmith ’26, a senior at Bard College, has been included in the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge’s honor roll as a leader in nonpartisan campus civic engagement for her dedicated work with Election@Bard. Coopersmith was one of 168 students across the country who was recognized for contributions to creating a more civically engaged culture within their campus communities.
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Clockwise L–R: Ixmucane Pereira ’26, João Melo ’26, and Moani Moreira-Laliberté ’27.
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Bard College Students Ixmucane N. Pereira ’26, João Melo ’26, and Moani Moreira-Laliberté ’27 Awarded Davis Projects for Peace Grants
Bard College students Ixmucane Pereira ’26, João Melo ’26, and Moani Moreira-Laliberté ’27 have been awarded two Projects for Peace Grants for $10,000 by the Davis Foundation. The Davis grants, which are typically conferred to only one project from each partner institution, were awarded in support of two Bard College projects—for Melo and Moreira-Laliberté’s “Pathways of Art” project in Brazil, and for Pereira’s “Worry Dolls: Mayan Indigenous Ways to Remove Worries” project in Guatemala.
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L–R: M. Gessen, distinguished visiting writer at Bard College, and Bard alumna Juliana Spahr ’88.
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Bard College Faculty M. Gessen and Alumna Juliana Spahr ’88 Win Pulitzer Prizes
M. Gessen, distinguished visiting writer at Bard College, and Bard alumna Juliana Spahr ’88 have been awarded Pulitzer Prizes. The Pulitzer committee awarded Gessen a prize in Opinion Writing for their “illuminating collection of reported essays on rising authoritarian regimes that draw on history and personal experience to probe timely themes of oppression, belonging and exile.” Spahr was awarded a prize in Poetry for Ars Poeticas, a poetry collection examining her relationship to her art form, community, and politics.
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L–R: Jacqueline Goss and and Joseph Luzzi.
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2026 Guggenheim Fellowships Awarded to Bard Faculty Members
The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation has awarded 2026 Guggenheim Fellowships to Bard College faculty members Jacqueline Goss, professor of film and electronic arts, and Joseph Luzzi, Asher B. Edelman Professor of Literature. Guggenheim fellowships were also awarded to James Hoff, Steve Reinke, and Kenneth Tam, who will teach this upcoming summer at Bard’s Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts.
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National Summer Course and Training Launches with 15+ Partner Organizations to Educate the Next Generation of Students in Voting Rights & Democracy
Bard College invites college and advanced high school students from across the nation to apply for a synchronous online summer course, Student Voting, Civil Rights, and the Practice of Democracy, for three transferable undergraduate credits and an opportunity to receive a certificate on “Voting Rights & Democracy Training.”
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Jonathan Becker, vice president for academic affairs and director of the Center for Civic Engagement.
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Jonathan Becker Writes Opinion Piece for WAMC
Jonathan Becker, vice president for academic affairs and director of the Center for Civic Engagement at Bard College, contributed an opinion piece to WAMC in which he emphasizes the importance of recognizing Bard’s identity as an institution with vast reach in the global education landscape. He writes that the College’s institutional mission is to expand access to liberal arts and sciences education to communities where such education has been underdeveloped or absent.
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Our April Supporters
Thank you to Bard families and friends who supported Bard in April. We are grateful for your generosity to the College!
#donorsmakedegreespossible.
Anonymous (11) • Godfrey N. Nelson and Lorraine M. Nelson Wolf • John E. Smedley and Carole A. Parker • Mark J. Herbert and Denise Herbert • Irina Lebedeva • Tomas Wise • Bismark Pena • Mike G. Henry and Nessa J. Richman • John von Brachel and Susan von Brachel • Thomas Cooke and Teresa Cooke • Anna J. Bloomer '87 and Daniel Tessier • Peter J. White and Ellen L. White • Kimberly L. Haas • Michael Benjamin and Sandra L. Benjamin • Alexander P. Munster • Charles Phillips and Maureen Langloss • Alan J. Lipsky and Anna J. Rhodes • Angelica Sanchez • Desmond D. Brown • Jane A. Brien '89 and Stewart Verrilli • Victoria H. Sutton and Jim Sutton • Chris Hope and Stephanie Hope • Alexandre Chemla and Lori Chemla • Ellen Petersen • Hugh Grubb and Jennifer Smith Grubb • Frank J. Komola • Jose G. Ortega and Margarita R. Velasquez • Jeffrey Gerber and Alisa Peet • Jeffrey Chou and Thania Martell • Martin B. Mosbacher and Andrea Mosbacher • Donald Kimelman and Gay Kimelman • Jason Malinowski and Jennifer Malinowski • Rob Mielarczyk and Janice Mielarczyk • Curt Gerston and Laura McCarthy • Gregory Fields and Rozanna Leo-Fields • Bart Farell and Diane Matza • Richard Dower and Laura E. Dower • Dan Junkins and Minette Junkins • Jamie A. von Klemperer and Alison M. von Klemperer • John Bermingham and Marnie Bermingham • Peter W. Greenwald and Gail M. Newman • Peter D. Lundgren and Debra A. Lundgren • Lars Larson and Molly Hiro • Bruce Berg and Catherine Berg • Eric B. Remick and Sarah E. Morgan • Sara F. Egan • Michael T. Chermak and Angela M. Chermak • Tri C. Nguyen and Maura C. Ryan • David W. Jacobowitz '65 and Linda Rodd • Jason T. Robison and Anne S. Robison • Tara A. O'Hanley • Helene Tieger '85 and Paul Ciancanelli • Clayton Ward and Jennifer Ward • David C. Young • Jane Kim • Andrew Gluck and Jill Gluck • Andrew O'Hehir • Lee Cohen • Julia M. Hess • Kathryn F. Kaycoff '82 • David Meikle
To give to Bard today, visit giving.bard.edu/bcf. |
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