Bard College Awarded $375,000 By The Dyson Foundation To Support Scholarships For Mid-Hudson Valley Students

ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.—Bard College has been awarded a $375,000 grant from the Dyson Foundation to support scholarships for students from the Mid-Hudson Valley. The College currently provides more than $1.8 million in financial support to more than 59 Mid-Hudson Valley students. With the increased commitment from the Dyson Foundation, Bard College will continue to recruit and retain bright, capable, and talented students from the region who may not otherwise be able to afford to attend the College.

Bard’s mission is predicated upon the belief that students, regardless of background or circumstance, who are provided with academic support services and instruction that inspires and engages, are capable of academic excellence and college completion. Bard’s educational model emphasizes practices that build critical thinking and analytical writing through small, seminar-style classes with highly trained faculty. It is the College’s charge to instill in students a sense of ownership and accountability. When admitting students, Bard commits to ensuring a safe, productive, and enriching atmosphere that will influence the life of a future leader. Scholarships such as those provided by the Dyson Foundation are essential in recruiting and retaining excellent students from the Mid-Hudson Valley region and in reducing the financial burden of higher education.

Bard’s financial aid policy is based on the premise that the College will accept all students who qualify for admission regardless of the amount of financial aid they require. The College currently offers financial aid to approximately 68 percent of students; it awarded over $40 million in undergraduate financial aid this past year. As costs rise and the College strives to extend financial support to those who require it, funding for scholarships becomes increasingly important.

David Bisson, a 2014 graduate of Bard College and former Dyson Scholar, says: “The Dyson scholarship I received at Bard allowed me to fully embrace my academic studies. Last year, I decided to investigate the U.S. military’s integration of digital weapons for my senior project, and in my spare time, I began writing on information security. My thesis was nominated for a political studies award at the College. I have since begun crafting my role as an information security journalist as my preferred career. I also applied for and have been accepted into a graduate program through which I will obtain a Masters of Science in Cyber Security. None of this would have been possible without the generosity of the Dyson Foundation.”

The Dyson Foundation is a private, family-directed, grant-making foundation. Established in 1957, it is led by Robert R. Dyson, who has served as its president since 2000. The Dyson Foundation awards grants throughout New York’s Dutchess County, Mid-Hudson Valley, and beyond. Since its founding 58 years ago, the foundation has awarded nearly $316 million in grants to nonprofit organizations in the Mid-Hudson Valley and elsewhere in the United States. The foundation is a longstanding supporter of Bard College’s undergraduate students.

About Bard College
Founded in 1860, Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, is an independent, nonsectarian, residential, coeducational college offering a four-year B.A. program in the liberal arts and sciences and a five-year B.A./B.S. degree in economics and finance. The Bard College Conservatory of Music offers a five-year program in which students pursue a dual degree—a B.Music and a B.A. in a field other than music—and offers an M.Music in vocal arts and in conducting. Bard also bestows an M.Music degree at Longy School of Music of Bard College in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Bard and its affiliated institutions also grant the following degrees: A.A. at Bard High School Early College with accredited Bard College branch campuses in New York City, Cleveland, and Newark, New Jersey; A.A. and B.A. at Bard College at Simon’s Rock: The Early College, in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, and through the Bard Prison Initiative at six correctional institutions in New York State; M.A. in curatorial studies, M.S. in economic theory and policy, and M.S. in environmental policy and in climate science and policy at the Annandale campus; M.F.A. and M.A.T. at multiple campuses; M.B.A. in sustainability in New York City; and M.A., M.Phil., and Ph.D. in the decorative arts, design history, and material culture at the Bard Graduate Center in Manhattan. Internationally, Bard confers dual B.A. degrees at the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences, St. Petersburg State University, Russia (Smolny College); American University of Central Asia in Kyrgyzstan; and Bard College Berlin: A Liberal Arts University; as well as dual B.A. and M.A.T. degrees at Al-Quds University in the West Bank.

Bard offers nearly 50 academic programs in four divisions. Total enrollment for Bard College and its affiliates is approximately 5,000 students. The undergraduate College in Annandale-on-Hudson has an enrollment of more than 1,900 and a student-to-faculty ratio of 10:1. For more information about Bard College, visit www.bard.edu.

This event was last updated on 04-23-2015

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