Bard College Appoints Nicholas Alton Lewis as Associate Vice President for Academic Initiatives and Associate Dean Beginning January 2022

ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.— Bard College is pleased to announce that Nicholas Alton Lewis will join the College as Associate Vice President for Academic Initiatives and Associate Dean in the Office of the Dean of the College at Bard College effective January 2022. Lewis has previously served as Assistant Dean of the College at Bard. 
 
“The return of Nicholas Lewis to the College is eagerly anticipated,” said Vice President and Dean of the College Deirdre d’Albertis. “His commitment to building intellectual community and his attunement in particular to the affective dimensions of teaching and learning will enrich our shared lives in Annandale in so many ways.” 
 
“It is both a joy and an honor to be rejoining the Bard College community,” said Lewis. “I very much look forward to working with such a dedicated group of colleagues in service to this vibrant institution and student body.”
 
Nicholas Alton Lewis comes to Bard from the Curtis Institute of Music, where he is currently Senior Associate Dean and Special Advisor to the President for Strategic Engagement. In this capacity, he develops initiatives and programs to foster an institutional culture that centers equity, belonging, and wellbeing as a means of promoting human flourishing. Lewis formerly served as Associate Dean of Student and Academic Affairs at Curtis. In this role, he coordinated academic advising and faculty advisor training, oversaw assessment for academic and performance curricula, and redesigned the New Student Orientation experience. Prior to his work at Curtis, Nicholas served as Associate Dean of Student Affairs at Yale Divinity School where he oversaw all aspects of campus and residential life. In his previous role at Bard as Assistant Dean of the College he developed and supported initiatives to increase personal, civic, and moral responsibility within the campus community. Prior to joining Bard College, Lewis served on the music department faculties of Howard University and Virginia Union University.
 
For more than 25 years, Lewis has maintained an active career as musical performer, composer, and educator. He is the clarinetist and co-founder of the BLAK-New Blues Ensemble, cofounded with composer-pianist Anthony Kelley and based at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. Mr. Lewis is also the former bass clarinetist of the Richmond Symphony Orchestra and principal clarinetist of the Williamsburg Symphony, positions he held for 18 and 12 years respectively. He has performed with the Akron, Pittsburgh, Virginia, and Westmorland Symphonies, Baltimore Opera Orchestra, and with the Brevard, Gateways, Sphinx, and Pittsburgh New Music Festival Orchestras.
 
Lewis holds the degrees of Bachelor of Fine Arts and Master of Music in clarinet performance from Carnegie Mellon University. He is also a graduate of Yale Divinity School where he completed a Master of Divinity degree focusing on social ethics, and a certificate from the Institute of Sacred Music.
 
PHOTO CAPTION: Nicholas Alton Lewis
 
About Bard College
Founded in 1860, Bard College is a four-year residential college of the liberal arts and sciences located 90 miles north of New York City. With the addition of the Montgomery Place estate, Bard’s campus consists of nearly 1,000 parklike acres in the Hudson River Valley. It offers bachelor of arts, bachelor of science, and bachelor of music degrees, with majors in nearly 40 academic programs; graduate degrees in 11 programs; eight early colleges; and numerous dual-degree programs nationally and internationally. Building on its 161-year history as a competitive and innovative undergraduate institution, Bard College has expanded its mission as a private institution acting in the public interest across the country and around the world to meet broader student needs and increase access to liberal arts education. The undergraduate program at our main campus in upstate New York has a reputation for scholarly excellence, a focus on the arts, and civic engagement. Bard is committed to enriching culture, public life, and democratic discourse by training tomorrow’s thought leaders. For more information about Bard College, visit bard.edu.
  (9/28/21)

This event was last updated on 09-30-2021

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