Bard College Appoints Executive Vice President and Professor of Political Studies Jonathan Becker as Acting President

ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y. — The Bard College Board of Trustees today announced the appointment of Executive Vice President and Vice President for Academic Affairs Jonathan Becker as acting president, as the Board of Trustees launches a comprehensive search for a new permanent leader. Becker will begin his new position on July 1, immediately following the retirement of Bard’s 14th President, Leon Botstein, who has served for more than 50 years. Becker will chair 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.

Becker has been appointed to oversee one of the world’s most innovative institutions of higher education, providing rigorous liberal arts education to a diverse population of over 6,500 students enrolled in AA, BA, Masters, and PhD programs around the world. Bard is distinguished by the College’s emphasis on the arts as a fundamental element of liberal arts education, on scientific literacy and research, and on highlighting the link between education and democracy in all the College’s programs. Bard’s expansive networks—including the Bard Prison Initiative, Bard Early College network, and dual-degree programs in Palestine and Kyrgyzstan—offer transformational opportunities to underserved communities and models of educational collaboration.

Jonathan Becker has held numerous leadership positions during his three decades at the College as a faculty member and as an administrator in student and academic affairs. His work has primarily focused on bridging life in the classroom to students’ lived experience. Becker is founding director of Bard’s Center for Civic Engagement through which he supports community-based learning, Bard’s groundbreaking advocacy for student voting rights nationwide, student-led civic engagement efforts, and Bard’s institutional mission as a private college in the public interest.

Becker has spearheaded Bard’s international work supporting students from areas embroiled in violence and political conflict. Building connections between Bard’s main campus in Annandale-on-Hudson and its subsidiary Bard College Berlin, with a global network of campuses, he has developed academic partnerships with institutions around the world, including the Al-Quds College of Arts and Sciences in the West Bank, the American University of Central Asia (AUCA) in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, and Parami University in exile from Myanmar. He led Bard’s Sanctuary program which, over the past five years, has hosted more than 180 students who are displaced or threatened by conflict, crisis, or political repression in their home countries, including Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gaza, Myanmar, Russia, Somalia, Syria, and Ukraine. As interim president of AUCA (2019, 2021–2023), he led a joint Bard-AUCA initiative to evacuate nearly 200 students from Afghanistan after the fall of Kabul in 2021, many of whom matriculated at Bard’s main campus in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. He also serves as vice chancellor of Bard’s Global Higher Education Alliance for the 21st Century where he leads the alliance’s academic and programmatic development to create a new model of global higher education.

“Bard is fortunate to have a leader of Jonathan Becker’s caliber step in as acting president to lead the College through its most significant transition in 50 years,” said Brandon Weber ’97, chair of the Board of Trustees. “After carefully considering options to transition our college into its future permanent leader, the Board unanimously agrees that Jonathan is the right person for this moment. With an exceptional career at Bard leading many of the College’s academic and international student programming, we are confident that he will ensure a seamless process as we move into the next phase of our search for long-term leadership.”

“As I enter my 30th year at Bard, I am honored to take the position of acting president of the College,” said Jonathan Becker. “Bard is a wonderful and unique institution with immensely talented and dedicated faculty and staff, and, most importantly, thoughtful, creative and idealistic students both in Annandale-on-Hudson and across the globe. I look forward to helping bridge Bard from Leon Botstein's extraordinary 50-year tenure to a new generation of leadership, ensuring that every member of our community feels heard and that the College, with its vibrant local, national, and global networks, continues on its successful path. I’m grateful for the depth of expertise and unwavering commitment that defines the Bard community and its senior leadership, which I will draw upon to lead Bard with a focus on continuity and stability through this transition. My ultimate goal is to ensure that Bard remains a ‘place to think’ and that the institution continues to realize its singular mission to bring liberal arts and sciences education to communities where it has been underdeveloped, inaccessible, or absent.”

“Congratulations to the Board of Trustees on their choice of an acting president, and warmest wishes to Jonathan Becker, whose three decades at Bard have been devoted to academic innovation and rigor and the College’s vital public mission. Jonathan has provided leadership in Bard’s efforts to educate students displaced by war, repression, and political upheaval, and he continues a commitment to the arts, humanities, general education and to critical thinking. He will enjoy everyone’s full support in this period of transition,” said Leon Botstein, Bard College’s retiring president of 51 years who is returning to the faculty and continuing his role as a musician and president emeritus.

“Jonathan Becker has been instrumental in shaping and advancing Bard’s commitment to the core principle that higher education can and should operate in the public interest,” said Harry A. Johnson, Jr. '17, chair of the Center for Civic Engagement (CCE) Board of Advisors. “As leader of the CCE, he has brought that commitment to life, deepening Bard’s engagement with the world’s most pressing challenges and expanding access to education where it is under threat or out of reach. His dedication to civic action and educational access is at the heart of what makes Bard exceptional, and I can think of no one better qualified to lead Bard forward with courage, purpose, and integrity.”

“Jonathan Becker is an accomplished scholar, seasoned administrator and pioneering educator who has the right mix of experience and vision to lead Bard through this period of transition,” said Michelle Murray, associate professor of politics, and chair of the faculty senate. “He understands and will defend the values and priorities that define our mission and make Bard the remarkable institution it is—from our commitment to the fine and performing arts, to our belief in the transformative power of the liberal arts for individuals and societies, to our unique international network of partnerships. As we move into this next phase, I look forward to working with him on behalf of the faculty to strengthen our governance structures, address faculty priorities, and build a secure future for the College.”

Becker assumes the role at a pivotal moment of growth and expansion at Bard. A groundbreaking 25,000-square-foot Maya Lin–designed performing arts studio building for the Fisher Center at Bard completed construction this year. Recently launched initiatives including the Chang Chavkin Center for Liberal Education and Civic Life, which brings together programs and institutions committed to a shared vision of liberal learning, and the newly established Ralph Ellison Center, which will serve as a central hub to writers, artists, and scholars, build upon Bard’s commitment to interdisciplinary learning and the connection between education and democracy. At a challenging time for higher education, Bard has raised $1 billion in the past five years to secure a transformational endowment and has experienced significant increase in undergraduate admissions for the fall of 2026.

Becker will serve as acting president while the Board of Trustees conducts a deliberate and inclusive search for permanent leadership. That process will begin with the appointment of an interim president to helm the institution while the formal search for Bard’s next permanent president is underway. The Board of Trustees has hired the top executive search and leadership advisory firm Russell Reynolds Associates to support the presidential transition and search process. As part of this transitional process, the acting president will convene a Leadership Council, which includes Deirdre d’Albertis, vice president, dean of the college, and chief academic officer of the undergraduate college; Coleen Murphy Alexander ’00, vice president for administration; Christian Ayne Crouch, dean of graduate studies, director of the Center for Indigenous Studies; Malia Du Mont ’95, vice president for strategy and policy, chief of staff; Max Kenner ’01, vice president, Tow Chair for Democracy and Education, founder and executive director of the Bard Prison Initiative; Debra R. Pemstein, vice president for development and alumni/ae affairs; Dumaine Williams ’03, vice president and dean of early colleges, vice president for student affairs; and Taun Toay ’05, senior vice president and chief financial officer.
 

This event was last updated on 06-12-2026

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