News

Jonathan Becker discusses the persistence of Bard's program at Smolny College in St. Petersburg. "University partnerships with Russia ... existed during the Cold War, and we ultimately believe that we’re in this for the long run," he says.

Professor Kuznitz's book, YIVO and the Making of Modern Jewish Culture Scholarship for the Yiddish Nation, will be published later this month.

In February, the Bard College Model UN Team hosted the second Bard One Day Youth Model UN (BODYMUN) in Annandale, bringing together students from Russia, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Indonesia.

Bard classicist James Romm discusses his new book, Dying Every Day: Seneca at the Court of Nero, on the Leonard Lopate Show.

"The Supreme Court is a rare pocket of government that works well," writes BHSEC's Professor Mazie, "and a rare corner of America that continues to value strong arguments and procedure over craven instincts and bare-knuckle politics."

Together with her students, Professor Catherine Whalen recently launched the Bard Graduate Center Craft, Art and Design Oral History Project. The Archive is a treasure trove of oral histories, compiled and conducted by her students with craftspeople, designers, and artists. It focuses on contemporary work and includes photos, video, and reference materials.

Mark Danner examines key moments in the George W. Bush presidency when the direction of foreign policy turned on the decisions of Vice President Dick Cheney.

Dimitri B. Papadimitriou, president of the Levy Economics Institute and executive vice president of Bard, proposes an alternative currency in Greece, to run parallel to the euro, as a solution to that country's ongoing economic crisis.

Walter Russell Mead presided over a conversation on "Crimea, China, and the Challenges of Risk Management" between Lawrence D. Freedman and Richard N. Haass.

Bard students Jasper Katz '15 and Winston Duncan '17 presented March 21–23 at the annual Clinton Global Initiative University (CGI U) conference, held this year at Arizona State University in Phoenix. CGI U, founded by President Bill Clinton in 2007, gathers young leaders to solve global issues, supporting college and university students in creating and implementing their own social, economic, and environmental initiatives. President Clinton, former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, and Clinton Foundation Vice Chair Chelsea Clinton lead the conference, which brings together more than 1,000 students to work with experts, entrepreneurs, and civically engaged celebrities. As a CGI U network institution, Bard will fund Katz and Duncan's projects up to $10,000 through the Center for Civic Engagement. Katz aims to create a national network that provides community resources for people struggling with depression. Duncan is working to expand his nonprofit organization, Wheels to Africa, which collects and distributes donated bicycles in impoverished areas.

How do you get a room full of young environmentalists, budding entrepreneurs, and aspiring policymakers ready for an intensive weekend workshop at Bard College? Ask them a lot of soul-searching questions to break the ice. At this year’s Northeast Regional C2C Fellows Workshop at Bard, 61 young leaders had gathered in the Olin Language Center on a chilly Valentine’s Day evening. Workshop Director Jess Scott fired questions at the audience: “What would you change about the way you were raised? What are your passions and goals?” The participants—most of whom were strangers to each other—paired up to share stories. They laughed, cringed, and searched for the right words. When Scott finished, she explained the exercise: expressing empathy and building relationships are crucial to effective leadership and advocacy. She was laying the groundwork for a weekend that would be heavy on communication strategies and helping the participants build the network of young professionals that make up the core of C2C.

C2C stands for Campus to Congress, to Corporation, to City Hall, and to Capitol Hill, emphasizing the importance of sustainable leadership in all of these areas. For C2C, environmental, social, and economic work are intertwined in a larger vision of sustainability. A program of Bard’s Center for Environmental Policy (CEP), it trains and connects undergraduates and recent graduates aspiring to leadership positions in sustainable politics and business. C2C holds several workshops a year at colleges around the country. The one at Bard—this year’s was the third in Annandale—being on home field, tends to draw the biggest crowd, and opening night was no exception. There were 17 students from Bard, one student each from Bard College at Simon's Rock and Bard High School Early College (BHSEC) Manhattan, as well as students from 26 other colleges and recent graduates from six organizations. The farthest traveled student came from the College of Idaho.

Amy Canavan, The New School

Participants spent the weekend doing the kind of intensive skill building that is the hallmark of a C2C workshop. “With C2C Fellows we ask the students, ‘What do they need to make a difference in their 20s? How can they change the world in their 20s?’” says Eban Goodstein, director of Bard CEP and the Bard MBA in Sustainability Program. “They tell us, ‘We have a vision; we need to know how to network; and we need to know how to raise money and ask for things.’ What we do on the C2C weekend is really give them those opportunities and start to build that skill set.”

New School student Amy Canavan made the trip from New York City for her second C2C workshop, serving as a public speaking mentor for new Fellows. Canavan is in her fourth year of a five-year, dual-degree B.A./B.F.A. program in environmental studies and fashion design. She attended a workshop last October at Bentley University in Waltham, Massachusetts. “It’s really easy to get bogged down by the issues. This weekend is all about solutions, and that’s my favorite part of the program. I came back from the program last year so inspired and renewed.” At Bentley, as with every C2C workshop, industry professionals spoke on a panel. “It was inspiring to hear people in real jobs, making real money, in real time doing things that are going to change and benefit the planet.” She’s remained in touch with people she met at the Bentley event and she’s now writing her thesis on a project she presented to that group.

Bard College first-year Carl Amritt

Fellows practice in several areas over the course of the weekend. They hone their elevator pitches, discuss effective fundraising, and meet leaders in their fields. The weekend begins and ends with the Ideas Marketplace. On Friday night, everyone has one intense minute to propose a project to the group. Participants then vote on the best proposals, and a few winners each give a five-minute presentation as part of Sunday’s closing events. Proposals on Friday night ranged from building a compost bioreactor at Bard to teaching environmental literacy to elementary and middle school students. In the end, among the six chosen for final presentations were BHSEC Manhattan’s Ginger Simms and three Bard students: Logan Hollarsmith ‘14, Mildred Kissai ‘15, and Dana Miranda ‘14.

Bard first-year Carl Amritt made a pitch for green bonds, a financial instrument similar to war bonds that the Department of Treasury and Energy would issue to promote green capital. Like the other participants, he spent a lot of time over the weekend addressing an audience. Amritt appreciated the emphasis on storytelling and networking. “One of the most important things that I took away from the workshop was the phrase that “your net worth is your network”. What Dr. Goodstein had meant by this was that our value as professionals out in the world is dependent on the network of individuals that you know. It is through this network that you make those connections to fuel your career. It was this very network that I entered by attending this weekend conference and becoming a C2C Fellow.”

Sixty-one young environmentalists, budding entrepreneurs, and aspiring policymakers gathered at Bard for the annual C2C Fellows workshop on Valentine's Day weekend. C2C stands for Campus to Congress, to Corporation, to City Hall, and to Capitol Hill, emphasizing the importance of sustainable leadership in all of these areas. A program of Bard’s Center for Environmental Policy, C2C trains and connects undergraduates and recent graduates aspiring to leadership positions in sustainable politics and business.

James Romm discusses his book about the relationship between the young, unbalanced Roman emperor Nero and his cunning tutor and political adviser, the philosopher Seneca.

Daniel Mendelsohn, celebrated author, critic, and Charles Ranlett Flint Professor of Humanities at Bard College since 2006, is one of 20 writers to receive a 2014 American Academy of Arts and Letters award in literature. Mendelsohn has won the Harold D. Vursell Memorial Award of $20,000, given to a writer whose work merits recognition for the quality of its prose style.

As Bard senior J. p. Lawrence prepares to graduate in May, he will not be entering the work force for the first time—far from it. The anthropology and writing joint major, Bard Free Press editor-in-chief, and cross-country runner has been a member of the U.S. Army National Guard since 2008. His specialty in the military is photojournalism, and he has served in Kuwait, Qatar, Germany, and Australia, earning several military journalism awards for his work, as well as an Army Commendation Medal. Lawrence was on the ground reporting for the U.S. Army during the drawdown of U.S. troops in Iraq in 2009, and in New York City after Hurricane Sandy in 2012. He has been recognized for his work at Bard, as well, winning the Hannah Arendt Center Award for Excellence in Political Thinking as a sophomore.

Lawrence wants to continue in journalism or broadcasting after graduation, and he’s taken every opportunity to gain experience in the field. On deployment, the Minneapolis native was on a military team that worked with Twin Cities Public Television to produce a documentary about Minnesota soldiers called Iraq and Back. The film, in which Lawrence is a named contributor, was part of a series that won the most prestigious Regional Emmy® Award for its area in 2013, the Upper Midwest Board of Governors Award.

Last summer, Lawrence interned with ABC news, in which he worked the overnight shift for the early morning news programs World News Now and America This Morning. “Their tag line is, ‘World News Now—informing insomniacs for more than two decades’!” Lawrence says. “I was able to pitch stories, and find footage and see my work on air.” One of the pieces Lawrence pitched was a segment called “Yoga Babies,” about mothers who do yoga with their infants. “It was great! I got to write, I got to help on the anchor track. I got to help with editing. It all came together.”

At Bard’s student newspaper, the Free Press, Lawrence and Kurt Schmidlein ’13 organized a series of pieces written by students studying in Bard’s global network of institutions. Students visiting from Smolny College in St. Petersburg wrote articles about working toward free elections in the country, and about the openness of political discussions among American students. “It's really cool that Bard has all these people under its umbrella. We were able to go talk to students basically like us, but who come from a different context. It's one of the reasons why I really like journalism; it's getting to know people from different places and seeing how your ideas can change for the better by encountering new perspectives.”

Lawrence was accepted to Bard and deferred for two years so he could join the National Guard. He continues to spend one weekend a month and two weeks during the summer on duty. “It’s really interesting because I leave Bard every weekend to hang out with people from a very different socioeconomic context. … I hang out with officers who are lawyers, who work in the district attorney's office, and I hang out with people who are mechanics, plumbers and things like that.” His service offers a fresh perspective on his time at Bard, and has given him a wide range of experience working with different kinds of people all over the world.

For his senior project, Lawrence is following the staff at several of the area’s college newspapers to see how each team works. “My idea is that the different context of each college produces a different lens and affects the way news is processed.” His project will combine anthropology and writing. “I want to be able to write something that really pushes the boundaries of what I can do,” he says.

Lawrence reenlisted with the National Guard this winter and is now a sergeant. He is exploring graduate schools and has made it to the second round of screening for the Fulbright Program. With a Bard education under his belt and a resume of outstanding experiences and awards, he’s ready for the next chapter.

Visit Lawrence’s website to read some of his work and view his photography.

As Bard senior J. p. Lawrence prepares to graduate in May, he will not be entering the work force for the first time—far from it. The anthropology and writing joint major, Bard Free Press editor-in-chief, and cross-country runner has been a member of the U.S. Army National Guard since 2008.

The Bard Debate Union hosted the 3rd Annual Middle and High School Debate Tournament at Bard College on Friday, February 28. The tournament welcomed 80 middle and high school students from Red Hook, Rhinebeck, Kingston and the Bard High School Early Colleges in Manhattan, Newark, and Queens.

Bard students work with members of the Red Hook High School Debate Team.

The day began with Bard students offering a demonstration debate on the topic of violent protest. This was followed by three rounds of middle and high school student debate on the topics of weapons of mass destruction, smart phones, and government secrecy.

President Leon Botstein addresses the tournament attendees.

The event was an excellent educational opportunity for the middle and high school students, some of whom were participating in their third debate at Bard, as well as for Bard Debate Union members who had the chance to serve as mentors and judges for younger debaters.

Bard High School Early College faculty member Steven Mazie writes on the Hall v. Florida case being heard by the supreme court, which is considering the state's legal definition of mental disability in capital punishment sentencing.

The Bard Debate Union hosted the 3rd Annual Middle and High School Debate Tournament at Bard College on Friday, February 28. The tournament welcomed 80 middle and high school students from Red Hook, Rhinebeck, Kingston and the Bard High School Early Colleges in Manhattan, Newark, and Queens.