Bard attracts many well-recognized and world-famous academics. Writers like Chinua Achebe and John Ashbery are just a couple of the established artists teaching at the college today. Bard’s Writer-in-Residence program ensures that there is never a shortage of preeminent authors frequenting campus, giving lectures, and taking time to meet with students.
While the college continues to uphold a strong involvement in the arts, emphasis has been placed on the sciences. In 2000, Bard College and the Rockefeller University in New York City established a collaborative program in the sciences. As result, courses have been developed for the students of each institution, including opportunities in biochemistry and molecular biology. Rockefeller will reserve places for Bard students in its Summer Undergraduate Research Fellows program.
In 2007, Bard opened the state-of-the-art Gabrielle H. Reem and Herbert J. Kayden Center for Science and Computation. Among its open labs and “smart classrooms,” the facility contains many specialized research areas, including a zebrafish facility, and a robotics lab.
At Bard, students can take one-on-one tutorials with their professors. This means that students interested in a particular subject—say, anything from impressionist painting to contemporary rap music—can meet with a professor weekly, develop a personal itinerary for course work, and pursue their interests at their own pace.
Every semester around finals, students are invited to partake in Bard’s Midnight Breakfast—a convivial convergence upon Kline Commons during which everyone can unwind, eat late-night pancakes, and embarrass themselves by singing karaoke in front of the entire school.
The Free Press, Bard’s very own bi-monthly newspaper, received Spin magazine’s “Best College Publication” award.