2017 News Archive

The Women and Leadership Summit, held at Bard College at Simon's Rock, connected students from Bard College, Bard Microcollege Holyoke, and Simon's Rock with ground-breaking women leaders throughout western Massachusetts.

Bard College President Leon Botstein offers his opinion on free speech on college campuses in a piece for The Chronicle of Higher Education.

The Dance Department at Bard College at Simon's Rock presented its first ever Fall Dance Festival December 8-10 in the Daniel Arts Center, showcasing dance pieces created and performed by students and faculty.

Bard College at Simon's Rock alumnus Eli Pariser, co-founder of Upworthy, was a guest author in the Internet and Society class at Bard High School Early College Queens.

Vijay Prashad delivered a keynote address on "The World of Du Bois and Our World: Fascism and the Possibility of Humanity" November 13 during the Symposium on Social Justice and Inclusion week at Bard College at Simon's Rock.

Bard College at Simon's Rock theater professor Aimée Michel directs students in the fall 2017 production of William Shakespeare's "Henry V" Nov. 9-11.

Bard College at Simon's Rock Provost Ian Bickford gave a talk, titled "Why Wait? Early College: National and Local, at The City Club of Cleveland November 1, 2017.

Bard College at Simon's Rock chemistry professor David Myers participated in the Will Ride 4 Food fundraiser for The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts on September 24, 2017.

David Collopy, director of the Kilpatrick Athletic Center at Bard College at Simon's Rock, was a guest of "Let's Talk" with Jesse Stewart of Great Barrington-based radio station WSBS.

Bard College at Simon's Rock professor Brendan Mathews has become a "writer to watch" with his critically acclaimed debut novel, "The World of Tomorrow."

David Felix Sutcliffe, a Bard College at Simon's Rock alumnus, and his co-director Lyric R. Cabral, won an Emmy for their documentary (T)ERROR.

The Bard College at Simon’s Rock community volunteered time in and around Great Barrington for the sixth annual Rock the Community: A Day of Service to Honor Emily Fisher.

On Sunday, September 24, at 3 p.m., the Walden Chamber Players return to the South Berkshire Concert Series at Bard College at Simon's Rock. They will perform an eclectic program of music by Schubert, Lerdahl, Milhaud, and Beethoven in a combination of string trio and double bass in McConnell Theater of the Daniel Arts Center.

Adrian Romoff, a 12-year-old piano virtuoso and sophomore at Bard College at Simon's Rock, made his debut at Lincoln Center Saturday, September 16.

Bard College at Simon's Rock alumnae Molly McCully Brown talks about her book of poems on NPR.

Johanna Schwartz '10 is a chemist working on ways to improve the field of 3D printing.

Learn more about Eldred Lee '12, who is taking an innovative approach to health care needs as an engineer.

On Saturday, August 26, at 7:00 p.m. the Simon's Rock Council for Equity and Inclusion and CeCe Sloan present SEVEN, A Documentary Play in the Daniel Arts Center at Bard College at Simon's Rock.

Author and alumna Veronica Chambers returns to Bard College at Simon's Rock on Sunday, August 20, at 7:00 p.m to discuss this year's Book One selection which all in-coming students were asked to read during the summer, The Meaning of Michelle, 16 Writers on the Iconic First Lady and How Her Journey Inspires Our Own, edited by Chambers.

Jessie Parrott '16 has been awarded a Torrey Botanical Society Undergraduate and Graduate Student Training Fellowship to study at the Eagle Hill Institute in Maine with two experienced scientists.

Poet, writer, and feminist icon Eileen Myles will read from selected works during a talk at Bard College at Simon's Rock on Friday, June 9, 7:00 p.m. in the Kellogg Music Center. This event is free and open to the public.

Every college has popular communal gathering spots--be it a dining hall, student union, or quad. Simon's Rock goes one better. In late winter and early spring, the greenhouse attached to the Fisher science building acts as a magnet for a cross-section of students, faculty, and staff.

Bard College at Simon's Rock and Shaker Museum | Mount Lebanon will host "The Feminine Mystic: American Prophetesses and the Politics of Religious Experience," Friday, June 9 to Sunday, June 11, 2017.

Lauren Duca, award-winning writer and Teen Vogue contributing editor, will address graduates at the 48th commencement ceremony of Bard College at Simon's Rock: The Early College on Saturday, May 20, at 11:00 a.m.

On a recent weekend, the Fisher Science and Academic Center was home to the first-ever hackathon hosted by the school's computer science club.

Educational, cultural, and civic organizations from across the region met at the Early College Conference and Summit at Bard College at Simon's Rock on April 21 and 22, 2017. The theme of the two-day forum "The Architecture of Partnership: Connection, Collaboration, Conviviality," is designed to foster inter-organizational conversations and alliances centered around educational innovation.

The Theater Program at Bard College at Simon's Rock presents John Cariani's Almost, Maine on April 21, 22, 28, and 29 in the Daniel Arts Center's McConnell Theater. Performances are free and open to the public.

Cornell William Brooks, President and CEO of the NAACP, will deliver the 21st annual W.E.B. Du Bois Lecture at Bard College at Simon's Rock on Wednesday, April 26, at 7:00 p.m. in the Daniel Arts Center.

Asma Abbas, Associate Professor of Politics and Philosophy and Emily H. Fisher Faculty Fellow, was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to serve as Distinguished Chair in Social Studies at Masaryk University in the Czech Republic, spring 2018.

If William Shakespeare were alive today, college senior Regan Humphrey would likely be his protégé. As it is, Humphrey seems to have channeled the famous playwright in her first romantic comedy titled "What A Heart Loves." The show will open in style — Shakespearean, as it were — in April at the newly renovated Saint James Place in Great Barrington, Mass. Complete with iambic pentameter, Humphrey balances wit and wisdom with grace in the five-act play, which promises all the mischief, mayhem, and matchmaking befitting the Bard himself.

The Center for Food Studies at Bard College at Simon's Rock will hold its fourth annual ThinkFOOD Conference on Saturday, April 8, 2017 from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. in the Kellogg Music Center. Seating is limited. Registration is required: ThinkFOOD conference.

Photographer and alumnus Jan Staller (class of 1971) returns to Bard College at Simon's Rock to talk about his photography career on Wednesday, April 5 at 7:00 p.m. as part of the Uncommon Journeys special speaker series celebrating the unique paths and extraordinary successes of Simon's Rock alumni.

The South Berkshire Concert Series will present the adventurous violist Stephanie Griffin and the veteran new music pianist Cheryl Seltzer on Sunday, April 2, at 3:00 p.m. in Kellogg Music Center at Bard College at Simon's Rock. Griffin and Seltzer will perform an exciting and challenging program of works for viola and piano, including "Sonata para Viola y Piano (2015)" written especially for these performers by the distinguished Puerto Rican composer Roberto Sierra, the "Arpeggione" Sonata by Schubert, and works by Wolpe, Mamlok, Babbitt, and Ms Griffin herself.

Linguist and alumnus John McWhorter returns to Bard College at Simon's on Friday, March 31, 2017 at 7:00 p.m. in the Daniel Arts Center for a freestyle conversation with professor Brendan Mathews about McWhorter's life, career, and longstanding association with Simon's Rock.

Author, poet, and alumna Molly McCully Brown returns to Simon's Rock on Monday, March 27 at 4:00 p.m. in Blodgett House to read from her new book The Virginia State Colony For Epileptics and Feebleminded (Persea Books, 2017).

Ckahlysia "Clyde" Walker, a sophomore at Simon's Rock, is not your typical college student. Last fall, Clyde was accepted to highly selective Marine Corp Delayed Entry Program (DEP) and will be heading out to boot camp after commencement in May.

Dr. Maryann Tebben returns to gastronomic pursuits in her most recent publication "Semiotics of Sauce: National Identity and Naming of Pasta Sauces" in Representing Italy Through Food (Bloomsbury Academic, 2017).

Bard College at Simon's Rock students organized a concert and raffle to benefit the Clinton A.M.E. Zion Church restoration project. The event on Saturday, February 25 raised $1,300.

Nancy Yanoshak, dearly loved Simon's Rock colleague, teacher, and friend, passed away on February 25. She died peacefully at home with her spouse, Sandie Smith, beside her.

Bard College at Simon's Rock Provost Ian Bickford will present on March 7 at the seventh annual SXSWedu Conference and Festival in Austin, Texas.

The Orchestra Now (TŌN) returns to Simon's Rock on Friday, March 3, 2017 at 7:30 p.m. in the Daniel Arts Center with guest conductor Zachary Schwartzman leading TŌN in an overture, a symphony, and "four meditations for orchestra." This event is free. Seating is general admission but limited.

Diverse styles from acclaimed ceramic artists from around the country are on display in Narrowing the Variables: Seven Approaches to the Vessel, a new exhibition at Bard College at Simon's Rock from January 23 to March 10 in the Daniel Arts Center.

I am writing to reaffirm our commitment at Simon's Rock to the principles of equity and inclusion, extending to immigrant and international students, faculty, and staff. As President Botstein wrote over the weekend in response to the Executive Order of January 27, which limited entry to the United States for noncitizens from seven countries and barred entry for refugees, "We cannot...permit our country to return to the America First isolationism of the 1930s and redefine itself as a place of xenophobia, intolerance, and discrimination."

Simon's Rock will kickoff its Black History Month celebration with the Second Annual Gospel Concert on Saturday, February 4, 2017 at 7 p.m. in the Daniel Arts Center. The concert will feature a range of traditional and contemporary gospel music by returning choirs from the Macedonia Baptist Church of Albany, NY--Praise Ensemble, Ivey Squared, and Mount Pleasant Liturgical Dancers--and the Shiloh Youth Choir of Hudson, NY.

The Simon's Rock Faculty Recital Series will offer a performance of chamber music by three of its music faculty members: Ronald Gorevic, violin, Anne Legêne, cello, and Larry Wallach, piano,