Bardian SPRING 2011

Bardian
bard college spring 2011

dear bardians,
Greetings! It has been a great honor and a tremendous pleasure to serve as president of the Bard–St.
Stephen’s Alumni/ae Association Board of Governors for the last four years. Bard alumni/ae are
fascinating people doing interesting things, and it has been wonderful to get to know so many of you.
Being a Bardian is a lifetime commitment and I look forward to the next chapter.
I am excited to announce that Michelle Dunn Marsh ’95 will be installed as our new president at
the May meeting, held during Commencement Weekend. Michelle, who splits her time between Seattle
and New York City, will be our first president from the West Coast. She is an award-winning book
designer and editor who has developed photo-based books for such institutions as Aperture Foundation
and the Museum of Glass, and has lectured nationally on photography, book design, and publishing. I
know you will enjoy getting to know her.
This year’s Commencement and Alumni/ae Weekend is an especially proud one for those of us on
Walter Swett ’96
©Don Hamerman
the Bard–St. Stephen’s Alumni/ae Association Board of Governors: we are honoring two of our own. Dick Koch ’40 will
receive the Bard Medal for outstanding—and longstanding—service to the College, and Pia Carusone ’03, chief of staff to
Representative Gabrielle Giffords, will receive the John Dewey Award for Distinguished Public Service. Pia led her colleagues
in reopening the Arizona congresswoman’s offices on the first business day after the tragic shooting in Tucson.
In November 1981 Adam Yauch ’86 wrote in his admissions essay to Bard, “My major interest still lies in music, and I
am including a tape of my band. All of the music is original, written and performed by the Beastie Boys.” Ten years later,
“Check Your Head” by the Beastie Boys wafted nonstop through the windows of main campus during my freshman year.
This May, at the President’s Awards Ceremony, Bard will present Adam with the Charles Flint Kellogg Award in Arts and
Letters for his “significant contributions to the American artistic or literary heritage.”
In celebration of music that defined another era, two Bardians will be awarded alumni/ae honorary doctor of fine arts
degrees during this year’s Commencement ceremony. Songwriters Richard and Robert Sherman graduated from Bard in 1949
and went on to work for Walt Disney. Their songs, from “It’s a Small World (After All)” to “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious”
to “Feed the Birds,” have left an indelible mark on our cultural consciousness.
It’s going to be a great weekend and you don’t want to miss it. I hope to see you there!
Chim Chim Cher-ee,
Walter Swett ’96
President, Board of Governors, Bard–St. Stephen’s Alumni/ae Association
board of governors of the bard–st. stephen’s alumni/ae association
Walter Swett ’96, President
Roger Scotland ’93, Vice President
Maggie Hopp ’67, Secretary
Olivier te Boekhorst ’93, Treasurer
Jonathan Ames ’05
Robert Amsterdam ’53
Claire Angelozzi ’74
David Avallone ’87, Oral History Committee Chairperson
Dr. Penny Axelrod ’63
Belinha Rowley Beatty ’69
Eva Thal Belefant ’49
Joshua Bell ’98, Communications and New Technologies
Committee Chairperson
Dr. Miriam Roskin Berger ’56
Jack Blum ’62
Carla Bolte ’71
Randy Buckingham ’73, Events Committee Cochairperson
Cathaline Cantalupo ’67
Pia Carusone ’03
Charles Clancy ’69, Stewardship Committee Cochairperson
Peter Criswell ’89
Arnold Davis ’44, Nominations and Awards Committee
Cochairperson
Elizabeth Dempsey BHSEC ’03, ’05, Young Alumni/ae
Committee Chairperson
Kirsten Dunlaevy ’06
Kit Kauders Ellenbogen ’52
Joan Elliott ’67
Barbara Grossman Flanagan ’60
Diana Hirsch Friedman ’68
R. Michael Glass ’75
Eric Warren Goldman ’98, Alumni/ae House Committee
Cochairperson
Rebecca Granato ’99
Dr. Ann Ho ’62, Career Connections Committee Chairperson
Charles Hollander ’65
Dr. John C. Honey ’39
Elaine Marcotte Hyams ’69
Richard Koch ’40
Erin Law ’93, Fund-raising Committee Chairperson
Cynthia Hirsch Levy ’65
Isaac Liberman ’04
Michelle Dunn Marsh ’95
Peter F. McCabe ’70, Nominations and Awards Committee
Cochairperson
Steven Miller ’70, Stewardship Committee Cochairperson
Anne Morris-Stockton ’68
Karen Olah ’65, Alumni/ae House Committee Cochairperson
Susan Playfair ’62
Arthur “Scott” Porter Jr. ’79, Alumni/ae House Committee
Cochairperson
Allison Radzin ’88
Emilie Richardson ’05
Reva Minkin Sanders ’56
Joan Schaffer ’75
Barry Silkowitz ’71
George A. Smith ’82, Events Committee Cochairperson
Dr. Ingrid Spatt ’69
Paul Thompson ’93
Dr. Toni-Michelle Travis ’69
Brandon Weber ’97
Barbara Crane Wigren ’68
Dr. Dumaine Williams ’03, Diversity Committee Chairperson
Ron Wilson ’75
Matt Wing ’06

Manning the Rail, USS Tortuga,
Java Sea, 2010, An-My Lê
Bardian SPRING 2011
features
departments
2 Biodiversity’s Impact on Infectious Diseases | Felicia Keesing
6 Antisemitism and Education | Kenneth Stern ’75
8 Portfolio: An-My Lê | Introduction, Stephen Shore
28 On and Off Campus
29 Books by Bardians
35 Class Notes
14 Distinguished Artist in Residence | Bill T. Jones
cover A view of Columbus
Circle from Jazz at Lincoln
Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall,
New York City, during the
150th Jubilee (see page 18).
Photo: Cory Weaver
16 Playwright | Thomas Bradshaw ’02
18 150th Jubilee
20 What Is a Bardian? | David E. Schwab II ’52
22 The Campaigns of Alexander | James Romm

felicia keesing
biodiversity’s impact
on infectious diseases
Associate Professor of Biology Felicia Keesing was lead author on an important article in Nature, “Impacts
of biodiversity on the emergence and transmission of infectious diseases” (December 2, 2010), the salient
points of which she reproduces here. The article garnered national and international attention, including
notice in the New York Times under the headline, “As Biodiversity Declines, Disease Flourishes.” Keesing has
received grants from the National Geographic Society, National Science Foundation, and National Institutes
of Health. Her awards include the Patricia Roberts Harris Fellowship, Anna M. Jackson Award, and prestigious
Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, which represents the priority the U.S.
government places on nurturing the professional development of outstanding scientists and engineers.
In March, a team on which she is an investigator received a $300,000 grant from the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency to assess environmental risk for Lyme disease in Dutchess County, New York.
The Hall of Biodiversity in the
American Museum of Natural
History
©George Steinmetz/Corbis
Public health initiatives increasingly emphasize the importance of preventing the transmission of infectious
diseases, rather than just treating infections after they occur. A number of ambitious public
health efforts—including vaccination campaigns, the eradication of pathogens like polio, and focused
care for genetically susceptible individuals—are all examples of this new preemptive medicine. But
the full development of preemptive medicine must incorporate another type of strategy as well. Recent
research has demonstrated that biological diversity (biodiversity) in ecological communities—whether
in agricultural fields, coral reefs, barns, or the insides of human bodies—can affect the transmission
of infectious diseases. In a recent paper in Nature, my colleagues and I described how understanding
the ecology of infectious diseases in nature can help predict, prevent, and mitigate the spread of infections
in humans, wildlife, domesticated animals, and plants.
Biodiversity encompasses the diversity of genes, species, and ecosystems. Increases in human
populations have resulted in an unprecedented and precipitous loss of biodiversitythroughout the world.
Current extinction rates are estimated to be at least 100 to 1,000 times background extinction rates and
extinction rates over the next 50 years are estimated to be 10 to 100 times present extinction rates. Every
major group of organisms faces extinction threats: 12 percent of bird species, 23 percent of mammals,
32 percent of amphibians, and 33 percent of corals. Furthermore, the global abundances of birds, mammals,
amphibians, reptiles, and fish have declined by almost 30 percent since 1970. Collectively, these
declines and extinctions are caused by changing the earth’s ecosystems to meet the growing demands of
human populations for food, fresh water, fiber, timber, and fuel; and by climate change.
How might the decline of biodiversity affect infectious disease? Infectious diseases by definition
involve interactions between at least two species—the pathogen and its host. For example, humans
with influenza have been infected with a virus transmitted to them by another human. Often many
more species are involved, including other species of hosts. Tuberculosis, for example, is caused by
the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which can be transmitted back and forth between humans,
cattle, and other animal host species. Some diseases also have vectors—meaning they transmit the
biodiversity 3

pathogen from one host to another—such as ticks, mosquitoes, or fleas. Malaria in humans is caused
by infection with a Plasmodium parasite that is transmitted to humans through the bite of an Anopheles
mosquito. Of course, all of the species that are directly involved in disease transmission also interact
with other species, such as predators and competitors, interaction that could then indirectly affect
disease transmission. As a consequence, changes in biodiversity have the potential to affect risk of
infectious disease exposure in plants and animals—including humans.
Declines in biodiversity should, in principle, be equally likely to cause increases or decreases in
disease transmission in the remaining species. For example, if the host species for a disease disappeared
as biodiversity was lost, the transmission of that disease would be likely to decline. However, in recent
years, a consistent picture has emerged: biodiversity loss tends to increase pathogen transmission and
disease incidence. This pattern occurs across ecological systems that vary in type of pathogen, host,
ecosystem, and transmission mode. As an example, West Nile virus is a mosquito-transmitted virus
for which several species of birds act as hosts. Three recent studies have found low bird diversity is
strongly correlated with an increased human risk or incidence of West Nile encephalitis in the United
States. Communities with low bird diversity tend to be dominated by bird species that amplify the
virus, leading to high infection prevalence in mosquitoes and people, while communities with high
avian diversity contain many species that are poor hosts for the virus and do not amplify it. Another
example is hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, a potentially fatal disease in humans that was discovered
in the 1990s. The virus replicates in the bodies of rodents such as deer mice and is deposited into the
environment when mice defecate and urinate. Humans can get sick if they accidentally inhale airborne
virus particles. Studies have shown that a lower diversity of small mammals increases the prevalence
of hantaviruses in their hosts, thereby increasing risk to humans. Diversity has a similar effect for
plant diseases. In one case, the loss of species increased transmission of two fungal pathogens that
infect perennial rye grass and other plant species.
But why do declines in diversity tend to increase disease transmission? The short answer is that
the species that remain when diversity declines tend to be good hosts for diseases. This is best illustrated
with an example from my own research on Lyme disease. Lyme disease is caused by infection with a
bacterium called Borrelia burgdorferi. This bacterium is passed back and forth between animal hosts
through the bite of particular kinds of ticks, which are called the vectors of this disease. The ticks feed
happily on lots of different kinds of animals; they have been recorded on dozens of species of mammals,
birds, and reptiles. But some species are better hosts for the ticks, and for the bacteria, than others. In
the eastern United States, for example, ticks that feed on white-footed mice survive better—and are
much more likely to pick up the bacterial infection—than are ticks that feed on any other kind of animal.
In contrast, ticks that feed on opossums are likely to be groomed off and killed by the opossum;
and those that avoid being groomed off and survive to feed have almost no chance of picking up the
bacterial infection.
Felicia Keesing
©Don Hamerman
changes in biodiversity have the potential to affect risk of infectious
disease exposure in plants and animals—including humans.
Why is this relevant to biodiversity? White-footed mice can live almost anywhere; they survive in
forests even when all other species are gone. They thrive in degraded and fragmented habitats. But
opossums are more sensitive to habitat degradation and fragmentation and disappear as diversity
declines. So forests with low diversity have lots of mice, a condition that increases Lyme disease risk,
and few (if any) opossums, which decreases Lyme disease risk. As a result, Lyme disease risk is very high
in patches of forest with low diversity.
4 felicia keesing

A female Anopheles gambiae mosquito
seen at 125x magnification. The
Anopheles gambiae is predominant in
Africa and is a disease vector for the
Plasmodium protozoa that cause
malaria.
©David Scharf/Getty Images
When we first made these discoveries about Lyme disease, we thought it was a coincidence that
the host that remained when diversity declined was also the best host for the pathogen and the vector.
But in the past few years, we have seen study after study that shows the same pattern for a number of
other disease systems. We suspect that some underlying biological reason explains why species that
thrive in low-diversity habitats are good hosts for pathogens and vectors, but we do not yet know what
it is. One hypothesis posits that pathogens evolve to be transmitted most efficiently by the host species
they encounter most frequently; abundant species also tend to be ecologically resilient so that they
persist when diversity is lost. That would explain the pattern we so frequently see between diversity
declines and increased disease transmission. Another hypothesis suggests that species that are
“weedy”—short-lived and fast reproducing—tend to invest less energy in defending their bodies from
certain kinds of attacks by pathogens. In other words, they may invest less in certain aspects of their
immune defenses. A number of species have been shown to conform to this pattern. Pathogens may
be able to adapt to these species by circumventing the immune defenses they do have, and these hosts
then become good at transmitting the pathogen. Weedy species also tend to thrive in low-diversity
habitats, so again, this would also explain the widespread correlation between reduced diversity and
increased disease transmission. A final possibility is that both of these hypotheses could be correct:
both pathways work together to reinforce the pattern we see.
Whatever the underlying reason, the connection between diversity and disease is sufficiently clear
and widespread that it lends extra importance to efforts to preserve biological diversity around the
world. We know how to conserve diversity in theory—we need to keep natural areas as large as possible
because larger areas of habitat have higher diversity. We also need to reinforce efforts to preserve diversity
in the face of real-world challenges, such as economic development that appears to be at odds
with preservation of natural habitats. The protection of human health is a powerful incentive for us
to seek and adopt the appropriate strategies.
biodiversity 5

kenneth stern ’75
antisemitism and education
Kenneth Stern ’75, an attorney and award-winning author, is the
American Jewish Committee’s director on antisemitism. He is also the
lead author of a definition of antisemitism used by the U.S. Department
of State, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, and various courts and
political leaders around the globe. Stern was instrumental in developing
a new academic discipline, hate studies, to analyze the evolution of
hate and ways to counter its spread. Stern, who majored in government
and political science, received the John Dewey Award for Distinguished
Public Service from Bard in 2001.
Jews make up approximately 10 percent of college faculties, and about
30 percent in elite colleges, and as some have noted, this is in many
ways a golden age for Jews on the American campus. Yet swastikas
sprouted up at Evergreen State College, a progressive campus in
Olympia, Washington, last spring, and Jewish students there became
afraid to speak out. While this is an unusual “worst-case scenario,” it
reflects a real problem. When students are afraid to speak because the
climate endorses some ideas as inherently truthful, and counterarguments
too evil to be allowed, the purpose of education is subverted.
What is behind the incident at Evergreen? And what should educators
do when confronted with similar events? An overview of antisemitism
might be helpful for college-bound students and their
families, as well as those interested in the intersection of the principles
of free speech, academic freedom, mutual respect, critical thinking,
and combating bigotry. Most students today do not understand the
history of antisemitism in the academic world. It was part of life in
my parents’ generation. Quotas, sometimes candidly acknowledged,
limited the number of Jews admitted to elite colleges. When Judge
Learned Hand asked A. Lawrence Lowell, president of Harvard in the
1920s, why the limitation on Jews, he said simply, “Jews cheat.” Hand
observed that Protestants cheat too. Lowell replied, “You’re changing
the subject; we’re talking about Jews.”
Contrast that 1920s conversation with the academic world today.
Harvard, Dartmouth, Penn, Barnard, Tufts, Princeton, Bard, and too
many other elite colleges to catalogue have, or have had, Jewish presidents.
The idea that Jews would be seen as outside the mainstream
of campus life seems ridiculous. Why, then, was I fielding calls several
years ago from a few Jewish parents, asking if it was “safe” for their
son or daughter to attend Columbia University with the same trepidation
as if they were sending their child to Gaza?
This disconnect between reality and perception has much to do
with two things: 1) the Israeli-Arab and Israeli-Palestinian conflicts,
and how antisemitism is and is not related to those issues, and 2) the
failure of many on both sides to understand the importance of academic
freedom and critical thinking on campuses.
In 2001 the United Nations held its World Conference against
Racism in Durban, South Africa. The antisemitism was so thick that
the United States withdrew its delegation. Jews were called Christ
killers. Some said Hitler should have won so “there would be no Israel.”
Many said that Zionism (the notion that Jews, like other peoples, have
a right to self-determination in their historic homeland) is akin to
Nazism. Anti-Israel groups there decided to use the tactics that helped
dismantle Apartheid South Africa (boycotts, divestment, and sanctions,
or BDS) against Israel—and to start the push on college campuses.
In 2002 divestment petitions began circulating at some
American campuses, but so did antidivestment petitions, endorsed by
far greater numbers. No college divested (nor has any to date), and
many college presidents spoke out against the divestment calls.
Some well-publicized incidents took place, such as a cinder block
thrown through a window at a University of California–Berkeley
building that housed Hillel (a national Jewish college organization)
and graffiti elsewhere on the campus that said “F**k the Jews.” A near
riot occurred at San Francisco State University, where Jews at a propeace
rally were threatened. Posters there showed a dead baby with
the caption: “Canned Palestinian children meat, slaughtered according
to Jewish rites under American license.”
A group of more than 300 American college and university presidents
issued a statement. Their concern was the threat to the central
mission of a college education: exposing students to new ideas, including
ideas with which they may vehemently disagree. The goal is to
teach students how to wrestle with those ideas in a safe environment.
But violence and threats of violence create a chill. Those with a different
point of view (in this case, pro-Israel) felt harassed, intimidated,
and silenced. The presidents’ statement decried these actions as damaging
to academic integrity and pledged to maintain an “intimidationfree
campus.” Five years later, more than 400 presidents signed another
statement after the United Kingdom’s University and College Union
passed a resolution in favor of boycotting Israeli academics.
These BDS efforts are unlikely to harm the Israeli economy or
seriously hurt the Israeli academic community. But BDS may harm
Jews, including Jews on some campuses. If the point is—and it is—to
shoehorn Israel into the South African Apartheid paradigm as a pariah
6 kenneth stern ’75

state, then imagine the reaction to someone in the late 1980s getting
up in a public square and saying anything positive about Apartheid.
Divestment was an issue at Evergreen State. After divestment
motions failed in a few California universities, students at Evergreen
passed a resolution favoring divestment. Evergreen is the alma mater
of Rachel Corrie, the young woman killed by an Israeli bulldozer in
Gaza in 2003. When the resolution was being debated, swastikas
sprouted up around campus. Because pro-Israel voices had, for years,
been shouted down at Evergreen, no one spoke up. When I met with
Jewish student leaders in fall 2010, they refused to meet me on campus,
because they believed it would have been risky to be seen publicly with
someone from a Jewish human rights agency. We met in a synagogue.
I spoke with Evergreen’s president about the need to change this
climate and ensure that students were exposed to different ideas about
the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. I find abhorrent the
notion of “balance” that some outside academia
promote: if teachers teach one side, they must teach
the other. This violates a professor’s academic freedom,
and in any event, students are not scales that
need balance—they need to have their thinking
shaken and learn how to confront difficult ideas,
including (perhaps especially) biased ones. But the
college also has a responsibility to ensure credible
theories in any field are being taught. (The Evergreen
president’s assertion that the Zionist narrative had
been taught a few years earlier by a professor of
puppetry was unpersuasive.) Contrast Evergreen Kenneth Stern ’75
with Stanford University. A BDS resolution was
©Don Hamerman
considered there last spring too, but the leading
Palestinian and Jewish student proponents were both aghast at the
level of vitriol the debate unleashed. The resolution was pulled, the
two students wrote a joint op-ed, and they held meetings so that pro-
Palestinian students could understand why the call for boycotts struck
Jewish students so deeply, given the many instances in history when
Jews, alone, were singled out for different treatment. And Jewish students
gained a better understanding of what it was like to be a
Palestinian in the West Bank or Gaza. These students demonstrated
the essence of critical thinking by inviting, instead of rejecting, challenges
to their most fervently held ideas.
While I strongly disagree with those who try to paint antisemitism
on campus as normative (it is not), I believe that, when antisemitism
does appear, improvement can be made in treating it as
seriously as other forms of bigotry.
The challenge seems to come especially around antisemitism in
the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In a lecture at Brown University, I noted
that if a political policy is attacked as one would oppose an American,
French, or other such plan, that is fine. But when Israel is singled out
in a way no other democracy is, there is a problem. As with any instance
of bigotry, substitute the nationality, sex, sexual orientation, race, or
religion (as befits the example), and if the same rules do not apply,
something is wrong.
The campus has a unique, powerful tool to tackle antisemitism:
critical thinking. What is, and is not, antisemitism? Why? How is it the
same as, or different than, other forms of bigotry? Is it antisemitic to call
for boycotts? How about boycotts of products from the West Bank?
Some, possibly out of concern, hysteria, lack of understanding of the
academic mission, or a combination thereof, are trying to subvert the
process rather than trying to ask and answer these questions academically.
I have heard people suggest that anti-Israel professors should be
fired, even if they have tenure. Such requests are dangerous, even if
directed toward an antisemitic professor. They also change the dynamic:
academics no longer see their role as challenging that professor’s bigotry,
but rather as offering support to their embattled colleague because they
see their own academic freedom at risk.
While I do not like antisemitic speech any
more than racist or sexist speech, it must be allowed.
Jewish groups should not try to censor others, even
antisemitic speakers or groups. Instead they should
underscore the duty of others on campus to use
their free-speech rights in objection, and if done
well, in illumination.
The Hillel director at Columbia University
asked me in 2005 to speak with progressive Jewish
students about antisemitism. An allegation had
surfaced that some pro-Palestinian professors had
mistreated pro-Israel students inside and outside
class (which had occasioned those frantic calls from
parents). The students had heard comments about
“Jewish power” or the “Israel lobby” during debates about the professors,
and were confused about whether this was, or was not, antisemitism.
I asked if Columbia offered a class on antisemitism, where
these events could be discussed. To my surprise, there was not.
Upon investigation, I was stunned to find that only three standalone,
comprehensive courses on antisemitism likely exist in the
world: at Baruch College, the University of Cape Town, and Indiana
University. Of course, antisemitism is treated in Holocaust classes and
Judaic studies, and mentioned in classes on racism and discrimination.
But antisemitism is not deemed worthy of a full-semester course
hardly anywhere. Even in Israel.
More than incidents here or there, the lack of serious interdisciplinary
academic study of antisemitism troubles me. Antisemitism
has much to teach us: How a religious-based hatred added a racebased
hatred. Why antisemitism is present in countries that do not
have Jews. What works to combat it and what does not, and the relevance
of both to other forms of bigotry.
Antisemitism is serious business. Rather than be discounted or
exaggerated for political purposes, it needs to be better understood.
The academic community can lead the way.
antisemitism 7

Line Shack Supervisor for EA-6B Prowler, USS Ronald Reagan, North Arabian Gulf, 2009
8 portfolio

portfolio
an-my lê
In 2005 An-My Lê, professor of photography at Bard, began “Events Ashore,” a series of photographs
made on U.S. naval ships and at U.S. naval facilities. It was an outgrowth of her work from the previous
two years at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center at Twentynine Palms, in the California
desert. Through the Marines, An-My made contacts in the navy, which first invited her to photograph
a carrier strike group practicing off the coast of California. The naval officers were struck by the technical
and aesthetic clarity of her work and repeatedly invited her back. Since then she has visited
amphibious assault battleships, destroyers, and missile cruisers. She has photographed at naval facilities
in Antarctica, the Persian Gulf, Southeast Asia, Africa, the Indian Ocean, the Arctic, and Panama, and
with the naval rescue force in Haiti.
These pictures were made with a view camera mounted on a tripod. At first this must seem a most
cumbersome and inappropriate tool with which to photograph the military. But the choice of this
camera harkens back to the 19th-century tradition of war photography, and at the same time cuts to
the heart of the central aesthetic issue in these images—the avoidance of the illustrative. When 19thcentury
photographers worked with their stand cameras—cameras not unlike the one An-My uses,
with their lack of mobility and long exposures—they could not photograph battles. They had to settle
for photographing the battles’ aftermaths: cannonballs strewn across the Crimea’s “Valley of the
Shadow of Death” or bodies of sharpshooters among the rock outcroppings on the hilly fields of
Gettysburg. Freed by necessity from the desire to illustrate the battle, these photographers discovered
photography’s suggestive potential. Photography is incapable of delineating the order of battle. It can
neither explain strategy nor describe tactics. These photographers were forced to explore what photography
was capable of communicating.
Many photographers, given the remarkable access An-My has been afforded, would produce pictures
that simply pointed at previously unseen sights or people doing things: sailors firing artillery or piloting
a plane or swabbing a deck. These pictures would not be works of art—they would be illustrations.
This is a difficult distinction to describe. I once asked John Swarkowski, the late director of the Museum
of Modern Art’s Photography Department, for a definition of “illustration.” He said, “An illustration
is a picture whose problems were solved before the photograph was made.” An-My says that illustrations
are the expected images, where everything is contained. She, instead, looks between events and
between things. “I am interested in making photographs that are layered with suggestions and meanings,”
she says. “It is about introducing tension within the frame.” She attempts to suggest something
beyond what the picture literally shows—a suggestion of the projection of military power, or of gender
and racial issues, or of the military’s interaction with foreign cultures. But photography can never
touch these issues in an expository way. It can merely hint.
Take the photo of a young, female line shack supervisor. Her eyes communicate focus; the set of her
mouth, competence. Her hands hint at vulnerability. Her helmet seems unwieldy. The out of focus
background gives context. And the soft sunlight that she’s looking toward creates a sense of a delicate
moment. Photography may not be able to explain, but it can allude.
—Stephen Shore, Susan Weber Professor in the Arts at Bard and director of the College’s Photography
Program
an-my lê 9

Supply Distribution Convoy, Haiti, 2010
10 portfolio

Patient Admission, US Naval Hospital Ship Mercy, Vietnam, 2010
an-my lê 11

Forward Lookout, USS Tortuga, Gulf of Thailand, 2010
12 portfolio

US Naval Hospital Ship Mercy, Vietnam, 2009
an-my lê 13

distinguished artist in residence
bill t. jones
Dynamic, inquisitive, explosive choreographer Bill T. Jones and the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company
are about to enter their third year of affiliation with the Dance Program at Bard, the program’s first-ever
partnership that involves deep integration of a choreographer and dance company into the curriculum.
Jennifer Nugent in a performance
of Another Evening: Venice/Arsenale
Photo: Fabrizio Costantini
Jones—winner of a MacArthur Fellowship, Tony Award, and Kennedy Center Honors—reviews and critiques
student dance projects, and participates in panel discussions and other Bard programs. He brings the entire
company to campus beginning May 11 for a three-week residency; the dancers are to rehearse repertoire
for the American Dance Festival in Durham, North Carolina, in July, as well as a new project that will be
showcased in open rehearsals and master classes.
In the spirit of partnership, Jones and company members constructed Another Evening: Venice/
Arsenale at Bard. This site-specific work was performed at the monumental Arsenale’s Teatro alle Tese
as part of the Venice Biennale. The dance recombined movements from earlier work with new inspirations,
including spirited (“My work. Now. My work”), in-your-face (“Get going. Get in the car. Get in the
car. Gogogogogogogo”), and provocative narration (“And then he made me, he forced me, I tried everything,
I pleaded with him STOP please STOP”).
Below are Jones’s musings about the creation and performance of Another Evening.
Venice is almost too beautiful, too painful to look at. Venice seems to be about timelessness, but we
know nothing is really timeless. There is an old American folk song in the piece that Sam Crawford,
our composer, is using: “Red River Valley.” It’s a very sentimental song from the early pioneer days of
America. I learned this song when I was a child. So I told Sam that I want to use that song, but the
song should be almost like a memory of a world that is gone. The song should be almost like when
you look at the Grand Canal at night, and you see one little boat bobbing and disappearing. It’s
ephemeral, it is fragile, it is a memory. So everything in this piece is moving like light and water, for
me, in Venice.
I feel that in this work I am talking to myself at a very deep level. The work was almost made by
intuition, trying to listen to things in my mind and trying to use material, like a chant from the early
1980s that I wrote. A child; my beautiful codirector, Janet Wong; my company—I am trying to think of
them in a new way, a fresh way, and then the piece begins to speak to me. “Get in the car. Get in the car.”
What does that mean? Why did I write that? I live in the suburbs in New York; I live outside of the city.
Every day I must go in to do my work; yes, that’s true. But then “get in the car”: the way that I have
directed it, the way I have seen myself directing it, becomes a much more challenging thing. It’s like a
parent directing a child, it’s like a policeman directing a person, it’s like a man who is unhappy with his
life directing his life. I don’t think all of these things consciously, but I can see them when I witness what
I have made. This is the way in which I refresh myself as a maker. Don’t try to make something mean
something. Listen to the heart and mind. I listen to the choices that I am making. I learn something. I
learn where I am truly situated in my life now.
This finds me at a time where my thinking is changing. I would like to say that dance will always
stay a central language, but I give myself permission to continue with text, music, singing, video. I am
Bill T. Jones
Photo: Christina Lane, courtesy of Jacob's
Pillow Dance Festival
14 distinguished artist in residence

an artist first, before a choreographer. I insist on that for myself. But
dance, it is heroic to me. When I see and I remember the life of a
dancer, I see dancers are very brave. Every day they face pain, doubt,
fear; their bodies are changing in front of my eyes. One day a person
is doing fine; he has an accident; the next day he cannot move. But
everybody in the group must come to the rescue, make profound
changes in the choreography, as a group. This is a picture of how I
think people should always behave. They bond. This feels like a
healthy community. Dance brings people together in that way.
So the question is, what do my dancers give, or what have they
given, to Another Evening? They are endlessly fascinating to me as
beings—men, women, black, white, small, large, open, free, quiet,
reserved. They are humanity. Ah! I have a little bit of humanity right
here and I can get this humanity to do things. But I talk to this
humanity and it is like a computer. It solves problems with me and
for me. When I started Another Evening, I was determined I was going
to make every movement. I didn’t want [the dancers’] participation.
But it doesn’t work that way. They always give an idea, they change a
movement, sometimes by mistake and sometimes purposefully. And
I see their change and I can resist or I can accept. The healthy thing
is to accept. This is always a struggle for me.
The company is now 28 years old. There is nobody in my world
who remembers when the company started. So this passage of time
is very real, this memory that, as time goes on, becomes my memory.
Another Evening tries to make us aware of that passage of time. But I
have to make my peace with the fact that everything is changing and
it changes rapidly. Sometimes it makes me very anxious, sometimes
it makes me sad, and sometimes it’s exhilarating, like a parent with a
child. The child is going to learn as they learn. The parent has to enjoy
that, as opposed to being frightened by it. I am trying to enjoy it, as
change, as rapid change, happens, new personalities, new problems.
I’m trying to enjoy the change.
bill t. jones 15

playwright
thomas bradshaw ’02
Playwright Thomas Bradshaw ’02 may amuse, outrage, and shock you with his studies of human behavior—but
he won’t tell you what to think. He will instead challenge you to examine your response to his
characters, who are often sympathetic, yet capable of repulsive actions.
“Provocative” remains a favorite word among reviewers. The plays are not easy to watch—they’re not
“first-date” material, says Bradshaw—and the performances are for adults only.
Purity, for example, brings its audience into the life of an Ivy League African American English professor
whose pastimes include drinking, cocaine, and pedophilia. Audience members have walked out
during an onstage rape scene. The professor’s comfortable existence is challenged only when a “more
black” professor is hired in his department.
Earlier this year, Bradshaw was in Chicago working on the production of Mary (a Goodman Theatre
commission) that was performed from February through March in the Owen Theatre. Mary takes place
in 1983 in Virginia and centers on Mary, an African American domestic servant whose family has worked
for the same family for hundreds of years, originally as slaves. She is a Bible-quoting homophobe who influences
her husband to react violently to a visit by their employer’s gay son and his lover.
Bradshaw, who is an assistant professor of mass communications at Medgar Evers College in
Brooklyn, majored in theater and sociology at Bard, study that he says “informs my view of society’s
impact on individuals.” He received a Guggenheim Foundation fellowship in 2009 and a Prince Charitable
Trusts Prize in 2010. “While his provocative explorations of race and sexuality like Purity and Southern
Promises receive most of the attention, his gift as a stylist marks him as a real talent,” Jason Zinoman
wrote in the New York Times. “He has proved in play after play that he has a confident vision of the theater
that is his own. The politically incorrect plots jump merrily from one outrage to another, never pausing
to explain motivation or linger on subtext. His dramas ask: What would happen if every dark urge, lingering
resentment and unedited ugly insult that popped into your head came spilling out of your mouth?”
Here Bradshaw talks with the Bardian about what defines his work.
left Thomas Bradshaw
Photo: David Paul-Morris, CUNY Archives
right Matt Huffman, Derrick LeMont
Sanders, Peter McCabe, Erwin E. A.
Thomas, and Hugh Sinclair in
Southern Promises, PS122, 2008
Photo: Ryan Jensen
It is true that I have written about pedophilia, rape, incest, and infanticide, but those subjects in no way
define the breadth of my work. I guess people tend to focus on those issues because they are
considered to be taboo. But are they really taboo, as far as our societal dialogue is concerned? It seems
like every episode of Law and Order is about pedophilia, and To Catch a Predator deals exclusively with
the subject—and that’s on network TV. All of these subjects are explored in film and no one blinks an
eye. When these subjects are presented in the theater, however, people are sometimes outraged.
I think that has a lot to do with the nature of the forms. In theater, you have living, breathing
people in front of you, carrying out the actions onstage. In film, there is always a distance because the
actors aren’t live, performing in front of you. This is why people feel perfectly comfortable stuffing
their faces full of popcorn, texting, talking, and coming and going as they please in the movie theater.
In a play, there’s something ceremonial about the proceedings. We don’t generally talk, eat, text,
or leave the theater once the play has begun. Part of this has to do with respect for the actors, I believe.
16 playwright

We recognize that real people are trying to concentrate and perform
their craft on stage.
Though people do read plays, I’m writing for performance, rather
than simply a good read. You can’t get a true picture of any good play
until it’s staged. My plays can often seem very scary on the page
because people can’t imagine the tone or the effect the words have
when being spoken out loud by real people. In performance, my plays
are often very funny. But unless you’ve seen my work, it’s hard to imagine
the tone when reading. Also, reading the stage direction “She slaps
him in the face” is much different from seeing that performed live.
The idea of justice that’s often presented in the theater is a denial
of reality. Fifty percent of murders that happen in our country remain
unsolved. That means that you have a 50-50 chance of getting away
with killing someone. When people commit crimes, they rarely turn
themselves in. They seem to feel remorse only once they have been
caught. So the remorse often seems to stem from the fear of prison—
and in our country the death penalty—not from an innate sense of
horror at what they have done. People accept the crimes and horror
that shows such as Law and Order present because justice is always
rendered. This provides the viewer with a false sense of comfort about
the world we live in—an idealized, inaccurate version of reality.
I see myself as holding up a mirror to who we are as people, and
not in an idealized way. I also believe in showing both sides of this.
Sometimes people surprise us in the most wonderfully unexpected ways,
and sometimes they surprise us with the depths of their depravity.
In my work, no character is presented to the audience as being
good or bad. In fact, most of my characters have the best of intentions
in all the actions that they carry out, be they good or bad. Psychological
realism often paints a black-and-white picture of the world that is
incomplete and false. In reality, everyone falls into some shade of gray.
Evil often stems from misguided logic or no thought at all. Slave
masters often had the best intentions, but the societal system in which
they worked was faulty, to say the least. Hitler believed that he was
doing what was best for Germany. Obviously, he was wrong. My point
is that in neither of those circumstances did these people sit down
and say, “There are some evil actions that I would like to perform
today.” Audiences can easily distance themselves from characters that
we consider morally reprehensible when they’re demonized on stage.
But when characters are painted as human beings with human qualities
that we can all relate to, then we become disturbed. The implication
is that we, too, have the ability to engage in “evil” behavior, if
put in the right circumstances.
I’m glad theater has the ability to force an audience to think about
who we are as people, to step outside ourselves and question or affirm
our core beliefs. My plays force the audience to confront issues from
a perspective that they have never considered before. I do this by not
attempting to explain the psychology of the characters. I paint a picture
of the world and leave it up to the audience to decide the morality
of what’s gone on in the play. Should art assume that all of our collective
societal beliefs are gospel? Are there ways that our society might
be misguided? If we were able to justify slavery and deny women equal
rights for hundreds of years, are there possibly things that we as a society
are misguided about now? I don’t answer these questions in my
plays, I raise them.
thomas bradshaw ’02 17

18

150th jubilee
Excitement filled the air as more than 450 Bardians and friends came together at Jazz at Lincoln
Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall in New York City to celebrate Bard College’s 150th anniversary and 35
years of President Leon Botstein’s inspired leadership. The 150th Jubilee in November was the largest
single fund-raising event in Bard’s history.
The Jubilee was cochaired by Roland J. and Kathleen Augustine, David C. and Constance Clapp,
Mary and James H. Ottaway Jr., David E. Schwab II ’52 and Ruth Schwartz Schwab ’52, Martin T. and Toni
Sosnoff, Charles P. Stevenson Jr. and Alex Kuczynski, and Walter Swett ’96 and Rebecca Hall.
From the beginning, this very glitzy event caused a stir in the alumni/ae and Bard community.
The evening began with a cocktail party in the atrium, where 15-foot-long red Bard banners hung
from the ceiling and the archival photography exhibition Bard in Black and White lined the walls. Bard
College Conservatory of Music alumnus Ming Aldrich-Gan ’10 regaled attendees with festive piano
music against the scenery of Central Park. Bardians’ attire ranged from full-length evening gowns, to
mini dresses and boots, to a full suit of tartan plaid.
As dinner guests were ushered into the Allen Room they saw for the first time the spectacular
view that was the backdrop for the evening’s program. A wall of glass 85 feet high gave the appearance
that one was floating over Columbus Circle. Tables on tiers faced the stage and window beyond; each
table was decorated with Hudson Valley anemones and multicolored, leather-bound classic books.
The program started with the premiere of a short film, Education for the Common Good, commissioned
by Bard for the occasion. Huge screens hung from the ceiling so everyone had a front-row seat.
The film title was taken from of a book about Bard’s early history written by former president Reamer
Kline. It was produced by alumni/ae and friends of the College to highlight Bard’s journey over the last
150 years and its vision for the future. Focusing on the widening scope of Bard and its myriad programs,
the film demonstrates how Bard takes risks as an institution and effects real change in society and education.
To see the film, go to www.bard.edu/media/commongood/.
Charles P. Stevenson Jr., chair of the Board of Trustees, welcomed guests and noted that Bard has
the courage to try things other colleges would not. He humorously described how he first met Leon
Botstein and was persuaded that his support of Bard would be much more meaningful than supporting
his own alma mater—Yale. Other speakers included Walter Swett ’96, president of the Board of
Governors, Roger Scotland ’93, alumni/ae trustee, and Pia Carusone ’03, member of the Board of
Governors. Bard faculty and students were represented, respectively, by Felicia Keesing, associate professor
of biology, and a performance by students from The Bard College Conservatory of Music.
The evening ended with George Soros, founder and chairman of Open Society Foundations, taking
the stage to introduce Botstein, who thanked all who attended by saying: “We have much to be proud
of in terms of what has been accomplished over the last 150 years. It is a joy to be in the presence of so
many friends, colleagues, and alumni/ae, and I would like to thank everyone who came out to honor
the College and who donated to this great institution and its unique and wide-ranging mission.”
The Jubilee was an historic evening, raising over $1.1 million. It was a celebration of both the
past and the anticipated success of the 150th Anniversary Campaign for Bard College, which has
already raised $246 million of its $594 million goal.
Speaking of looking to the future, the statement that really brought down the house, drawing
applause and even a few tears, was Botstein’s closing remark: “When I came to Bard I was known as the
youngest college president. . . . Let me say that I now fully intend to be the oldest.”
Photos: Cory Weaver
150th jubilee 19

david e. schwab ii ’52
what is a bardian?
Devoted Bardian David E. Schwab II '52, in honor of Bard's 150th
anniversary, was asked for his reflections on what constitutes a Bardian.
Chair emeritus of the Bard College Board of Trustees, on which he has
served since 1964, Schwab in 1969 was one of the first recipients of the
Bard Medal, the Bard–St. Stephen's Alumni/ae Association's highest
award, given to those whose achievements have significantly advanced
the welfare of the College. He received an honorary doctor of civil law
degree from the College in 2004, the year he stepped down as chair.
Bard College has been a significant part of my life for more than 60
years. I arrived as a first-year student in the fall of 1948 (and on my
very first day, met my future wife, Ruth). Bard was 88 years old; I was
17. It seemed to me that Bard, originally St. Stephen’s College, had
been founded around the time of Noah and the Flood. While at Bard,
I met men (St. Stephen’s and Bard were all-male colleges until 1944)
who had graduated 60 years earlier—in 1888. Is it possible that I am
now the modern-day equivalent of those 1888 graduates? It is! And I
am. Because of that personal history, I have been asked to undertake
a clearly impossible task: define a Bardian.
As the College celebrates the 150th anniversary of its founding,
I have asked myself and others to identify the unifying trait or quality
that allows each of us, including the few St. Stephen’s students still
among us, to call ourselves “Bardians.” Just what is a Bardian?
Perhaps it refers to the common location at which we go, or went,
to college—Annandale-on-Hudson—a hamlet (at best), a post-office
address, a campus. Annandale is the only physical place we share. The
“Annandale” in Steely Dan’s “My Old School” is more than a word in
a song; it’s a place we personally know and to which we personally
relate—for some because it’s a current or recent experience, for others
because it’s an experience of distant youth. But, for more than 30 years,
students at Simon’s Rock College (now Bard College at Simon’s Rock:
The Early College) in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, have been
Bardians. And there are Bardians in Saint Petersburg, Russia; in
Jerusalem; in New York City; in the Central Valley of California; even
in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, who have never seen Annandale.
And they are Bardians! So the term must refer to something more than
physical location.
Maybe the unifying characteristic is contained in the careers
Bardians engage in after college. St. Stephen’s graduates were once overwhelmingly
Episcopal priests. They shared a common career. Later
years produced few priests, but many writers, artists, poets, teachers,
social workers, lawyers, doctors, engineers, research scientists, manufacturers,
and on and on. There is no common career.
Ethnicity? National origin? Religion? Socioeconomic advantages
or disadvantages? No. Bardians come from everywhere and from
many backgrounds.
So, the answer does not lie in where Bard students come from—
or what their backgrounds are—but, rather, in what they become after
the experience of a Bard education. Economists created the concept
of “value-added,” and educators, hitchhiking on the concept, define
value-added as “the enhancement of the knowledge, skills, and abilities
of students and the empowering of them as critical, reflective, lifelong
learners.” It is the value-added of a Bard education that makes us all
Bardians.
And, what does that make us?
First: We are literate and articulate. No one can receive a Bard
education without learning to read carefully and write and speak
clearly, concisely, and accurately. Even prior to the required—for entering
undergraduates—Language and Thinking Program, now more
than 20 years old, Bard teachers instilled in each student the habits (to
use the current description of the Language and Thinking Program)
of “thoughtful reading and discussion, clear articulation, accurate selfcritique,
and productive collaboration.” Rarely do Bardians accept the
word of the latest blogger (or even of the most eminent scholar) without
question. Professors at Bard, in every generation, have insisted on
critical analysis and precision in thought and expression.
Second: We possess a willingness to experiment and take risks.
The founders of the movement known as “progressive education,”
based on the work of John Dewey and others, were eager to try out
new methods of education at all levels, from preschool to graduate
work—in other words, to experiment. Experimentation, of necessity,
involves risk. In the decades of the 1930s, ’40s, ’50s, and even beyond,
Bard was a charter member of the progressive movement. Some argue
that the progressive movement came to an end after the 1940s. Not
at Bard. If one looks at “progressive education” as allowing the student
to do whatever she or he wants, whenever she or he wants, then Bard
was never progressive. Success at Bard has always required hard work.
If, instead, one looks at the progressive movement as one that encourages
various forms of education, such as (at the college level) individual
attention to each student, one-on-one teaching, evaluation in
forms other than grades from “A” to “F,” interdisciplinary courses,
high school–early colleges, a music conservatory with required majors
20 david e. schwab ii ’52

Richard Muller '51, left, and David
Schwab, center, in discussion with
a friend during a field trip in January
1951 to study other colleges'
systems of student government.
The following semester, the Bard
group of five received credit for
rewriting the Bard community
government constitution using
their research.
Photo: Courtesy of the Bard College Archives
in the liberals arts, then Bard has always been, and still is,
progressive. Certainly, methods of teaching change, as does
the substance of courses taught. But experimentation, innovation,
and risk taking lie at the heart of Bard and Bardians.
There are some Bardians who see the changes that have
taken place in the College over the years as a relinquishment
of cherished progressive ideas. Whether out of nostalgia for
lost youth or a genuine belief in the excellence of the education
they received, alumni/ae of all colleges are conservative;
they want the institution to be exactly as it was when
they were there. And, although it may appear counterintuitive,
alumni/ae of progressive institutions are often the
most conservative of all. They view lectures, required courses,
increased size of a college, increased size of classes—even if
those increases are modest as compared to similar institutions—to
be an abandonment of progressive idealism. I urge
such Bardians to look less to form and more to experimentation
and risk taking as the central themes of the progressive
movement. Times change and colleges must change
with them.
Third: We recognize the need for in-depth knowledge.
Progressive educators of the 1920s and 1930s believed that
students are better educated by proceeding from the specific
to the general, from the practical to the abstract. In recent
years, some of that thinking has been rejected. However,
although Bard has had a First-Year Seminar, or its equivalent,
for many years, the College has always believed that
intense involvement in a discipline linked to the individual
student’s interest yields more than a survey of a traditional
canon can. Witness the Senior Project—a staple of a Bard
education since the 1930s. Bardians are rarely dilettantes;
they tend to know their subjects well.
Finally: We appreciate the fine and performing arts. The
arts are, and have been for many years, central to the Bard experience. One of the advantages of a small
residential college is the ability to meet, know, and grow to understand people who think differently—
sometimes radically differently. The economics major, accustomed to seeing the world in macro terms,
and the student of government, accustomed to seeing the world in terms of political forces, meet (and
get to know) the painter or poet who sees the world in more personal, intimate, terms, and expresses
himself or herself accordingly. Through these connections, the life of each individual is expanded exponentially.
As a result, Bardians, by and large, are curious and open to new ideas, new ways of thinking,
new people, new places. Bardians develop independence and a sense of self, an understanding of where
they fit in a complex and ever-changing world.
Maybe the answer to what makes us a group is that (again, by and large) Bardians reject the concept
of group. We are not joiners; we are individuals. (I cannot resist, given my years of involvement
with fund-raising for the College, noting that nonjoiners are not the easiest group from which to raise
money—no matter how devoted they are to Bard and how generous they may be to other causes. In
that sense, although in no other, I would urge Bardians to be joiners.) We Bardians are not joiners
because we want to think for ourselves and make our own decisions—and we do.
As I said, the task of defining a Bardian is impossible. Suggestions welcomed!
what is a bardian? 21

22 james romm

james romm
the campaigns of alexander
In the spring of 323 B.C.E. Alexander the Great and his army approached
Babylon, the city that Alexander, the Macedonian king, had made the
capital of his new-won empire, the former Achaemenid Persian territories.
Alexander had returned the previous year from the land he
called India (now Pakistan), his eastern boundaries firmly fixed; he
was planning further campaigns in the West, as well as exploration of
the waterways on his northeast frontier. He would never fulfill those
plans. The journey to Babylon was to be the last he would make. An
unknown ailment, perhaps a tropical disease, ended his life in Babylon
on June 11, perhaps two months after his arrival in the city.
Babylon was on friendly terms with the Macedonians. Alexander
and his men had bivouacked there for several months in 331, after
defeating the massive army of the vast Persian empire. Babylonians had
welcomed Alexander as a liberator from Persian rule, and he had
responded by vowing to later restore their Etemenanki, a shrine to the
city’s principal god, Bel (also called Marduk), which the Persians had
supposedly destroyed. (Evidence exists that the Persians were wrongly
accused of this vandalism, but everyone in the ancient world believed
them guilty.) But on his return to the city seven and a half years later, he
met with a strangely cold reception. The Chaldaean priesthood, the very
sect he had aided with his restoration project, now told him he would
be cursed if he entered their city. After he scoffed at this warning, the
Chaldaeans mysteriously conceded that Alexander could enter the city
after all—but only from the east, not the west.
The episode of Alexander’s entry into Babylon is presented here
as it appears in the Landmark Arrian, a volume I edited under the direction
of Robert Strassler, founder of the Landmark series. Arrian was a
Greek writer of the second century C.E. who recorded Alexander’s campaigns
in what is today our most reliable ancient account, even though
it postdates by nearly five centuries the events it describes. Arrian follows
the Macedonian king’s footsteps as he journeys from his home in
the northern Aegean to the edge of the Punjab plain, and then halfway
back again, to his fateful end in Babylon. Arrian based his narrative on
two now-lost eyewitness accounts of Alexander’s march, written by
Ptolemy, a close friend of Alexander who later became king of Egypt,
and Aristoboulos, a low-level Greek officer serving in the Macedonian
army; Arrian frequently informs his readers which of these two sources
he is following for any given episode (as he does here).
The Landmark Arrian stands fourth in a series begun in the
1990s by Strassler, an independent scholar, businessman, part-time
faculty member at Bard College at Simon’s Rock: The Early College,
and chair emeritus of the Simon’s Rock Board of Overseers. The
remarkable design features of the series, consistent across all its volumes,
are illustrated in the pages excerpted here. Every location mentioned
in the text is shown on clear, easy-to-read maps, designed by
Strassler, and comprehensive notes explain references that readers
might find obscure. Headings across each page, and side notes in the
margins, keep the reader oriented in time, space, and narrative context.
Photographs of artifacts and sites accompany relevant episodes.
Footnotes are numbered in a way that keys them closely to the text,
using the three levels of indexing commonly assigned to classical
prose works (“7.16.1,” for instance, means Book 7, paragraph 16, section
1.) The goal is to make these ancient narratives not just intelligible,
but—with this new translation by Pamela Mensch—clear and
compelling for modern readers, whatever their background in classical
studies.
Classicists, critics, and general readers have remarked on the clarity,
beauty, and utility of the Landmark series. Arrian’s “painstaking
reliance upon primary sources makes his Alexander surely the closest
of all Alexanders to the original,” according to The Wall Street Journal,
which calls the Landmark edition “sumptuously annotated and lavishly
illustrated.” The New York Times called it “the most thrilling volume in
this fine series.” The impact of the series promises to grow as more volumes
are issued. Those interested in the series are encouraged to visit
its website, www.thelandmarkancienthistories.com.
Alexander’s march from 334 to 323 B.C.E. is a gripping story, better
told by Arrian than by many of his modern adapters. Thanks to this
edition of Arrian’s work, readers who want to follow that march will
find their path easier, richer, and more rewarding. Preparing the book
over the past five years has certainly been a rewarding journey for me.
—James Romm, James H. Ottaway Jr. Professor of Classics; editor,
The Landmark Arrian: The Campaigns of Alexander
From the Book:
THE LANDMARK ARRIAN: The Campaigns of Alexander edited by James Romm,
Series Editor Robert B. Strassler
Copyright ©2010 by Robert B. Strassler and James Romm
Published by arrangement with Pantheon, an imprint of The Knopf Doubleday
Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc.
Image: Retraite des Dix Mille Tabula, Guillaume de Lisle, 1723. David Rumsey Map Collection, courtesy
of www.davidrumsey.com
the campaigns of alexander 23

Alexander tries to heed the warning NEAR BABYLON Spring 323 BOOK SEVEN
7.16.5–8
Spring 323
NEAR BABYLON
Advancing toward Babylon,
Alexander is met by Chaldaean
priests, who tell him that oracles
of the local deity Bel have
warned him not to enter the
city. If he must enter it, they
caution, he should do so from
the east, not the west. But fate,
as Arrian supposes, was now
leading Alexander toward
his doom.
7.17.1–6
Spring 323
NEAR BABYLON
Alexander suspects that the
priests are really seeking to
protect their own financial
prerogatives. According to one
source, he tries to heed their
warnings anyway, but is
prevented from moving to the
city’s eastern entrance by a
stretch of marshy ground.
[5] Alexander now advanced to Babylon, and as he crossed the Tigris 5a with his army, he was
met by the Chaldaean soothsayers, 5b who took him aside and asked him to halt his march to the
city. They declared that they had received a prophecy from the god Bel 5c to the effect that an entry
into Babylon at that time boded evil for Alexander. It is said that he answered them with a verse of
the poet Euripides: “The best of seers is he who guesses well.”
[6] In reply the Chaldaeans said, “Do not face west, sire, or lead your army into the city in
that direction, but go around and enter on the east side.” [7] Even that approach presented difficulties,
owing to the difficult terrain; but in any case the power of the divine was leading Alexander
to the point beyond which he was fated to die. And perhaps it was better for him to depart at the
high point of his fame and of the world’s longing for him, before any of the calamities of man’s lot
befell him—the kind of calamities that, in all likelihood, prompted Solon to advise Croesus to look
to the end of a long life and not to declare any human being happy until then. 7a [8] Hephaistion’s
death had in fact been no small misfortune for Alexander, and it seems to me he would have wanted
to die first rather than live on after losing Hephaistion, in the same way that I suppose Achilles
would have chosen to die before Patroklos rather than become an avenger of his death. 8a
[1] Alexander also suspected that self-interest, rather than prophetic power, prompted the
Chaldaeans to try to prevent him from marching to Babylon at that time. For the temple of Bel,
a vast structure built of baked brick bound together with pitch, stood in the center of Babylon.
[2] On his return from Greece, Xerxes had razed it to the ground, as he had razed all the other
Babylonian shrines. 2a According to some writers, Alexander had intended to rebuild the temple on
the earlier foundation, and that was why he ordered the Babylonians to remove the mound. Others
maintain that he planned to build an even larger temple. [3] Since in his absence the men to whom
the project had been entrusted had not applied themselves to it with any zeal, he intended to put
the entire army to work on it. Large tracts of land and an enormous amount of gold had been dedicated
to the god Bel since the time when the Assyrians ruled Babylon, [4] and this fund had long
ago supplied the money for temple repairs and sacrifices to the god. But at this time the Chaldaeans
were administering the god’s property, since there was nothing on which the revenue could be spent.
7.16.5a Babylon: Map 7.16 and Assyria inset; Tigris River:
Map 7.16, Assyria inset.
7.16.5b In Greco-Roman usage the term Chaldaean refers
to the Babylonian priestly caste, known for its practice
of divination and astrology. See also n. 3.16.5b.
7.16.5c Bel, also known as Marduk or Bel-Marduk, was the
chief god of the Babylonian pantheon and protector
of the city of Babylon.
7.16.7a The reference is to a famous dialogue found in
Herodotus’ Histories (1.30), in which the Athenian
wise man Solon seeks to answer the question put by
Croesus, king of the Lydian empire, as to who are
the happiest human beings. Solon, to Croesus’ surprise,
names no wealthy or powerful individuals
but, rather, relative nobodies. The two men he
judges second happiest in all human history are a
pair of Argive brothers, Cleobis and Biton, who died
suddenly at the peak of their youth, beauty, and
glory, in answer to a prayer to the goddess Hera that
they receive the best reward any mortal could aspire
to. The lesson Solon draws from their example is
that, since human life is subject to unpredictable
troubles and misfortunes, the best fate one can
hope for is to leave it at one’s peak and not to risk a
reversal of fortune. Arrian somewhat distorts this
teaching by applying it to Alexander, since part of
Solon’s point is that the wealth and power that
come with imperial rule do not increase the sum
of one’s happiness.
7.16.8a Arrian here lends his support to the idea, first fostered
by Alexander himself, that the bond between
Alexander and Hephaistion paralleled the mythic
friendship of Achilles and Patroklos (see 1.12.1 and
n. 1.12.1d).
7.17.2a This attack on the Babylonian temples by Xerxes
probably took place just before the Persian invasion
of Greece in 480, rather than just after, as Arrian
asserts. According to Herodotus (Histories 1.183),
Xerxes plundered the golden statue of Bel associated
with the great temple, probably as part of his suppression
of a Babylonian revolt around 482 (though
Herodotus does not say the temple was destroyed).
The symbolic connections between the worship of
Bel and the political control of Babylon are amply
demonstrated by Alexander’s own earlier rebuilding
of the temple and participation in Bel’s rites (see
3.16.4–5 and n. 3.16.4a).
24 james romm

BOOK SEVEN Spring 323 NEAR BABYLON Alexander’s plans for the temple of Bel
FIGURE 7.16. Digital reconstruction of ancient Babylon (top) as seen from the north, looking down the Processional Way toward the
Ishtar Gate. The ziggurat of the Temple of Bel, known to the Babylonians as Etemenanki, is here shown intact, though in Alexander’s time
it lay in ruins. The Ishtar Gate (bottom), rebuilt with the glazed bricks removed from Babylon, is now in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin.
the campaigns of alexander 25

Alexander suspects the priests’ motives NEAR BABYLON Spring 323 BOOK SEVEN
MAP 7.17. Plan of Babylon, showing the route by which Alexander attempted to enter the city from the east as the priests had advised
but, stopped by the terrain, doubled back to the west entrance.
Alexander suspected that this was why they were opposed to his entering Babylon, lest the swift
completion of the temple deprive them of the benefits of the revenue. [5] But Aristoboulos says
that Alexander was nonetheless ready to obey them, at least when it came to making a detour at
the entrance to the city, and that he made camp on the first day at the bank of the Euphrates; 5a
the next day he advanced, keeping the river on his right, since he wished to pass the west-facing
part of the city, turn there, and lead his forces eastward. [6] But the difficult terrain prevented such
an approach, for anyone who comes up to the city from the west and then turns eastward will find
the ground marshy and covered with shoal water. And thus, according to Aristoboulos, Alexander
disobeyed the god partly by intention and partly not.
7.17.5a Euphrates River: Map 7.16, Assyria inset.
26 james romm

Alexander the Great (marble detail), Pierre Puget, 1693
Réunion des Museés Nationaux/Art Resource, NY
the campaigns of alexander 27

On and Off Campus
Bard Launches High School Early College in Newark
Bard College and the Newark Public Schools are planning to open Bard High
School Early College (BHSEC) Newark, a new four-year school for grades 9
through 12. Based on the successful BHSEC Manhattan and BHSEC Queens,
BHSEC Newark will be a selective, tuition-free public school that offers highly
motivated students from all neighborhoods in Newark the opportunity to earn
a New Jersey high school diploma, 60 college credits, and an associate in arts
degree from Bard College. It is expected to open in September.
Benefit Concerts Aid Conservatory
Dawn Upshaw, acclaimed soprano and artistic director of the Graduate Vocal
Arts Program at The Bard College Conservatory of Music, will perform on
May 15 at the Fisher Center to benefit the Conservatory. The concert will also
feature pianist Kayo Iwama, singers of the Graduate Vocal Arts Program, and
the Collaborative Piano Fellows. More information about tickets for this benefit,
as well as a complete list of Conservatory events, is at www.bard.edu/
conservatory.
On March 5, more than 35 student musicians from the Conservatory
performed with acclaimed singer-songwriter Natalie Merchant at the Fisher
Center, as a benefit for the Conservatory’s Scholarship Fund. Merchant, a
Hudson Valley resident, presented songs from her latest recording project,
Leave Your Sleep (Nonesuch Records, 2010), and selected works from her
extensive catalogue. For Leave Your Sleep, Merchant adapted the poetry of
e.e. cummings, Ogden Nash, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Gerard Manley
Hopkins into songs influenced by klezmer, bluegrass, chamber music, and
folk. James Bagwell conducted the orchestra, which included special guests
Uri Sharlin on piano and accordion and Erik Della Penna on guitar.
Arendt Center Examines Lying and Politics
What is the role and danger of lying in politics today? Are lies political acts in
which facts are denied and alternative realities created? By denying facts, does
the political liar change the world, in order to make reality anew so that it conforms
to our needs and desires? “Lying and Politics: What Is the Fate of Politics
in the Age of Lying, Advertising, and Mass Market Deception?” took up those
questions in March. Noted speakers, such as political theorist George Kateb,
William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Politics, Emeritus, at Princeton University;
Uday Singh Mehta, Clarence Francis Professor in the Social Sciences at Amherst
College; and editor and author Roger Hodge provided analysis. Cosponsored
by the Hannah Arendt Center for Politics and the Humanities at Bard College
and the Hannah Arendt Center at the New School for Social Research, the
conference took place March 4 and 5 in New York City.
First Citizen Scientists Study Infectious Disease
With an examination of how to reduce the global burden of infectious disease,
the College inaugurated Citizen Science, an intensive introduction to the
sciences now required for all first-year students. The course takes place
during three weeks in January, and this year it brought noted scientists to
campus for public lectures.
Bonnie Bassler, professor of molecular biology at Princeton University
and president of the American Society for Microbiology, offered “How Bacteria
Talk to Each Other.” David Botstein, director of the Lewis-Sigler Institute for
Integrative Genomics at Princeton University, gave a talk titled “The Fruits of
the Genome Sequences for Society.” Chad Heilig, lead methodologist for the
international Tuberculosis Trials Consortium, presented “Find TB to Stop TB:
How Science Can Improve Global Policy to Curtail the TB/HIV Syndemic.” Carl
Zimmer, lecturer at Yale University, author, and journalist, conducted a workshop
on the art and craft of science writing.
Iris Awards Luncheon Funds BGC Scholarships
Recipients of the 15th Annual Iris Foundation Awards for Outstanding
Contributions to the Decorative Arts are Shelley and Donald Rubin, creators
of the Rubin Museum of Art in New York, the premier museum in the Western
world dedicated to the art of the Himalayas; John Harris, OBE, historian of
architecture, gardens, and architectural drawings; Juliet Kinchin, curator,
Department of Architecture and Design, Museum of Modern Art, New York;
and Bernard Dragesco, art historian and founder of Galerie Dragesco-
Cramoisan, Paris.
They were honored during a luncheon on April 6 at 583 Park Avenue in
New York City. Proceeds from the luncheon go to graduate student scholarships
and fellowships at the Bard Graduate Center. The awards are named for
BGC founder and director Susan Weber’s mother, Iris Weber.
Pulitzer Winner Speaks on Campus
Robert Olen Butler, the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of A Good Scent from a
Strange Mountain, Tabloid Dreams, and Hell, read from his work in the Weis
Cinema on March 7. Professor of Literature Bradford Morrow introduced Butler,
whose visit was sponsored by the College’s Innovative Contemporary Fiction
Reading Series.
Natalie Merchant. Photo: Cory Weaver
Robert Olen Butler. Photo: Pete Mauney ’93, MFA ’00
28

Books by Bardians
Jane Evelyn Atwood
by Jane Evelyn Atwood ’70
photo poche
Photographer Jane Evelyn Atwood (winner of Bard’s Charles Flint
Kellogg Award in Arts and Letters) displays striking images of female
inmates in American and French prisons; the blind, hospitalized, and
amputated; the people of Haiti; and portraits of luminaries such as
Jean Genet and James Baldwin.
Physics studies at St. Stephen’s College, ca. 1895. Photo: Bard College Archives
Archival Photo Exhibition Online
The photo exhibition Bard in Black and White: Selections from the Bard College
Archives is now online. A collaboration between archivist Helene Tieger ’85
and Tricia Fleming from the Office of Alumni/ae Affairs, the exhibition includes
nearly 200 photographs from the College Archives and Special Collections. It
was mounted on campus in October and also displayed at Bard’s 150th Jubilee
in New York City in November. Some of the images were also featured in the
Bardian’s Fall 2010 issue. The exhibition and catalogue can be viewed online at
annandaleonline.org and will be displayed in the campus center during
Commencement-Alumni/ae Weekend in May.
CCS Honors Two for Curatorial Excellence
Helen Molesworth, chief curator at the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston,
and Hans Ulrich Obrist, codirector of exhibitions and programs and director
of international projects at the Serpentine Gallery, London, were honored with
the 14th Annual Award for Curatorial Excellence from the Center for Curatorial
Studies at Bard College. The awards—which reflect CCS Bard’s commitment
to recognizing individuals who have defined new thinking, bold vision, and
dedicated service to exhibition practice—were presented at a gala dinner on
April 13 at Capitale in New York City. Molesworth’s research areas are concentrated
largely within and around the problems of feminism, the reception
of Marcel Duchamp, and the sociohistorical frameworks of contemporary art.
Obrist has curated or cocurated more than 200 solo and group exhibitions
and biennales throughout Europe, the United States, Asia, and Africa.
The Ethics of Authorship: Communication, Seduction, and
Death in Hegel and Kierkegaard
by Daniel Berthold, professor of philosophy
fordham university press
Examining the distinct writing styles of German idealist philosopher
G. W. F. Hegel and Danish Christian existentialist Søren Kierkegaard,
this book explores questions of authorship and responsibility, showing
how each writer seduces and lures his readers and then disappears,
essentially abandoning them to the text.
Taming the Gods: Religion and Democracy on Three Continents
by Ian Buruma, Henry R. Luce Professor of Human Rights and Journalism
princeton university press
Buruma dissects the explosive tensions between religion and
democracy in America, Europe, and Asia, and maintains that religion
and democracy can be compatible—but only with a vigilant separation
of religious and secular authorities.
The Weight of the Ice: The Northeast Ice Storm of 2008
by Dave Eisenstadter ’05
surry cottage books
Enlivened by more than 100 photographs, this book documents myriad
stories of survival and heroism characterizing the Yankee response
to the 2008 ice storm, which devastated New England and left millions
without power for weeks.
Panorama
by H. G. Adler, translated from the German by Peter Filkins, visiting
professor of literature
random house
Panorama tells the story of Josef Kramer, from his bucolic childhood
in World War I–era Bohemia and adolescence in a xenophobic
German boarding school to his young adulthood in Nazi labor and
extermination camps and postwar exile abroad.
The Correspondence of Paul Celan and Ilana Shmueli
Translated from the German by Susan H. Gillespie, vice president,
global initiatives; director, Institute for International Liberal Education,
with an introduction by Norman Manea, Francis Flournoy Professor
in European Studies and Culture
sheep meadow press
Written during the three years preceding Celan’s suicide in 1970,
this passionate correspondence chronicles an intimate creative
relationship, which began when Celan and Shmueli met as children
in prewar Bukovina and continued sporadically for almost 40 years.
Helen Molesworth, left. Photo: John Kennard
Hans Ulrich Obrist, right. ©Gerhard Richter 2010
on and off campus 29

Gifts Sustain Programs, Initiatives
Bard continues to innovate in the form of new and continuing programs, validated
with the support of distinguished grants.
The Bard College Master of Arts in Teaching Program received a grant
from the U.S. Department of Education’s Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary
Education Comprehensive Program. The grant will fund 75 percent of
Preparing Teachers for These Times: Context-Specific Teacher Education Across
the Domains, a three-year model for teacher preparation that addresses a
national need to improve learning and close the achievement gap for all students.
Environmental and Urban Studies, a new interdivisional major at Bard,
has received a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to support its
continued development. The EUS major furthers the College’s holistic approach
to ecology and development through studies of the Hudson River estuary and
valley, using the river as a laboratory for an integrated understanding of global
environmental transformation.
The Bard College Prison Initiative has obtained a grant from the TD
Charitable Foundation (TD Bank) to support its work to restore higher
education to the prisons of New York. BPI offers college classes and degrees
inside three long-term, maximum-security prisons and two transitional
medium-security prisons in New York State.
Change in Action Starts Series
President Leon Botstein gave a talk, “Leading Change,” during a workshop for
Change in Action, a leadership development program begun a year ago to
provide students with practical and theoretical educational opportunities.
Students polled about potential workshop facilitators had suggested Botstein.
In “Leading Change,” he discussed channeling one’s passion into action by
using organization and persuasion, and by encouraging risk taking. The session
also addressed how to maintain commitment in the face of failure.
Critics Salute Bard Fiction Prize Recipient
Karen Russell, recipient of the 2011 Bard Fiction Prize, is receiving rave reviews
for her new novel, Swamplandia! (Alfred A. Knopf). “Vividly worded, exuberant
in characterization, the novel is a wild ride: Russell has style in spades,” Emma
Donoghue wrote in the February 6 New York Times Book Review.
Russell received the annual Bard Fiction Prize for her short story collection,
St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves (Random House, 2006). Swamplandia!
expands on “Ava Wrestles the Alligator,” a short story in the St. Lucy’s collection.
The prize, established in 2001 by the College to encourage and support promising
young fiction writers, consists of a $30,000 award and a semester-long
appointment as writer in residence.
Center for Environmental Policy (CEP) Joins Peace Corps Program
The Bard CEP has been accepted as a partner institution in the Peace Corps
Fellows/USA program, a graduate fellowship program that offers financial
assistance and other support to returned Peace Corps volunteers. Bard CEP
already offers the Master’s International Program with Peace Corps, which
allows graduate students to complete a part of their degree while they
volunteer with the Peace Corps.
Philosopher Explores Ties to Slave Trade
Robert Bernasconi, one of the leading Continental philosophers in the United
States, presented “Race, Slavery, and the Philosophers of the Enlightenment”
on campus in February. His talk addressed race issues in the wake of controversies
about whether John Locke’s involvement in the Atlantic slave trade
affected the writing of The Two Treatises of Government and whether Immanuel
Kant’s failure to condemn publicly the use of African slaves in the Americas is
evidence of racism. Bernasconi is Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of Philosophy
at Pennsylvania State University. The Human Rights Project and the
Difference and Media Project cosponsored his appearance.
Pulitzer Correspondent Chronicles Iraq Report
Anthony Shadid, New York Times foreign correspondent, was a guest of the
Human Rights Project and Middle Eastern Studies Program in November. He
delivered a lecture titled “Consequences Not Intended: Reporting on America’s
War in Iraq.” Shadid has reported from most countries in the Middle East and,
until December 2009, was Baghdad bureau chief for the Washington Post. He
has won two Pulitzer Prizes (2004 and 2010) for his Iraq coverage.
BPI Celebrates Graduation
The Bard Prison Initiative marked its eighth annual commencement exercise
on March 26 at Eastern New York Correctional Facility, Napanoch, New York.
Six students received bachelor of arts degrees and 43 got their associate in
arts degrees. William D. Brown, who retired that week as superintendent of
the facility, received the Bardian Award. Gara LaMarche, president and CEO
of Atlantic Philanthropies, was awarded the John Dewey Award for
Distinguished Public Service.
MFA Faculty Member Wins Newman Award
Luca Buvoli, a faculty member in sculpture at the Milton Avery Graduate
School of the Arts, is a recipient this year of the Barnett and Annalee
Newman Award, a grant given to artists whose work embodies the rigorous
and independent ethos of the Abstract Expressionist artist Barnett Newman.
Karen Russell. Photo: Michael Lionstar
Luca Buvoli. Photo: Sebastiano Piras
30

Human Rights Lectures Focus on Corporate Complicity
Several speakers came to campus in February as guests of the Human Rights
Project Lecture and Film Series. Valentina Azarov, lecturer in human rights
and international law at Al-Quds University and the Al-Quds Bard Honors
College in Liberal Arts and Sciences, presented “Corporate Complicity in
Human Rights Violations.” Susie Linfield, associate professor of journalism
and associate director of the Cultural Reporting and Criticism Program at
New York University, gave a talk titled “The Cruel Radiance: Photography and
Political Violence.” Her appearance was cosponsored by the Hannah Arendt
Center for Politics and the Humanities.
Tower Named Composer of Year
Joan Tower, Asher B. Edelman Professor in the Arts, has been honored as the
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra’s 2010–11 Composer of the Year. The orchestra
will perform six of her works this season, and she will lead master classes
with the university’s composition students.
Scholars Review Future of Anglo-American Relationship
Richard Aldous, Eugene Meyer Professor of British History and Literature,
and Ted Bromund, senior research fellow at the Margaret Thatcher Center
for Freedom at The Heritage Foundation, delivered a joint lecture, “Cameron,
Obama, and the Future of the Anglo-American Relationship” as part of the
James Clarke Chace Memorial Speaker Series. The Bard College Globalization
and International Affairs Program and Foreign Affairs magazine presented the
event in February at the SUNY Global Center in New York City.
Prose Wins Distinguished Literary Award
Francine Prose, Distinguished Writer in Residence at the College, received the
Washington University International Humanities Medal. The $25,000 prize is
among the largest literary awards in the United States and honors the lifetime
work of a noted scholar, writer, or artist who has made a significant and
sustained contribution to the world of letters or the arts.
Alumni Share Their Learning, Talents
In celebration of the International Year of Chemistry, the Bard Chemistry
Program brought two alumni back to campus. Mahmud Hussain ’05 and James
Morris ’07 spoke to students on their individual research in organometallic
chemistry. Hussain earned his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania and
is now a postdoctoral research fellow at Harvard. Morris is completing a Ph.D.
at the University of Rochester.
Composer-pianist Bruce Wolosoff ’77 returned to campus in early
February to perform a recital of original works at Bard Hall.
Alumni/ae Power Thought-Provoking Blog
A number of Bardians are behind a blog that is starting to make a name for
itself. Established in March 2010, The Busy Signal (TheBusySignal.com) posts
new original essays, short or long, focused on issues of the day—politics, policy,
culture, and ideas—with the intention of starting conversations.
Active in the venture are executive editor Jesse Myerson ’08, editor-inchief
Henry Casey ’06, managing editor Julia Wentzel ’09, and staff writers
including Akie Bermiss ’05, Andrea Greco ’06, Jacqueline Moss ’06, Meg
Gatza ’07, Genya Shimkin ’08, Brian Fabry Dorsam ’09, and Katy Kelleher ’09;
and guest contributors Colin Lissandrello ’08 and Dan Wilbur ’09. The Busy
Signal has also featured interviews with Jonathan Cristol ’00, director of the
Bard Globalization and International Affairs Program, and author Mat Johnson,
who formerly taught at Bard.
Distillations and Siphonings
by Jonathan Greene ’65
broadstone books
Jonathan Greene’s 30th collection in a career spanning five decades
represents a poet at the peak of his art: minimal verse appears on the
page in elegant simplicity, chronicling the pleasures and trials of rural
life with idiosyncratic observations and sly humor.
Dreams of Difference, Songs of the Same:
The Musical Moment in Film
by Amy Herzog ’94
university of minnesota press
Drawing upon an eclectic selection of films, from French musicals
and Scopitone jukebox films (forerunners to music videos) to
Taiwanese cinema, Herzog investigates the power of music to
disrupt and transform the formulaic and predictable narrative.
Three Ladies Beside the Sea
by Rhoda Levine ’53, drawings by Edward Gorey
new york review books
In sophisticated and darkly humorous rhyme, this illustrated children’s
tale tells of three eccentric Edwardian ladies living by the sea and
their pursuit to find the sad reason one spends her life up in a tree.
Zone
by Mathias Énard, translated from the French by Charlotte Mandell ’90
open letter
Widely acclaimed in France, Énard’s epic novel—written as one long,
compulsive sentence, which Mandell translates vividly into English—
takes place within the mind of a Croatian soldier turned French spy
on an overnight train journey.
The Diviner’s Tale
by Bradford Morrow, professor of literature
houghton mifflin harcourt
In Morrow’s newest novel, a literary thriller, struggling single mother
Cassandra Brooks is gifted by bizarre divinations that eerily foretell the
future while propelling her into a troubling past, forcing her to take
control of her life and finally face off with a real-life, long-lost killer.
Unifying Hinduism: Philosophy and Identity in Indian
Intellectual History
by Andrew J. Nicholson ’94
columbia university press
Challenging the postcolonial theory that the belief system known as
Hinduism was created by 19th-century British imperialists, Nicholson
posits that a unified Hinduism has its roots between the 12th and
16th centuries C.E.
The Elgar Companion to Hyman Minsky
edited by Dimitri B. Papadimitriou, president, Levy Economics Institute,
and Jerome Levy Professor of Economics; and L. Randall Wray, Levy
senior scholar
edward elgar
These essays are by economists whose ideas and research have been
influenced by the work of Hyman P. Minsky, who was a Distinguished
Scholar at Bard’s Levy Economics Institute. Minsky’s work has seen a
resurgence in light of the worldwide financial meltdown.
on and off campus 31

Bard in Brooklyn Hosts Meetup
Bard in Brooklyn held a gathering in February at Melville House Publishing
in DUMBO, the workplace of cohost Kelly Burdick ’04. Burdick and cohosts
Dumaine Williams ’03 and KC Serota ’04 greeted nearly 50 alumni/ae at
the event, from a member of the class of ’72 through the most recent crop of
transplants. Bard in Brooklyn (BiB) has set out to connect the more than 900
Bard alumni/ae who live in the borough—to each other and to Bard. Watch
annandaleonline.org, for upcoming BiB events.
Philosophical Society Honors Professor
Francisca Oyogoa, professor of sociology and African-American studies at
Bard College at Simon’s Rock: The Early College, received the John Hope Franklin
Dissertation Fellowship for her dissertation, “Do Employers Have a Race?
Employers’ Racial Ideology and the Marginalization of Black Male Workers in
the Pullman Railroad Company, 1858–1969.” The American Philosophical
Society, founded by Benjamin Franklin in 1743, presents the award.
Energy-Producing Art Proposal Wins World Prize
Robert Flottemesch ’02, Jen DeNike MFA ’02, and two partners won the
2010 Land Art Generator Initiative design competition for their proposal,
Lunar Cubit, a public art work that would also generate electricity.
The initiative received hundreds of submissions from more than 40
countries for public art installations with the potential for large-scale clean
energy generation that could power thousands of homes. Lunar Cubit consists
of a ring of eight pyramids circling a central pyramid. More about the proposal
can be found at www.landartgenerator.org/blagi/archives/1286.
Private Tour of the Whitney for Alumni/ae
Barbara Haskell, curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art, gave 30
Bard alumni/ae and their guests a private, after-hours tour of the museum in
February, focusing on Modern Life: Edward Hopper and His Time, which she
cocurated.
Publisher, Professor Extol Italian Lyric Poet
Jonathan Galassi, publisher at Farrar, Straus and Giroux, read from his
acclaimed new translation of Giacomo Leopardi’s Canti at the Fisher Center.
He was accompanied by Associate Professor of Italian Joseph Luzzi, who
read the poetry of Leopardi (1798–1837) in the original Italian. Together,
they discussed the Canti’s fascinating composition process and Leopardi’s
prominence among European lyric poets. Bard’s Italian Studies Program
sponsored the event, which took place on February 23.
Hecht Scholar Focuses on Caesar
Garry Wills, professor of history emeritus at Northwestern University, delivered
the Anthony Hecht ’44 Lectures in the Humanities at Bard, March 7–10. The
series was rescheduled from October. Wills, the author of Lincoln at Gettysburg
and Why I Am a Catholic, among many other books, spoke on “Rome and
Rhetoric: Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar.” An additional lecture took place on
March 9, at the Morgan Library & Museum in New York City.
The biennial lecture series honors Anthony Hecht ’44 by reflecting his
lifelong interest in literature, music, the visual arts, and U.S. cultural history.
Split Between Rights Movement, Race Examined
International human rights lawyers Matiangai Sirleaf and Tendayi Achiume
analyzed how the human rights movement has failed to engage with race,
during a daylong series of panels and presentations at Bard focusing on basic
human rights and featuring noted activists and scholars.
Otis Gaddis, an attorney, scholar at Yale Divinity School, and Episcopal
priest in training, also appeared at the February 19 event and spoke about
“Is Post-Black the New Black?”
The day’s events were cosponsored by the Chinua Achebe Center for
African Writers and Artists at Bard College, Institute for International Liberal
Education, Dean of Student Affairs, and Human Rights Project.
Conference Honors Team for Sportsmanship
The men’s soccer team received the Sportsmanship Award for the fall 2010
semester from the Skyline Conference, which also recognized several Bard
student athletes for excellence.
Jacob Hartog ’12 won Player of the Year honors in men’s soccer; teammate
Deven Connelly ’12 made the First Team as a goalkeeper. Jean Wong ’14 was
named Rookie of the Year in women’s tennis, and she made the First Team.
Teammates Sofia Commito ’12 and Nelle Plotkin ’14 made the Second Team.
In women’s soccer, Perry Scheetz ’13 and Kim Larie ’12 made the First Team;
Maddy Huggins ’14 made the Second Team. In women’s volleyball, Rachel
Van Horn ’12 earned Second Team recognition.
Oldest Living Alumnus Visits Campus
The Reverend John Mears ’35 and his wife, Dorothy, visited Bard last fall for
the first time since his graduation 75 years before. At 98, Father Mears is
believed to be the oldest living alumnus of the institution (the college changed
its name from St. Stephen’s to Bard during his time here). He was delighted to
visit the parts of campus that have changed little: Stone Row, Ludlow, the
original library building, Bard Hall, and the Chapel, and he greatly enjoyed
Jonathan Galassi and Professor Joseph Luzzi. Photo: Karl Rabe
The Reverend John Mears ’35 and his wife, Dorothy. Photo: Sasha Boak-Kelly
32

seeing the newer buildings, especially the Fisher Center. He regaled those he
met with stories of his years here, including his work on campus—serving in
the commissary, maintaining the Chapel of the Holy Innocents, and even
walking Warden B. I. Bell’s dogs. At the chapel, he exchanged stories with
Bard Chaplain Bruce Chilton ’71, and met with Bard archivist Helene Tieger ’85,
who brought along his yearbook and other documents and photographs so
that Father Mears could identify his friends and reminisce.
Dawn Upshaw Sings Works by Tower, Alumni/ae
Dawn Upshaw, acclaimed soprano and artistic director of the Graduate Vocal
Arts Program at the Bard Conservatory, joined singers from the VAP in a
special concert at the Morgan Library & Museum in New York City on March
17. The performance featured the first piece written for voice by Joan Tower,
Asher B. Edelman Professor in the Arts, and works composed by current
students and recent alumni/ae, including Yiwen Shen ’10, Stefan Weisman ’92,
and Matt Schickele ’92. The event received a glowing New York Times review.
Rare Film Prints Strengthen Collection
Bard is now home to 60 rare English-subtitled film prints that constitute a
microhistory of Taiwanese cinema from the 1950s to the 1990s. “The
Taiwanese cinema of the 1980s and ’90s was one of the strongest in the
world. This collection reflects the range and sophistication of filmmaking in
Taiwan both before and during that period,” said Richard Suchenski, assistant
professor of film and electronic arts, who coordinated the acquisition from
the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office and supervises the collection.
Up-to-the-Minute Scores Now on Athletics Website
The Bard College Department of Recreation and Athletics has launched
www.bardathletics.com, a website with information about varsity sports
teams, club and intramural sports, gym and exercise class schedules, and
community membership information, as well as photo galleries, video, social
networking, and “Live Stats,” providing real-time play-by-play of varsity
contests.
Lecture Explores Urban Geography of New Orleans
Richard Campanella, associate academic director of Bard’s Urban Studies
in New Orleans Program, presented “Urban Geographies of New Orleans:
Connecting Nature, Culture, and Economy” during a February 14 visit to
Bard. He is associate director and research professor at the Center for
Bioenvironmental Research at Tulane University in New Orleans and author of
Geographies of New Orleans: Urban Fabrics Before the Storm (2006).
Procedural Elegies / Western Civ Cont’d/
by Joan Retallack, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Professor of
Humanities
roof books
Chosen by Artforum as one of the best books of 2010, this collection
of poet Joan Retallack’s selected works from the 1970s to date
presents an exhilaratingly lyric, exquisitely elegiac, and intelligently
humorous homage to poetic experimentation, civilization, and
procedure.
Town
by Kate Schapira ’01
factory school
In this innovative book of poems, Schapira creates an intricate portrait
of a made-up town built upon single facts—sometimes contradictory
but always true—contributed by fellow writers, friends, and
family. The result is a poetic vision stratified by the infrastructure,
protocol, and scruples of a very real America.
Made in Newark: Cultivating Industrial Arts and Civic
Identity in the Progressive Era
by Ezra Shales BGC ’07
rivergate books
This volume traces the innovative history of the Newark Public
Library’s experimental art exhibitions and the founding of the
Newark Museum Association, which intertwined art, culture, literacy,
civics, and consumption in a tumultuous industrial city at the turn of
the 20th century.
My Hollywood
by Mona Simpson, Sadie Samuelson Levy Professor in Languages
and Literature
alfred a. knopf
Simpson’s provocative novel alternates between the voices of composer
and new mother Claire, recently transplanted from New York
to L.A. by her husband’s television writing career, and her nanny
Lola, whose caregiver job in America supports her husband and five
children in the Philippines, and delves into the delicate balance of
disparate yet interdependent social worlds.
Griftopia: Bubble Machines, Vampire Squids, and the Long
Con That Is Breaking America
by Matt Taibbi ’92
spiegel & grau
At turns hilarious and horrifying, this trailblazing book by Rolling
Stone contributing editor Taibbi traces the roots and untangles the
web of the elite “grifter class,” the network of political and economic
power grabbers who are at the helm of this country.
Legal Tender: Love and Legitimacy in the East German
Cultural Imagination
by John Griffith Urang ’97
signale
In this original and unconventional study, Urang analyzes a textured
selection of East German films and novels to show how romance and
love stories played an intricate cultural role in Stalinist-influenced
East Germany between 1949 and 1989.
Richard Campanella. Photo: Pete Mauney ’93, MFA ’00
on and off campus 33

COMMENCEMENT AND
ALUMNI/AE WEEKEND
May 20–22, 2011
Join this year’s alumni/ae honorees Richard F. Koch '40 (Bard Medal),
Richard C. Friedman '61 (John and Samuel Bard Award), Adam Yauch '86
(Kellogg Award), Pia Carusone '03 (Dewey Award), Jean M. French (Bardian
Award), Richard M. Sherman '49 and Robert B. Sherman '49 (Doctors of
Fine Arts) for the weekend’s happenings and highlights, including:
Annandale Roadhouse
Bertelsmann Campus Center, Friday night only, 9 p.m. to 1 a.m.
BardCorps Airstream
Record an audio history of your time at Bard.
Live Music
Including the American Symphony Orchestra at the Fisher Center, Bard bands at the Annandale
Roadhouse on Friday night, and the annual Jazzfest in Blum Hall on both Friday and Saturday.
Photography Retrospective: Peter Kenner '66
Reception, Woods Studio, Saturday, 11 a.m.
BBQ Celebration
Catch up with classmates at reunion receptions, feast at the barbecue, be wowed by fireworks,
and dance the night away at Bard's biggest and best annual party.
Details at annandaleonline.org/commencement
Photo: Pete Mauney ’93, MFA ’00

Class Notes
Editor’s note: More extensive versions of many of these notes and additional notes
are posted on AnnandaleOnline.org, the Bard alumni/ae website. Class Notes of
any length, with accompanying photos, may be posted there.
’10
1st Reunion: May 20–22, 2011
Staff contact: Brad Whitmore, 845-758-7663 or whitmore@bard.edu
After a summer internship in San Francisco, Charlotte Ashlock moved to
Rochester, New York, where she works for AmeriCorps, doing afterschool
programming for teens in an inner-city library.
Justin White is an adviser in the College Success Office of the Harlem
Children’s Zone in New York City, providing academic, financial, and career
guidance to local college students.
’09
Neşe Lisa Şenol completed her master’s degree in comparative literature
and literary theory at the University of Pennsylvania in December 2010. She
continues to work on her Ph.D., which she aims to receive by 2015.
In June, Dan Whitener released a CD entitled On the Tracks, which is available
through many online distributors, including iTunes.
’08
Class correspondent: Patricia Pforte, patricia.pforte@gmail.com
Robin Brehm lives in Brooklyn, where she’s finishing her first year of the dual
M.D./M.P.H. program at the SUNY Downstate College of Medicine.
Nathan Churchill-Seder and Sarah Mercer ’07 were married in November
2010 in Seattle. Bardians in attendance included Emily Shornick, Rachel
Sanders, and Ella Reily Stocker; Charlotte Hendrickson ’07 and Shraddha
Rosidivito ’07; Lilah Steece ’06 and Victoria Jacobs ’06; and, of course,
Nathan’s mom, Bard dance professor Jean Churchill.
In 2010 Alex Davis worked as sound tech for a one-man show touring two
theater festivals in Europe. In August he also worked tech with the Edinburgh
Fringe Theater Festival in Scotland. He now works in arts and education in his
hometown of Charlottesville, Virginia.
Mary Kate Donovan lives in Madrid. Arriving in 2009 as a Fulbright grantee,
she is now a master’s candidate in Spanish and Latin American literature and
culture at New York University’s Madrid campus.
Elen Flügge is pursuing a master’s degree in sound studies at the University of
Arts in Berlin, Germany, where she is active as an installation artist and writer.
Chris Herring is pursuing a doctorate in sociology at UC Berkeley, after having
completed a master’s degree at Central European University in Budapest and
worked in New York City government.
Patricia Pforte is working on a master’s degree in museum studies at New
York University. This spring, she is interning for the Tenement Museum’s
“Tenement Talks” program.
Ace Salisbury’s short film A Headless Nun on a Swing Set that Is on Fire, a satire
of European cinema, won the award for Best Foreign Film at the 2010 Zero
Film Festival in New York City.
Sam Scoppettone and Reanna Corinne Blackford ’07 are studying city and
regional planning at Cornell University. Both plan to earn their master’s
degrees there in 2012.
In October 2010, Emily Shornick spoke on a Levi’s Photo Workshop panel
organized by Spin magazine, on the topic of breaking into music photography.
Emily lives in Park Slope, Brooklyn, and works in the photo department at
Lucky magazine.
Basha Smolen married Gus Hoffman in early 2011. She is working in conjunction
with the BBC, producing a short documentary series on fortune-tellers on
New York’s Lower East Side.
Jack Woodruff is serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in Ecuador, working on
organic fertilizer production with groups of sugar cane growers.
’07
Class correspondent: Reanna Blackford, reanna.blackford@gmail.com
Caity (Cook) Bolton completed her master’s degree in Near Eastern studies
at New York University in May 2010 and works with Sudanese refugees in
Cairo. She was right in the middle of things when the Egyptian revolution
toppled Mubarak’s government, blogging on the events in Cairo at
owayfarer.wordpress.com.
Desiree (Porter) Costello lives in Portland, Oregon, and has three jobs—at a
Montessori toddler community, at an organization called Backline
(www.yourbackline.org), and with PDX Doulas. She married her “high school
drama club crush” in August.
Stephen Dickinson spent a semester in Buenos Aires and is working toward a
master’s degree in architecture at Arizona State University. His thesis
explores urban issues, marginal spaces, and societal values.
Christine George graduated from St. John’s University School of Law in June,
and is now in a law librarianship program at the University of Texas at Austin.
Allyson Grennille received a master of arts in social sciences degree from the
University of Chicago in 2008. Her thesis focused on the construction of
authority in alternative news outlets.
Jack Woodruff ’08 working with Ecuadorian sugar cane farmers as a Peace Corps
volunteer. Photo: courtesy of Jack Woodruff
This spring, Nevada Griffin completes his final year of a joint master’s program
in international relations and public health at Yale University.
class notes 35

Shayna Hall lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with her boyfriend. She completed
her master’s degree at the University of Michigan and works for a juvenile
drug court as a therapist.
JP Lor is a nonprofit fund-raising professional at the Chinese American
International School in San Francisco. He is preparing for AIDS/LifeCycle,
a seven-day, 545-mile bike ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles in June.
Howard Megdal and his wife, Rachel, are proud parents of Mirabelle Hope,
born in March 2010. His second book, Taking the Field, will be published by
Bloomsbury in May.
Ananta Neelim lives in Melbourne, Australia, and has experienced his first
summertime Christmas and New Year’s Eve. He is training to be an economist
at Monash University.
Formerly a faculty member at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public
Health, Nicholas Risko is now a medical student at the University of Maryland
School of Medicine.
Tanya Rosen works as an associate conservation scientist for the Wildlife
Conservation Society in Montana, focusing on human-wildlife conflicts. She
also works for Project Snow Leopard in Pakistan and the International
Institute for Sustainable Development.
Bonnie Ruberg is a comparative literature Ph.D. student at UC Berkeley.
She lives in San Francisco with her husband, Scott Jon Siegel, who is a game
designer with Playdom. Scott spoke at the Montreal International Game
Summit in November 2010, and was named one of Develop magazine’s
“30 Under 30” for 2010.
Leah Schrader joined Teach for America in Phoenix, where she taught fifthgraders
with emotional difficulties. She now works in Baltimore as a science
teacher at a school for integrated arts.
Lillian Slezak works at Art in America in New York, where she “regularly
employs the writing skills and enthusiasm for contemporary art” that she
developed at Bard.
Karen Soskin manages Other Music in New York City, and tour-manages
bands for her all-women-run company, Strength In Numbers
(www.strengthin123.com), which provides tour management, books tours,
and releases records by female-identified/queer artists.
Nicholas Ugbode finished a master’s degree in business from the University
of London. He works in public relations and lives in New York City.
Riley Willis has worked in the field of global health since graduating from
Bard. She is now part of the program design team at a women’s health
organization in New York City.
’06
5th Reunion: May 20–22, 2011
Staff contact: Brad Whitmore, 845-758-7663 or whitmore@bard.edu
Class correspondent: Kirsten Dunlaevy, kdunlaevy@gmail.com
Shirin Khosravi is the field director for the Hudson Valley chapter of the
Human Rights Campaign (shirin.khosravi@hrc.org), working toward equal
marriage rights in the state of New York in 2011. She’s also heading up the
Reunion Committee for the fifth reunion of ’06, and hopes to see you there.
Gordon Stevenson is an artist and designer living and working in New York
City. In early 2011 he had a show at Ochi Gallery in Sun Valley, Idaho. Under
the name Baron Von Fancy, he designs clothing and other objects that can be
found in stores both nationally and internationally.
Max Zbiral Teller has been in Mumbai, India, for more than a year, studying
with renowned Indian classical musician Panditji Shivkumar Sharma. His
studies have been made possible by the American Institute of Indian Studies.
To hear what he’s up to, visit www.maxzt.com.
’05
Ashley Bathgate earned a master’s degree and artist diploma in 2008 from the
Yale School of Music. Soon after, she became the cellist in the award-winning,
electro-acoustic ensemble Bang on a Can All-Stars, and has been touring
internationally with them ever since. Her newest side project is a duo called
TwoSense with pianist Lisa Moore.
Olivia Tamzarian, study abroad coordinator with Learning Programs
International in Austin, Texas, presented a lecture at the Bard High School
Early College Manhattan in January on the benefits of studying abroad.
’04
Joe Vallese (MAT ’06) coedited What’s Your Exit? A Literary Detour Through
New Jersey. Published in May 2010, the book was named a top “Summer 2010
The wedding of Desiree (Porter) Costello ’07 and Salvatore Costello (fourth and third from
right) in August 2010. Others, from left to right: Izzy Sederbaum, Tracy Potter-Finns ’10,
Litta Naukushu ’08, Genya Shimkin ’08, Julia Wentzel ’09. Photo: Emily Mucha
Jean-Marc Gorelick ’02 monitoring Guinea’s presidential elections, summer 2010.
Photo: Rita Pavone
36

Beach Read” by NJ Monthly magazine, and had a cover story in Inside Jersey
magazine’s “Literary NJ” issue.
’03
Jibade-Khalil Huffman presented a series of photographs as part of the
exhibition Manual Transmission in July 2010 in New York City, as well as the
poem-as-slideshow-as-performance, Monster Island Czar, at MoMA/P.S.1
Contemporary Art Center in January. He was awarded a Lower Manhattan
Cultural Council Workspace Residency for 2010–11.
In the fall of 2010, Tanya Zaharchenko started a Ph.D. program in Slavonic
studies at Cambridge University as a member of King’s College. For more info
about the collaborative, transdisciplinary research project she has joined, visit
www.memoryatwar.org.
’02
Class correspondent: Toni Fortini Josey, toni.josey@gmail.com
Carla Aspenberg displayed a print of a shattered glass plate in the group
exhibition New Prints 2011 / Winter at the International Print Center New York.
Timothy Goldberg received his doctoral degree in mathematics from Cornell
University in August. A visiting assistant professor of mathematics at Lenoir-
Rhyne University in Hickory, North Carolina, his thesis was titled
“Hamiltonian actions in integral Kahler and generalized complex geometry.”
Jean-Marc Gorelick spent one month in Guinea, West Africa, in the summer
of 2010, working as a democracy officer in the Bureau for Africa at the United
States Agency for International Development (USAID). Jean-Marc monitored
Guinea’s first round of presidential elections on June 27 and assisted the
USAID mission in coordinating its elections assistance activities.
Dara Marcus will be spending the summer in Berlin and Beirut, and welcomes any
Bardians in those parts of the world to contact her at darabmarcus@yahoo.com.
Skye McNeill is pursuing her master of fine arts degree in graphic design at the
Maryland Institute College of Art. She recently designed four book covers for
Rescue Press in Milwaukee. Visit www.skyemcneill.com for info and images.
Molly Schulman lives in Los Angeles, where she is busy restoring her
1885-era house and trying to get her paper goods company off the ground.
You can see her work at www.mshoelace.com. Molly writes a collaborative
blog with her sister, Amanda Schulman Brokaw ’99, which recounts the
adventures of two Brooklyn boys through short stories and illustrations—visit
ZekeAndDestroy.wordpress.com.
’00
Levi Stolove is an award-winning wedding photographer—a PDN Top Knots
winner, WPJA member, and well published in magazines and blogs specializing
in weddings.
’97
Class correspondent: Julia Wolk Munemo, juliamunemo@mac.com
Nora Kovacs married Peter Isaac last September in Budapest, Hungary. Many
of her friends from Bard attended the event, including Tamas Papp, Zsofia
Rudnay, Zoltan Bruckner ’94, and Ana Pericic, Edina Deme, Ivan Lacko, and
Radek Dyntar (all PIEs of 1995–96). Nora lives in Vienna and works at the
Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.
While studying music in Brazil, Kenny Kozol met his wife, Sandra. They now live in
Boston with Sandra’s daughter, Samia (11), and Kenny and Sandra’s two children,
Madalena (2) and Benicio (1 year in October). Kenny plays music with his
Latin band, Ten Tumbao (www.tentumbao.com), is working on a CD of original
children’s music, and teaches music and Spanish at Brookline High School.
Ana Martinez is traveling around the world with her husband, Bryan, and
their 5-year-old son, Ricky. Follow their adventures on their blog: www.
riderbymyside.com.
Meri Pritchett has entered her second career. After a successful decade as an
Emmy-nominated, docu-reality television writer, producer, and director in Los
Angeles, she is now a life enrichment manager at a nursing home in Austin, Texas.
Adam Weiss is an architect with Wilson Architectural Group in Houston and
is happily married to Lisa Wildermuth.
’96
15th Reunion: May 20–22, 2011
Staff contact: Tricia Fleming, 845-758-7089 or fleming@bard.edu
Class correspondent: Gavin Kleespies, gwkleespies@hotmail.com
In April 2011 Christina Amato completed a six-month internship in book conservation
at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C. She enjoyed
working on rare books such as a 17th-century recipe book and a 15th-century
incunabulum.
’01
10th Reunion: May 20–22, 2011
Staff contact: Sasha Boak-Kelly, 845-758-7407 or boak@bard.edu
Class correspondent: Sung Jee Yoo, sujeyo@gmail.com
Hannah (Adams) Burque and Christopher Burque were married on August 28,
2010, in their hometown of Chicago. Bardian guests included Ursula Arsenault,
Ashley Kammrath, Matt Lucas, and Sam Morgan ’03. Hannah and Chris split
their time between Los Angeles and Chicago, run a music licensing company
together, and raise Chris’s daughter (now Hannah’s stepdaughter), Estella.
Nick Jones’s play The Coward, a comedy about 18th-century England’s dueling
culture, had a run in New York City in late 2010 at LCT3, a Lincoln Center
initiative featuring the work of emerging playwrights and directors.
Hannah (Adams) Burque ’01 and Christopher Burque at their Chicago wedding in
August 2010 with Hannah’s new stepdaughter, Estella. Photo: Otto Arsenault
class notes 37

Gavin W. Kleespies was the coeditor of Rediscovering the Hooper-Lee-Nichols
House, a collection of short essays by some of the top preservation scholars in
New England on the extensive investigation of one 17th-century house.
Amy Kosh lives in Keene Valley, New York, where she makes art and teaches
photography and yoga. Her photography has been included in exhibitions in
Brooklyn, Manhattan, and the north country.
At the end of 2010 Amie Siegel received the prestigious James and Audrey
Foster Prize from the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston. She also was
one of 18 artists in The Talent Show, an exhibition at MoMA P.S.1 earlier
this year.
’95
Noah Mullette-Gillman has published his first novel, The White Hairs, available
at Amazon.com, lulu.com, and Barnes & Noble.
’94
Last summer Tara Lynn Wagner and her husband Josh Payne welcomed their
daughter, Stella Rae, into the world. Five weeks later, Tara Lynn spent the
week in Rhinebeck, reporting on the Chelsea Clinton wedding for NY1.
’92
Class correspondent Andrea J. Stein, stein@bard.edu
’91
20th Reunion: May 20–22, 2011
Staff contact: Jane Brien ’89, 845-758-7406 or brien@bard.edu
’89
Class correspondent: Lisa DeTora, detoral@lafayette.edu
Peter Criswell is executive director of Big Apple Performing Arts, the umbrella
organization for the 250-member New York City Gay Men’s Chorus and the
45-member LGBTQ Youth Pride Chorus. He recently completed his master of
science in leadership and strategic management from Manhattanville College.
’87
Class correspondent: David Avallone, ednoon@aol.com
’86
25th Reunion: May 20-22, 2011
Staff contact: Jane Brien ’89, 845-758-7406 or brien@bard.edu
Class correspondent: Chris LeGoff, cak64@comcast.net
Over the winter China Jorrin exhibited photographs from her Hudson River
Psychiatric Center project at Gallery on the Green in Pawling, New York, and
at the Hudson Opera House in Hudson, New York. In April she had a show of
her Polaroids in Los Angeles.
’85
Philip Pucci has secured the exclusive worldwide motion picture rights to the
life story of Andy Kessler, legendary New York City skateboarder, graffiti artist,
and skate park designer. Philip is in development talks to produce a major
motion picture based on Kessler’s story. Reach him at Philip@PhilipPucci.com.
Leonard Schwartz is professor of literary arts at The Evergreen State College
in Olympia, Washington, where he lives with his wife, Zhang Er, who also
teaches at Evergreen, and their daughter, Cleo. His most recent book is The
Sudden, from Chax Press.
’83
Jesse Browner’s fourth novel, Everything Happens Today, will be published in
the United States and Italy by Europa Editions in October.
A 2007 recipient of an Albee Foundation fellowship, George Hunka directed
his play What She Knew in New York in December. In January, EyeCorner Press
published his first book, Word Made Flesh: Philosophy, Eros and Contemporary
Tragic Drama. He married pianist Marilyn Nonken in 2008; they have two
daughters, Goldie Celeste and Billie Swift.
Tim Long premiered his film Key West: Bohemia in the Tropics at the Tropic
Cinema in Key West in October 2010. Arlo Haskell ’00, media director at the
Key West Literary Seminar, was a consultant on the film, which had its broadcast
premiere on Florida PBS in November.
’82
Bill Abelson is putting finishing touches on his third screenplay, Dr. Canard, a
romantic comedy set in contemporary Seattle. An earlier script, The Blacktivist
(cowritten with Mark Kirby), reached the quarterfinals of the Filmmakers
International Screenwriting Competition. Additionally, this spring marks Bill’s
20th season as public address announcer for the University of Washington
baseball team.
John Leaman released another recording by his electronica project
Anesthesia Lounge. The CD, Under the Influence, can be found on the website
anesthesialounge.com and elsewhere on the Web.
’81
30th Reunion: May 20–22, 2011
Staff contact: Jane Brien ’89, 845-758-7406 or brien@bard.edu
Kristin Bundesen is happily living in Santa Fe, after completing her doctorate
at the University of Nottingham, UK. She teaches at Santa Fe University of Art
and Design.
Orange Seats, China Jorrin ’86
’80
Linda Mensch lives in Warwick, New York. She directs the Moving Company
Modern Dance Center, and also teaches dance for Road Recovery Foundation
(www.roadrecovery.org), working with kids who are wards of the state.
Linda’s line of jewelry can now be found in Whole Foods and other shops.
38

’79
East Chicago Central High School teacher Gale Carter spent part of the
summer of 2010 taking part in the United Kingdom Parliament’s Teachers’
Institute—one of only three teachers selected from outside the UK for this
honor. She spent a week observing Parliament, met with several of its
members, and met then newly elected Prime Minster David Cameron at 10
Downing Street.
’78
Cassandra Chan’s new book, A Spider on the Stairs, was released in July
by St. Martin’s Minotaur. In honor of the release, Cassandra has learned
Dreamweaver and put up a new website: www.cassandrachan.com.
Gretchen Fierle has been appointed chief communications officer of
HealthNow New York, Inc., the parent company of BlueCross BlueShield of
Western New York and BlueShield of Northeastern New York.
’77
The White City, a ballet choreographed by Tony Award winner Anne Reinking
to music composed by Bruce Wolosoff, was staged in Chicago in March.
’75
Sculptural works by Jim Perry were included in an exhibition in Hopewell, New
Jersey, in October. Jim’s work was featured in the Whitney Biennial Exhibition in
1975, after which he took a three-decade hiatus from the art world, working for the
New York Times. He lives in Princeton, New Jersey, with his wife, Hetty Baiz ’72.
’73
Leslie Phillips’s husband, Glen Ceely, died in May 2009. They had three children,
Seth, Courtney, and the late Robbie. Leslie’s sister, Anne Phillips ’69, died in 2010
(see In Memoriam, this issue). Leslie lives in Edmonds, Washington, with her son
Seth. Her daughter, Courtney, lives nearby in downtown Seattle. Leslie enjoys
hearing from Bard friends and can be reached at lesliephillips@mac.com.
’72
Catharin Dalpino is now the Joan M. Warburg Professor of International
Relations at Simmons College, and remains a visiting fellow in Southeast
Asian Studies at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.
She continues to advocate for assistance to Vietnamese people affected by
Agent Orange and is conducting research on how we teach the Vietnam War
to the generation of Americans born after 1975.
’71
40th Reunion: May 20–22, 2011
Staff contact: Anne Canzonetti ’84, 845-758-7187 or canzonet@bard.edu
In early 2011, Larry Merrill had a one-man exhibition of photographs, Looking
at Trees, at the George Eastman House in Rochester, New York.
’70
In June, Steven Miller, executive director of the Morris Museum, Morristown,
New Jersey, received the Honey and Maurice Axelrod Award for contributions
in teaching about the Holocaust, genocide, and the reduction of bias, bigotry,
and prejudice.
’69
Class correspondent: Elaine Marcotte Hyams, eshyams@yahoo.com
Regan O’Connell Burnham writes: “Still in Western North Carolina enjoying
the flute, the grandchildren, and working on a book, heaven help me! Good
health is enjoyed, but not taken for granted. Greetings to all.”
Pierre Joris, who commutes between his Bay Ridge home and Albany, where
he teaches Heidegger and the poets, often stops at Bard for lunch with his
son, Miles ’14.
Eugene Kahn is working on a novel about the gay scene in Williamsburg,
Brooklyn.
Liz Larkin is serving as president of the Faculty Advisory Council at the
Sarasota-Manatee campus of the University of South Florida.
Peter Minichiello has relocated to New York City from Boston, where for more
than five years he was the director of development for the Boston Symphony
Orchestra, Inc. He is now senior vice president for development at New York
Downtown Hospital, part of the New York–Presbyterian Healthcare System.
He also has a home in Stuyvesant Falls, New York, in Columbia County.
Norman Weinstein’s “Introduction to Humanities” course at the College of
Western Idaho is Bard-oriented. He begins with Steely Dan’s “Caves of
Altamira,” uses Tom Meyer’s translation of the Dao de Jing, and concludes
with Pierre Joris’s essay on the poetry of the diaspora.
’63
Class correspondent: Penny Axelrod, drpennyaxelrod@fairpoint.net
20th Century Fox has purchased the rights to The Locator novels by Richard
Greener. The main character in the book series, Walter Sherman, will be
introduced as a character in the FOX television series Bones early in 2011. A
spin-off series featuring Sherman and using Greener’s novels is planned for
the following season.
’62
Eve Sullivan, founder of Parents Forum (www.parentsforum.org), was named
the Arminta Jacobson Parenting Education Professional of the Year by the
Texas Association of Parent Educators. Eve writes that she is “delighted to be
a grandmother of two darling little girls,” both living in the Boston area, close
to her home in Cambridge.
’59
Carolee Schneemann was honored with one of six Lifetime Achievement
Awards for 2011 by the Women’s Caucus for Art, putting her in the company
of past recipients Georgia O’Keeffe, Louise Nevelson, Alice Neel, and many
other distinguished visual artists.
’57
In the fall of 2010 Mari Lyons had her 14th one-person exhibition, Sunsets/Hillsides,
at the First Street Gallery in New York, receiving a glowing review in the Wall
Street Journal. She continues to live and work in both New York City and Woodstock.
’52
Class correspondent: Kit Ellenbogen, max4794@netzero.net
While on a visit to New York City from Menlo Park, California, last November,
Mort Besen found himself just in time to attend the big 150th Bard bash and
Leon’s 35th anniversary at Jazz at Lincoln Center. Great was his surprise when
he found himself pictured in a Bard chemistry lab in one of the many archival
photographs exhibited for the occasion.
class notes 39

In early 2011 Kit Ellenbogen attempted to retire from her work as a lawyer at
Advocates for the Children of New Jersey, but they insisted that, at least until
this June, she work from home for 10 hours a month. She will retire one day!
After living most of his life in New Jersey, Bob Stempel and his wife, Ray,
relocated to Highland Beach, Florida, in 2008. Bob has already begun planning
for his 60th Bard reunion in May 2012, where he hopes the class of ’52 will be
well represented.
’51
60th Reunion: May 20–22, 2011
Staff contact: Anne Canzonetti ’84, 845-758-7187 or canzonet@bard.edu
George Coulter is very busy, although he has retired from his work as a
dentist. He lives in Pawling, New York, where he has served on the Village
Planning Board, is president of the cemetery board of advisors, is involved in
the Chamber of Commerce, and is director emeritus of the library. In the fall
of 2010 the library board dedicated the library’s main building to George and
his mother.
’40
Class correspondent: Dick Koch, dickkoch88@gmail.com or 510-526-3731
Neil Gray is an Episcopal priest, retired. He has Parkinson’s disease, but is still
able to use a computer.
Dick Koch is happy to report that he will be awarded the Bard Medal this
May. The ceremony will take place at the President’s Dinner during
Commencement and Alumni/ae Weekend. Dick and his wife, Gladys, look
forward to making the trip east from their home in Berkeley, California.
’39
Jack Honey writes that he is “still fortunate in having Mary,” his wife of about
65 years. As a Rhinebeck resident, Jack can be driven to the Bard campus,
and enjoys looking around.
Domenick Papendrea reports that his physical health is poor, but his mind is
good. He loves Bard.
Joe Pickard lives in an assisted care facility, where he has been for six years.
He has happy memories of Bard, which he last visited for his 60th reunion,
and sends his best wishes to all Bardians.
George Rosenberg lives in Tucson, Arizona, with “the same loving room-mate
of 55 years (wife #1).” He also enjoys his five children, ten grandchildren, and
one great-grandchild.
’38
Lou Koenig reports that he has been retired for 22 years from New York
University, where he taught political science. He is still writing in his field.
Lou is happy to have attended Reunion Weekend 2010.
Charlie McManus only attended Bard for two years, but still has happy
memories of his time here.
’35
The Rev. John Mears is an Episcopal priest serving at two churches. He visited
the Bard campus in the fall of 2010—his first visit since his graduation 75 years
before. He enjoyed meeting the alumni/ae affairs staff, and numerous members
of the Bard faculty during his day of touring both the old and the new Bard.
Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts
’12
Dustin Hodges (painting), Andrew Lampert (film/video), Adam Marnie
(sculpture), Ed Steck (writing), and Nathan Baker ’13 (photography) were all
represented in the College Art Association New York Area MFA Exhibition, which
ran from February 9 to April 9 at the Hunter College/Times Square Gallery.
Two of their 2012 MFA classmates, Sergei Tcherepnin (music/sound) and
Lucy Dodd (sculpture), were also represented, with a collaborative piece.
’11
Trisha Baga performed her piece Madonna y El Niño at the Housatonic
Museum of Art in Bridgeport, Connecticut, on October 14. The performance
was in conjunction with the exhibition In the company of . . . curated by Terri C.
Smith CCS ’08.
Richard Garet created a nearly one-hour-long projected installation titled
Electrochroma and presented it as part of the Crossing the Line Festival organized
by the French Institute Alliance Française. The piece was installed last
September in The Invisible Dog Art Center in Brooklyn and was reviewed by
Robert Shuster in the Village Voice.
Duron Jackson had a solo exhibition, Selected Works, at 1 GAP Gallery in
Brooklyn from October 8 to January 23.
Caitlin Keogh and Joanne Cheung ’13 were part of Another Romance: The 2010
New Wight Biennial Exhibition at UCLA in September.
Tim Ridlen had a video installation at Renwick Gallery in New York in September.
Sara Wintz and Thom Donovan cocurated The Segue Reading Series at the
Bowery Poetry Club in New York for December and January.
’10
Alisa Baremboym participated in the group shows Real Nonfiction at BRIC
Rotunda Gallery in Brooklyn and 179 Canal / Anyways at White Columns in
New York. Also featured in the White Columns show were Caitlin Keogh ’11,
Thomas Torres Cordova ’08, and Charles Mayton ’08.
William Lamson ’07, video still from A Line Describing the Sun, at Pierogi’s The Boiler in
Brooklyn. Photo: courtesy of William Lamson
Paul Branca and Nathan Baker ’13 took part in the small group exhibition A
Knot for Ariadne in December and January at Kavi Gupta Gallery in Berlin.
40

A. K. Burns and Katherine Hubbard collaborated on The Brown Bear: Neither
Particular Nor General, at Recess Activities, Inc., in New York last fall. They
adapted the storefront into a working installation that intentionally conflated
the hair and art salon, and invited other artists to present work in the space
each Saturday, including Joshua Kit Clayton, Corrine Fitzpatrick ’11, and
Sergei Tcherepnin ’12.
Lauren Luloff had an installation in September at Buoy in Kittery, Maine, a
gallery cooperative cofounded in 2008 by Jeremy LeClair. She also participated
in the group exhibition Material Issue and Other Matters at Canada in
New York.
’09
Kabir Carter participated in several European sound art festivals and conferences
in September: Transmissions at Overgaden in Copenhagen; Sound ACTs
at Aarhus University in Denmark; and Full Pull 2010 at Inter Arts Center in
Malmö, Sweden.
Christopher DeLaurenti performed the live surround-sound version of his
piece N30: Live at the WTO Protest November 30, 1999 at INSTAL in Glasgow.
That same month he performed in Seattle as a member of the Seattle
Phonographers Union.
Jeremy Hoevenaar, Brett Price ’10, and Corrine Fitzpatrick ’11 read new work
at MoMA P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center in Long Island City in October.
’08
Debra Baxter and Dawn Cerny ’12 were in a three-person exhibition of
Seattle-based artists, Every Distance is Not Near, curated by Marji Vecchio ’01
at Sheppard Fine Arts Gallery in Reno, Nevada.
Corin Hewitt was one of the 25 recipients of the Joan Mitchell Foundation
2010 Painters & Sculptors Grant in the amount of $25,000. Corin is an
assistant professor of sculpture at Virginia Commonwealth University.
Alisha Kerlin’s solo show, Cat and Mouse, was on view at Real Fine Arts in
New York last spring, from May 22 to June 27. She also participated in shows
at MoMA P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center in Long Island City and Ditch
Projects in Springfield, Oregon.
’07
An article on Corinne May Botz appeared in the November 3, 2010, issue of
the New York Times. Corinne also did several lectures and readings surrounding
the publication of her book Haunted Houses (The Monacelli Press, 2010).
William Lamson had a solo show, A Line Describing the Sun, at Pierogi’s The
Boiler in Brooklyn in September. A two-channel video and sculpture created in
the Mojave Desert, the installation was a record of two daylong performances
in which Lamson imprinted a hemispherical arc into the desert floor.
Sreshta Rit Premnath had a solo show, LEO (procedures in search of an original
index), at Galleryske in Bangalore, India, from October 22 to December 4.
Dominique Rey’s solo show Pilgrims, on view at the University of Winnipeg
last fall, featured her oil paintings and ink drawings, and she also gave a public
talk and performance. Dominique was Winnipeg’s Visual Arts Ambassador
for the duration of the city’s designation as Cultural Capital of Canada in 2010.
Chris Sollars presented the solo exhibitions Trouble Everyday at Booklyn Artists
Alliance in Brooklyn and ri-FLEKT at WEartspace in Oakland, California.
Anna Vitale got a lot of press in 2010: her chapbook Anna Vitale’s Pop Poems was
published by OMG; her story “She-Boxes” was published in an issue of Vanitas;
and the online journal textsound, which she cofounded, was featured in a special
section on “Indie Innovators” in the November/December Poets & Writers.
’06
Joshua Thorson curated The Sense Ritual as part of the Mix 23 New York
Queer Experimental Film Festival in November. A screening of eight videos by
various artists, it included works by Glen Fogel ’10 and MFA faculty member
Cecilia Dougherty.
Annette Wehrhahn, Munro Galloway, Paul Branca ’10, and Pat Palermo
opened a gallery in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, last August called Soloway.
As of this writing, they’d held five exhibitions, including a solo show by Fawn
Krieger ’05 and the small group show Dirty Hands, which featured Wehrhahn
and Jessie Stead ’07.
’05
Wynne Greenwood presented Strap-on TVs at Lawrimore Project in Seattle in
December. It was the fourth installment in an ongoing series of exhibitions in
which artists are paired with a writer and a page from Stéphane Mallarmé’s
Un Coup de Dés. Greenwood was paired with Amra Brooks.
’04
Sue Havens showed new work in the group exhibition Hand’s Tide at Regina
Rex in Queens. She is also featured on the website artinbrooklyn.com.
Matt King had a solo exhibition, Fall Solos 2010, at Arlington Arts Center in
Arlington, Virginia, last fall.
Carlos Motta took part in How to Do Things with Words, an exhibition of radical
speech acts presented by The Sheila C. Johnson Design Center at Parsons
The New School for Design. His piece Six Acts: An Experiment in Narrative
Justice (2010) reenacted a series of speeches concerning the concept of
peace, originally delivered by six liberal Colombian presidential candidates
from the last century who were assassinated because of their ideologies.
Laurel Sparks participated in the inaugural exhibition Dramatis Personae at
DODGEgallery in New York last September.
Mark Swanson had a solo show, Acquisitions in Context, at the Kemper
Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City, Missouri. The show provided
context for his sculpture Descent of Civilization, which pays homage to the
herds of Plains bison that were killed off in the 19th century. The sculpture
stands in downtown Kansas City and was commissioned by the Kemper
Museum in partnership with DST Systems, Inc.
’03
Samuael Topiary’s multimedia performance piece Landscape with the Fall of
Icarus was presented at Abrons Arts Center in New York in November.
’02
Carrie Moyer, in conversation with Mira Schor, presented “How to Paint,
Write, Teach, Be an Activist, and Generally Try to Stay Sane” as part of the
SkowheganTALKS lecture series in October.
’00
Jan Baracz presented a solo show, How to Float Above the Psychic Stampede
and Other Traditional Remedies, at Stephan Stoyanov Gallery in New York.
class notes 41

’95
Tim Griffin received a 2010 Arts Writers Grant for his book Compression. The
Creative Capital / Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant Program awarded a
total of $600,000 to 20 individual writers in four categories—articles, blogs,
books, and short-form writing—to support projects addressing both general
and specialized art audiences.
’93
Derek Haffar was part of the three-person exhibition A State of Flux from
September 12 to October 10 at FiveMyles in Brooklyn.
Jill Vasileff participated in two group shows last summer: Sensory Overload at
Corcoran Gallery of Art/Gallery 31 and Flower (Re) Power at the Housatonic
Museum of Art in Bridgeport, Connecticut, which was curated by Terri C.
Smith CCS ’08.
’04
Jennifer Dindinger is a regional watershed restoration specialist in the Sea
Grant Extension Program at the University of Maryland.
Maureen Flores was appointed sustainability manager for the 2016 Olympic
Games in Brazil.
Jon Griesser and his wife, Sarah, welcomed a daughter, Anya Claire Griesser,
on Wednesday, January 5, 2011. Anya Claire is named for Sarah’s maternal
grandmother, Anita, and Jon’s paternal grandmother, Clara.
’87
Maddy Rosenberg had an installation based on her artist’s book, Berlin Bestiary,
in Space and Sequence at the Free Library in Philadelphia; she had pieces in two
shows in London. She curated Chemical Reactions at Central Booking in Brooklyn.
Bard Center for Environmental Policy
’10
Kristina Connolly works as a quality control analyst in the chemistry department
at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals.
Emily Fischer is an energy program associate for Environment America, based
in Boston.
As an energy analyst with the Energy Studies Institute at the National
University of Singapore, Matthew Guenther is conducting research on how
Singapore is affected by the Cancun Agreements.
Victor Pierre Melendez works as an environmental associate and community
project leader for Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, Inc., in its Environmental
Action Department.
Kaleena Miller had the opportunity to take an all-expense-paid trip to play
volleyball in the Maldives, where she is also researching the Maldivian
president’s efforts to combat the effects of climate change.
’08
Kate Rosenfeld is the senior director of government affairs at D.C. Legislative
and Regulatory Services.
’07
Lindsey Lusher Shute is now the director of state policy at Transportation
Alternatives. She also directs the National Young Farmers Coalition.
’06
Ben Hoen coauthored a federal study on the impact of wind farms on property
values, which was released in November by Lawrence Berkeley National
Laboratory, where he works.
’05
Rachel Baker and her sustainability team at Kaiser Permanente were recognized
as sustainable business leaders by Supply & Demand Chain Executive.
She and the team received the 2010 Green Supply Chain Award.
Steven Wilcox is a habitat biologist for the USDA Natural Resources
Conservation Service in the Division of Wildlife Resources.
Bard Graduate Center: Decorative Arts, Design History,
Material Culture
’06
In spring 2010, Jacquelann Killian completed her stint as the Eleanor
Norcross Fellow in Decorative Arts at Fitchburg Art Museum in Fitchburg,
Massachusetts, where she helped the museum acquire a Louis C. Tiffany
Favrile glass vase and a Philadelphia rococo silver cream jug.
Kate Montlack is the registrar and manager of museum records at the
Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland.
Monica Obniski, assistant curator of American decorative arts at the Art
Institute of Chicago, passed her preliminary doctoral exams in architectural
and design history at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Her dissertation will
examine the postwar design projects of Alexander Girard.
Rebecca Tilles is a curatorial research associate for decorative arts
and sculpture in the Art of Europe Department at the Museum of Fine
Arts, Boston. She is currently working on the reinstallation of 18th-century
English period rooms, which will open in 2012.
’05
Having marked her first year as a survivor of cancer, Erika Brandt is approaching
life from a new perspective. She plans to move to Berlin in the spring, and will
take a year to read, write, and travel with her partner, Joe.
Martina Grünewald completed her doctoral studies at the University of
Applied Arts Vienna, Austria. She successfully defended her dissertation,
“Doing Design, Practicing Thrift: Material Culture and the Social Construction
of Value at Auctions in Vienna,” in November 2010.
Jen Larson is the collections specialist for the Center for Book Arts, New York
City, where she has compiled an in-house database and online digital collections
catalogue of the Center’s fine art, reference materials, and institutional
archive. Jen is also a project archivist at Parsons The New School of Design’s
Kellen Design Archives, where she is processing the archival holdings of
designer and educator Michael Kalil (1943–91).
’00
Ayesha Abdur-Rahman has launched Lanka Decorative Arts (LDA), a society
for the study and appreciation of the decorative arts of Sri Lanka. This August,
in Colombo, LDA is scheduled to present its first international Symposium on
42

the Decorative Arts of Sri Lanka: “The Interconnected World of Eurasia.” For
details, e-mail lankadecorativearts@gmail.
Caroline Hannah gave a talk last fall titled “Henry Varnum Poor, Wharton Esherick,
and Modern Craft in the USA” at the Second Annual Anne d’Harnoncourt
Symposium, which was held at the University of Pennsylvania in conjunction
with the exhibition Wharton Esherick and the Birth of the American Modern.
Center for Curatorial Studies
’10
Michał Jachuła, a curator at the Arsenal Gallery in Bialystok, Poland, curated
Ana Ostoya: Autopis, Notes, Copies, and Masterpieces at Galeria Foksal in Warsaw.
Ginny Kollak was selected as one of three participants in the 2011 edition
of the Young Curator’s Residency program at Fondazione Sandretto Re
Rebaudengo in Turín. She has been traveling throughout Italy and Sicily,
visiting artists, curators, and institutions.
Daniel Mason curated Broom: The Full Sweep at Stevenson Library, Bard College.
The exhibition presented all 21 volumes of Broom, the seminal avant-garde
magazine published from 1921 to 1924.
Gabi Ngcobo returned to Johannesburg, where she has been working on a
project with Manifesta 8 and the Manifesta Foundation, heading a team to
examine the usefulness of a Manifesta model for Africa.
Mackenzie Schneider continues to work on the AS-AP project with Ann
Butler, director of the CCS Library and Archives, and also works part-time
at Renwick Gallery in SoHo, Manhattan.
Yulia Tikhonova, founder of the ART4BrightonBeach initiative, was the
moderator between four women’s art collectives—A Feminist Tea Party,
The Brainstormers, For the Birds, and The Projects—at the College Art
Association’s annual conference in February.
Andrea Torreblanca and Carlos Palacios are both on the arts faculty in the masters
in visual arts program at Morelos State University in Cuernavaca, Mexico.
’09
Mireille Bourgeois, formerly programmer/curator at Saw Video in Ottawa, is
now the director at the Centre for Art Tapes in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Katerina Ilanes is the curator of an ongoing series, “Queers on Film,” at the
LGBT Center in New York City.
Christina Linden curated About the Object—which was first presented as her
thesis exhibition at the Center for Curatorial Studies—at Ramapo College in
Mahwah, New Jersey. The art gallery in Ramapo’s Berrie Center for the
Performing and Visual Arts is directed by Sydney Jenkins ’96.
Bartholomew Ryan, after working for a year as a curatorial fellow, is the new
assistant curator at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis.
’08
Tyler Emerson-Dorsch, a partner at Dorsch Gallery in Miami, presented
Clifton Childree’s Orchestrated Gestures, a solo show of new sculptures in the
form of old arcade machines, with film and audio components.
A text by Milena Hoegsberg, an independent curator in New York City, was
included in The Biennial Reader, an anthology of large-scale perennial exhibitions
of contemporary art.
Terri Smith curated “It’s for You”: Conceptual Art and the Telephone at the
Housatonic Museum of Art in Bridgeport, Connecticut, where she is curator
and collections manager.
’07
Kate McNamara is the director and chief curator of Boston University Art
Gallery. She was formerly a curatorial assistant at P.S.1.
Chen Tamir, an independent curator and critic and director of Flux Factory in
Manhattan, curated Into the Eye of the Storm at the Israeli Center for Digital
Art, Holon.
’06
Montserrat Albores Gleason, an independent curator in Mexico City, helped
to organize Clarisse Hahn at PETRA, a space where she organizes projects
with Pablo Sigg.
Zeljka Himbele-Kozul curated Carey Young: Uncertain Contracts at the Museum
of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, where she is curatorial assistant of contemporary
art. Zeljka and William Heath cocurated My Little / Membrane, two
exhibitions in one that open May 9 at NURTUREart in New York City.
After three years as curatorial associate at the New Museum in Manhattan,
Amy Mackie is now director of visual arts at the Contemporary Arts Center in
New Orleans.
’05
Aubrey Reeves is an artist, curator, and arts manager based in Toronto. Her
dual-screen, 16 mm film installation, Glide, had its international premiere at
the Kassel Documentary Film and Video Festival in Kassel, Germany.
Erin Riley-Lopez, an independent curator in New York, curated Acting Out at
the Bronx River Art Center.
Yasmeen Siddiqui organized a book launch for A Contingent Object of
Research. She edited the book for Do Ho Suh’s The Bridge Project at the
Storefront for Art and Architecture, where she was formerly curator at large.
’03
Ingrid Chu, codirector of Forever & Today in New York City, cocurated O Zhang:
A Splendid Future for the Passed, an installation by Zhang, a New York–based
Chinese artist.
’02
Cassandra Coblentz curated Unlocking, an exploration of the key by artist
Jean Shin and architect Brian Ripel, at the Scottsdale Museum of
Contemporary Art in Arizona, where she is associate curator.
Jenni Sorkin, postdoctoral residential fellow at the Getty Research Institute in
Los Angeles, was invited to participate in a special Centennial Session on
Feminism at the College Art Association’s conference in February.
’01
Cecilia Brunson cofounded AMA Fellowship, a grant facilitating art residencies
abroad for Chilean artists. After moving to London in 2010 and curating a
series of monographic shows on contemporary Chilean artists for House of
Propellers, she was invited by Phillips de Pury and Saatchi gallery to organize
Tectonic Shifts: Contemporary Art from Chile.
Dermis León, an art critic, curator, and art historian, curated Des-Habitable,
an exhibition about architecture and urbanism in Latin America, in Peru.
class notes 43

’00
Sofía Hernández Chong Cuy is the curator of contemporary art for the
Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros, based in New York and Caracas. She
is responsible for collection growth, exhibitions, grants, and other projects
related to the institution’s mission to enhance appreciation of the diversity,
sophistication, and range of art from Latin America.
’98
A text by Sarah Cook, “The behaviors of new media—towards a post-hype
‘hospitality’ aesthetics?” was recently published in Art Lies. Sarah is the
coeditor of CRUMB and a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of
Sunderland, UK.
’97
Brian Wallace curated From Huguenot to Microwave: New and Recent Works by
Marco Maggi at the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, SUNY New Paltz, where
he has been curator since 2006.
’96
Regine Basha, an independent curator living in New York City, curated
An Exchange with Sol LeWitt, a huge, two-part exhibition that was jointly
presented by MASS MoCA and Cabinet.
Rachel Gugelberger, an independent curator/writer living in New York City,
curated What Is Left at the Curatorial Research Lab at Winkleman Gallery in
New York.
Graduate Vocal Arts Program
’11
Julia Bullock will debut at Carnegie Hall with the American Symphony
Orchestra in 2012, singing Délage’s Quatre Poèmes Hindous.
Jeffrey Hill, tenor, was a winner of the Marilyn Horne Foundation Vocal
Competition in July, and sang a recital in Weill Recital Hall in January. He’ll
also perform in Mozart’s Zaide at Zankel Hall with Maestro David Robertson
and Ensemble ACJW.
’10
Mary Bonhag, soprano, teaches at Johnston State College in Vermont and has
founded a new chamber music series, Scrag Mountain Music, with her husband,
bassist Evan Premo. She returned to Bard in February to perform Sibelius’s
Luonnotar and Handel’s “Let the Bright Seraphim” with the American
Symphony Orchestra at the Fisher Center.
Ariadne Greif, soprano, founded Uncommon Temperament, “a bold new
Baroque collective based in Manhattan,” and performed in Le Poisson Rouge,
earning a great review in the New York Times.
Katarzyna S˛adej, mezzo-soprano, will give a recital of French, American, Polish,
and Spanish songs at Arlington Street Church in Boston this spring. Recent performances
have included a September 2010 debut with the Lviv Philharmonic in
Ukraine, and a concert with Marianna Humetska and Nada Kolundzija, pianists,
and Lynn Kuo, violin, at the Tchaikovsky National Museum Academy in Kiev.
Megan (Taylor) Weikleenget, soprano, is a vocalist for the U.S. Coast Guard
Band. She will be touring nationally and internationally, performing a wide
variety of music, from patriotic to popular to classical.
’09
Solange Merdinian, mezzo-soprano, this season performs at the Argentinian
Consulate for the Atahualpa Yupanqui Foundation, as Bradamante in Handel’s
Alcina with Pocket Opera New York, at WMP Concert Hall in the Armenian
Journey series, and in Argentinian folk music concerts in Washington, D.C.
’08
Yulia van Doren, soprano, became the first singer to win all four North American
Bach vocal competitions. During the 2010–11 season she was featured artist at
the Cartagena International Music Festival, Colombia, where she performed
Bach’s B-minor Mass with soprano Dawn Upshaw, artistic director of the
Graduate Vocal Arts Program, and the Orchestra Sinfonia of London.
Yohan Yi, bass-baritone, is a member of the Los Angeles Opera Young Artists
program. Yohan returned to Bard in April to perform as soloist in Brahms’s Ein
deutsches Requiem (German Requiem) with Leon Boststein and the American
Symphony Orchestra, Bard College Conservatory Orchestra, and Bard College
Chamber Singers at the Fisher Center.
In Memoriam
’03
Luke J. Gabler, 30, died on November 6, 2010. After attending Simon’s Rock
College of Bard, he majored in film and electronic arts at Bard. His family and
many friends will remember him always as a gifted artist who left a huge
archive of drawings, paintings, films, photos, and lively dispatches from all
corners of the globe. In recent years, he traveled and worked on film and photo
projects in Indonesia, Haiti, Los Angeles, and New York. Until the earthquake in
2010, much of his energy was focused on working with local children to sow
and care for the Jardin Exotique in Jacmel, Haiti, as a showcase for baobab trees
and other plants to promote reforestation of the island he loved so much. His
survivors include his parents, Mirko and Ann Gabler, and his older brother, Alec.
’02
Mauricio Mora Lindo died February 16, 2011, in a kayaking accident in his
native Costa Rica. He was a gifted writer and poet, performing readings in
both his native Spanish and his adopted language of English. Mauricio studied
languages and literature and creative writing at Bard, where his mentor was
the celebrated American poet and retired Bard professor, John Ashbery. He
loved the outdoors—he could often be found reading in Blithewood Garden or
walking through Tivoli Bays, and he also enjoyed hiking and climbing in
Colorado and in the jungles near his home in San José. He had a large group
of friends at Bard, and he was generous with his laughter, compliments, and
affection. “When you were around Mau, you were always laughing, either
with him or at him,” noted Paul Vranicar ’01, a close friend. “To Mau, the distinction
was insignificant—as long as his friends were laughing, he was
happy.” He dreamed of living in New York and publishing his writing, but he
had difficulty obtaining permanent residence and returned to Costa Rica in
2003 to become a river guide. He is survived by his parents, Carlos Mora and
Martha Lindo, and his two older brothers, Ricardo and Carlos.
’01
Mara Alyse Ciereszynski, 32, died on June 19, 2010. After studying at Bard, she
moved to San Francisco, where she worked for the Exploratorium for more than
10 years. She is survived by her mother, Susan Ciereszynski; a brother, Adam; her
maternal grandmother, Gloria; her longtime friend and companion, Guy; a nephew,
Ezra, and a niece, Alexandra; and many aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends.
44

’97
Amy Kathryn “Rion” Chesbro of Ypsilanti, Michigan, died on December 17,
2010. A native of Alaska, she studied poetry at Bard and later earned a master’s
degree in information science at the University of Michigan. At the time of her
death, she was a teacher at Cleary Business School and Washtenaw Community
College and was seeking an M.B.A. to further her career. She is survived by her
fiance, PJ Two Ravens; her parents, James and Patricia; three sisters, Carrie,
Jennifer, and Heidi; two brothers, Jim and Mark; and her grandmother, Helen.
’93
Portia Tsehai “Poppy” Shapiro died on January 1, 2011. She was born in
Brattleboro, Vermont, and attended Bard for the 1989–90 academic year. She
worked for several years in the family business in Northampton, Massachusetts,
and then moved to San Francisco in 1995. She is survived by her mother,
Dianne; a brother, Noah; and many aunts, uncles, and cousins.
’86
Edwin Rosado died on December 27, 2008. A sociology major at Bard, he went
on to earn a master’s degree in media studies from The New School for Social
Research in New York City. He spent many years working with a local “I Have a
Dream” program, mentoring more than 100 young students. He also worked for
the national “I Have a Dream” Foundation for a time, and then for the American
Civil Liberties Union. At the time of his death, he was the managing partner of
the company DPM Events. He is survived by his parents, Mercedes and Clemente;
his brothers, Raul and Ivan; and many aunts, uncles, and cousins. A number of his
1986 classmates are raising funds to establish a Bard scholarship in his memory.
’79
Ruth Maxwell Hill died on September 24, 2010. A lifelong resident of New
York, she was a studio arts major at Bard, and completed a master of fine arts
degree at New York University. She pursued artistic interests in painting, silk
screening, photography, video, and music. She participated in group shows and
taught art in underprivileged schools in the Bronx. Her survivors include her
dearest friend, Timothy Druckrey; a half-brother, Peter Hill; and many cousins.
’74
Ruben Nelson Bennett died on February 17, 2010. He lived in Houston, and
was a laboratory supervisor at Baylor College of Medicine.
’71
Deborah Davidson Kaas died on January 10, 2011, after a long illness. A math
major at Bard, she went on to a long and dedicated career supporting victims
of domestic violence. She spoke at police officer trainings, testified at the state
and national level, and, for nearly 20 years, volunteered as a court advocate
for victims of domestic violence, seeking orders of protection in two county
courts in Pennsylvania. She and her former roommate, Wendy Weldon, were
instrumental in creating the Alumni/ae Memorial Bar at the Fisher Center for
Performing Arts, with panels dedicated to beloved classmates and professors
who had died. She served for many years on the Board of Governors of the
Bard–St. Stephen’s Alumni/ae Association; during her tenure, she started the
Life After Bard program, bringing together alumni/ae and current students, as
well as the Bard Oral History project, recording Bard stories by alumni/ae
during reunion weekends. Over the years, during graduation ceremonies,
she provided gourmet snacks and exotic beverages to friends and strangers
camped out on the lawn in front of Stone Row. Her sense of humor, intellectual
prowess, and generosity will be missed by many Bardians who knew and loved
her. She is survived by her husband, Donald Kaas.
’69
Anne Phillips died at home on June 30, 2010. She was a literature/creative
writing major at Bard, and went on to become a well-loved teacher in the
Frederick County School System in Maryland. She is survived by her husband,
Donald Franz ’70; her daughter, Laura, and son, Joshua; a sister, Leslie Phillips ’73;
and a grandson, Gavin.
’62
Abner Symons died on October 14, 2010. He is survived by his wife, Susan A.
Symons.
’58
Maxine Wynkoop died on May 10, 2010, in Florida. She majored in psychology
at Bard. Her husband, John, writes, “She adored Bard. Her memories of Bard
were very special to her.” She is also survived by her daughters, Holly and
Hilary, and a granddaughter, Nicole.
’57
Carlisle Chandler “Chan” McIvor died in January 2011. He lived in Bermuda,
and was a journalist for many years, writing for the Mid Ocean News. More
recently he started and ran the Bermuda Macintosh Users Group and was
helpful to many in creating websites.
’55
Dan Norman Butt died on August 24, 2010. After graduating from Bard, he
had a long career in the performing arts field, working as a stage and production
manager for the American Ballet Theatre, New York City Opera, Joffrey
Ballet, and other dance, theater, opera, and music organizations. A blues
pianist himself, Butt was also a lifelong auto racing enthusiast with a love of
vintage sports cars. He is survived by his children—Peter, Elizabeth, Jeff, and
Michael—and six grandchildren. He was predeceased by his wife, Sari.
Gail Sudler Rockwell died on December 1, 2010. The daughter of artists Arthur
Emory Sudler and Janet Starr Whitson Sudler, she was born in New York City and
spent her childhood in Douglaston, on Long Island. She was a gifted singer, but
decided to pursue art instead, and became a well-known illustrator of children’s
books—including three by her husband, Thomas Rockwell ’56: Rackety-Bang,
The Thief, and The Portmanteau Book. The Rockwells lived in a renovated barn
in LaGrange, New York, and had two children, Barnaby and Abigail.
’52
Peter W. Price died on November 19, 2010, after a short illness. His son
writes: “He was very proud of his association with Bard College and enjoyed
maintaining those contacts until his death. He particularly enjoyed returning
to the college a few years ago and revisiting many of the places he had first
visited when he spent a year there.” He lived in the United Kingdom, and was
“the dearly loved husband of Margery, and a much loved father and grandpa.”
Joyce Lasky Reed, 76, an author, editor, and foreign policy adviser to the U.S.
State Department, died on September 12, 2010, after a long battle with lung
cancer. She attended Bard for a semester in the early 1950s, and earned a
bachelor’s degree from Barnard College and a master’s degree in political
affairs from Georgetown University. At the time of her death she was on the
Board of Overseers of Smolny College, Russia’s first liberal arts college, created
as a partnership between Bard and Saint Petersburg State University.
With her first husband, Anatole Shub, a journalist who worked for the
New York Times and the Washington Post, she was expelled from the Soviet
Union in 1969; her novel Moscow by Nightmare (1973) was a widely read
class notes 45

indictment of the Soviet system. She later worked as a foreign policy assistant
on Capitol Hill, eventually joining the staff of then Sen. Joseph R. Biden (D-Del.)
and later serving as a special adviser to the State Department under Lawrence
S. Eagleburger and Michael H. Armacost. For the last two decades of her life,
she worked for the nonprofit Fabergé Arts Foundation, organizing major exhibitions
and coediting Fabergé Flowers (2004), a book that documented Peter
Carl Fabergé’s botanically inspired jewelry. She was predeceased by Shub and
by her second husband, Leonard Reed. Her survivors include two children
from her first marriage, Rachel Shub and Adam Shub, and two grandchildren.
’51
Steven John Covey died on January 30, 2010, in his home in Broomfield,
Colorado. He was the son of Lois Lenski Covey, a renowned children’s book
author, and Arthur Covey, an artist and muralist. After graduating from Bard,
he earned a master’s degree from the Cranbrook Academy of Art. Upon leaving
the army in 1955 he met his first wife, Yolanthe, in Holland; they were
married in Paris and settled in Phoenix. He was employed by the city’s park
and recreation department for more than 30 years as an art teacher and
supervisor of the arts and crafts program. His children with Yolanthe—
Michael, Vivian, and Jeanine—survive him. He is also survived by his wife,
Joy, and four grandchildren.
’50
Isabella von Glatz died on August 4, 2010, in Maryland. She was raised in
New Jersey, then attended Bard and Columbia University, where she met her
husband of 58 years, Richard A. von Glatz. They lived in the Chicago area for
the 10 years, where their children were born. Richard then joined the foreign
service, and together they spent the next 25 years living in India, Sri Lanka,
Turkey, and Pakistan. In addition to her husband, she is survived by two
daughters, Adrienne and Jocelyn, and two grandchildren, Lewis and Natalie.
Reporter Anthony Hart Harrigan died on May 28, 2010, in Charlottesville,
Virginia. He started his career in 1948 with The News and Courier (now The
Post and Courier) in Charleston, South Carolina, working there for 20 years
and eventually becoming associate editor. After retiring from the newspaper
business, Harrigan enjoyed success as a columnist, author, and contributing
editor to the National Review. He wrote several books and dozens of essays on
military affairs, foreign policy, and domestic issues, particularly economics.
He is survived by his wife, Elizabeth; four children, Anthony, Elliott, Chardon,
and Mary; a sister; and 12 grandchildren.
’49
Charlotte Hahn Arner died on February 21, 2011. She was a native of Germany,
where her family survived Kristallnacht in Berlin before fleeing to the United
States in 1938. She majored in sculpture, and was among the earliest women
to graduate from Bard. She went on to study in New York and Paris, and had a
one-woman show in Italy in the mid-’50s. She married her classmate Robert
Arner, whose paintings are in collections throughout the world, including two
paintings on permanent exhibit at Bard. They had two children, Charlotte and
Franz. She maintained close ties to Outward Bound, the organization founded
by her late uncle, Dr. Kurt Hahn. After Robert’s death in 2002, she began
working with a neighbor to document her husband’s life and work, as well as
her own family’s story of survival, in words, photographs, and documents.
Hundreds of pages had been completed at the time of her death.
’48
Morton Leventhal died on April 23, 2010. He majored in psychology at Bard
and went on to earn a Ph.D. in clinical psychology. He had a long career,
including work as a consulting psychologist for the U.S. Navy, a therapist at
the Hines VA clinic in Chicago, and as chief of psychological services at the
VA Hospital in Louisville, Kentucky. He was also a therapist in private practice
in Chicago, Louisville, and Ft. Myers, Florida. He is survived by his wife, Elaine;
a son, Mitchell; a daughter, Valerie; and a sister, Lucille.
Janet Reinthal Nash died on May 29, 2010. She majored in social studies
at Bard. She was the mother of David and Daniel Nash; grandmother of
Benjamin, Lucas, Julia, and Hannah; and sister of the late Robert Reinthal.
’47
Christina Frerichs Person died August 9, 2010, after a long illness. She studied
drama/dance at Bard, and went on to be a dancer on the Jimmy Durante Show;
a June Taylor dancer on the Jackie Gleason Show; a Rockette at Radio City Music
Hall; and a dancer in Broadway and vaudeville productions. She later taught
at Calvin Leete School, an elementary school in Guilford, Connecticut. She is
survived by three daughters, Sarah, Martha, and Abigail; five grandchildren;
and her dear companion, George Hatch.
Elaine Postal died on October 10, 2010, in Palm Beach, Florida. After majoring
in economics at Bard, she attended the Columbia School of Business and
went on to a career that culminated in her position as chairman and chief
merchant of Judy Bond, Inc. She is survived by her husband of 64 years,
Bob Postal; their children Andrew, Louise, and Debora; and six grandchildren.
’44
Jin Kinoshita died on August 20, 2010, in San José, California. His research
focused on treating diabetic cataracts, and he was internationally recognized
as a researcher, administrator, professor, and adviser to many young scientists.
He was a pioneer in the biochemical study of cataracts and his research
continues to have a profound influence on ophthalmic biochemistry.
During World War II, the Kinoshita family was relocated from San
Francisco to Santa Anita Assembly Center and then to Topaz Relocation
Camp in Utah. He was allowed to leave camp to attend Bard. He then
received his Ph.D. in biological chemistry from Harvard University and joined
the Harvard Medical School faculty. In 1967 he was awarded an honorary
doctor of science degree from Bard.
In 1971, Kinoshita was appointed chief of the Laboratory of Vision
Research in the newly formed National Eye Institute, where he later became
scientific director of basic and clinical research. He retired from NEI in 1990
and moved to California to be a clinical research professor of ophthalmology
at UC Davis. His awards include the Friedenwald Award, Proctor Medal,
Alcon Research Institute Award, and the Distinguished Service Award of the
Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. He was also a two-time
nominee for the Nobel Prize and a recipient of Japan’s medal of honor, The
Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays. His wife, Kay Kimura Kinoshita, predeceased
him, as did his brothers Reiju, Satoshi, and Tadashi. He is survived by
his sister, Emiko Chino.
’43
Henry C. Hopewell Jr. died on May 19, 2010. A native of Massachusetts, he
graduated from The Choate School, then studied for two years at Bard before
enlisting in the U.S. Navy. He served in the Pacific from 1942 to 1945, then
returned to his childhood summer home of Wolfeboro, New Hampshire,
where he pursued multiple business interests. In the 1960s, he moved to
Maine to continue real estate development and building projects. He is survived
by his wife, Vicki Cahill Madden; two daughters from a previous marriage,
Hillary and BlakeLee; a brother, Frank; two stepsisters, Margaret and
46

Sally; three stepsons, Gregory, Glenn, and Christopher; seven grandchildren;
and several nieces and nephews.
James Casper Silvan died on December 3, 2009, after a long illness. He was
born in Toledo, Ohio, and studied at Bard before serving in the U.S. Army during
World War II. After the war, he received graduate degrees in biology from
Teacher’s College Graduate School of Education, Columbia University. He moved
to Baltimore in the mid-’60s to work as an editor for Johns Hopkins University
Press. After retiring, he founded York Press, and published scholarly books. His
only surviving relatives are a niece, a nephew, and first and second cousins.
’40
John Frank Goldsmith died on October 14, 2010. He graduated from Bronxville
High School in 1936, attended Bard for two years, and graduated from University
of Colorado in 1940. In World War II, he led an infantry platoon in Italy and
France. He was wounded in action and awarded a Purple Heart. He enjoyed a
long and successful writing and editorial career—he was on staff at Factory
magazine, managing editor of Fleet Owner, and chief editor of Housing magazine
(now House & Home). He maintained connection with Bard over the years, most
recently with the Bard Globalization and International Affairs Program in New
York City. He was predeceased by his wife, Caroline Steinholz Lerner. His survivors
include his children, Katherine, Elizabeth, and John; a stepson, David;
three grandchildren; and his dear friend Margot Tallmer.
After a brief illness, Peter Hobbs died on January 2, 2011. Born in Etretat, France,
he was raised in New York City, and majored in drama at Bard. In World War II
he served as a sergeant in combat engineering and fought at the Battle of the
Bulge. After the war, he enjoyed a 50-year career as an actor, performing on
Broadway (notably, Teahouse of the August Moon and Billy Budd); on television
(from his role as Peter Ames in Secret Storm from 1954 to 1962, to Perry Mason,
The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Andy Griffith Show, Bonanza, All in the Family, The
Odd Couple, Streets of San Francisco, Barney Miller, Lou Grant, M*A*S*H, L.A. Law,
and dozens more); and in films (Sleeper, The Man with Two Brains, 9 to 5,
Andromeda Strain, and The Lady in Red). He is survived by his wife, Carolyn
Adams Hobbs; three daughters, Anna, Jennifer, and Nancy; two stepsons,
Mark and Adam; and six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Faculty
Beth A. Casey, 73, died on August 23, 2010, in Toledo, Ohio. She had been an
assistant professor of English at Bard from 1972 to 1973. Beginning in 1978, she
embarked upon a lengthy career at Bowling Green State University in Ohio,
serving as an instructor in literature and Canadian studies and later as an
administrator, creating and directing the university’s first general studies
curriculum. She also taught at the University of Rochester and Empire State
College, and was briefly an associate dean at Hobart and William Smith Colleges.
She had a B.A. from Penn State University and master’s and Ph.D. degrees
from Columbia University.
Stephen Pace, 91, a noted second-generation Abstract Expressionist painter
who served as an assistant professor of art at Bard for one semester (1970–
71), died on September 23, 2010, in New Harmony, Indiana. A friend of Milton
Avery, whom he met in Mexico, Pace moved to New York in 1947 and studied
at the Art Students League and with Hans Hofmann. During the heyday of
Abstract Expressionism in the 1950s, he exhibited in several Whitney
Annuals, had his first New York show at the Artists Gallery in 1954, and was
represented by the Poindexter Gallery and later the A. M. Sachs Gallery. By
1963, he had “developed a broad-brushed representational style and a range
of subjects that celebrated everyday life and labor . . . [resulting in] a
magnified Fauvism or Post-Impressionism that takes inspiration from Avery,
Matisse, and Bonnard, as well as Chinese painting,” according to his obituary
in the New York Times. His wife of 61 years, Palmina Natalini, is his only
survivor.
Garry Reigenborn, 58, a dancer, choreographer, and teacher who taught at
Bard for nine years, died on March 10, 2011, in Pueblo, Colorado, his home
state. He was an assistant professor of dance at the College from the fall of
1998 through May 2004, after which he served as artist in residence in the
Dance Program from the fall of 2004 through the spring of 2007. Over a long
and distinguished career in modern dance, he was a principal dancer with
Andy De Groat and Dancers from 1977 to 1979; a member of the Lucinda
Childs Dance Company and its assistant choreographer from 1984 to 2000;
a faculty member at Merce Cunningham Dance Studio from 1995 to 2004;
and artistic director of Round 2 Dance in New York City for nearly 15 years,
beginning in 1996. His choreographic work was presented throughout the
United States and Europe, including several collaborations with Robert
Wilson, most recently in two revivals of Philip Glass’s Einstein on the Beach,
in 1984 and 1992. He had a B.F.A. from the University of Utah, and was the
recipient of grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, Foundation
for Contemporary Performance Arts, and Jerome Robbins Foundation. He is
survived by his mother, Ellen Mae Reigenborn of Sterling, Colorado; a sister,
Carol Lauer; two brothers, Alan and Clarke; and many nieces and nephews.
Staff
Isabelle Clum, 90, a 20-year employee of Bard, died on December 14, 2010.
She worked in the housekeeping department, which was part of Bard’s
Buildings & Grounds (B&G), from 1969 through 1989. Her survivors include
two sons—Randy Clum Sr., assistant director of B&G, and Edwin Clum; three
daughters, Nancy Rose, Jeanette Bushnell, and Roberta Coons; 12 grandchildren;
and 15 great-grandchildren.
Shirley M. Minkler, 80, who worked in Bard’s Central Services Department for
more than 25 years until her retirement in 2006, died on January 28, 2011. A
lifelong resident of Tivoli, she served as a secretary for St. Sylvia’s Parish prior
to her employment at the College, and was a 62-year member of the Tivoli
Fire Company Ladies Auxiliary. Her survivors include a son, James, and his
wife, Linda; four sisters; four grandchildren; three great-grandchildren; and
several nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by her husband of 47 years,
Gordon; and three sisters and two brothers.
Friends
Anne Botstein, M.D., 98, a distinguished pediatrician and the mother of
Bard president Leon Botstein, died on Sunday, October 17, 2010. Born Ania
Wyszewianska in Poland and educated at the University of Zurich, Dr.
Botstein was a pioneer in pediatrics, both in Switzerland and the United
States. During her studies in Switzerland as the chief resident of Guido
Fanconi, who discovered cystic fibrosis, she was the first to show that cystic
fibrosis is inherited. She spent most of her career in this country at
Montefiore Hospital, where she worked at one of the first HMOs in New York
and was chief of pediatrics for 25 years, and Albert Einstein College of
Medicine, where she was professor emerita. Since the death of her husband,
Dr. Charles Botstein, a professor at Albert Einstein, she lived on the Bard
College campus. In addition to her son Leon, she is survived by another son,
Dr. David Botstein; a daughter, Dr. Eva Griepp; and six grandchildren.
class notes 47

Untitled by Chris Fedorak ‘08, an image from his project 33 Mill Street. Fedorak, a native of Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, has been technical director of the
Photography Program at Bard for three years. He begins an M.F.A. program in photography at California College of the Arts in San Francisco this fall.
Board of Trustees of Bard College
David E. Schwab II ’52, Chair Emeritus
Charles P. Stevenson Jr., Chair
Emily H. Fisher, Vice Chair
Elizabeth Ely ’65, Secretary
Stanley A. Reichel ’65, Treasurer
Fiona Angelini
Roland J. Augustine
Leon Botstein, President of the College +
David C. Clapp
Marcelle Clements ’69*
Asher B. Edelman ’61
Robert S. Epstein ’63
Barbara S. Grossman ’73*
Sally Hambrecht
Ernest F. Henderson III, Life Trustee
Marieluise Hessel
John C. Honey ’39, Life Trustee
Charles S. Johnson III ’70
Mark N. Kaplan
George A. Kellner
Cynthia Hirsch Levy ’65
Murray Liebowitz
Marc S. Lipschultz
Peter H. Maguire ’88
James H. Ottaway Jr.
Martin Peretz
Bruce C. Ratner
Stewart Resnick
Roger N. Scotland ’93*
The Rt. Rev. Mark S. Sisk,
Honorary Trustee
Martin T. Sosnoff
Susan Weber
Patricia Ross Weis ’52
+ ex officio
* alumni/ae trustee
Office of Development and Alumni/ae Affairs
Debra Pemstein, Vice President for Development and Alumni/ae Affairs,
845-758-7405, pemstein@bard.edu
Jane Brien ’89, Director of Alumni/ae Affairs, 845-758-7406, brien@bard.edu
Tricia Fleming, Assistant Director of Alumni/ae Affairs, 845-758-7089, fleming@bard.edu
Anne Canzonetti ’84, Assistant Director of Alumni/ae Affairs, 845-758-7187, canzonet@bard.edu
Published by the Bard Publications Office
Mary Smith, Director; Ginger Shore, Consultant; Leslie Coons Bostian, Mikhail Horowitz,
Ellen Liebowitz, Cynthia Werthamer, Editors; Diane Rosasco, Production Manager;
Francie Soosman ’90, Designer
©2011 Bard College. All rights reserved.
1-800-BARDCOL
annandaleonline.org

john bard society news
It may seem strange to write a will at 28, but even if you have only $1,000 in
the bank, don’t you want to make sure it goes to a place that’s important to
you? I’ve always wanted to give back to Bard in a larger capacity than the
amount I’m able to give annually. As a young alum I don’t have a lot, but I want
what I have to go to institutions that have had meaningful impacts on my life.
Bard has deeply influenced who I am, and I want my money to contribute to
the great things that Bard has done and will continue to do.
—Sarah Mosbacher ’03
This spring the John Bard Society (JBS) welcomed two new members,
Sarah Mosbacher ’03 and Brandon Grove ’50. Sarah made the choice to
join this very special group of Bardians because she believes in planning
for the future—her own and that of Bard College. Brandon joined to
demonstrate his commitment to a place that changed his life; he remembers
his time at Bard, he says, as one of “enlightenment, enjoyment, and
inspiration.” Both Brandon and Sarah now belong to a club that is
delighted to have them as members—and they are in good company.
The JBS is made up of loyal alumni/ae, faculty, and friends of the
College who have included Bard in their estate plans. JBS members share
the belief that Bard provides an outstanding liberal arts education and continues
to be a courageous, ambitious, and innovative institution, worthy
and deserving of their support.
JBS members have provided for Bard’s future, and in some instances,
for their own. Some have included a bequest to Bard in their will, some
have contributed to Bard’s Pooled Income Fund and some have even
established a Charitable Gift Annuity with the College. Both the Pooled
Income Fund and Charitable Gift Annuity provide an income to you for
your lifetime or the lifetime of someone you designate, thereby providing
for their future and for the future of the next generation of Bardians.
If you are making estate plans, we encourage you to consider including
Bard. By making this important decision during our 150th Anniversary
Campaign for Bard College, you are helping to ensure the success of Bard
for another 150 years.
For further information on the JBS please contact Debra Pemstein, vice
president for development and alumni/ae affairs, at pemstein@bard.edu
or by calling 845-758-7405. All inquiries are confidential.
Photo: ©Mark Peterson/Corbis

Bard College
PO Box 5000
Annandale-on-Hudson, NY 12504-5000
Nonprofit Organization
U.S. Postage Paid
Bard College
Address Service Requested
BARDSUMMERSCAPE
JULY 7 – AUGUST 21, 2011
dance July 7–10
Tero Saarinen Company
A triple bill of dances by one of Europe’s most
innovative and daring dance artists
theater July 13–24
The Wild Duck
By Henrik Ibsen
Directed by Caitriona McLaughlin
A masterful tragic comedy about the lies that
sustain existence
opera July 29 – August 7
Die Liebe der Danae
By Richard Strauss
American Symphony Orchestra,
conducted by Leon Botstein, music director
Directed by Kevin Newbury
A Mozartean blend of comedy, romance, and drama
operetta August 4–14
Bitter Sweet
By Noël Coward
Directed by Michael Gieleta
Conducted by James Bagwell
The charming tale of a soprano’s elopement
with her music teacher
film festival July 14 – August 18
Before and After Bergman:
The Best of Nordic Film
From "golden age" Swedish silents to Bergman and
Kaurismäki
spiegeltent July 7 – August 21
Cabaret and more
Afternoon family entertainment, rollicking late-night
performances, dancing, and intimate dining
twenty-second season
bard music festival August 12–14 and 19–21
Sibelius and His World
Two weekends of concerts, panels, and other events
bring the musical world of Jean Sibelius vividly to life
Special SummerScape discount for Bard alumni/ae:
order by phone and save 20% on most Bard SummerScape
programs. Offer limited to 2 tickets per buyer and cannot
be combined with other discounts.
The 2011 SummerScape season is made possible in part through the generous
support of the Board of The Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at
Bard College, the Board of the Bard Music Festival, and the Friends of the Fisher
Center, as well as grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, New York
State Council on the Arts, Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland, and Consulate
General of Finland, New York. The honorary patron for SummerScape 2011 and
the 22nd annual Bard Music Festival is Martti Ahtisaari, Nobel Peace Prize
laureate and former president of Finland.
Box Office 845-758-7900 | fishercenter.bard.edu
Photo: ©Peter Aaron ’68/Esto