by Deidre d’Albertis
Introduction
Deirdre d’Albertis, Dean of the College, offered the following report on the use of the funds donated by LLI to the Inclusion Challenge Program at Bard in 2023-24. You will see that these are wide-ranging programs across the disciplines at Bard, which benefit students in many ways. Dean d’Albertis is always extremely grateful for LLI’s support, on behalf of the faculty and students at Bard.
Dear Robert and Jill,
We are delighted to report to you on the many student learning experiences supported in 2023-24 by LLI contributions to Bard’s Inclusion Challenge program—glad to send further details if helpful!
With much gratitude,
Deirdre
Inclusion Challenge Grants for 2023-24: Architecture
With the very generous support of Bard’s Lifetime Learning Institute, the following Inclusion Challenge proposals were funded this year:
Architecture
Goal: support to build upon their Inclusive Architecture Library
The Architecture Program has used the generous support provided by this grant to purchase a curated collection of books that will expand our modest Architecture Library. The books selected were carefully chosen by faculty to feature underrepresented voices, ideas, and projects meant to help provide inspiration and guidance to our students in shaping a new generation of architectural makers and thinkers.
Inclusion Challenge Grants for 2023-24: Dance
Goal: (renew) grant funding to support dance students’ need to participate in dance classes, festivals, or intensives, outside of the academic year
From January 2-13, 2024, Zara Boss was able to attend the Gibney NYC Winter intensive where she participated in daily technique classes and attended workshops that addressed injury prevention and artistic leadership development. “Receiving aid from Academic Inclusion Grant ensured my ability to attend this incredible program, and I am very grateful for its support. I hope that opportunities like this will continue to be accessible to dancers at Bard College, as they open up possibilities post-graduation.” Zara Boss ‘25
Inclusion Challenge Grants for 2023-34: Experimental Humanities
Goal: support for a third season of EH Out Loud Podcast
EH Out Loud is the podcast where we investigate how technology mediates what it means to be human. Produced by the Center for Experimental Humanities at Bard College, EH Out Loud is the audio extension of research and exploration being done by students, staff, and faculty at the Center. Each season draws upon major projects, themes, and topics in our work and gives us the opportunity to interview a wide array of guests and Bard community members in hopes of expanding existing conversations.
For season three we bring you Bard Beyond Borders, your gateway to the vibrant world of international student experiences at Bard with EH media corps host, Maha Abdulwahab. Episodes one and two feature conversations with students from Afghanistan and Russia while episode three highlights faculty and staff working to support international and displaced students at Bard. Episode four, “Culture Brokers and Invisible Labor,” features students in an OSUN online course taught by Laura Kunreuther. Our last episode brings you EH alumna Anna Spirochova ’24, who shares with us her EH senior project, “Different City.”
Inclusion Challenge Grants for 2023-24: Photography
Goal: (renew) – support for the continuation of the Photography Reading & Looking Group
The Photography Reading & Looking Group is in its third year. It was formed in 2021, in conversation with students, to foster interdisciplinary dialogue between students, faculty and staff. Topics are generated by participants, and readings are selected in conjunction with related visual work. The Academic Inclusion Grant supports the purchase of copies of the books for the group as well as refreshments. In the Fall, we began by studying the incredibly rich and layered book by Helen Cammock, I Will Keep My Soul, and went on to discuss Peter Hujar’s exhibition at 125 Newberry and the related publication, Echoes. We had a discussion of Italo Calvino’s provocative essay “Adventures of a Photographer,” and Dayanita Singh’s visual piece by the same title. Our final meeting, thanks to Casey Robertson, was a tour of Bettina: The Fifth Point of the Compass at CCS.
These meetings are uplifting and rich, as much for their respectful and warm tone as for the topics we’ve discussed.
In the spring of 2024, Casey Robertson and Sara Winston facilitated the group meetings. The group studied two books, Strange Hours by Rebecca Bengal and To Photograph Is to Learn How to Die by Tim Carpenter. The group read and discussed the books in tandem to deeply consider the state of contemporary photography. At the end of the semester both authors visited the group for a lively in-person discussion.
The Photography Reading & Looking Group will continue this upcoming year, led by Tanya Marcuse, with intent to focus exclusively on the exhibition Carrie Mae Weems: Remember to Dream at the Hessel Museum.
Spring 2024 Language Learning Book Fund
The Office of the Dean of the College is pleased to announce the launch of a Language Learning Book Fund for Spring 2024. Students with financial need can apply to this fund to help defray the cost of textbooks for Spring 2024 classes in foreign language instruction.
Language textbooks can be among the most expensive books students buy, since many require the purchase of an accompanying online component. The launch of this fund, which we hope to be able to continue in future semesters, will permit more students to take language courses without undue concerns about the cost of materials. Beyond helping students meet their foreign language distribution requirement, our goal is to encourage more equitable access to the wide array of languages taught at Bard, thus availing more students of opportunities to study abroad and develop skills that can enrich their learning and their lives in our increasingly global society.
The fund is intended for the purchase of language instruction books for 100- and 200-level courses, since higher-level courses in the foreign languages are mostly literature-based (and students may apply to the Literature Book Fund for assistance with these materials). Funds are reserved for students with financial need and will be awarded on a first-come, first-served basis.
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