Engaged Liberal Arts and Sciences (ELAS) courses link coursework and critical thinking skills with engagement activities that contextualize course materials and enhance learning. A significant portion of the learning takes place outside of the classroom, where students engage with different geographies, organizations, and programs in local communities, or in the communities where Bard’s national and international partners are based.
ELAS Projects
Classroom + Community
ELAS classes may involve a variety of activities but they emphasize reflective learning. Community engagement is not based on “service” but on respect and reciprocity. Such an emphasis encourages open exchanges, collaboration, and the potential to produce new forms of knowledge.
The Window at Montgomery Place
A Student-curated Historical ELAS Exhibit
This ELAS exhibit approaches Montgomery Place as a laboratory for understanding social hierarchies, cultural practices, and evolving visions of nation and “place.” It provides an overview of the property's transformation from wilderness into a pleasure ground in the 19th century, reflecting contemporary social and cultural conventions as well as emerging notions of scientific agriculture.
Each year, more than 300 Bard students enroll in ELAS courses that challenge them to develop creative and practical approaches to social, cultural, and scientific issues while partnering with community and civic organizations. CCE invites proposals from Bard and Bard Early College faculty to design and support ELAS courses that connect students’ classroom experiences with the community, enhancing learning and promoting active citizenship. Visit our Resources Library for course development tools.
Faculty stipends of up to $750 for Fall 2019 and Spring 2020 are available for course development. Creative approaches to community engagement are encouraged, and can include talks with community speakers, activists, and artists whose work focuses on engagement; community interactions through town meetings, relevant site visits, and trainings; project-based coursework or activities related to engagement; interactions with local leaders and community organizers; and volunteering as part of a project or program outside classroom hours. Assigned readings may include primary source material, student reflections on their experiences, and research related to a social issue being addressed through the engagement. Successful applicants will receive logistical support including transportation, community contacts and resources, and a dedicated student fellow.
Spring 2019 LIT 218 Free Speech — Tom Keenan ANTH / GIS 224 A Lexicon of Migration — Jurgens ANTH 212 Historical Archaeology — Chris Lindner ANTH 220. Doing Ethnography — Yuka Suzuki ANTH 324 Anthropoly: Field Work/Service Learning with NGOs — Gregory Duff ARTH 133 Interpreting Montgomery Place — Aaron Ahlstrom ART 200 AC Digital 2: Manufacturing Dissent — Adriane Colburn BGIA 301 Core Seminar: NY Center of the world— Jim Ketterer BIO 157 Food Microbiology— Gabriel Perron ECON 225 Economic Perspectives — Pavlina Tcherneva EUS 102 Intro to EUS — Robyn Smyth EUS 218 Land — Gidon Eshel EUS 221 Water — Robyn Smyth EUS 223 Air — Eli Dueker EUS 317 EUS Practicum: Reimagined Farms — Katrina Light EUS 413 Sewage — Dueker HIST 123 Window At Montgomery — Myra Armstead HIST 301 The Second World War — Sean McKeenin T200 Tango — Chungin
Fall 2018 ANTH 211 Ancient Peoples on the Bard Lands: Archaeological Methods— Chris Lindner ANTH 351 The Interview — John Ryle ART 100 Digital 1: Digital to Physical — Maggie Mhazen BGIA 301 Core Seminar: The City as a Global Actor – New York at the Center of the World — James Ketterer BIO 157 Food Microbiology — Gabriel Perron BIO 433 Advanced Community Ecology: Diversity — Cathy Collins EUS 102 Intro to Environmental System Science — Robyn Smyth EUS 222 AIR — Eli Deuker EUS 305 Practicum Preservation, People, and Place: Rethinking the Bard Campus — Mike Aziz GIS/PS 207 Global Citizenship — William Dixon HIST 117 Inclusion at Bard — Myra Armstead HIST 230 US-Russian Relations: From Tehran to Yalta — David Woolner IDEA 125 (Getting Schooled in America) — Erica Kaufman and Derek Furr LIT 131 Women and Leadership — Deirdre D’Albertis and Camilia Jones PS 155 Contested Jerusalem — James Ketterer PS 209 Civic Engagement — Jonathan Becker/Erin Cannan PS 265 Campaign 2018 — Simon Gillhooley SST 145 Pedagogy and Practice — Carol Murray
Bard High School Early College ELAS Courses Cleveland West: DAN 105 College Contemporary Dance II/Production — Jennifer Eccher Manhattan: LIT 237 African American Literature — Brittney Edmonds Queens: SOC 110 Civic Engagement — Brian Mateo FILM 200 Documentary Film — Suzanne Schulz HIST 137 History of New York — Michael Woodsworth
View Past Courses
ANTH 211 Ancient Peoples on the Bard Lands: Archaeological Methods — Christopher Lindner ANTH 220 Doing Ethnography, Memory — Laura Kunreuther ANTH 220 Doing Ethnography — Jonah Rubin ANTH 323 The Politics of Infrastructure — Sophia Stamatopolou-Robbins ANTH 351 The Interview — John Ryle ANTH/Film 224 Ethnography in Image, Sound and Text — Jackie Goss and Laura Kunreuther ART 100 Digital 1: Digital to Physical — Maggie Mhazen ART 206 ED Sculpture II: Fluid Dynamics — Ellen Driscoll ART 206 Sculpture II: Air, Water, Earth — Ellen Driscoll ARTH 225 Art Through Nature: Landscape, Environment, and Design in America — Julia Rosenbaum ARTH 260 New/Old Amsterdam — Susan Merriam BGIA 301 Core Seminar: NYC — James Ketterer BIO 117 Botany for Herbivores — Emily Pollina BIO 118 Conservation Biology — Cathy Collins BIO 124 Measuring Nature — Gabriel G. Perron BIO 157 Food Microbiology — Gabriel Perron BIO 202 Conservation Biology — Cathy Collins BIO 240 Biostatistics — Gabriel G. Perron BIO 311 Field Ornithology — Bruce Robertson BIO 340 Metagenomics — Gabriel G. Perron BIO 433 Advanced Community Ecology: Diversity — Cathy Collins BLC 215 Essays and Evidence — Jim Keller CHEM 123 Art and Science of Fermentation — Swapan Jain and Gabriel Perron EUS 102 Introduction to Environmental & Urban Science — Eli Dueker EUS 221 Water — Eli Dueker EUS 222 Air — Eli Dueker EUS 305 EUS Practicum: Farm to Bard — Katrina Light EUS Practicum 305 Farm to Institution: Bard’s Current and Future Food System — Katrina Light EUS 308 EUS Practicum: Culture Through Nature: Landscape Environment and Design Into the 21st Century — Margie Ruddick EUS 316 Waste Cluster — Ellen Driscoll, Eli Dueker, Sophia Stamatopolou-Robbins EUS/SOC 319 Hudson Valley Cities and Environmental (In)Justice — Peter Klein GIS/PS 207 Global Citizenship — William Dixon HIST 117 Inclusion at Bard — Myra Armstead HIST 123 The Window at Montgomery Place in the Nineteenth Century — Myra Armstead HR 153 Eleanor Roosevelt — Anya Luscombe HR 218 Free Speech — Roger Berkowitz HIST 230 US-Russian Relations: From Tehran to Yalta — David WoolnerHR 250 Black Lives Matter — Ariana Gonzalez Stokas HR 347 Social Action: Theories and Practice — Paul Marienthal HR 355 Scholars at Risk — Thomas Keenan IDEA 125 (Getting Schooled in America) — Erica Kaufman and Derek Furr LIT 113 Women in Leadership — Deidre D’Albertis LIT 131 Women and Leadership — Deirdre D’Albertis MAT 115 Tutoring Theory and Practice — Rachel Cavell MAT ED 151 Pedagogy and Practice: Social, Cultural, and Educational Issues in Civic Engagement — Mary Leonard, Michael Murray MAT ED 151 Pedagogy and Practice: Social, Cultural, and Educational Issues — Rachel Cavell, Mary Leonard MATH 290 Mathematics and Civic Engagement — Lauren Rose PS 155 Contested Jerusalem — James Ketterer PS 209 Civic Engagement — Jonathan Becker/Erin Cannan PS 257 Nations and Nationalism — Chris McIntosh PS 261 Voting and Elections — Jonathan Becker PS 265 The Campaign 2016 — Simon Gilhooley PS 270 All Politics is Local — Jonathan Becker REL 358 Sanctuary: Theology and Social Action — Bruce Chilton SST 145 Pedagogy and Practice — Carol Murray
