CCE News

The Hudson River Watershed Alliance (HRWA) has honored Bard College with its 2017 Watershed WaveMaker award for an organization working to protect, conserve, and restore Hudson River water resources. The alliance cited Bard for its commitment to launching and organizing the Saw Kill Watershed Community to draw attention and awareness to protection of the Saw Kill, use of the Bard Water Lab to improve the understanding of regional water quality issues, leadership in implementing the Hudson River Subwatershed and Tributary Research Network (THuRST), and academic excellence demonstrated in the College’s Environmental and Urban Studies Program and Center for Environmental Policy. Bard will be presented with the award at HRWA’s Toast to the Tribs Awards Benefit on Tuesday, December 5, at The Falcon in Marlboro, New York, from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. For tickets and more information, visit hudsonwatershed.org.

Working to study, protect, and teach others about the Saw Kill Creek and its watershed, the Saw Kill Watershed Community (SKWC)is made up of Bard faculty, staff, and students; members of the conservation advisory councils of the towns of Red Hook, Rhinebeck, and Milan; local, county, and state officials; representatives of the Hudson River National Estuarine Research Reserve, the Hudson River Estuary Program, and Cornell Cooperative Extension (Dutchess County); and several nonprofits, including Riverkeeper, Scenic Hudson, and the Hudson River Watershed Alliance. For more information, visit sawkillwatershed.wordpress.com. Another water quality initiative at Bard is the Bard Regional Green Infrastructure Demonstration Project, which transformed a compacted gravel parking lot using a low impact development approach to manage more than 10 acres of storm-water runoff. The project, which received funding support from the New York State Environmental Facilities Corporation and design inspiration from a graduate student in the Bard Center for Environmental Policy, serves as a living lab for Bard students. In addition, Bard is currently working with the private sector and environmental organizations as part of a NYSERDA grant to evaluate the feasibility of very small hydropower systems on dams located on campus. Over the next year, this work will be available on a public website that starts to answer the intractable question of how various stakeholders can sustainably approach the more than 7,000 dams across the state. Bard students are contributing to this work. For more information on sustainability initiatives at Bard, please visit bard.edu/sustainability.

Eva-Marie Quinones, now a doctoral student at Yale, discusses the Unity March for Puerto Rico in her role as head of national youth engagement. Interview by Stephanie Presch '15.

Eban Goodstein discusses how the Bard MBA in Sustainability operates at the forefront of training the next generation of leaders in sustainable business.

Bard alumna and editor of the Bard-sponsored Spanish language magazine La Voz Mariel Fiori ’05 has won the Woman of the Year Award from the American Association of University Women.

Eli Pariser, Upworthy president and cofounder, author, and Bard College at Simon’s Rock alumnus, visited an Internet and Society class at Bard High School Early College Queens.

On Monday, November 13, the Bard Debate Union hosted the third Intra–Bard Network online debate. The debate featured two students each from Bard College, Bard College Berlin, Al-Quds Bard (Abu Dis, West Bank), and Smolny College (St. Petersburg, Russia). The four teams debated the topic "This house opposes the privatization of water" with thoughtful, researched, and persuasive arguments. Debaters from all Bard Network institutions will gather March 15–18 at Smolny College for the second Bard Network Debate Conference and Tournament.

Students from Bard Microcollege Holyoke, Bard College, and Bard College at Simon's Rock met at Simon's Rock in Great Barrington, Mass., on Saturday, November 11, for the first Bard Women and Leadership Summit. After hearing from inspiring women leaders, students collaborated to envision their own organizations to address the urgent issues of the day. The Care Center, home of Bard Holyoke, made it possible for Holyoke students to attend the meeting.

Warren Wilson College students in environmental studies can now enroll in a dual bachelor’s and master’s program with Bard College’s Graduate Programs in Sustainability.

On November 1, Bard College at Simon's Rock Provost Ian Bickford gave a talk at The City Club of Cleveland entitled "Why Wait? Early College: National and Local." Dr. Bickford focused on the growing influence of Bard's model on national education policy and within the city of Cleveland, where a second Bard High School Early College campus opened this fall. Students from both of the BHSEC Cleveland campuses attended, and offered up their own experience of the program near the end of the event. The talk can be streamed via the City Club's website.