CCE News

The Bard College Center for Civic Engagement has been selected to host top international students from five countries through the Study of the U.S. Institutes (SUSI) for Student Leaders on Civic Engagement.  SUSIs for Student Leaders, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State and implemented by Meridian International Center as well as locally by the Center for Civic Engagement, welcomes in total 100 participants from 24 countries around the world.

“At a time when global relations are changing and often volatile, our commitment to engaging with the world and developing educational partnerships with scholars and student leaders becomes even more vital to the country,” —Jonathan Becker, Vice President of Academic Affairs and Director of Civic Engagement.

Bard College is hosting 20 of the university-level student leaders from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Russia and Turkey for a five-week academic exchange program titled “Civic Engagement in the 21st Century: Leadership and the Challenge of the Engaged Citizen.” The Institute explores the evolution of participatory democracy in the United States, with the goal of providing participants with the tools and understanding to allow them to become engaged citizens in their own communities. To learn more about the Institute for Student Leaders on Civic Engagement, please click here: cce.bard.edu/international/susi.

Nominated by U.S. embassies, consulates, and Fulbright commissions, the 2019 SUSI participants arrived at Bard on Saturday, June 22.  Their stay includes an academic residency at Bard’s upstate New York campus, study tours in New York City and Baltimore and a Closing Forum in Washington D.C., as well as site visits throughout the Hudson Valley region of New York State.  Participants have a unique opportunity to work closely with Bard faculty and staff to fine-tune their own civic engagement projects, learn from and volunteer at local community organizations around Bard, and partake in home stays with American families.

The Study of the U.S. Institutes are designed and funded by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA).  SUSI participants are among over 55,000 individuals participating in U.S. Department of State exchange programs each year.  For more than 75 years, the Department of State has funded and supported programs that seek to promote mutual understanding and respect between the people of the United States and the people of other countries.  For additional information about SUSI programs, contact [email protected].

To learn more about the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, please visit: eca.state.gov.

Follow the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs on Twitter: @ECAatState or like the Bureau of Cultural and Educational Affairs on Facebook: facebook.com/ExchangeProgramsAtState.

For more information on Bard’s Center for Civic Engagement, visit: cce.bard.edu
Follow the Center for Civic Engagement on Twitter: @bardcce
Follow the Center on Instagram: @bardcce
Like us on Facebook: facebook.com/Bard.Civic.Engagement

Bard College student Thomas Harris ’22 has won a highly competitive Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship from the U.S. Department of State. Harris was awarded $3,000 scholarship towards his participation in the Bard-Smolny Program at Smolny College in St. Petersburg, where he will study in Russian for the fall 2019 semester. Harris is currently pursuing dual degrees in math and engineering through Bard College and Columbia University’s 3+2 program, in which a Bard student may transfer to Columbia at the end of their junior year at Bard, and upon completing a two-year program at Columbia, qualify for both a BA from Bard and a BS from Columbia. Born and raised in Chicago, Harris is also a concept artist and poet, going by his distinctive Russian name Foma. He is currently working on several projects, including his second book.

Gilman Scholars receive up to $5,000 to apply towards their study abroad or internship program costs with additional funding available for the study of a critical language overseas. The Gilman scholarship supports American undergraduate students of limited financial means to study or intern abroad and, since 2001, has enabled more than 25,000 outstanding Americans of diverse backgrounds to engage in a meaningful educational experience abroad. The program has successfully broadened U.S. participation in study abroad, while emphasizing countries and regions where fewer Americans traditionally study. The late Congressman Gilman, who served in the House of Representatives for 30 years, chaired the House Foreign Relations Committee, and was honored with the Secretary of State’s Distinguished Service Medal in 2002, commented, “Study abroad is a special experience for every student who participates. Living and learning in a vastly different environment of another nation not only exposes our students to alternate views, but also adds an enriching social and cultural experience. It also provides our students with the opportunity to return home with a deeper understanding of their place in the world, encouraging them to be a contributor, rather than a spectator in the international community.”  gilmanscholarship.org

On Saturday, June 22, The Andrew Goodman Foundation awarded five young campus leaders from around the country for their dedication to ensuring their fellow college students have access to polling places and voter registration services. Bard College student Ava Mazzye ’20 was recognized for her work as part of a team in the fall 2018 semester that registered over 400 students to vote, hosted 26 events, and engaged over 550 people on Election Day with shuttles, educational materials, and a results return watch party. Mazzye also helped to inform her community around polling place accessibility issues, continued dialogues about a polling place relocation effort, and advocated in the community on behalf of legislation that aims to require polling places on campus in New York.

The Hidden Heroes Award honors The Andrew Goodman Foundation’s outstanding Vote Everywhere Ambassadors and Puffin Democracy Fellows for demonstrating a commitment to continuing Andrew Goodman’s legacy of expanding civic engagement and defending democracy in their communities. More than 100 of these civic leaders from around the country were considered for the award. Vote Everywhere Ambassadors are college students from schools around the country who lead voter campus registration drives, Get Out the Vote efforts, and remove the barriers that student voters face. The Puffin Democracy Fellows, the Foundation’s newest leadership program, work on innovative and impactful projects to expand voting rights and social justice in their local communities and nationally.

“This year’s Hidden Heroes award ceremony comes at an important time in our country’s history as more states push to restrict voter registration efforts. These extraordinary young leaders, along with all of our Vote Everywhere Ambassadors and Puffin Democracy Fellows, are standing at the front lines of these battles,” says Sylvia Golbin-Goodman, the Executive Director of The Andrew Goodman Foundation. “We are in awe of their dedication and fearlessness in the face of these efforts and we couldn’t be more honored to recognize these outstanding young people.”

The awards ceremony took place during the Foundation’s fifth annual National Civic Leadership Training Summit where students from 59 campuses around the country meet to train and prepare Vote Everywhere Ambassadors for the upcoming school year. The event featured workshops and lectures with staff, alumni, and expert speakers. The Summit also commemorated the 55th anniversary of Andrew Goodman’s murder by the KKK in Mississippi while registering African Americans to vote.

Ava Mazzye ’20 is a BA candidate at Bard College where she studies Political Studies. She currently serves as a member of the Fiscal Committee in student government and as a Lead Peer Counselor.
 

The Bard Prison Initiative recently celebrated the achievements of its students at graduations on the main Bard campus in Annandale-on-Hudson on May 25 and at Taconic Correctional Facility, a medium-security prison for women in Bedford Hills, New York, on May 29.  

Two students who completed their studies while incarcerated and who had recently returned home from prison were awarded bachelor of arts degrees at the Bard College commencement. At the same ceremony, BPI’s innovative new project, Bard Microcollege Holyoke, celebrated its first full graduating class of 12 students with associate in arts degrees. Launched in partnership with The Care Center—a community-based organization that creates educational opportunity for women, especially young mothers—this pilot microcollege engages students in an ambitious tuition-free liberal arts degree program.

“Bard has always worked to find and support talented students who are excluded from or discouraged by other institutions of higher education,” said BPI Executive Director Max Kenner ’01. “BPI has done that for two decades within the New York State prison system, and we are now doing it outside of prison as well. Through partnerships with community-based institutions, the Bard Microcollege lowers operating costs, engages talented prospective students where they are, and reduces the financial and bureaucratic burdens that prevent many from enrolling and completing degrees.”

While only about 60 percent of AA candidates nationwide graduate within three years of starting their degree program, this first full cohort of Bard Microcollege students achieved a 100 percent graduation rate—a remarkable accomplishment for students, faculty, and Bard College. Graduates are continuing on to bachelor’s degree programs at Smith, Elms, Mount Holyoke, and Trinity Colleges.

At BPI’s 19th commencement ceremony at Taconic Correctional Facility, Bard College awarded associate in arts degrees to eight students. Commencement speaker Emily Tow, executive director and president of The Tow Foundation, was awarded the Bard Medal in recognition of her leadership in the reform of juvenile justice systems in Connecticut and New York and in the development of the catalytic power of philanthropy. Tow issued a challenge to the graduates: “No matter what led you to Taconic . . . you are the new leaders, mentors, and supporters of those who follow you in this community,” she said. “You are scholars. Use this experience to not only advance your own future, both within these walls and out in the world, but also to lead by example. Be a friend and a cheerleader and others will follow in your footsteps.”

Addressing those gathered under the tent, graduate Jasmine Milton ’19 said, “When I came to prison, I had this mindset that I was alone. . . . No one to rely on but myself. But that was not the truth. Standing here before you today, I can scream from the rooftops that I am a graduate of Bard College. That is what I want to be known as.”

About The Bard Prison Initiative
The Bard Prison Initiative (BPI) works to redefine the availability, affordability, and expectations typically associated with higher education in America.

For 20 years, BPI has created groundbreaking opportunities for college within America’s prison systems. These programs transform the negative impacts of criminal punishment and create radical inroads of access and opportunity to higher learning.

Today, BPI enrolls over 300 incarcerated students full-time in programs that culminate in degrees from Bard College; it offers extensive support for its alumni in and around New York City; and it has developed a nationwide network of leading universities and colleges to catalyze a transformation in the relationship between education and criminal justice in the United States. BPI’s newest initiative, the Bard Microcollege, expands yet further the scope and impact of this work, delivering high-quality liberal arts education to isolated communities outside of prison through partnerships with community-based institutions.

For more information about the Bard Prison Initiative, visit bpi.bard.edu, and follow us on social media: facebook.com/bpibard and on Instagram @bard_prison_initiative.