The Center for Civic Engagement at Ten Years: “Greater Than the Sum of Its Parts”

This fall the Bard Center for Civic Engagement (CCE) celebrated ten years of realizing Bard's vision of acting as a private institution in the public interest. CCE’s long list of accomplishments includes an array of student and institutional initiatives—from the Trustee Leader Scholar (TLS) Program and the Bard Prison Initiative's degree-granting programs to the Open Society University Network (OSUN) and dual-degree partnerships with universities worldwide. 

“The reason we created Bard’s Center for Civic Engagement was because we thought that the whole that is Bard’s engagement efforts was greater than the sum of its parts,” says Jonathan Becker, CCE Director, in a short video commemorating the anniversary. 

All CCE projects are animated by robust and sustainable partnerships that actively address local, national, and global problems, reach underserved populations, and tackle critical issues of education and public policy.

Paul Marienthal, Director of the TLS Program, explains in the video that students design civic engagement projects based on their own compelling interests. Some of the local projects students mounted, including Brothers at Bard, Red Hook Responds, and Election@Bard, are highlighted in the video.

“I still can’t believe how much we were able to accomplish,” says Ameer Shalabi, TLS Student Leader of the Bard Palestinian Youth Initiative, which helped to renovate schools, plant olive trees, and build a library in Palestine. 

Becker also explains how CCE’s upcoming decade will focus on supporting OSUN, continuing to provide access to rigorous education for those who need it most, and developing meaningful partnerships with local communities. 

Watch the anniversary video here.

Post Date: 10-16-2021