Who We Are

History

In 1999, in response to the decimation of college-in-prison nationally, the Bard Prison Initiative was founded by undergraduates at Bard College. After gaining access to the New York State prison system and securing limited funding, Bard College launched BPI as a pilot program with 16 students in 2001. Since then, the program has grown annually and dramatically. Its first associate degrees were issued in 2005 and the first bachelor’s degrees in 2008.

Today, the BPI college is spread across seven interconnected prisons in New York State. It enrolls over 400 students and organizes a host of extracurricular activities to replicate the breadth of college life and inquiry. Since 2001, BPI has issued more than 50,000 credits and over 760 degrees; it offers more than 160 courses per academic year and engages an extraordinary breadth of college faculty.

Extrapolating from the successful establishment of the college, BPI has expanded in multiple directions. First, it is the home of a national Consortium for the Liberal Arts in Prison that cultivates, supports, and establishes college-in-prison programs in partnership with colleges and universities across the country along with the BPI Summer Residency for emerging practitioners. Second, its office of Reentry & Alumni Affairs works with formerly incarcerated Bard students as they pursue robust civic and professional lives after release. Most recently, BPI established the Bard Microcollege to bring full-scholarship, academically rigorous liberal arts college to isolated communities outside of prison. In all its work, BPI builds alliances to rethink access, reduce costs, and redress inequities in higher education.

Staff

 

Kirsten Adorian
Program Coordinator, Bard at Brooklyn Public Library

Alexis Almeida
Continuing Education Advisor and Faculty Member

Jocelyn Apicello
Urban Farming and Sustainability Faculty Advisor

Adam Bloom ’23
Program Coordinator, Bard Microcollege for Just Community Leadership

Michael Brown ’23
Tutor, Bard at Brooklyn Public Library

Megan Callaghan
Dean

Kate Cox
Director of Development

Amy Cox Hall
Assistant Dean

Owen Davey
NYC Lead Tutor

Marcus Davila
Youth Housing Specialist

Julisa DeLeon ’19
Program Coordinator, Bard Microcollege Holyoke

Baz Dreisinger
Senior Advisor for Global Initiatives

Brianna Estrada
Site and Tutor Coordinator

Robert E. Fullilove
Senior Advisor, Public Health Program

Samuel Grabowski-Clark
Site Coordinator

Madeleine George
Director of Admission

Jeff Gregory
IT Technician

Ana Grujić
Site Coordinator

Natalia Guzman Solano
Assistant Director of Admission and Faculty Fellow for the Microcolleges

Suzette Haas
Executive Assistant

Alyssa Haughwout
Strategic Operations Manager (NYC)

Sayra Havranek
Associate Director of Institutional Advancement & Engagement

Hannah Henry ’19
Institutional Research Manager

Julia Herion-Cruz
Site Coordinator

Demetrius James ’17
Program Director, Bard Microcollege for Just Community Leadership

Jeffrey Jurgens
Faculty Chair, Bachelor’s Degree Program

Max Kenner ’01
Executive Director, Tow Chair for Democracy & Education

James Kim ’21
Program Director, Bard at Brooklyn Public Library

Monique Leggs-Gaynor
Assistant Director of Donor Relations & Special Projects

Nigel Larcher
NYC Youth Tutor

Claire Lindsay ’21
Academic Resources & Site Coordinator

Julia Liu
Development Associate

Cynthia Mautner
Administrative Assistant 

Delia Mellis ’86
Associate Dean

Jesse Miller
Site Director for College Operations at Albion

Dwayne Morrison ’17
Academic & Experiential Learning Coach

Leslie-Ann Murray
Director of Education Programs

Nicolette Natale
National Engagement Program Coordinator

Jessica Neptune ’02
Director of National Engagement

Vivian Nixon
Senior Advisor, Bard Microcolleges

Sonia Padilla
Career and Professional Advancement Advisor

Anthony Perez ’15
Tutor, Bard at Brooklyn Public Library

Christopher Pérez
Assistant Dean of the Bard Microcolleges

Michael Pledger ’21
Assistant Director of Youth Projects and Innovation

Andrés Pletch
Faculty Advisor to the Bachelor’s Degree Program

Sylvester Reddick ’10
Associate Director of Youth and Alumni Learning & Development

David Register
Faculty Fellow and Director of Debate

Cherith Renee-Wellington
Academic & Experiential Learning Coach

David Richardson
Site Director at Taconic

Rupali Rifenburg
Director of Budget and Financial Aid

Yesenia Ruiz
Program Director, BardBac

Bobby Rush
Distinguished Fellow

Josefina Salomon
BPI Global Research Fellow

Austin Sarat
Mellon Chair in the Humanities

Zachary Schwartz-Weinstein
Site Director, Woodbourne Correctional Facility

Nola Smith
NYC Youth Tutor

Emmanuelle St. Jean
Director of NYC Programs

Linda Steubesand
Program Manager

Rebecca Swanberg ’14
Site Director at Fishkill

Dyjuan Tatro ’18
Senior Government Affairs Officer

Elizabeth Todd
Associate Director of Enrollment

Jed B. Tucker
Senior Advisor for Reentry & Alumni Engagement

Robert Tynes
Director of College-in-Prison Operations; Site Director at Eastern NY Correctional Facility

Nikko Vaughn ’15
Associate Director of Educational Programs, Persistence, & Student Success

Amanda Vladick
Site Director at Green Haven and Taconic

Kendall Walker ’18
Academic and Experiential Life Coach

Pamela J. Wallace ’87
Site Director, Coxsackie Correctional Facility

Ann Ward
Program Director, Bard Microcollege Holyoke

Hannah White
Reentry Program Coordinator

Craig Steven Wilder
Distinguished Fellow

Jamar Williams
Lead Reentry Advisor

Shawn Young ’19
Project Lead, Upstate Reentry and Capital Region Initiative

Accreditation

Bard College is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. The courses of study leading to the bachelor of arts, bachelor of music, and bachelor of science degrees at Bard are registered by the New York State Education Department. The programs of study leading to the master of arts, master of arts in teaching, master of fine arts, master of business administration in sustainability, master of music, master of science in environmental policy, master of science in climate science and policy, and master of science in economic theory and policy degrees and the master and doctor of philosophy degrees in decorative arts, design history, and material culture at Bard are registered by the New York State Education Department, Office of Higher Education, Education Building Annex, Room 977, Albany, NY  12234; phone 518-486-3633.

Bard is also a member of the American Council on Education, American Council of Learned Societies, Association of American Colleges and Universities, College Entrance Examination Board, Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities, Education Records Bureau, and Environmental Consortium of Hudson Valley Colleges and Universities.

Notice of Nondiscrimination

Bard College is committed to ensuring equal access to its educational programs and equal employment without regard to an individual’s sex, gender, race, color, national origin, religion, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, predisposing genetic characteristics, marital status, veteran status, military status, domestic violence victim status, ex-offender status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law. Students, employees, applicants, and other members of Bard College community (including, but not limited to, vendors, visitors, and guests) shall not be subject to discrimination or harassment prohibited by law or otherwise treated adversely based upon a protected characteristic. Similarly, the College will not tolerate harassing, violent, intimidating, or discriminatory conduct by its students, employees, or any other member of, or visitor to, the College community. This includes, without limitation, sexual harassment, sexual assault, sexual violence, dating violence, and domestic violence.

Educational Rights and Privacy Act

Bard College complies with the provisions of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974. This act assures students attending a postsecondary institution that they will have the right to inspect and review certain of their educational records and, by following the guidelines provided by the College, to correct inaccurate or misleading data through informal or formal hearings. It protects students’ rights to privacy by limiting transfer of these records without their consent, except in specific circumstances. Students have the right to file complaints with the Family Policy Compliance Office, U.S. Department of Education, Washington, D.C. College policy relating to the maintenance of student records is available, on request, from the Office of the Registrar.

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