When College Behind Bars premiered four years ago on PBS and later moved to Netflix, it served as an introduction for many people to learn about college-in-prison. Since the film’s airing, there have been many policy wins for the field of college education in… Read More
Press Release: BARD PRISON INITIATIVE ACCEPTS TRANSFER STUDENTS AND EXPANDS AS TWO COLLEGES CLOSE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE BARD PRISON INITIATIVE ACCEPTS TRANSFER STUDENTS AND EXPANDS AS TWO COLLEGES CLOSE ANNANDALE-ON-HUSON, NY — This summer and fall, in response to two coinciding college-in-prison program closures, the Bard Prison Initiative (BPI) at Bard College has undertaken an unprecedented transfer and enrollment project… Read More
Alumni Voices: From BPI to MBA – A Bard Graduate Degree First
In May Stacy Burnett became the first BPI alum to earn a Bard graduate degree. In this quarter’s newsletter to BPI students inside, Stacy described her educational journey. It is replicated here. I earned my first degree—an MBA in Sustainability—in May 2023 from Bard's Graduate Programs… Read More
Commitment to Access: A Conversation about the Unconventional and College-in-Prison
This conversation between BPI alumnus Elías Beltrán ‘17 and Megan Callaghan, the program’s Dean, touches upon Elías’s upcoming transition to BPI faculty, the necessity of reframing college-in-prison, and the power and impact of creating educational opportunities for those who struggle to be recognized as… Read More
BPI holds fifth annual Summer Residency
BPI held its fifth annual Summer Residency this July, hosting more than 20 practitioners along with new BPI staff for an intensive and immersive two-week sequence of 25 workshops on Bard’s Annandale campus. "The cultivation of a community of practice, and meanwhile an infusion of… Read More
Building citizenship: University-in-prison programs in Argentina
In 2022, BPI launched the BPI Global Research Fellowship. Below is a summary of research conducted by the inaugural BPI Global Research Fellow, Ramiro Gual. Much of these ideas were later published in the European Review of Latin American and Caribbean Studies in 2023. In… Read More
We Are Hiring a Global Research Fellow
The Bard Prison Initiative (BPI) seeks applicants for the second annual BPI Global Research Fellow for the study of education in prison. The twelve-month Fellowship begins September 2023 and this year is designed to support a writer or journalist who can tell powerful stories… Read More
Desmond Meade Will Give the Commencement Address for the 21st BPI Commencement
BPI is proud to announce Desmond Meade will give the commencement address for the 21st BPI Commencement at Eastern Correctional Facility on June 3rd, 2023, and will earn an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Bard College. 63 incarcerated Bard students have earned degrees… Read More
Yale Prison Education Initiative to extend curriculum to a second prison and hold first graduation ceremony
With a $1.5 million grant from the Mellon Foundation, YPEI now has the capacity to offer a wider range of courses, establish a fellows program and partner with the University of New Haven. This article was originally posted on the Yale Daily News, which can… Read More
WMHT Public Media Features Bard Prison Initiative in New Series: Work in Progress
New York capital region’s public media network WMHT recently featured the Bard Prison Initiative (BPI) in its new video series, Work in Progress, which shares stories of people navigating a rapidly changing economy and how they respond to the evolving needs and conditions of… Read More