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 300 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 600 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 College Library
Jocelyn Apicello
Urban Farming and Sustainability Faculty Advisor
Adam Bloom '23
Program Coordinator, Bard Microcollege for Just Community Leadership
Megan Callaghan
Dean
Stephen Cope
Site Director, Albion Correctional Facility
Kate Cox
Director of Development
Amy Cox Hall
Assistant Dean
Julisa DeLeon '19
Program Coordinator, Bard Microcollege Holyoke
Baz Dreisinger
Senior Advisor for Global Initiatives
Robert E. Fullilove
Senior Advisor, Public Health Program
Madeleine George
Director of Admission
Jeff Gregory
IT Technician
Ramiro Gual
BPI Global Research Fellow
Natalia Guzman Solano
Assistant Director of Admission and Faculty Fellow for the Microcolleges
Suzette Haas
Executive Assistant
Alyssa Haughwout
Office Manager (NYC)
Sayra Havranek
Assistant Director of Institutional Advancement
Hannah Henry '19
Institutional Research Associate and Site Coordinator
Kwame Holmes
Program Director, BardBac
Abdulkariym IbnBrodie '19
Learning Commons Lead Tutor, Bard at Brooklyn Public Library
Demetrius James '17
Program Director, Bard Microcollege for Just Community Leadership
Jeffrey Jurgens
Faculty Chair, Bachelor’s Degree Program
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
Claire Lindsay '21
Academic Resources & Site Coordinator
Julia Liu
Development Associate
Delia Mellis '86
Associate Dean
Gabriel Mendes
Director of Public Health Programs
Jesse Miller
Site Director for College Operations at Albion
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
Hadley Parum '21
Administrative Assistant
Christopher Pérez
Assistant Dean of the Bard Microcolleges
Andrés Pletch
Faculty Advisor to the Bachelor’s Degree Program
Sylvester Reddick '10
Alumni Engagement Manager
David Register
Faculty Fellow and Director of Debate
Rupali Rifenburg
Director of Budget and Financial Aid
Yesenia Ruiz
Faculty Fellow
Bobby Rush
Distinguished Fellow
Austin Sarat
The Mellon Chair in the Humanities
Zachary Schwartz-Weinstein
Site Director, Woodbourne Correctional Facility
Amy Shapiro
STEM Faculty Advisor, Site Director at Fishkill Correctional Facility
Emmanuelle St. Jean
Director of NYC Programs
Linda Steubesand
Program Associate
Dyjuan Tatro '18
Senior Government Affairs Officer
Robert Thomas
Housing Coordinator
Elizabeth Todd
Admission and Enrollment Associate
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 Education & Professional Advancement
Amanda Vladick
Site Director at Green Haven and Taconic
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
Alicia Williams
Assistant Director of Community Support & Relations
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.