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Bard College Celebrates MLK Day with Volunteer Projects, Civic Engagement Conference

As part of the College’s 10th Annual MLK Day of Engagement, more than 300 Bard students participated in volunteer projects, workshops, and a conference on campus.

Bard College students, staff, and faculty celebrated the 10th Annual Martin Luther King Day of Engagement last weekend with a host of events on and off campus. Beginning on Saturday, January 18 and continuing on Monday, January 20, Bard students participated in a series of volunteer projects, civic engagement workshops, and a miniconference on campus. Most participants were first-years on campus for Citizen Science; they were joined by 42 Upper College student leaders.

The weekend's events—organized by the Bard Center for Civic Engagement, the Office of Sustainability, and the Citizen Science Program, in cooperation with local nonprofits—take place as part of the nationwide Day of Service that marks the King holiday. Volunteers around the country respond to Dr. King's call, "Life’s most persistent and urgent question is: 'What are you doing for others?'"
Bard students and staff played a significant role in the popular Red Hook Repair Cafe for the second year. Sixteen students joined other local volunteers at the Red Hook Community Center. The Center bustled with community members sharing their expertise, fixing everything from computers to sweaters. Participants made Valentines for senior citizens who receive Meals on Wheels, learned sewing and woodworking, and connected with local nonprofit organizations.
Participants chose from 16 workshops, trainings, and panels on campus that connected Martin Luther King's legacy as a leader in civil rights and social and economic justice with today's local and global challenges. Facilitators focused on helping students build skills to effect change. Students joined workshops on public speaking, identifying fake news, and how to have difficult conversations about bias with friends and relatives, among others. Panel topics included Reconfiguring Radical Black Politics, Biomimicry: How Learning From Our Biological Elders Could Change Our World, and The Legitimacy and Legacy of Historically Black Fraternities and Sororities.

Bard junior Daniella Mingo, MLK Day of Engagement Fellow and Posse Scholar, was thrilled with how eager and excited the students were to venture out into the community. "These groups of students were able to build up structures, volunteer at food pantries and travel even to Woodstock to participate in the Women’s March, raising their voices to demand equality for all living beings. It has been such a rewarding and inspiring experience. I strongly believe that this first-year class has embodied what it means to show up and show out!"
The organizers included a civic engagement miniconference in Olin Auditorium for the second year, after last year's success, featuring a panel of local leaders who discussed inclusive practices for youth and the community as a whole. The College welcomed to the Olin stage Shaniqua Bowden, outreach coordinator for the Kingston Land Trust; Cammie Jones, associate dean for experiential learning and civic engagement at Bard; Jody Miller, Dutchess County human rights/EEO officer; and L'Quette Taylor, Poughkeepsie community organizer and founder of Community Matters 2, Inc.

"My favorite part of MLK Day of Engagement this year was seeing how much everyone cared about the day as a whole," commented Bard sophomore Mikalah Jenifer, MLK Day of Engagement Fellow and also a Posse Scholar. "From students to professors to workshop leaders, everyone was so invested in perpetuating Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy."

 Bard's community engagement this month doesn't stop with MLK Day. The Bard STEM Outreach team was also excited to host about 450 8th graders from local school districts in Rhinebeck, Pine Plains, Germantown, and Hyde Park. They also welcomed onto campus the 9th and 10th graders from Woodstock Day School. Throughout all the schools' visits, local students learned about this year's Citizen Science topic: water. They analyzed drought mapping, calculated water scarcity in a game format, made ice cream with freezing point depression knowledge, and learned about the life cycle of a plastic water bottle. All of these lessons and activities were created and facilitated by Bard CCE student fellows, through a course called Scientific Literacy and Inquiry.
 

Post Date: 01-22-2020

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Here's What Sustainable Dining Looks Like at Bard

The Valley Table highlights ecologically minded practices at Bard College and other Hudson Valley institutions. “Bard College operates as an agent of sustainable change both within the confines of campus and across the nation,” writes Sabrina Sucato. Sustainability is integrated into the daily life of the College. Initiatives at Bard include growing food for the dining hall at the Bard Farm, reclaiming and donating extra food to a local shelter, student advocacy initiatives, and environmentally focused academic programs. “Bard students receive an education that recognizes climate crisis as a multifaceted issue affecting all departments of study,” notes Office of Sustainability intern and Bard junior Karianne Canfield. “Students graduating from Bard will now be able to support sustainable futures based on this awareness.”
 

Post Date: 01-17-2020

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Bard College Presents Montgomery Place Fall Salon Series on Renewable Energies

The Montgomery Place Fall Salon Series, Renewable Energies: Balancing Outputs and Historic Landscapes, presents two sessions highlighting how a local community balances the implementation of renewable energies within an historically significant landscape. Session 1: Solar Energy takes place on Tuesday, November 12, 3–5 p.m. and Session 2: Hydro Energy, on Tuesday, December 3, 3–5 p.m. Programs are free and open to the public. Seating is limited; registration required. For more information and to register send an email to montgomeryplace@bard.edu or call 845-758-7505.

“The Town of Red Hook has areas that have been recognized locally, statewide, and nationally both as a scenic region, and for having significant historic architecture, landscapes, and viewsheds,” says Emily Majer, Town of Red Hook historian. “These attributes, along with the firm commitment to agriculture and open space, are character defining features of the town which contribute to the quality of life, and economic vitality. Consequently, it is important to be sensitive in the placement of ground and roof-mounted solar panels in designated historic districts and on historic structures, and to protect the viability of important agricultural land and built structures within the town.” Local Law 143-37 “Solar Energy Systems” spells out what kind, size, and placement of array is allowable in each zoning district in order to maximize the utilization of this renewable energy source, while preserving the historic and bucolic nature of the town. 

“Small-scale hydropower was historically an important energy source in this area that may see a resurgence as we work to reduce our dependence on fossil fuel-based energy sources that are driving the climate crisis,” says Robyn Smyth, assistant professor of environmental and urban studies, Bard College.

The Town of Red Hook is home to the Hudson River National Historic Landmark District, the most prestigious designation of historic resources in the nation.
 
Panel Speakers

Session 1: Solar Energy
November 12, 3–5 p.m.
Emily Majer ’95, Town of Red Hook historian and deputy mayor, Village of Tivoli
Audrey Friedrichsen, land use and environmental advocacy attorney, Scenic Hudson
Jeff Irish, vice president, SunCommon
Moderated by Ben Hoen CEP ’06, research scientist, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Session 2: Hydro Energy
December 3, 3–5 p.m.
Emily Majer ’95, Town of Red Hook historian and deputy mayor, Village of Tivoli
Jan Borchert, head of hydro facility design and permitting, Current Hydro
Tracy Brown, restoration manager, Connecticut and New York Northeast Coldwater Habitat Program, Trout Unlimited 
Weston Davey, historic site restoration coordinator, New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation
Moderated by Robyn Smyth, assistant professor of environmental and urban studies, Bard College

For more information and to register send an email to montgomeryplace@bard.edu or call 845-758-7505.

Post Date: 12-01-2019

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Journalist Natalia Drozdiak ’10: This Search Engine Is Planting Trees Every Time You Browse

“When fires raged across Brazil this summer and deforestation rates reached startling highs, users began downloading a small German search engine in a modest effort to counteract the devastation,” writes Drozdiak. “Ecosia GmBH, a Berlin-based alternative to Google, donates as much as 80% of the profit it makes from running ads alongside search results to plant trees around the world.”

Post Date: 11-26-2019

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Bard MBA Students Are Putting the Planet Before Profits

Eban Goodstein, director of Bard’s Graduate Programs in Sustainability, says putting the planet and its inhabitants before profits “is an incredible paradigm shift” for business schools that have long trained their students to maximize shareholder value. Bard’s MBA in Sustainability bakes sustainability principles into every class rather than simply offering sustainability electives as many business schools do. “In theory, you don’t want to have a sustainability department. The goal should be to make sustainability part of the business model,” says 34-year-old Nour Shaikh MBA ’16, a vice president at ING Financial Services.

Post Date: 11-06-2019

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The Fisher Center Presents A Talk By Chef Sean Sherman: The (R)evolution of Indigenous Food Systems of North America

James Beard Award–winning Chef Sean Sherman, Oglala Lakota from the Pine Ridge reservation and founder of the company The Sioux Chef, is committed to revitalizing Native American cuisine. Chef Sean comes to the Fisher Center to discuss The (R)evolution of Indigenous Food Systems of North America, Tuesday, October 29, in the LUMA Theater at 5 p.m. The talk will be followed by a question and answer period and book signing. Admission is free; to reserve tickets and for additional information visit fishercenter.bard.edu or call the Fisher Center box office at 845-758-7900.

Through his research Chef Sean has uncovered and mapped out the foundations of the indigenous food systems through an indigenous perspective. His book, The Sioux Chef’s Indigenous Kitchen, earned a 2018 James Beard Award and was a top 10 cookbook of 2017. He has become renowned nationally and internationally in the culinary movement of indigenous foods and is leading a movement to completely redefine North American cuisine.

Copies of The Sioux Chef’s Indigenous Kitchen will be available for purchase in the lobby of LUMA Theater courtesy of Oblong Books. In addition, Ken Greene from Seedshed will be showcasing Haudenosaunee crops grown in the Native American Seed Sanctuary, a collaborative initiative with the St. Regis Mohawk tribe Seedshed and The Hudson Valley Farm Hub.

This event is sponsored by Bard College’s Center for the Study of Land, Air and Water, American Studies, Environmental and Urban Studies, Bard Farm, Bard Office of  Sustainability, Experimental Humanities, The Bard Center for Civic Engagement, Trustee Leader Scholar Program, and Oblong Books. The Fisher Center’s presentation of the event is in tandem with the upcoming Live Arts Bard Biennial, Where No Wall Remains: An International Festival About Borders, November 21–24, 2019.

Chef Sean Sherman, Oglala Lakota, born in Pine Ridge, SD, has been cooking across the US and Mexico over the past 30 years, and has become renowned nationally and internationally in the culinary movement of indigenous foods. Chef Sean has studied extensively to determine the foundations of Native American indigenous foods systems to bring back a sense of Native American cuisine to today’s world. In 2014, he opened the business titled The Sioux Chef as a caterer and food educator in the Minneapolis/Saint Paul area. He and his business partner Dana Thompson also designed and opened the Tatanka Truck, which featured pre-contact foods of the Dakota and Minnesota territories.  

In October 2017, Sean was able to perform the first decolonized dinner at the James Beard House in Manhattan along with his team. His first book, The Sioux Chef’s Indigenous Kitchen was awarded the James Beard medal for Best American Cookbook for 2018 and was chosen as one of the top ten cookbooks of 2017 by the LA Times, San Francisco Chronicle, as well as the Smithsonian Magazine. This year, Chef Sean was selected as a Bush Fellow, as well as receiving the 2019 Leadership Award by the James Beard Foundation. The Sioux Chef team of twelve people continues with their mission to help educate and make indigenous foods more accessible to as many communities as possible through the recently founded nonprofit North American Traditional Indigenous Food Systems (NATIFS). Learn more: natifs.org.

The Fisher Center develops, produces, and presents performing arts across disciplines through new productions and context-rich programs that challenge and inspire. At once a premier professional performing arts center and a hub for research and education, the Fisher Center supports artists, students, and audiences in the development and examination of artistic ideas and perspectives from the past, present, and future. The organization’s home is the Fisher Center for the Performing Arts, designed by Frank Gehry and located on the campus of Bard College in New York’s Hudson Valley. The Fisher Center offers outstanding programs to many communities, including the students and faculty of Bard, and audiences in the Hudson Valley, New York City, across the country and around the world. The Fisher Center illustrates Bard’s commitment to the performing arts as a cultural and educational necessity. Building on a 150-year history as a competitive and innovative undergraduate institution, Bard is committed to enriching culture, public life, and democratic discourse by training tomorrow’s thought leaders.
 

Post Date: 10-08-2019