Bard College

Coordinates: 42°01′16″N 73°54′27″W / 42.02108°N 73.90756°W / 42.02108; -73.90756

Bard College, founded in 1860 as St. Stephen's College, is a private liberal arts college in Annandale-on-Hudson, a hamlet in Dutchess County, New York, United States, in the town of Red Hook. The campus overlooks the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains, and is within the Hudson River Historic District, a National Historic Landmark.

The institution consists of a liberal arts college, a conservatory, as well as eight graduate programs offering over 20 graduate degrees in the arts and sciences. The undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio is 10:1. The college has a network of over thirty-five affiliated programs, institutes, and centers, spanning twelve cities, five states, seven countries, and four continents.

Bard's Annandale campus serves as an important regional cultural institution. Both the CCS Hessel Museum of Contemporary Art and the Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts are located on campus. The college also hosts two acclaimed annual arts festivals, Bard SummerScape, and the Bard Music Festival.

Bard

In medieval Gaelic and British culture, a bard was a professional poet/story teller and music composer, employed by a patron, such as a monarch or nobleman, to commemorate one or more of the patron's ancestors and to praise the patron's own activities.

Originally a specific class of poet, contrasting with another class known as fili in Ireland and Highland Scotland, with the decline of living bardic tradition in the modern period the term "bard" acquired generic meanings of an epic author/singer/narrator, comparable with the terms in other cultures (azmari, minstrel, gayen, skald, scop, rhapsode, udgatar, griot, ashik) or any poets, especially famous ones. For example, William Shakespeare and Rabindranth Tagore are known as "the Bard of Avon" and "the Bard of Bengal" respectively.

Etymology and origin

The word is a Celtic loan word from Scottish Gaelic bàrd, Irish bard, Welsh bardd. In Scotland in the 16th century it was a derogatory term for an itinerant musician, but was later romanticised by Sir Walter Scott.

Bard College Campus

The Bard College Campus is located on 540-acres in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. The campus, situated on the east shore of the Hudson River, offers sweeping views of the Catskill Mountains and is within the Hudson River Historic District, a National Historic Landmark. Almost all campus buildings built prior to 1950 are listed on the National Register of Historic Places as contributing features to the historic district.

The campus contains more than 70 buildings with a total gross building space of 1,167,090 square feet. Campus buildings represent varied architectural styles, but the campus remains heavily influenced by the Collegiate Gothic and Postmodern styles.

Bard’s historic buildings are associated with the early development of the college and the history of the Hudson River estates (see Bard College History). During a late twentieth century building boom, the college embraced a trend of building signature buildings designed by prominent architects like Robert Venturi, Frank Gehry, and Rafael Viñoly.

Campus tour

A campus tour is a tour of a college or university's campus. Prospective students, their family members and other visitors take campus tours to learn about the college or university's facilities, as well as student life, culture on campus, academics, and programs offered by the institution. During these tours prospective students are able to learn about the built environment, the physical/sensory environment, the sound environment, and the visual environment of the institution. These tours are normally walking tours that typically last anywhere from 30 to 90 minutes, and groups are usually between ten and thirty visitors. Campus tours are often preceded by an information session, presented by a member of the admissions staff. Many campus tours include a visit to a residence hall room and a classroom or lecture hall. At most schools, tours are led by students, although admissions office staff or other representatives of the school may also be tour guides. At some institutions, becoming a student tour guide is a rigorous process and the job is a respected position on campus. Most University’s offer handicap accessibility and/or walk-in tour options (call the University directly for more information)”.

College

College (Latin: collegium) is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. Usage of the word college varies in English-speaking nations. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate university, or an institution offering vocational education.

In the United States and Italy, "college" formally refers to a constituent part of a university, but generally "college" and "university" are used interchangeably, whereas in Oceania and South Asia, "college" may refer to a secondary or high school, a college of further education, a training institution that awards trade qualifications, or a constituent part of a university (See this comparison of British and American English educational terminology for further information).

Etymology

In ancient Rome a collegium was a club or society, a group of people living together under a common set of rules (con- = "together" + leg- = "law" or lego = "I choose" or "I read").

Overview

Higher education