Catalogue

Bard-Based Initiatives

The following initiatives may be of interest to Bard students:

OSUN Courses: OSUN Online and Collaborative courses connect students and faculty across the Bard network. Online Courses are offered by a single institution and include students from multiple partner campuses as well as the host institution. Bard students register through a centralized application portal and receive course credit from the host institution. Network Collaborative Courses are designed by faculty from multiple OSUN institutions and offered simultaneously on several campuses. Bard students enroll in and receive credit for these courses at Bard. The courses share key assignments and bring students together periodically for class discussions, guest speakers, and joint projects.
 
Center for Human Rights and the Arts: CHRA researches, inspires, and extends the intersection of art and human rights, including an integrated curriculum at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. It includes network-wide teaching, research, fellowships, and public engagement. CHRA aims to stimulate new ways of thinking; develop new strategies of activism and engagement; and incubate new relationships between activists, scholars, and artists on a global scale. The program includes the first MA in Human Rights and the Arts. 

MA in Global Studies: The Global Studies program builds on the innovative Bard Globalization and International Affairs (BGIA) program in New York City and draws on the strengths of Central European University’s International Relations program in Vienna. The MA program offers a multicampus master of arts degree in global studies (see "Graduate Programs"): students spend one semester at CEU studying the form and function of the global political order and one semester at BGIA, combining substantive coursework with an internship experience that provides an on-the-ground perspective on how nonstate and civil society actors address transnational problems.

Civic Engagement: With a belief in the public purpose of higher education, civic engagement across OSUN promotes best practices and bold new initiatives to help students, faculty, and institutions realize their full potential as community actors and educators. Bard students can participate in the Learning to Lead Virtual Civic Engagement Conference and apply to the Annual Get Engaged Conference, most recently held in Budapest, Hungary. The Global Commons, a student-edited online publication, and the OSUN Student Government Association provide Bard students with opportunities to work with other student leaders on a range of projects. The Certificate in Civic Engagement helps Bard students to connect curricular and cocurricular areas on a global level. All of these initiatives provide pathways for students to deepen connections with local and global communities, address shared concerns, and build the skills needed to become global citizens. Engaged Senior Project Grants and Student-Led Initiative Grants are available for Bard students through OSUN. See “Civic Engagement” in this catalogue to learn more about the College’s initiatives through the Center for Civic Engagement. 

Economic Democracy Institute: OSUN’s Economic Democracy Initiative (EDI) is a collaborative program focused on basic economic rights as preconditions for economic stability, security, and opportunity in a global economy that works for all. EDI supports and initiates programs that focus on labor markets and the connections between unemployment, precarious employment, and broader socioeconomic deprivations. Undergraduates can apply to attend the EDI Summer Workshop, held at the Levy Economics Institute, which brings participants and experts together to tackle public policy relating to economic instability and insecurity. 

Experimental Humanities Collaborative Network: This initiative is rethinking how we engage with the humanities and redefining what they are in the light of changing technologies, an increasingly connected global landscape, the ongoing ecological crisis, and calls to create more inclusive universities. 

Hannah Arendt Humanities Network: The Arendt network nurtures a culture that values and strengthens the humanities as the foundation of an open society. The network supports the integration and accessibility of humanities studies across OSUN institutions.

Solve Climate by 2030: A coordinated climate education initiative across OSUN and beyond, Solve Climate by 2030 organizes educators to dedicate the first Wednesday of April each year during the 2020s as a Solve Climate by 2030 day for global, coordinated education on climate solutions. The project creates and promotes templates for educational initiatives, highlighting ambitious local and regional climate solutions, and ways in which students and other citizens can engage with communities to support these solutions.

For a full list of OSUN initiatives, and to learn more about the Open Society University Network, visit opensocietyuniversitynetwork.org.