By Molly Williams, MS ’08, Graduate Admissions and Public Programs
Select students in Bard CEP master’s programs are chosen each year to work directly with faculty and staff on research projects and public programs. The graduate assistantship positions Bard offers vary in scope and responsibility, but all of them come with a stipend to help students offset their living expenses in the first year. This year’s assistantship positions are outlined below. We encourage students to apply to the early deadline (January 15th) to have first priority for these positions!
Research Assistant – Graduate Faculty (3 available)
Serve as primary research assistant for Bard CEP Faculty: Professor Sethi, Professor Segarra, and Professor Smyth. 
For Professor Sethi, students conduct research, collect data sets, perform statistical analyses, and search for funding opportunities. Students learn how to conduct a search for academic work, how to critically examine aspects of arguments, and how to use data and draw correct inferences from those.
For Professor Smyth, students assist with aquatic ecosystem modeling and data analysis. Students work on topics including forecasting the occurrence of harmful algal blooms, carbon dynamics in lakes, and photosynthesis and carbon capture in the Southern Ocean.
For Professor Segarra, students conduct research and gather statistical information, publications, and internal policy debates on issues related to climate change and natural resource management. Students use legal search engines to track current legal status or cases involving oil, mining, and water at a national / transnational level and help with identifying grant opportunities through the Foundation Center and other websites.
On-Farm Teaching Assistant – Professor Phillips (1 available)
In this position, students work two mornings a week on a sustainable livestock farm in Clermont, NY, for Professor Phillips. This position includes discussing peer-reviewed literature with interns and preforming on-farm labor. The student will have the opportunity to experience the full spectrum of raising sheep including breeding, handling, lambing, and wool handling. He/she will come away with first-hand knowledge of sustainable farm practices, rotational grazing techniques, and humane grass-fed livestock rearing. The student in this position is responsible for supervising five Bard undergraduate interns and leading discussion with interns on readings related to sustainable agriculture with some emphasis on GHG emissions and interactions on climate change, and there is potential for collaboration on syllabus development for course readings.
Program Assistant – C2C Fellows (3 available)
Working on the C2C Fellows program (a national network of undergraduates and recent graduates aspiring to sustainability leadership in politics and business) these positions entail working directly with Eban Goodstein, Bard CEP Director, and Jess Scott, C2C Fellows Workshop Director. Students in these positions will support the development and implementation of outreach strategies to involve young leaders (age 18-25) in C2C Fellows workshops. Among other duties, PAs help coordinate logistics for, and host, weekend workshops and training events across the nation, travel to 1-2 weekend conferences, compile outreach lists, conduct outreach, and work with host universities to identify potential C2C Fellows candidates, maintain a vibrant social media and blogging presence around the C2C Fellows Network objectives. PAs create draft outreach and marketing materials, emails, e-posters, website text and host conference calls — both to support upcoming workshops and to increase connections between previous C2C graduates, and administrative tasks as assigned.
Program Assistant – Bard Graduate Programs in Sustainability (2 available)
Working for either the Bard Center for Environmental Policy or the Bard MBA in Sustainability, these positions support the admissions offices in promoting our degree programs, public events, and public programs such as the National Climate Seminar and the Sustainability Business Series. Among other duties, these positions include creating and editing blog content, maintain our social media presence, expanding our market research, providing event logistics and outreach, and posting relevant job and internship opportunities. Students are given the chance to work directly with prominent lecturers and panelists, gain key communication and outreach skills, and contribute to program development.
All positions are available to students who apply to any of our degree programs and qualify for financial aid as indicated by the FAFSA. For more information on these positions, including what skills are required to qualify, please visit our financial aid page.