Bard Early College Receives Grant from Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to Support Accelerated Science Education Across its New York City Campuses

ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.—Bard College has been awarded a $500,644 grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to develop accelerated, early college science instruction at its four Bard Early College public high schools in New York City. This grant enables Bard Early College to create the infrastructure for a more robust science program and deeper engagement with the sciences for Bard High School Early Colleges (BHSEC) students and faculty across its Manhattan, Queens, Bronx, and Brooklyn campuses. With its first campus opened in Manhattan in 2001, BHSECs currently serve 1,600 New York City Public Schools students across four boroughs with plans to serve 2,200 students by 2028.
 
The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation grant will provide funding for the design of a new laboratory, and, through it, the development of a new set of teaching plans and instructional resources for use at BHSECs across New York City. The laboratory will feature new biotechnology equipment, which allows students to perform procedures and get hands-on experience with laboratory techniques as part of Bard’s early college biology curriculum. Specific laboratory equipment supported by this grant will include PCR machines, gel electrophoresis apparatus, centrifuges, micropipettes, incubators, and spectrophotometers. Additionally, this new equipment will allow faculty to design and develop biotechnology-based elective courses and further enhance the early college curriculum. With this enhanced science infrastructure, students will graduate from Bard’s public early college high schools better prepared for ongoing engagement in the sciences in their future lives in academia, in the workforce, and as citizens.
 
“We seek to strengthen the Bard Early Colleges as an ecosystem for serious and sustained study in the sciences, particularly for underrepresented students. To that end, the overarching goal of this project is to develop robust and connected opportunities in the classroom, the lab, and the community,” said Bard Early College Vice President and Dean Dumaine Williams.  
About Bard Early College
Bard Early College is a multi-campus network of Bard College established to provide adolescents in American public school systems with the chance to go farther and faster than the status quo allows. Bard Early College serves approximately 3,700 students at nine degree-granting campuses and a growing number of partnership programs through which students can complete up to one year of college. Learn more at https://bhsec.bard.edu/.
 
About Bard College
Founded in 1860, Bard College is a four-year, residential college of the liberal arts and sciences located 90 miles north of New York City. With the addition of the Montgomery Place estate, Bard’s campus consists of nearly 1,200 parklike acres in the Hudson River Valley. It offers bachelor of arts, bachelor of science, and bachelor of music degrees, with majors in more than 40 academic programs; graduate degrees in 13 programs; eight early colleges; and numerous dual-degree programs nationally and internationally. Building on its 164-year history as a competitive and innovative undergraduate institution, Bard College has expanded its mission as a private institution acting in the public interest across the country and around the world to meet broader student needs and increase access to liberal arts education. The undergraduate program at our main campus in upstate New York has a reputation for scholarly excellence, a focus on the arts, and civic engagement. Bard is committed to enriching culture, public life, and democratic discourse by training tomorrow’s thought leaders. For more information about Bard College, visit bard.edu.

This event was last updated on 12-05-2024

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