Civil Rights icon and Congressman John Lewis will deliver the commencement address for the Bard College class of 2017 on May 27.
Lewis will receive an honorary doctorate of civil law. Honorary degrees will also be awarded to classicist Mary Beard, computer scientist Erik D. Demaine, West Point Dean and Brigadier General Cindy R. Jebb, artist Brice Marden, mathematician Karen Saxe ’82, and philanthropist Charles P. Stevenson Jr.
Bard will confer 435 undergraduate degrees on the Class of 2017 and 141 graduate degrees, including master of fine arts; doctor and master of philosophy and master of arts in decorative arts, design history, and material culture; master of science in economic theory and policy; master of business administration in sustainability; master of arts in teaching; master of arts in curatorial studies; master of science in environmental policy and in climate science and policy; and master of music in vocal arts and in conducting. The program, which begins at 2:30 p.m. in the commencement tent on the Seth Goldfine Memorial Rugby Field, will include the presentation of honorary doctoral degrees.
Other events taking place during Commencement weekend include class reunions; a concert by Bard student soloists and composers with The Orchestra Now, Leon Botstein, conductor; and the granting of Bard College awards for 2017. The Bard Medal will be presented to James H. Ottaway Jr.; the John and Samuel Bard Award in Medicine and Science to Mariana Raykova ’06; the Charles Flint Kellogg Award in Arts and Letters to Nick Jones ’01; the John Dewey Award for Distinguished Public Service to Betsaida Alcantara ’05; the Mary McCarthy Award to Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie; and the Bardian Award to Mario J. A. Bick, Diana De G. Brown, and Marsha Davis.
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