Bard College at Simon's Rock Alumni

04/13/2026

04/06/2026

Alum Ada Palmer '97 was recently featured in The Chronicle of Higher Education's article "Higher Ed is at a Turning Point. 11 Scholars Predict What's Next" with her piece, "Not Apocalypse Now." The full article is accessible at https://www.chronicle.com/article/higher-ed-is-at-a-turning-point-11-scholars-predict-whats-next

Ada Palmer is a cultural and intellectual historian focusing on radical thought and the recovery of the classics in the Italian Renaissance. She works on the history of science, religion, heresy, freethought, atheism, censorship, books, printing, and on patronage and the networks of power and money that enabled cultural creation in early modern Europe. She teaches in the History Department at the University of Chicago, her first book is Reading Lucretius in the Renaissance (2014), her second is Inventing the Renaissance: the Myth of a Golden Age (2025).

02/05/2026

Today marks one month in office for new Holyoke City Council Member and Rocker extraordinaire Anne Thalheimer '91! To learn more about Anne and her politics and activism, check out the most recent episode of the Leading Q***r podcast, co-hosted by Simon's Rock Provost John B. Weinstein and Bard Q***r Leadership Project Director Carla Stephens. Check out the podcast at the link below:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/anne-thalheimer-the-new-standard-for-local-politics/id1753381451?i=1000746003900

01/23/2026

Simon's Rock alum, Ming Gong, now in his second year at Columbia University as apart of the Dual Degree Engineering 3/2 program, Ming Gong and Faculty in Physics, Mike Bergman, recently had their paper "An Experimental Ultrasonic Method to Determine a Scattering Quality Factor, with Application to Earth’s Inner Core," published in "Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors." Ming worked on this as an intern over his sophomore and junior years at Simon's Rock.

12/22/2025

Happy holidays from the Simon's Rock community! Enjoy a restful break!

12/15/2025

Join Faculty in Psychology, Anne O'Dwyer, for the launch party for her new book, "A Driving Anger," on Thursday, December 18 from 4:00-6:00 p.m. at Robbie's Community Market in Great Barrington, MA.

Books will be available for sale and signing by Anne.

RSVPs are appreciated: [email protected]

Books are also available for purchase online at bloomsbury.com/us/driving-anger-9798881800369/

12/05/2025

Simon’s Rock alumna Margaret Dunlap ‘95 () was recently chosen to appear as a contestant on America’s favorite quiz show, JEOPARDY.

When asked about her time at Simon’s Rock, Margaret shared, “Attending Simon's Rock changed my life in a hundred ways both big and small. Taking playwriting with Gary Mitchell my first semester eventually led to my current career as a screenwriter. It all helped me build a perspective and a framework for interpreting the world around me, in a community that valued curiosity and both creative and critical thought.”

Margaret is a writer for small and smaller screens whose short fiction has previously appeared in "Shimmer," "The Deadlands," and as part of the writing team behind the Locus-nominated e-book and audio serial "Bookburners." Other credits include "Blade Runner: Black Lotus," "The Lizzie Bennet Diaries," "The Middleman," and the Emmy-winning Dark "Crystal: Age of Resistance."

You can catch Margaret’s episode which airs on NBC this Friday, Dec 5 at 7:30pm ET!

02/08/2025

See the link in our profile for the latest update on the Reunion waitlist.

01/15/2025

300,000 is the lucky number!

Alum Hannah Wheeler has made great strides at the New York Botanical Garden by digitizing the 300,000th All Asia Project specimen:

"The 300,000th specimen (pictured) is a Cyrtandra oblongifolia (Gesneriaceae) collected by NYBG Curator Robert Statham Williams from the Philippines in 1903. Led by PI’s Matthew Pace and Kate Armstrong, the All Asia project is the largest NSF funded digitization project in NYBG history, focusing on specimens from Pakistan to Hawaii and Siberia to Papua New Guinea."

Read about it here: https://buff.ly/42eOJmn

Congratulations, Hannah!

01/01/2025

3...2...1!

Happy New Year, Simon's Rock! Though we'll leave some things behind in 2024, we're excited to see where the new year guides us. To help make the transition a little more joyful, here are some fun facts about 2025!:

Did you know 2025 is the year of the Wood Snake? Are there any serpentine Simon's Rockers out there? You share a Chinese zodiac sign with Pablo Picasso, Muhammad Ali, Abraham Lincoln, Audrey Hepburn, and Martin Luther King, Jr.!

Any math fans among us will be delighted to know that 2025 is a 'square year', named so because it is the square of 45.

Love continues to win, as same-sex marriage officially becomes legal in Thailand on January 23rd, 2025!

Soccer (or Football) fans rejoice, as the 2025 FIFA World Cup takes place here in the United States! Who are you rooting for?

12/22/2024

What a year it has been. Thank you for being with us for the journey. Now, it's time to rest and reflect with friends, family, and loved ones, and prepare to face a new year.

Be safe, be well, and be merry!