Bard College at Simon's Rock

African American and African Studies

This concentration considers the great range of experiences of African and Afro-descended people in the diaspora. Students consider the many ways Black people have negotiated and resisted racial structures within white-dominated societies, thinking critically about the concept of race and the crucial role of capitalism, language, and culture in defining racial difference at distinct historical moments.

Art History

How can an art object convey meaning? The Art History concentration invites students to analyze visual images in order to deepen their understanding of the roles images play in cultures, past and present. At the heart of the concentration is the critical examination of how art works take on meanings that have political, social, and expressive dimensions.

Asian Studies

Asian Studies is a multidisciplinary field, providing a wide variety of intellectual perspectives and learning experiences, and recognizing a great range of cultures and a tremendous diversity of peoples. Students may focus on a specific topic within Asian studies—including language, the visual arts, music, religion, cultural geography, politics, economics, literature, and history—or design their own focus.

Bard Queer Leadership Project

The Queer Leadership concentration is designed to promote Queer Leadership in many fields of inquiry. The core courses introduce students to four key areas of inquiry: Leadership, Queer History and Culture, Queer Theory and Methodology, and Career Pathways, emphasizing the relationship between subjects of study and the communities in which that learning is fostered.

Biology

A concentration in biology provides a fundamental understanding of living things at multiple levels of biological organization. From the molecular machinery of cells to the anatomy and physiology of organisms to the interactions of organisms with their environment, the biology concentration explores the evolutionary basis of life and prepares students for graduate studies or the health sciences.

Chemistry

A concentration in chemistry gives a fundamental understanding of those chemical processes that affect all our lives, allowing us to make informed choices about a range of issues from energy and food consumption to our relationship to the physical environment. It provides a solid background for advanced work in chemistry, biology, or health-related fields.

Chinese Language and Culture

Students who choose this concentration receive solid training in spoken and written Chinese language, as well as an introduction to Chinese literature, culture, philosophy, history, cultural geography, and performing and visual arts. The curriculum aims to establish a discussion of global issues and enhance in-depth knowledge of China and East Asia.

Computer Science

Computer science is an abstract discipline that involves the study of algorithmic processes and methods for managing representational and algorithmic complexity. The concentration provides the necessary background for graduate study in computer science and related fields, as well as for computing careers in business and industry.

Contemporary Critical Theory

Courses in this concentration, while differing topically, forefront theory and its historical, cultural, and intellectual context. They familiarize students with the assumptions, history, and methods of several strands of contemporary critical thought, including structuralist, semiotic, poststructuralist, postmodern, postcolonial, and feminist theory, combining philosophy, social theory, and cultural critique.

Creative Writing

The concentration in creative writing offers students the opportunity to explore an array of writing styles and genres, helping them discover and develop their own voices. Beyond the introductory course, students take specialized workshops in fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction, as well as tutorials and independent studies, while developing as more astute readers and critics of their own work.

Critical Geography

Critical Geography, Political Ecology, and Globalization Studies is the study of the biosphere and the human and nonhuman forces that have shaped the Earth's diverse terrestrial environments through time. Critical geography combines the pursuit of geographic knowledge with the analysis of power dynamics in the production of spatial knowledge and the practices that constitute space and place in everyday life.

Critical Quantitative Studies

Concentration in Quantitative Studies offers students interested in quantitative methods from fields such as mathematics, statistics, or computer science the opportunity to apply these methods to the study of a wide variety of phenomena in the natural or social sciences, or in the arts and the study of languages and literature. It develops competence in quantitative methods, problem-solving, and analysis.

Cross-cultural Relations

This concentration is designed to foster cross-cultural understanding by exploring the ethics and politics of cultural encounters, both historic and contemporary, primarily between Western and non-Western societies. Courses explore the cultural factors that have facilitated or hindered cross-cultural interaction, as well as the larger political and economic contexts within which international interactions occur.

Dance

The Simon's Rock dance program encourages each student to understand movement as a form of personal expression, a kinesthetic experience, a cultural and historical phenomenon, and as a subject of aesthetic analysis. Students focus on dance technique while also beginning guided study of the creative process through choreography and performance.

Digital Media Arts

This concentration provides a broad foundation in digital arts, including the creation of interactive environments, computer graphics, game design, electronic music, and the production of art using multiple media. Students learn and apply key skills, gaining basic mastery of electronic tools useful for creating and accompanying contemporary visual and performance arts.

Economics

The Economics concentration serves students interested in pursuing further study or work in business, finance, economics, and public policy, as well as those interested in gaining a deeper understanding of forces at work in the contemporary world. It provides a framework for the broader critical study of society, with a focus on the political and economic institutions that shape social existence.

Education, Polity, Society

The Education, Polity, Society concentration affords students the opportunity to reflect on education in the larger context of educational and political theory, and to engage with and support students and faculty active in the early college movement. It combines theories of learning and development with analyses of current local and global issues and the history of claims about the role of education in a democracy.

Environmental Studies

The concentration requires a core of coursework in environmental studies, the sciences, the humanities, and an extended campus project or internship. Students planning to pursue environmental science as a career are encouraged to take complementary courses in the natural sciences, while those interested in the political, social, or aesthetic dimensions can pursue coursework in the social sciences, literature, or arts.

Film

The film concentration supports and encourages the dual study of production and analysis, and film's interaction with other disciplines. It fosters three general areas: creative production (writing, directing, producing), technical production (editing, shooting, sound), and analytical study (film studies and theory). Interdisciplinary study and dual-concentrating are encouraged.

Food Studies

Food Studies is an inherently interdisciplinary subject. Completion of a concentration in Food Studies gives students a well-rounded understanding of food systems, food cultures, and the science of food in a global context. Students begin with broad-based introductory courses and pursue the methodology of Food Studies with experiential courses, creating a track of upper-level courses to meet their interests.

French and Francophone Studies

Along with their study of French language, students in this concentration study the literature, culture, history, and politics of the Francophone world. Students acquire strong communicative skills in the language and gain insight into the cultures and customs of the Francophone world, preparing for graduate study or careers in fields such as international relations, business, and journalism.

Gender Studies

Gender studies is an interdisciplinary program for students who wish to explore the complex questions raised by the intersecting analyses of feminist, queer, postcolonial, and critical race theory across academic fields as diverse as literature, sociology, psychology, history, anthropology, linguistics, law, cultural studies, and the arts, in American as well as global societies.

German Studies

The German Studies concentration considers the language, history, cultures, art, and philosophy of the German-speaking people. Students are encouraged to approach the concentration from an interdivisional point of view and to select relevant courses in the arts and social studies, and typically enroll at an institution of higher learning in a German-speaking country.

Historical Studies

Studying history prepares students not only to read, comprehend, and critique the academic scholarship of professional historians; it also gives them the skills to analyze and research various kinds of original sources containing evidence about the distant past. Students take courses that survey modern global and U.S. history, introduce history as a craft, and advanced seminars of their choice.

Liberal Arts

The Associate of Arts degree requires 60 credits, including the Writing and Thinking Workshop, Seminar I and II, First Year Experience, and divisional requirements across the Arts, Languages and Literature, Science/Mathematics/Computing, and Social Studies. It provides a broad grounding in the liberal arts and sciences, developing students' ability to speak, write, read, and think critically and independently.

Linguistics

Linguistics is the study of language. The concentration acquaints students with theories of language, techniques of linguistic analysis, and applications of linguistic knowledge and method to cultural, social, and pedagogical issues, covering topics such as theoretical linguistics, philosophy of the mind, historical linguistics, and language in its social, cultural, and political contexts.

Literary Studies

Appreciation of the power of language as an artistic medium is the goal of the literary studies concentration. The requirements are designed to foster students' skills as interpreters of literature and as writers, while instilling appreciation of literature and its relationship to social and political contexts. The Simon's Rock literature program is decidedly comparative.

Mathematics

Concentration in Mathematics offers students the opportunity to discover some of the methods and ideas included in the many areas of modern mathematics. It develops competence in mathematics and in the art of effective reasoning, while also developing problem-solving skills and the ability to interpret and communicate the results of one's work both orally and in writing.

Mind and Brain Studies

Neuroscience—the study of the workings of the mind and the brain and the relation between these two—is a field that draws from many disciplines, including psychology, biology, chemistry, philosophy, medicine, computer science, linguistics, and physics. This interdisciplinary concentration recognizes the value of interdisciplinary perspectives, especially at the intersection of psychology and biology.

Music

The concentration in music is designed to encourage students to expand their abilities in all dimensions of music, allowing them to intensify their involvement in performance, composition, and/or musicology, while introducing them to a wider musical and cultural context. Students explore five core areas: performance, composition, electronic music, cultural and historical studies, and theory.

Philosophical Studies

The philosophical studies concentration welcomes students to explore diverse approaches to fundamental questions about the world and our place in it. Some philosophers emphasize the evaluation of arguments in accordance with deductive and inductive canons of reasoning; others focus on the analysis of individuals in their historical and social context and the political implications of philosophical views.

Physics

This concentration is designed to give students a broad introduction to physics. It provides students the analytical and laboratory tools to investigate the physical world and prepares them for training in engineering, medicine, or education. When supplemented by additional physics courses, the concentration prepares students for a graduate education in physics.

Political Economy

The political economy concentration is organized around the study of social structures as they interact with the material world: the systems for the production and exchange of goods, services, money and financial instruments; the use of labor, capital, and natural resources; and the relation of these to other societal and historical processes.

Political Studies

At the heart of this concentration are questions about the nature, meaning, and experience of politics and power. It explores the philosophies, theories, and enactments of law, governance, and social transformation, prioritizing historical, transdisciplinary, pluralist, and comparativist approaches. Students opt for one of two streams: Law, Policy, Society; or Politics, Ethics, Aesthetics.

Pre-Engineering

The pre-engineering concentration prepares students for the Simon's Rock/Columbia University Engineering Program. It allows students to explore their interests in the liberal arts while gaining the necessary background in mathematics and science. Engineering and applied science fields include applied math and physics, and biomedical, chemical, civil, computer, electrical, environmental, industrial, materials, and mechanical engineering.

Pre-Medical Studies

The pre-medical concentration is designed to assure that those who complete the requirements successfully will have the necessary breadth of science and mathematics backgrounds required for medical school admission. It provides a broad foundation in the natural sciences—mathematics, chemistry, biology, and physics—and is strongly recommended to be taken in conjunction with other courses in the sciences.

Psychology

The psychology concentration at Simon's Rock offers courses in many areas of the field—social psychology, developmental psychology, clinical and abnormal psychology, multicultural psychology, and neuroscience—as an academic foundation for students who wish to do graduate work in psychology and related disciplines such as social work.

Social Action/Social Change

This concentration is designed for students interested in exploring the 'real world' implications and emancipatory possibilities of their work in the social studies and allied disciplines. Students complete introductory social sciences courses, additional advanced courses, and an internship, identifying a coherent set of interests that link their coursework and proposed internship.

Sociology

Sociology is offered as a concentration within the Division of Social Studies. The sociology curriculum develops knowledge and appreciation of human diversity, examining social change and the dynamic connections between social groups and their individual members through study of the influence of past events and thought on current institutions, values, and problems.

Spanish and Latin American Studies

The Spanish and Latin American Studies concentration involves study of the Spanish language as well as the literature, culture, history, and politics of Spain and Latin America, with a threefold emphasis on advanced verbal and written communication, research skills and analysis, and broad knowledge of diverse Spanish-speaking cultures.

Studio Arts

The studio arts concentration encompasses three areas—Ceramics, Drawing and Painting, and Photography—each with common studio foundation and art history requirements. Students complete foundation courses, intermediate and advanced studio work, art history courses, and an interdisciplinary critique class, developing a disciplined, technically informed approach to independent, self-generated upper-level studio work.

Theater Arts

The Theater program offers one-on-one instruction and the encouragement to fashion individual programs of study covering all aspects of theater performance and production through two tracks: Performance Creation and Technical Creation and Design. Within a single year, a student may act, assist designers, work backstage, and write and direct readings of their own plays.

Visual Studies

A concentration in Visual Studies acknowledges the profound impact of visual texts in the past and the present around the globe. It allows students to approach visual studies both creatively and critically, exploring a full range of visual expression from painting and sculpture through photography, graphics, film, and digital video, with a focus on either production or history and theory.