ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON – Bard College held its one hundred sixty-sixth commencement on Saturday, May 23, 2026.
Bard President Leon Botstein conferred 501 undergraduate degrees on the Class of 2026 and 197 graduate degrees. Bard also conferred 46 associate degrees on students from its microcolleges. The Undergraduate Degrees Commencement took place at 2:30 pm in the commencement tent on the Seth Goldfine Memorial Rugby Field.
Honorary degrees were awarded to Fareed Zakaria, lawyer Jack Arthur Blum ’62, business owner Patricia L. Bowman, public health researcher and activist Robert E. Fullilove, philanthropist Marieluise Hessel, Bard High School Early College founding principal Raymond Peterson, historian Oliver Rathkolb, physicist Thomas F. Rosenbaum, musicologist Elaine Sisman, immunologist Kathryn E. Stein ’66, and composer Richard Wilson. An honorary degree was also awarded to Bard College president, Leon Botstein, in recognition of his 51 years of transformative leadership.
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