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Four Bard College Students Win Gilman International Scholarships to Study Abroad

Four Bard College students have been awarded highly competitive Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarships by the US Department of State. Paola De La Cruz Valenzuela ’28, Lo Olivieri ’28, Amaya Fernandez Guerrero ’28, and Lila Jigme Waxman ’28 all received Gilman scholarships.

Four Bard College Students Win Gilman International Scholarships to Study Abroad

Four Bard College students have been awarded highly competitive Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarships by the US Department of State. Gilman Scholars receive up to $5,000, or up to $8,000 if also a recipient of the Gilman Critical Need Language Award, to apply toward their study abroad or internship program costs.

Bard political science major Paola De La Cruz Valenzuela ’28, of the Bronx, New York, has also been awarded a Gilman Scholarship to study at the Reed Barcelona Universities Program, for the spring 2027 semester. “I feel deeply honored to have been awarded the Gilman Scholarship and to join the Gilman community,” Valenzuela said. “I am truly grateful for this opportunity and excited for the ways it will support my academic experience abroad.”

Bard literature major Lila Jigme Waxman ’28, from Vershire, Vermont, has been awarded a Gilman Scholarship to study at Wheaton in Bhutan for the fall 2026 semester. Waxman will be studying both the Bhutanese language, Dzongkha, and history, in addition to taking courses in philosophy. “As a student on a large scholarship at Bard who nonetheless wants not to be held back from experiences by lack of money, this support from the Gilman Foundation has been the biggest relief in the gamble that I took trying to finance the study abroad program I was most passionate about, but did not have a tuition exchange option,” said Waxman. “Thanks to this scholarship, I feel like risks like this one are worth taking.”

Bard theater and performance major Lo Olivieri ’28, from Jacksonville, Florida, has been awarded a Gilman Scholarship to attend Bard College Berlin, for the fall 2027 semester. Olivieri will be interning and will study Theater and Performance while in Germany. “Winning a Gilman feels bittersweet right now as education programs are being ruthlessly cut,” said Olivieri. “Programs like the Gilman Scholarship are vital to increasing access to quality education and I'm proud to make a case to the US Department of State about why they should invest in the education of a Theater major studying abroad in Berlin. I'm incredibly grateful and I hope we see the restoration of essential programs for education in the coming years.”

Bard College dance major Amaya Fernandez Guerrero ’28, from Puerto Rico, has been awarded a Gilman Scholarship to attend the Reed Madrid Universities Program for the fall 2026 semester. “I’m incredibly grateful for this opportunity and excited for the experiences ahead,” Guerrero said.

The Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship Program has awarded scholarships to 2,100 American undergraduate students from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the Northern Mariana Islands in spring 2026 to study and intern abroad between May 2026 and May 2027. All scholarship recipients are US undergraduate students with established high financial need as federal Pell Grant recipients. This year’s cohort of Gilman Scholars will represent the United States in over 100 countries, returning to communities across the US with the global networks, foreign language skills, and professional expertise.

Established by the U.S. Congress, the Gilman Scholarship is an initiative of the US Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and is supported in its implementation by the Institute of International Education. The next application cycle will launch in August 2026. To learn more about the Gilman Scholarship, visit gilmanscholarship.org.

Post Date: 05-20-2026

Omar Encarnación Writes About Pedro Sánchez for the New York Times

Omar Encarnación, Charles Flint Kellogg Professor of Politics in the Division of Social Studies, wrote about the trajectory of Spain’s president Pedro Sánchez for the New York Times. Encarnación argues that the Spanish president’s approach has effectively protected social democracy in the country “by mixing ambition, idealism and pragmatism.”

Omar G. Encarnación for Time: “50 Years After Franco’s Death, Spain Confronts Its Dark Past”

Writing for Time, Omar G. Encarnación, Charles Flint Kellogg Professor of Politics in the Division of Social Studies, wrote about the transformation of Spain since the death of dictator Francisco Franco 50 years ago.

Omar G. Encarnación for Time: “50 Years After Franco’s Death, Spain Confronts Its Dark Past”

Early this year, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez stood in front of a banner that read Espana en Libertad, announcing a series of 100 events coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the death of dictator Francisco Franco. Writing for Time, Omar G. Encarnación, Charles Flint Kellogg Professor of Politics in the Division of Social Studies, wrote about the transformation of Spain since Franco’s death. One of Sánchez’s chief campaign promises was to undo the “Pact of Forgetting,” which “upheld the controversial idea of desmemoria, or disremembering, which called for avoiding any situation that could revive the memory of the Civil War, and the Franco dictatorship,” Encarnación writes.

Among other measures, Sánchez’s government exhumed and relocated Franco’s remains “in the interest of national reconciliation,” reformed teaching surrounding Franco’s legacy, and expanded reparation for Franco’s victims. Spain is not immune to the worldwide rise of far-right movements, Encarnación writes, as evidenced by the rise of Vox, a far-right party that “vehemently rejects Sánchez’s historical memory agenda.” However, the recent, collective memory of dictatorship, he argues, may help to inoculate Spain against these trends: “Sánchez’s robust embrace of historical memory could not have come at a more opportune time for Spain. Aside from giving Franco’s victims some measure of accountability and reminding the younger generations of the historic sacrifices that made democracy possible, it is a powerful wake-up call about the risks posed by the far-right.”

Bard's Politics Program gives students a well-rounded understanding of political theory, American politics, comparative politics, and international relations, studying the choices we can make as individuals and the fates of communities, nations, and states.

Read the Essay in Time

Post Date: 11-25-2025

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Upstate Films Hosts Youth Voting Rights Book Launch and Documentary Screening on November 18

Upstate Films Hosts Youth Voting Rights Book Launch and Documentary Screening on November 18

Introduced by Bard College President Leon Botstein, Event Features Conversation with Bard College Vice President Jonathan Becker, Alum Seamus Heady ’22, and Constitutional Rights Attorney Yael Bromberg
On November 18at 5 pm, Upstate Films at the Starr Theater in Rhinebeck is hosting a special multi-media presentation of a book and four short documentaries focusing on the fight for voting rights on US college campuses. The event will feature a reading and conversation with book editors, Jonathan Becker and Yael Bromberg, and with documentary producer Seamus Heady. It will be introduced by Bard College President Leon Botstein. The event is free and open to the public. Tickets can be secured here.

The book, Youth Voting Rights: Civil Rights, the Twenty-Sixth Amendment, and the Fight for American Democracy on College Campuses, coedited by Becker and Bromberg, uses the history of the 26th Amendment and the ongoing fight to promote and defend youth voting rights as a prism through which to teach the history of the struggle for the fundamental right to vote in the United States.

The book and the documentaries focus on case studies of four institutions – Tuskegee University, Prairie View A&M University, North Carolina A&T State University, and Bard College. These cases, which emerged from a joint course that united faculty and students from all four institutions, offer unique insights into the role of college communities in the fight for suffrage, and their contributions to the evolution of the right to vote.

Bard College President Leon Botstein says: “This remarkable and inspiring book and the accompanying documentaries tell us about the struggle for voting rights at Bard and at three Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Readers will learn how college communities can and must promote core democratic freedoms, rights and practices. The authors’ achievement testifies to the indispensable link between higher education and democracy.”

The book is coedited and includes chapters by Jonathan Becker, professor of political studies, vice president for academic affairs and director of the Center for Civic Engagement at Bard College, and Yael Bromberg, Esq., a constitutional rights litigator, leading legal scholar of the Twenty-Sixth Amendment, and election law professor at American University Washington College of Law.

Jonathan Becker says: “The book and film, A Poll to Call Our Own, have particular resonance in Dutchess County, where the fight for Bard and Vassar students to vote locally and have polling places on college campuses campus took place over nearly a quarter century. The lessons of the book are particularly important today, as we see the shadow of authoritarianism creeping across the country.”

Yael Bromberg says: “It is fitting that we are launching this book release in Dutchess County. What started as successful litigations to secure an on-campus polling site at Bard College, then motivated a state mandate to secure the mechanism on campuses across the state. These efforts evolved from litigation and advocacy into an ongoing national academic partnership and resulting book, which examines evolution of the right to vote from the perspective of college communities. We look forward to sharing these lessons in the midst of this moment of constitutional crisis.”

The films were directed by Seamus Heady ’22 and Mariia Pankova MA ’24 in Human Rights and the Arts. Heady says: “As a lifelong resident of Dutchess County, I was shocked and disheartened to learn of the barriers local students have faced in casting their ballots. The multi-campus collaboration allowed us not only to situate Bard's story in a national context, but to draw on the rich activist history of all four campuses. When you start making these connections across geography and history, the authoritarian playbook is really laid bare, and we get to see what strategies have prevailed in resisting that.”

For free tickets, go here. Books will be for sale courtesy of Oblong Books.

Further information on the event can be found here. More information on the book can be found at: https://cce.bard.edu/get-involved/election/youth-voting-rights-book/

More information and free tickets for event

Listen to Jonathan Becker speak about the book on WAMC's Roundtable

Post Date: 11-05-2025

Professor Omar G. Encarnación for TIME Magazine: “Why Bolsonaro’s Conviction Matters”

Professor Omar G. Encarnación for TIME Magazine: “Why Bolsonaro’s Conviction Matters”

For TIME magazine, Omar G. Encarnación, Charles Flint Kellogg Professor of Politics at Bard College, examines the significance of the recent conviction of Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, who has been sentenced to 27 years in prison for plotting a coup to stay in power following his defeat in the 2022 Brazilian election. Encarnación discusses the trial’s impact on Brazilian democracy, how it will affect US-Brazilian ties, and the importance of understanding how the prosecution was achieved. “No single factor accounts for Bolsonaro’s successful prosecution,” Encarnación writes. “Instead, there’s a mingling of legal, political, and societal factors. The main one is the assertion of judicial power by the Federal Supreme Court and the Superior Electoral Court. In the Bolsonaro era, these institutions have shown extraordinary independence in the pursuit of accountability.”

The Politics Program at Bard welcomes students who care about politics and want to reason critically about political outcomes and debates at the local, national, and international levels. The program is designed to inform responsible participation in American and global public affairs, and prepares students for work and further study in political science, international affairs, public policy, law, cultural studies, and related fields.

Further reading: https://www.foreignaffairs.com/brazil/irony-trumps-spat-brazil

Read More in TIME

Post Date: 09-24-2025

Omar G. Encarnación Published in the New York Times Opinion Section

Omar G. Encarnación Published in the New York Times Opinion Section

Professor Omar G. Encarnación wrote about Spain’s recent innovations in human rights for the New York Times Opinion Section. His essay “Spain Is an Example to the World” argues Spain has taken a “humane and pragmatic approach” to migration, welcoming in a large number of immigrants from outside Europe. Spain’s economy depends on immigrant workers, Encarnación writes, and the country has progressive attitudes about immigration in general. Despite recent challenges, the country is proving immigration is “a resource for growth and renewal that Spain’s peers spurn at their cost.”

Encarnación studies South American and Southern European politics, focused on democratization, social movements, and LGBTQ politics. He has taught at Bard since 1998.

Read the Essay in the New York Times

Post Date: 08-13-2025

Professor Simon Gilhooley Wins an Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship

Professor Simon Gilhooley Wins an Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship

Associate Professor of Politics Simon Gilhooley received an Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship at the Massachusetts Historical Society for 2025–26. The fellowship will support his project "The Declaration of Independence as Constitutional Authority in the Long Nineteenth Century," which studies how political actors across American history have invoked the Declaration not just as a rhetorical device but as a set of principles to guide interpretation of the Constitution. He is one of only nine individuals offered an Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship for the upcoming academic year.
Gilhooley’s book project will focus on the correspondence of Declaration signers John Adams, Elbridge Gerry, Thomas Jefferson, and Robert Treat Paine, and the papers of key political families of the period, all of which he will consult during the fellowship. Awardees receive $3,000 to complete four weeks of residency.

More About the Fellowship

Post Date: 06-10-2025

William Helman ’25 Receives Hudson Institute Fellowship

William Helman ’25 Receives Hudson Institute Fellowship
Bard graduate William Helman ’25 has been announced as a recipient of the Political Studies Summer Fellowship in the Theory and Practice of Politics by the Hudson Institute. Helman’s fellowship will run from June 15 through July 25, during which he will engage in daily seminar classes and policy workshops at the think tank’s headquarters in Washington, DC. Seminars will examine works such as Plato’s Republic, Machiavelli’s The Prince, and Shakespeare’s The Tempest, along with selections from the Federalist Papers, the speeches of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass, and current scholarship on American foreign policy. “William has a profound engagement with the theory and practice of politics, so I have no doubt this is the start of a very bright future for him,” said Richard Aldous, Eugene Meyer Distinguished Professor of History and Helman’s advisor. “He has just written an outstanding History and Film Studies senior project on elections and political advertising in the 1980s and 1990s, so this is a chance for him to put some of that history and communication theory to the test somewhere that sits at the intersection between the worlds of politics and ideas.”

Post Date: 06-02-2025

Lucas G. Pinheiro Named a Member of the Institute for Advanced Study

Lucas G. Pinheiro Named a Member of the Institute for Advanced Study

Assistant Professor of Politics Lucas G. Pinheiro has been named a member of the School of Social Science at the Institute for Advanced Study located in Princeton, New Jersey, for the 2025-2026 academic year. One of two scholars chosen from liberal arts colleges, he will join 21 colleagues to pursue a year of intense study focused on interdisciplinary exchange. The Institute for Advanced Study was founded in 1930 as a scholarly refuge where members could pursue research without administrative responsibilities.

Pinheiro will use his time at the Institute to work on his book project Factories of Modernity: Political Thought in the Capitalist Epoch. The book imagines the factory as a foundational institution in the histories of modern political thought and global capitalism, using case studies to trace the factory’s evolution across Britain, Africa, and the Americas. Pinheiro’s research focuses on the development of global capitalism, empire, racial slavery, and abolition in the Atlantic world from the late 17th century to today.

Post Date: 05-19-2025

Political Studies Events

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2025

Tuesday, October 28, 2025

John Ryle, Legrand Ramsey Professor of Anthropology, in conversation with Peter Rosenblum, Professor of International Law and Human Rights
Olin Humanities, Room 203 5:30 pm – 7:00 pm EDT/GMT-4
The international human rights movement is in crisis, with a decline in support from major powers, and key institutions such as the International Criminal Court in disarray. In Sweden, however, the government has mounted a large-scale war crimes trial – now in its third year – the most extensive trial in Swedish history. Two directors of Lundin Oil, once the country’s largest energy company, stand accused of complicity in crimes committed during oil exploration in Sudan: in the words of a headline in Bloomberg News, "Oil Billionaire Ian Lundin Risks Jail”.

In bringing the Lundin directors to trial the Swedish government is projecting a principle of universal jurisdiction that dates back to the Nuremberg trials and before – the idea that no one anywhere should be beyond the reach of the law. The prosecutions at Nuremberg of executives of German companies that used slave labor in the 1939-45 World War were limited, but it has been argued that the new wave of corporate prosecutions under national law – of which the Lundin trial is the leading example – are an indication of a possible future for the pursuit of human rights. The directors of Lundin Oil are accused of aiding Sudan government forces in a campaign of violent displacement during the 1983-2005 civil war in Sudan (the conflict that led to the independence of South Sudan in 2011). The prosecution alleges that Lundin requested security from the government of Sudan in the knowledge that this would involve forcible displacement, and that they allowed airstrips built by Lundin to be used by Sudan government helicopter gunships to attack villages and kill or expel their inhabitants. But the two Lundin executives deny the charges, asserting that the company operated lawfully.

As an anthropologist and human rights researcher with experience in the Sudanese oil zone, John Ryle was called to testify in the trial (one of more than ninety witnesses, including thirty from South Sudan), spending a day under examination on the witness stand in the District Court in Stockholm. He will discuss his experience of participation in the trial, the nature of the communities that live in the oil zone, and their indigenous legal systems, the distinction between restorative and retributive justice, and connections to the current crises in Sudan and South Sudan, and the realities of research in war zones, where often, in the phrase of the late US senator Hiram Johnson, truth is the first casualty.

Monday, October 27, 2025

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Friday, March 28, 2025

Newsroom

Four Bard College Students Win Gilman International Scholarships to Study Abroad

Four Bard College Students Win Gilman International Scholarships to Study Abroad

Omar Encarnación Writes About Pedro Sánchez for the New York Times

Omar Encarnación Writes About Pedro Sánchez for the New York Times

Omar G. Encarnación for Time: “50 Years After Franco’s Death, Spain Confronts Its Dark Past”

Omar G. Encarnación for Time: “50 Years After Franco’s Death, Spain Confronts Its Dark Past”

Upstate Films Hosts Youth Voting Rights Book Launch and Documentary Screening on November 18

Introduced by Bard College President Leon Botstein, Event Features Conversation with Bard College Vice President Jonathan Becker, Alum Seamus Heady ’22, and Constitutional Rights Attorney Yael Bromberg

Professor Omar G. Encarnación for TIME Magazine: “Why Bolsonaro’s Conviction Matters”

Omar G. Encarnación Published in the New York Times Opinion Section

Professor Simon Gilhooley Wins an Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship

William Helman ’25 Receives Hudson Institute Fellowship

Lucas G. Pinheiro Named a Member of the Institute for Advanced Study

Political Studies Events

2025

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