“Commencement”: though the word is rhetorically indicative of a beginning, it has trouble escaping its connotation––at least for students––as the official conclusion, the shake of the hand, and the goodbye to the thousands of pages and hours, myriad lunch debates, late-nights, page-tabbing, research forays, and all that comes along with the pursuit of a liberal
TagLiberal Arts
Career Evening Series: Graduate and Postgraduate Education in Germany and the U.S.
On March 7th, ECLA of Bard hosted a “Career Evening” aimed to give BA graduates information on MA and PhD programs. Together with our Dean Catherine Toal, who was the main speaker of the evening, several faculty members – Marcela Perett, James Harker, Frank Ruda, and Laura Scuriatti – came to answer students’ questions and
ECLA Guest Lecture: David Colander on Economics and the Liberal Arts
Colander began by pointing out that the goal of economics lies beyond textbook catch phrases such as optimization and efficient allocation of resources. Rather, it should be the creation of excellent decision-makers, who are instrumental not only in achieving society’s goals effectively through rigorous quantitative analysis, but also in defining these goals. To do that,
ECLA Discussion: Richard Hersh, a Night of More than a Discussion on Education
On Monday evening, just after dinner, students and faculty gathered for a discussion session on education in one of ECLA’s three student houses. The night turned out to be maybe one the most serious discussions we have had and maybe one of the most honest community experiences at ECLA. The discussion was introduced by Richard
ECLA Core Course on Education
For ten weeks at ECLA, drawing upon the debates of Ancient Greece, students and faculty have been weighing different views of the meaning of education. Students considered their position as learners at the same time as experiencing the ‘other side’ of the educational dialogue in seminars, such that the experience was of self-reflective education. Two
Liberal Arts and walking dogs in the Metro-Tram or: Our first week at ECLA
It is October and it feels like winter. The weather is getting worse. People prefer to stay inside. We are beginning the academic year at ECLA Berlin, the European College of Liberal Arts. We arrived on Tuesday, the 3rd of October, and on Wednesday, the 4th of October, from all over Europe, Asia and other corners
ON LIBERAL EDUCATION: First Week of Class Introduces Students to ‘Liberal Learning’
President Laurent Boetsch and Programme Directors Peter Hajnal and Thomas Norgaard officially welcomed students and faculty to ECLA’s fourth academic year on Friday, October 7th. Continuing a tradition that began last year, the first week of class is designed to introduce students to the idea of ‘liberal learning.’ Students gained an awareness of the issues