Office of First-Year Experience

Bethany Nohlgren
Assistant Dean of Students
Director of the First-Year Experience

Location: Basement of Ludlow
Phone: 845.758.7454
E-mail: firstyear@bard.edu

The Office of First-Year Experience has special responsibilities working with first-year
students on transitional issues. The director meets one-on-one with new students
with concerns specific to the first year of college, coordinates Bard 101 programming for
first-years, as well as coordinates orientation programs for students and parents during
the Workshop in Language and Thinking and throughout the academic year. The director
is the primary contact for parents of first-year students and faculty, staff, and students
with concerns specific to the first year at Bard, such as social and adjustment issues, academic
concerns, College regulations and requirements, and issues of campus safety.

All first-year students begin their education at Bard with the August Workshop in Language and Thinking (known on campus as simply L&T) program. The goal is to develop practices of writing—in conversation with challenging texts—that are actively critical, analytic and imaginative. Click here for more information on L&T.

Looking for information on the First Year Seminar Series? Click here for information about the course, syllabus, and lecture series schedule.